Administration - Competitive Sourcing, R.I.P.?
Source: John Maggs, National Journal (subscription required), 08-04-2007
One of President Bush's most ambitious efforts to reform government, one that struggled for years to overcome high-level neglect, bureaucratic resistance, and congressional Republican opposition, now faces its Waterloo in the Democratic Congress.
……. In the spring of 2006, OMB officials predicted that 26,000 jobs would face competitive bidding during that fiscal year, but only 6,678 jobs did. At last count, fewer than 48,000 government jobs have faced competitive sourcing over the life of the reform effort. Competition is saving about $1 billion a year, according to OMB, far less than the many billions of dollars that government reformers had hoped for by this time.
…… Federal employee unions specifically and the AFL-CIO generally have strongly opposed competitive sourcing as nothing more than a scheme to privatize public-sector work and water down the work rules and job protections conferred by civil service laws.