OMB releases last round of 2002 FAIR Act lists

About 185,000 Veterans Affairs Department jobs could be performed by workers in the private sector, according to the latest inventory of federal jobs that could be outsourced.

Just seven agencies, including the offices of inspectors general at the Defense and Transportation departments, were included in the last and final round of the 2002 lists of agency jobs that could be performed in the private sector under the 1998 Federal Activities and Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act. Of the 223,838 jobs analyzed in the fourth round released March 19, the Office of Management and Budget designated 191,404 of them as "commercial" and eligible to be outsourced, while 32,434 jobs were classified as being "inherently governmental."

Veterans Affairs, which has more jobs designated as commercial than any other civilian agency, has announced plans to let contractors bid on 53,000 agency jobs over the next five years, including 25,000 positions by the end of fiscal 2003.

Every year OMB reviews the lists and releases them to Congress and the public in several rounds. In the first, second and third 2002 FAIR Act inventories, OMB determined that private companies could perform 666,801 of the jobs at 85 federal agencies. The last round expanded that list to 92 agencies and 858,205 federal jobs eligible for public-private competition and potential outsourcing. The numbers have not changed much from 2001, when 849,389 of civilian jobs in the federal government were identified as commercial.

Last week, Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Angela Styles released guidance for compiling the 2003 FAIR Act inventories. The guidance requires agencies to submit written justifications when they classify jobs as commercial, but then opt to exempt them from possible competition. In the past, no such justification was required.

In the third FAIR Act round air traffic control operations were designated as commercial but exempt from competition. Last week the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) sent a letter to Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Department officials challenging the new category assigned to air traffic operations. According to NATCA, the administration is laying the groundwork for outsourcing air traffic control jobs.

"The agency's disregard for the critical importance of the nation's air traffic control system to the public safety is particularly galling in these dangerous times," wrote NATCA President John S. Carr, who also questioned why airport screeners jobs would be deemed inherently governmental and not air traffic control operations jobs. "Given the acknowledged performance by the FAA's air traffic controllers during the course of the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy and their anticipated role in maintaining air traffic safety during the imminent Iraq conflict, the agency's attempt to demean its air traffic controllers is, in this regard, a disgrace."

During a March 19 hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and Independent Agencies, OMB Director Mitch Daniels defended the new commercial designation, but said there were no plans pending for broad changes in air traffic control operations.

"At least in theory this is an area to look at. . . It's just a matter of keeping an open mind and asking the right questions," Daniels told lawmakers. "I think this is an area where the president would have to move cautiously, if at all."

A recent report issued by the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based research and public policy group, contended that other countries have privatized air traffic control systems and that outsourcing could help reduce costs and increase safety.

Jason Peckenpaugh contributed to this report.