While the President’s Management Agenda addresses some issues related to the federal workplace, it does not address several areas that also have the potential for a substantial impact, including agency reorganizations and privatization.
Prospects of those intentions date back almost a year to an executive order and OMB memo that announced that the management agenda was coming. They called for reductions in the workforce in both the short run and long run and for crafting of agency reform plans, since submitted to OMB, to “restructure and merge agencies, components, programs or activities.” While advocating more sharing of common services such as IT, HR and financial management, the agenda does not lay out what such structuring could look like.
Disputes have been increasing over the extent restructuring is within the authority of an agency versus needing congressional approval. Some Democrats on Capitol Hill have complained that although Congress has not been notified of what agency reform plans include, agencies already have taken some steps, with more apparently on the way.
OMB recently refused a Democratic request to turn over the details of the agency reform plans, saying they are still in the deliberative stage. But, for example: the Agriculture and State departments already are carrying out reorganizations; the Interior Department has reassigned numerous top career officials and is working to shift more employees–and potentially the headquarters of some of its subcomponents–out of the national capital area; and the FLRA is moving to close two of its seven regional offices.
Federal employee unions also are watchful for moves to increase contracting out of work currently being performed by federal employees; the OMB memo of last April told agencies to consider “outsourcing to the private sector when the total cost would be lower or insourcing a function to government where a contract can be eliminated or scaled back.”
Studies to compare work for possible privatization have been on hold through a series of moratoriums dating to late in the Bush administration. However, the administration has signaled interest in revisiting the practice of so-called “Circular A-76” studies, and a bill recently was introduced in the House (HR-1339) that essentially would revive that process.
