More than 130 House members have signed on to a letter to defense secretary Leon Panetta asking him to alter the department’s efficiency initiative to lift a cap on the civilian defense workforce, currently set at 2010 levels.
The letter, prepared by Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., argues that the initiative is increasing reliance on more expensive private contractors that are being used to compensate for fewer federal workers.
"Because of the arbitrary standards set by the Pentagon, civilian employees are being fired, and private contractors that charge more for the exact same service and are less accountable to the public are being hired,” said Hinchey, arguing that the shift away from a civilian workforce is a violation of longstanding workforce management rules.
The letter calls on DoD to do away with the civilian cap in favor of “total force management authorities,” arguing that taking the DoD workforce as a whole, civilians, contractors and military combined, would favor cost-benefit analysis over “arbitrary standards.”
It also asks that the reliance on contractors for work closely associated with functions considered inherently governmental be incrementally reduced.
