GovernmentExecutive.com

The corporate tax bill cleared on Monday for President Bush's signature would allow federal agencies to continue awarding contracts to companies working offshore.

A preliminary Senate version of the legislation contained a measure that would have barred most agencies from outsourcing jobs to companies planning to move the work outside the United States. The language also would have prohibited agencies from buying goods or services produced offshore, with a few exceptions.

But congressional negotiators, led by Rep. William Thomas, R-Calif., removed the provision from the compromise version of the tax bill (H.R. 4520). That version, passed by the House last week and the Senate on Monday, awaits the president's signature.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., proposed the ban on offshore contracting as part of an effort to keep jobs in the United States. But critics of the Dodd measure have said there is little concrete evidence that federal workers are losing jobs to contractors working overseas.

The provision also would have severely restricted federal agencies' procurement options, opponents said.

Harris Miller, president of the Arlington, Va.-based Information Technology Association of America, praised lawmakers for deleting Dodd's language from the final version of the corporate tax bill. The measure "would have significantly complicated government procurement across the country," he said.

Last year's omnibus appropriations law also included restrictions on moving government work offshore, though the language wasn't as expansive. The fiscal 2004 spending package required contractors winning public-private job competitions to work within the United States unless federal employees previously performed the jobs overseas.

The omnibus provision applied only to job contests run using fiscal 2004 funds. Congress has yet to complete fiscal 2005 appropriations bills, but preliminary versions don't include the ban on offshore outsourcing.

COMMENTS

• It is very clear to me that certain people/organizations/groups/gangs/fraternities/companies(or what ever you want to call a group of people working together for their own benefit)are getting some kind of "kickback" money for their efforts! Remember: Bribery is a big part of a lot of nations' daily life( including ours......when the money is in your face and nobody is looking everybody has a price!) US Government is only looking at what is best for US government, not the people of this nation! You can vote for whomever you want, they will slowly (sometimes quickly)stray away from their agenda before they were elected. Mr. SIREN BLOWER! Posted November 12, 2004 8:06 PM
• Dear HR, These are not "tax cheats"! They are doing what is best for them in accordance with USA law! In other words they are doing what they should do. The problem is Congress and the administration! They are the body that needs to change the laws and trade negotiations to favor the USA instead of "tax havens" and China! Why the heck does the USA support China with most favored nation status? Why is the USA allowing the quotes on textiles to expire 1 Jan 2005 so China may flood the market with cheap textile goods and shutdown textile operations throughout the world? Why does DoD provide contracts for millions to overseas companies? Why is any government agency using SAP products rather than MicroSoft or Oracle? Why is the government providing a sugar support that sets USA sugar prices higher than world prices and stops the import of sugar from Brazil and costs us consumers more for sugar? Kraft lifesavers was looking at moving to Canada to avoid the high USA sugar prices manipulated by the US government to maintain the income of farmers in eastern Colorado and other beet growing areas. Thus the US keeps its beet growers and gives up all the employees in lifesaver candy plants. Who is next? The problems are with a mess in congressional laws and administration regulations and policies. These people havge no idea of how to act in an international trade world and have favored foreign companies over USA companies. The result is jobs flying to foreign countries such as India, China, Mexico, Canada, etc. The USA representatives in Congress and the administration better get a handle on the impact of foreign trade and services on USA jobs and tax revenues before it is too late. The USA diden't get half the world's income sitting back and supporting Chinese trade and manufacturing! tax payer Posted October 26, 2004 8:13 AM
• We have lost so much from all this outsourcing it isn't even funny. Just a few days ago I read that we lost the Genesis Space Capsule because Lockheed Martin gave NASA incorrect drawings and four pencil sized gravity switches were installed backwards. For me this just about sums up outsourcing. Instead of NASA engineers designing NASA spacecraft we go to the private sector and lose the craft- just as they lost a Mars mission craft because of a metric/english measurement conversion glitch. When will this government learn that we do it better, we do it faster, and we do it cheaper? How many more projects will be destroyed over this inaccurate bias toward private sector contracts? And now there is a debate over outsourcing to companies operating in tax havens. Shame on this administration for even considering giving business to tax cheats. Of course since this administration hates taxes and revenue in any size or shape I can understand their position- but shame on them for making these awards and at the same time destroying the federal civil service. HR Specialist GovExec.com reader Posted October 19, 2004 8:50 AM