Annual FAIR Act inventories are not being comprehensively conducted, House GOP lawmakers say. Image: Tony Quinn/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffLeaders of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee have pushed OMB for updated information on federal employee jobs that could be performed by the private sector, showing an interest in the long-dormant issue of “contracting-out.”
“At a time of surging annual deficits, the administration should be using all cost-saving tools at its disposal – including outsourcing functions that can be performed more efficiently by the private sector,” said a letter from federal workforce subcommittee chairman Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and the heads of two other subcommittees.
Under the “A-76” process, agencies compared costs of in-house work deemed “commercial” in nature against bids by private sector companies and generally were required to grant the contract if certain conditions were met. The process always was controversial, however, resulting in a series of changes in administrative policies and laws including the 1998 Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act, or FAIR Act. That was designed to better defined what types of work were or were not covered by the program and required agencies to produce annual inventories of their positions.
Later, a series of restrictions against A-76 studies were enacted, culminating with a moratorium against it starting in 2009—a ban that has been continued by annual spending bills since then.
Said the letter, “While OMB circular A-76 provides guidance to agencies on how to comply with the FAIR Act, it appears the annual inventories are not being comprehensively conducted under this Administration. For instance, the most recent FAIR Act inventory posted on the website of the General Services Administration is for FY 2018. Many more recent agency inventories posted online are done so in formats that are barely decipherable.”
“The on-time posting of clear and comprehensive FAIR Act inventories is a key element of open and transparent government. Use of the inventories in decisions about outsourcing is a needed component of sound federal financial stewardship,” the letter added.
They asked for information including “the number of federal employees, collectively and by agency, who are currently performing non-inherently governmental functions; the names of the agencies that have not filed their most-recently required FAIR Act inventories, and for each such agency, the number of years since it has last filed a FAIR Act inventory; and a description of the processes and procedures by which OMB is vetting these agency inventories and utilizing them to help determine which activities agencies should consider outsourcing.”
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