Lawmakers lately have been advocating a return to the “A-76” program in which contractors bid to take over work currently done in-house. Image: Casimiro PT/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe Defense Department lacks information on the number and cost of employees working for its service contractors, making it difficult for the department to assess whether the work they do could be done at less cost by the department’s civilian employees or by military personnel, the CBO has said.
A witness told a Senate hearing that while the CBO “has done preliminary analysis of the costs associated with service contractors, a full analysis is not possible using the incomplete data that DoD provides to the Congress.” In contrast, “The size and cost of DoD’s military and civilian workforces are documented in the department’s budget,” he said.
The cost of contractor performance for what the CBO called “tasks that could be performed by military or civilian personnel” has been a long-running issue, with federal employee unions arguing for bringing, and keeping, work in the hands of federal employees. However, many Republicans in Congress lately have been pushing to revive the old “A-76” program in which contractors could bid to take over work currently done in-house.
The witness said that DoD data reports for the future years defense program do not include the number of full-time-equivalent contractor positions by program or break down of the costs of service contracts into categories of compensation vs. other costs.
That for example could hinder the department’s efforts to shift military personnel out of duties that could be performed with civilian employees or contractors, since “the resulting costs or savings may not be apparent.” It also affects the department’s ability to project—and the CBO’s ability to assess—the cost of long-term plans, he said.
“Making information about DoD’s workforce of service contractors transparent would help the department’s leaders make and enforce management decisions, allowing them to track changes in the composition of the workforce. Such transparency would also improve the Congress’s understanding of DoD’s total workforce,” he said.
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