Employees whose jobs could be outsourced under an A-76 study should not sit on the committee that decides the winner of a public-private competition, the Office of Management and Budget reminded agencies Thursday.
Competitive sourcing, also known as public-private competition, is governed by processes laid out in Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76. In the A-76 process, federal employees who perform work that may be contracted out develop a proposal for keeping the work in-house at the lowest possible cost. Then their agency requests bids from the private sector for the same work. If a private sector bid is lower, the work is contracted out. If not, the work stays in-house.
Private contractors and the General Accounting Office have pointed out the inherently unfair nature of having someone who could lose their job on the committee that decides if that person's work unit wins or loses a competition.
OMB agrees and wants to change language in the rule book about A-76 to make it clear that federal employees cannot evaluate contractor proposals if the employees are competing against the contractors for their jobs.
As a result, the agency has "decided to strengthen its long standing policy limiting such participation, as a better business practice," OMB announced in the Federal Register Thursday.
The policy only limits such practice, instead of prohibiting it, because there are exceptions to the rule. If the official in charge of the A-76 competition provides a written statement offering compelling circumstances, then the rule can be waived, OMB said.
Comptroller General David M. Walker ruled recently that Air Force employees whose jobs were on the line in a public-private competition should not have been allowed to evaluate contractors' proposals.
The Thursday Federal Register announcement proposed two other small changes to the A-76 process. The first extends the deadline for stakeholders to challenge decisions under the Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act to 30 working days. Under the FAIR Act, agencies create lists of jobs that could be subjected to A-76 competitions. The other change clarifies that all appeals under A-76 regarding a cost comparison must be filed together, within a single appeal period.
Comments on the proposed changes can be made through June 19, 2000.
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