DoD Authorization on Table

The Senate is expected to soon take up the Defense Department authorization (S-1042), which has been pending a Senate vote since the spring. One reason for the delay is the possibility of floor voting amendments to delay or stop the base closings process. The White House has threatened a veto if such provisions are attached, and also opposes several other provisions of the bill, including a 15 percent increase in the DoD acquisition work force over the next three fiscal years, its restrictions on converting military to civilian positions, and restrictions in the House version on contracting-out at DoD. Those provisions would prohibit reorganizing or remodeling a function performed by government employees for the purpose of avoiding the competition requirements, require DoD to conduct a pilot program of using A-76 (a federal contracting policy document) on four current contracts to consider bringing the work in-house, and expresses the sense of Congress that DoD civilian employees “should receive comparable treatment as contractors throughout the process of a public-private competition, and in particular, with respect to legal standing to challenge the competition.”