Question:
About 850,000 government jobs will be opened to private companies
under new rules Thursday that encourage competition to replace federal
workers who perform tasks such as giving weather reports to private
pilots, fixing computers and taking money and tickets at national
parks.
The procurement rules are among many revisions the administration is
undertaking that do not require congressional approval. Officials are
rewriting rules that determine which workers are entitled to overtime
pay.
Nearly half of the 1.8 million civilian government work force performs
tasks that duplicate work in the private sector, the administration
says. President Bush wants to let companies bid to provide that work,
with at least 15 percent opened to competition by Oct. 31.
The regulations issued Thursday "will open much wider the doors to
those businesses and their workers who can seek to provide to the
American taxpayer a better value at a better price," said Mitch
Daniels, outgoing director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Officials have identified examples of work being performed by
government employees that they said probably could be done better and
more cheaply by private businesses.
For example, 540 Navy workers make eyeglasses. In the Parks Service,
rangers are being used to take money and tickets at the front gates.
Daniels could not say how many government jobs might be lost. He noted
that agencies are allowed to compete with private companies for the
work.
"We are indifferent as to who wins the competition," he said. "It need
not result in any changes in federal employment. We'll just have to
see what a more wide-open system brings."
Current rules allow for public-private competition. But the
regulations, which have not been significantly revised since 1983, are
so cumbersome that private companies are often reluctant to seek
government contracts, officials said.
The changes shortened the contract bidding process from as long as
four years to one year, with many to be completed in just 30 days.
Government studies show that savings of as much as a third can result
from competition.
The Energy Department is among the agencies that has already opened
jobs to private companies. Bidding is under way for such jobs as
graphics design, computer technicians and financial services
personnel.
Answer:
-Don't be too hasty... my son is recovering from removal of a brain tumor and
went to work for one of these contractors supposedly with grants to help the
disabled or unemployed back to work, that hire civilians to do government
work. He was a Border Patrol Agent, now is a laborer, loading and unloading
ships for the Navy. He gets $10 an hour and no benefits. The company bills
the Navy $45 an hour for what he gets paid.
Where's the justice? Not to my son, not to you the taxpayer, and not to the
Navy who could do the work with any number of Mexican immigrants hanging
around looking for work at $50 a day plus a taco for lunch.
-My only hope is that the contracts are adequately written and followed up on.
It is interesting that as this is happening, we are switching airport workers
from private contractors to federal employment. The problem wasn't the private
contractors, but the fact that quality controls weren't built into the
contract.
