BAND TOGETHER
COMMUNIQUÉ

GAO has advised the Union that they will address a major confidentiality concern we had raised regarding the employee feedback survey.  Specifically, one of our recommendations to address confidentiality concerns was that survey data and analyses should be handled external to GAO by a contractor.  Although GAO initially responded that it was too late to either amend the existing survey contract or to get a new one in place, they have now informed us that AT&T will do the data analyses required for the survey. While GAO will guide the scope of work and perform quality assurance by reviewing programming logs, AT&T will maintain all the data. GAO will not be obtaining any of the raw data - only results of the analyses conducted by AT&T.

Eric Adams, Director of the Workforce Relations Center, has advised us that employees may want to complete additional questions or revise their responses based on the fact that no GAO staff will have access to the survey data.  To do this employees who have completed their survey will now be able to log in and access the survey to make changes.  Knowing that the survey data and analyses will be handled externally may affect some employees' decisions on whether or not to complete the survey. 

For more detailed information on our discussions with management regarding the employee feedback survey see the June 16 and June 30 issues of the Communiqué at www.gaoanalysts.org under the section "Recent GAO Messages."