Marines to open jobs to commercial competition

Marines to open jobs to commercial competition

gcahlink@govexec.com

The Marine Corps will open 664 civilian and military jobs to commercial competition in fiscal 2000, said Jerry Stark, Marine Corps deputy director for installation reform.

Stark said 582 civilian and 82 military facility maintenance jobs at Marine Corp installations in Hawaii; Twentynine Palms, Calif.; Parris Island, S.C.; and Henderson Hall, Va., will be reviewed for outsourcing. Congress has been notified that the jobs are being studied.

Stark spoke at the Excellence in Government 2000 conference in Washington.

The review is expected to save the Marine Corps $9.4 million annually beginning in fiscal 2002, Stark said.

The jobs will be reviewed under federal privatization rules outlined in Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76. Those rules require a competition between federal employees and a contractor before any jobs are privatized, with the work going to the lowest bidder.

Even if the work is not outsourced, the Marine Corps expects to reap annual savings because in-house workers will have to operate more efficiently to win the A-76 competition.

The fiscal 2000 A-76 competitions are the latest but not the first A-76 competitions announced for the Marine Corps.

In fiscal 1999, 3,722 military and civilian facilities maintenance jobs at Marine installations in Pendleton, Calif.; Cherry Point, N.C.; Beaufort, S.C.; Albany, Ga.; Lejeune, N.C.; Yuma, Ariz.; Quantico, Va.; San Diego and Barstow, Calif., were opened to commercial competition.

Stark said those competitions should save the Marine Corps $47 million annually beginning in fiscal 2002.

The Excellence in Government 2000 conference started Tuesday and runs through Thursday at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington.

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