Challenges to agency job lists keep rolling in

Federal contractors are continuing to issue challenges to agencies' claims that even those jobs they have classified as commercial cannot be outsourced, while agencies scramble to reply to vendors' complaints before an approaching deadline arrives.

Under the 1998 Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act, agencies are releasing lists of jobs that theoretically could be contracted out. Contractors can submit appeals to agencies when they think jobs that could be outsourced are not included on the lists. (For an updated database of agency job lists, see GovExec.com's Fair Act Report.)

So far, several groups representing contractors have challenged agencies' lists.

The Information Technology Association of America issued challenges to 10 different agencies over their listings of human resources, financial management and logistics systems jobs. ITAA's first round of appeals targeted the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, along with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Social Security Administration, the General Services Administration, NASA and the Agency for International Development.

Technology jobs at these agencies "are clearly commercial activities with a history of being performed effectively and efficiently by the private sector, and should not be considered inherently governmental," said Olga Grkavac, executive vice president of ITAA's Enterprise Solutions Division.

The Professional Services Council, which represents federal contractors who provide professional and technical services, took a broader approach to its criticism. PSC did not submit individual agency challenges, but instead sent a blanket challenge to Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew complaining about OMB oversight of the FAIR Act process.

"The OMB has adopted a passive approach which cannot support successful implementation of the spirit and intent of the act," wrote PSC president Bert M. Concklin in a letter to Lew.

PSC said agencies have widely differing ideas of what constitutes an inherently governmental function and have listed a variety of reasons why jobs that could be outsourced should still be kept in-house.

The deadline for agencies to respond to challenges to the initial release of FAIR Act inventories on Sept. 30 is fast approaching. Agencies must either reject the complaints or agree to make changes to their lists within 30 days after complaints are filed.

"The big question is how they will respond back to us," said Felix L. Martinez, director of procurement and federal markets at the American Consulting Engineers Council. ACEC has submitted appeals to six agencies so far, but has not yet heard back from any of them.

Ninety-three agencies have now released their FAIR Act lists. On those lists, 35 percent of the jobs have been categorized as commercial, rather than inherently governmental. Another 25 agencies will release FAIR Act inventories before the end of the year. The Defense Department's list, which will be larger than any other, is expected in December.