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Washington, D.C—The head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today welcomed approval by the House of Representatives of an amendment that would curtail government contracting in agencies funded by Science, State, Justice and Commerce Appropriations bill.

The House approved, by voice vote, a bipartisan amendment offered by Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) and Rep. Walter Jones, Jr. (R-N.C.), that would prohibit agencies funded by this bill to use any appropriated money to privatize jobs under rules set out by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in Circular A-76.

“The Andrews-Jones amendment,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley, “would force OMB to go back to the drawing board and develop an A-76 process for agencies funded in this bill that is fair to federal employees and a better deal for taxpayers.”

OMB’s 2003 revisions to A-76 tilted the job competitions for federal work in favor of the private sector, with the result that more government work is subject to being turned over to private companies at a greater cost to taxpayers while providing less accountability from contractors.

In a letter to House members prior to the vote, President Kelley urged their support for the “common-sense” Andrews-Jones amendment.

Kelley noted the leadership of Rep. Andrews in bringing this important amendment to the floor.

In its rewrite of A-76 rules, OMB opened the door to allowing more and more agency contracting decisions to be made based on an undefined ‘best value’ approach rather than which group provides the best service at the lowest cost for taxpayers.

There is a growing sense in Congress that the administration’s drive to contract out as much federal work as possible is the wrong path to take. Recently, the House adopted as part of the fiscal 2007 Transportation-Treasury Appropriations bill an amendment advanced by Rep. Steven Rothman (D-NJ) that would prevent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from hiring private sector debt collectors.

President Kelley has been leading the fight against both the IRS tax debt plan and administration efforts to boost federal contracting.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 federal workers in 30 agencies and departments including a large number of employees at agencies funded by Science, State, Justice and Commerce Appropriations bill, such as the Patent and Trademark Office, Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Communications Commission and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.