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Washington, D.C. – The longtime NTEU-supported ban on competitions between federal employees and private contractors will continue under legislation approved Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee.
The government-wide moratorium against federal funds going toward public-private competitions is preserved in the FY 2019 Financial Services and General Government spending bill. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) successfully added language preserving the ban, the first time in recent years that the government-wide A-76 provision has been included in the House bill.
“This is an important victory for federal employees against attempts to outsource their work to the private sector,” NTEU National President Tony Reardon said. “NTEU is grateful to Rep. Cartwright and others who stood with federal employees by supporting the continued ban.”
In the past, the Office of Management and Budget has found that excessive reliance on contractors erodes the in-house capacity of agencies to perform critical functions, undermining their ability to accomplish their missions. Congress has repeatedly enacted legislation to continue blocking any new so-called A-76 competitions, named for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76.
“The A-76 process uses faulty, antiquated methodology to determine whether federal civilian jobs should be outsourced – a matter we simply cannot approach so haphazardly,” Cartwright said. “These studies rely on a process that both the Government Accountability Office and the Inspector General of the Department of Defense concluded could not demonstrate any savings to the taxpayer. Making decisions based on such a faulty process is an irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars and threatens to undermine the important work being done at depots like Tobyhanna, that are crucial in supporting our military.”
As the administration looks to reorganize federal agencies, NTEU will remain vigilant on Capitol Hill to ensure federal jobs are not needlessly and unwisely outsourced to the private sector.
NTEU represents 150,000 employees at 32 federal agencies and departments.