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As labs, storage areas, and offices are packed up and moved, GESTA would like to remind employees that there are established procedures for reporting hazards, close calls, and mishaps. Every year during safety week we're shown examples of what can happen if safety procedures aren't followed. NASA Goddard carries a long tradition of learning from past mistakes so we don't repeat them. Reporting hazards, mishaps and close calls helps all of us to remain safer in our workplace and protect both people and hardware.
Amidst the chaos and frenzy of the building closure timelines enacted by management, a lot of equipment is being excessed very quickly. Below is a quick review of the proper process for excessing government equipment. Additionally, people in labs not impacted by building moves may be interested in the last section on Reclaiming Excessed Equipment to give a new home to equipment that other labs have been forced to excess.
Below we provide a step-by-step walk through of the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) Hotline page for reporting information and concerns related to crime, waste, fraud and abuse.
The information below is based on GESTA’s understanding of recent events as of this date. Since management has put very little information in writing, some of this information also comes directly from employees who have been personally involved in the building closures or who have received verbal information from management. We acknowledge the disruption or loss of these facilities represent decades of our colleagues’ work and may carry deep personal and institutional impacts. The brevity of these updates is not meant to reflect the depth of the impacts. We are also aware indirectly of impacts to multiple laboratories and buildings not mentioned here. If you have a (non-controlled) status update or information you would like to provide GESTA regarding the closures or moves of a building or lab for a future bulletin, please feel free to send it to our tipline email or share it via our Survey on this topic.
GESTA and our international union IFPTE have been collecting impacts and concerns about the ongoing building closures at the Goddard campus. We are sharing here a briefing document of our understanding of the status of these closures as of November 14th and our continuing concerns, including more details of some of the missions and capabilities impacted:
GESTA IFPTE Goddard Building Closure Brief NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is the largest group of scientists, technicians and engineers in the US who develop Earth and space science flight missions. Below is GESTA's understanding of the situation at Goddard as of November 1, 2025. GESTA members and Goddard employees deserve better treatment from their employer.
We have heard reports of Goddard-campus civil servants being directed to come onsite during the shutdown to complete building move activities, including moves of both offices and laboratories. We have significant concerns that such activities during a government shutdown may be illegal under the Antideficiency Act, which defines what activities may continue during a lapse in appropriations (see also the NASA shutdown Continuity of Operations Plan). Violating the Antideficiency Act carries potential penalties of suspension without pay, removal from office, fines of up to $5000, or up to two years in prison.
Any work that happens during a shutdown also has to be approved, first at the Center management level and then at the NASA HQ-level by a Shutdown Executive Committee (SEC) led by the Agency Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Stephen Shinn. If you receive instructions that you believe may violate the Antideficiency Act, we recommend that you do the following (note that you can do these in any order, or at the same time). We write to provide an update and advice in response to Associate Center Director Raymond Rubilotta’s recent email announcement of imminent office and laboratory moves that will severely reduce the Goddard campus footprint. We note that unlike what is implied in the Associate Center Director’s email these moves and closures go well beyond what agency leadership had approved in Goddard's 2019 20-Year Master plan. We are very concerned these moves are not being orchestrated in accordance with NASA and GSFC established policies regarding the moving and disposing of equipment and documents. We are also gravely concerned that the unstrategic processes being followed jeopardize human safety, flight hardware and expensive lab equipment, and will compromise GSFC core engineering and science capabilities.
GESTA had previously met and bargained in good faith with Center management on building moves given they constitute changes in employees' working conditions. Due to Executive Order 14343, management is no longer recognizing our Collective Bargaining Agreement, and these negotiations with management have been halted. However, we urge NASA management to ensure that if buildings must be closed due to budgetary reasons, these closures happen safely and strategically. We will be exploring other actions we may take to ensure this. Our advice to employees is: |
GESTA IFPTE
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