Law allows contractors to help guard military bases

The Defense Department can use contractors to guard military bases in limited cases under the 2003 Defense Authorization Act signed Monday by President Bush.

Section 332 of the law allows military installations to hire contract security guards to meet new base security requirements prompted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The provision amends an existing statute (Section 2465 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code), which prohibits Defense from using contractors as security guards or firefighters.

Contractors may not be hired for security jobs that existed before Sept. 11, and cannot be used to replace civilian Defense employees under the new measure.

But Defense can use contract guards to relieve military personnel who have logged increased guard duty since Sept. 11. Defense officials pushed for this flexibility, which they argued would aid readiness and improve security at some bases.

Contractors were pleased by the measure, although it is unclear how much work could go to the private sector as a result of the law. "Everybody has had new security requirements, and it will be interesting what kind of opportunities might be out there," said Mark Wagner, vice president of government relations for Johnson Controls, Inc., a Florida-based contractor.

Authority to use contract guards would expire after three years under Section 332, so Defense could not award long-term security contracts. The new law does not affect the existing ban on hiring contract firefighters.

These curbs made the new provision more acceptable to federal unions, according to Joe Lopes, a legislative representative with the American Federation of Government Employees. "We like having the sunset clause, and we like having it limited to meeting specific needs created since Sept. 11," he said. "So with those limitations we stomach it better than we would have otherwise."