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Return to Article: Number of federal jobs opened to contractors to jump this year

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  Perhaps the administration is aiming for a national record: Govern our country for eight straight years and have absolutely nothing good happen as a result for the average middle class American.

  More shame Posted April 24, 2006 1:45 PM
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  DoD is running out of money. With contractors instead of government workers, they can just cancel the contract after they "privatize" the position. No fuss, no muss, and the Beltway Bandits firms won't complain (they will get their money in GWOT contracts).

  DoD also trying to civilianize any and all military jobs stateside so they can get more soldiers over to Iraq.

  I see both trends continuing for many years.

  KM Posted April 24, 2006 9:49 AM
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  It's deja vu all over again. Only this time the government has the opportunity to move 26,500 dedicated civil servants from the middle class on to the unemployment line or the lucky ones will be able to switch to working for some contractor for substandard pay and benefits. Hey George, raise my taxes a couple hundred dollars a year and get away from this destructive path we are on, I really don't mind. While you are at it though, raise the rich folks taxes a thousand or so as well. You will be amazed at how much better things are when you have money to pay the bills.

  ORF Posted April 21, 2006 4:22 PM
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  While at OMB David Safavian often spoke of the great savings from A-76 outsourcing while pushing the President's Management Agenda. He did so up until he was arrested by the FBI on obstruction of justice charges.

  Should we trust Safavian and others that keep claiming outsourcing is saving money and improving efficiency? Is there a hidden agenda here? The nonpartisan GAO has voiced skepticism. Like all those "factual" reports of WMD in Iraq, this could be another costly blunder based on skewed evidence.

  In this case the same people pushing outsourcing are also providing us performance statistics. For the most part it's just a lot of hand waving without any solid economic evaluation.

  To quote President Bush, "fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again."

  GovExec.com reader Posted April 21, 2006 10:29 AM
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  And here we go again.

  No one can prove that the government has saved a dime by contracting out all the federal jobs. Sure, it may save some money in the short term (pensions, health insurance, etc), but as the contracts go on (and on), no one is checking to see if they're still cost-effective. Many times the contractor ends up hiring twice as many people to do the job or asks for extensions or more money because they didn't really understand the scope of the requirements. After all, we all know how private industry got getting a security clearance under control quickly, don't we?

  GovExec.com reader Posted April 21, 2006 9:59 AM