Rep. Jim Traficant, D-Ohio, may introduce legislation as early as July that would turn the General Services Administration into an independent government corporation.
The legislation, which is in its "infant stages," according to Traficant's chief of staff, Paul Marcone, would not affect the way GSA services are delivered, but would fundamentally change the way the agency operates.
Marcone said the legislation Traficant is considering would use the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts as models for a revamped GSA.
Three years ago, Congress gave FAA the authority to create its own personnel system, free from many of the restraints under which other agencies must operate. FAA's flexibilities include simplified hiring procedures and new pay structures.
In April, FAA asked Congress to let the agency keep all the revenue it collects for its air traffic control system, cutting congressional committees out of the budgetary loop. Under the FAA's proposal, air traffic control operations would be transferred to a performance-based organization (PBO), a management model developed by Vice President Al Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government.
Traficant, Marcone said, is considering proposing a similar fate for GSA. In such a scheme, GSA employees would "be treated technically as federal employees, but would not be subjected to the same restrictions," he said.
Traficant may also use the Postal Service as a model because it relies on revenues from stamps to fund almost all of its operations. With the rent GSA collects from agencies for buying, leasing and managing federal buildings, along with the fees it receives for other services, the agency has a "built-in revenue stream," Marcone said.
According to Marcone, Traficant was prompted to pursue his legislation because of "arbitrary funding decisions made by the Office of Management and Budget" about GSA operations.
"GSA talks about running itself more like a business, but when you factor in OMB it's hard to do," Marcone said.
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