Guttman’s Guidelines

In more than 30 years of research, Dan Guttman has found repeated examples of weak contractor oversight. Here are three questions Guttman has for the current outsourcing debate:

• Is the principle of "inherently governmental" work adequate to assure that agencies have enough skilled employees to oversee contractors?
• As contractors perform work previously handled by civil servants, should they be subject to ethics and transparency laws (1887 Hatch Act, 1974 Freedom of Information Act) enacted to protect the public from government abuse?
• If we blur the boundaries between federal and contractor workforces, are we in danger of losing the qualities we most value in both?