Bush praises government’s top executives, pushes outsourcing

President Bush praised the dedication and commitment of the government's career executives and underscored his administration's support for outsourcing during a speech before the Senior Executive Service on Monday. During his address at Washington's Constitution Hall, Bush honored the 345 recipients of the 2001 Presidential Rank Awards and their colleagues in the Senior Executive Service for their "outstanding work ethic" and "exceptional performance," particularly during the current war on terrorism. The Presidential Rank Award is the government's highest award for civil servants. "Today we're seeing one of the highest levels of trust in government since the mid-1960s, which is due partly to the surge of national pride that has swept our country since the terrorist attacks," Bush said to an enthusiastic crowd of civil servants who interrupted his speech with applause several times. "But it's also because of how you've performed your jobs, particularly during the last month." Monday's event marked the second time a sitting President has addressed the members of the Senior Executive Service. President George H.W. Bush spoke to the executive corps in 1989. Bush urged federal employees to maintain the highest ethical standards, set an example of humility, and tackle challenges. He also advised them to work cooperatively with political appointees and not to take "the honor of public service for granted." Although most of Bush's speech praised career executives, he also encouraged "market-based competition" wherever possible to save taxpayers' money and cautioned against the "pressure to unwisely expand government." "We need to affirm a few important principles, that government should be limited, but effective; should do a few things and do them well," Bush said. "It should welcome market-based competition wherever possible." Bush's "Freedom to Manage Act," announced in August, proposes expanding pilot programs dealing with paybanding, performance bonuses and other variations to the traditional General Schedule grade and step system. The initiative would also give federal managers more flexibility in recruiting and retaining employees. Carol Bonosaro, president of the Senior Executives Association, was pleased to see the "mutual admiration" between the President and career executives, but wished Bush had supported ending pay compression in the Senior Executive Service. "If he had done that, the roof would have blown off Constitution Hall," Bonosaro said. "It may seem a little bit ungrateful [to say that], but the fact is that we cannot afford to lose the experience and talent that was represented by those people there, and we are going to lose it, or a pretty fair amount of it [if we don't address pay compression]," she said. Senior executives' salaries are capped at $161,200, which includes bonuses. Bonosaro also raised some concerns about contracting out government services. "I don't think enough attention has been given to what is an inherently governmental function, and when you don't give enough attention to it, it bites you, as in the example of airport security," Bonosaro said. She also discussed the need for oversight of contractors. "In the end, contracting out does require oversight, and we need to ask ourselves whether we are going to have enough skilled managers to monitor and oversee those contracts," she said. Most civil servants who attended the event gave Bush high marks for his speech and were clearly excited by the attention. Joseph N. Kanianthra, director of the Office of Vehicle Safety Research at the Transportation Department and one of nearly 300 meritorious executives honored, called Bush's speech "inspiring." Kanianthra has been in the Senior Executive Service since 1995. During his speech, Bush honored the memory of one meritorious executive, Bryan C. Jack, the former director of the Programming and Fiscal Economics division at the Defense Department. Jack was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Jack's widow, Barbara, attended the ceremony. "The nation is on bended knee with you," Bush told her. Several Cabinet members attended the event, including Attorney General John Ashcroft and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta. Office of Management and Budget Director Mitchell Daniels was also present.