Senate Backs Contracting Restrictions

During voting on a Defense Department funding measure (S-2400) the Senate endorsed several restrictions previously backed by the House on contracting-out policy, several applying only to DoD but one of which would be government-wide. The latter provision would let federal employees of all agencies file challenges against contracting decisions with the General Accounting Office, just as disappointed private sector bidding companies may do. GAO ruled earlier this year that it doesn’t have authority to hear appeals from employees-typically filed through their union representatives-under the government’s contracting-out guidance, OMB Circular A-76. The House earlier backed the appeals rights, although only in non-binding “sense of Congress” language.