In a sweeping bid protest decision issued by the General Accounting Office (GAO), Comptroller General David Walker determined that federal employee representatives and unions cannot challenge agency decisions to outsource contract work to the private sector, due to lack of standing. Duefrene, et. al., GAO Comp. Gen. Dec. B-2935902 (April 19, 2004). The GAO’s ruling was issued despite the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) revisions to Circular A-76, which established federal policy for competition of commercial activities.
In the GAO’s decision, Comptroller General Walker dismissed the following: (1) the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) protest of the USDA’s decision to contract out fleet maintenance services for the Forest Service; (2) the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) protest of the decision by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to contract for desktop services; (3) the AFGE protest of the decision by the Department of Homeland Security to contract for background checks; and (4) the AFGE protest of a decision by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to outsource call-center services.
Ostensibly, the May 2003 revisions to Circular A-76 expanded bid protest rights to federal employees and their unions. However, in the first test of the policy, the GAO relied on language under the 1984 Competition in Contracting Act (CICA), 31 U.S.C.
