OMB releases Defense Department outsourcing list

More than 240,000 Defense Department jobs are eligible for outsourcing under the 1998 Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act, according to the agency's latest inventory of commercial jobs released Monday.

Defense was the sole agency in the fourth and final round of fiscal 2001 FAIR Act lists to be published in the Federal Register by the Office of Management and Budget. The inventory showed that Defense had 412,756 commercial jobs at the beginning of fiscal 2001. Of those, 241,332 could be performed in the private sector. Defense used various exemptions to protect the remaining 171,424 jobs on the list from possible outsourcing.

The release puts an end to OMB's review of agency FAIR Act lists for fiscal 2001. In all, OMB signed off on the lists for 109 agencies, which contained well over 1 million commercial jobs.

The release of the Defense Department's list was held up by controversy surrounding the Pentagon's participation in the Bush administration's competitive sourcing initiative. Defense has pledged to meet an OMB threshold for holding public-private competitions or directly outsourcing 15 percent of the jobs on its FAIR Act inventory, but the military services continue to pursue alternatives to full public-private competition.

On Feb. 27, OMB issued new guidance for the fiscal 2002 FAIR Act lists, which are due to the budget office by June 30.