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I am pleased to see the significant attention paid in a lengthy Sunday New York Times article to the serious issue of runaway federal contracting, and I look forward to the remaining articles promised in this series. NTEU has long been the leader in the fight to keep the work of the federal government in the hands of trained, professional and dedicated federal employees. Among other problems it causes, this administration’s relentless drive to turn over the work of the American people to the unaccountable private sector serves to erode the extensive knowledge base developed over many years by the federal workforce. It is particularly disheartening to see the growth in the contracting of what is clearly inherently governmental work—as illustrated by the Internal Revenue Service hiring private sector debt collectors. This reckless and costly program not only is a waste of public money, it puts at serious risk of disclosure and misuse taxpayers’ personal and sensitive information. The IRS case is a particularly egregious example because this sensitive work was simply handed over to contractors without even giving IRS employees a chance to show they could do perform the work better and at a lower cost. In continuing to strenuously oppose this misguided IRS effort, NTEU will make the case with Congress and the public for increased IRS staffing and resources to allow that critical agency to do the job Americans expect and demand of it.