Potential A-76 spending cap doesn't faze Interior

An A-76 spending limit proposed by lawmakers would not impede the Interior Department's competitive sourcing initiatives, a department official said Thursday.

In a conference report on the Interior appropriations bill, House-Senate negotiators capped the department's A-76 spending at $2.5 million for fiscal 2004. The limit would apply to spending on new studies planned for 2004 and ongoing job competitions. To spend more, Interior would need to ask lawmakers' permission to shift, or "reprogram," funds from other accounts.

If passed into law, the spending cap "should be okay," said Scott Cameron, Interior's deputy assistant secretary for performance and management. The Interior Department already planned on spending "pretty close" to $2.5 million on public-private competitions in fiscal 2004, he said.

"We understand and appreciate the fact that Congress has a responsibility to oversee federal spending," Cameron said. "The bottom line is that we think the approach Congress has taken will not impede our [A-76 studies]."

But Carl DeMaio, president of the Performance Institute, an Arlington, Va.-based think tank, said he worries the proposed A-76 spending limitations would be "overly restrictive." Spending caps could end up hurting federal teams vying for work, he said. In-house teams rely on financial support from agencies.

"That being said, the monies that [would be] available are enough to do competitions at Interior when you look at a per position cost," DeMaio added. Interior plans on putting roughly 1,500 jobs up for bids in 2004, according to Cameron. The in-house teams will have adequate financial backing, he said.

Over 2003 to date and the second half of 2002, Interior spent $2.1 million on A-76 studies and saved $2.4 million as a result of public-private competitions, Cameron said. This translates to a net savings of $300,000.

Interior realized A-76 savings so quickly partly because the agency encouraged "most efficient organizations," otherwise known as in-house teams, to participate in "streamlined" competitions involving fewer than 65 full-time equivalent positions, Cameron said. For instance, an in-house team submitted a winning bid on 45 jobs under study at the Park Service, part of the Interior Department, saving $850,000. This is more than a third of the department's total $2.4 million in savings.

"We have [also] been really careful in terms of trying to keep control of the amount of money we're spending," Cameron said.

The American Federation of Government Employees would rather not see Interior spend any money on competitive sourcing.

Funds used for A-76 studies could be better spent protecting "our forests from fires and our parks from neglect," said John Gage, AFGE's president. "Any money that is spent on privatization studies is money wasted."