Democrat Amendment Would Suspend DOD Competitive Sourcing
According to Government Executive.com:
An amendment to the fiscal 2009 Defense authorization bill would suspend public-private competitions at the Defense Department for three years.
Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., introduced the provision to H.R. 5658, marked up by the House Armed Services Committee early Wednesday morning. It calls for a three-year moratorium on public-private competitions performed under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76 "to ensure that the services' operational obligations may be fully met while efforts are under way to increase end strength, implement the 2005 [base realignment and closure] decisions, and execute transformational initiatives as our forces are simultaneously conducting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Boyda has said while contractors have their place in the department, she has heard repeatedly that the pendulum has swung too far toward excess contracting.
"The Boyda amendment allows the Department of Defense, not the White House, to determine when it is in the best interest of national security to contract out," she wrote on her Web site.
While the provision would not limit Defense's ability to hire support contractors, it would restrict the department from forcing government employees to vie for their jobs with contractors. The amendment would prohibit new A-76 competitions, but would not affect ongoing or existing ones. A three-year moratorium on competitive sourcing at the government's largest agency would almost certainly be the death knell for the key Bush administration initiative...click to continue.
