Legislative History

Legislation

Treasury and Transportation Appropriations Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-115) reinstates the 10% government-wide differential of PL 108-199 (which applied to FY 2004; there was no differential in FY 2005).

Department of the Interior Appropriations Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-54) has the same reporting requirements as PL 108-447. The Forest Service competitive sourcing spending cap was increased to $3,000,000.

Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005 (Public Law 108-447) mandates reporting of incremental costs and all costs attributable to competitive sourcing, as determined in accordance with full cost accounting principles. It also limits Forest Service competitive sourcing expenditures to $2,000,000.

Defense Authorization Act of 2005 (Public Law 108-375) applies government-wide. It supposedly bestows federal employees with protest and appeal rights by vesting the ATO with “interested party” standing. The only time an ATO has ever protested an A-76 decision to outsource occurred on March 11, 2005.

History of PL 108-375: S.2438 was originally introduced as a stand-alone bill, and subsequently was approved by the Senate as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act of 2005. It bestowed a representative selected by employees with “interested party” standing. It was replaced with the final language in conference.

Some provisions or PL 108-375 apply only to DOD.

Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-199) applies the same reporting requirements and competition differential of PL 108-108 government-wide. It also abolishes the requirement to re-compete government work at least every five years.

History of PL 108-199: The original reporting language required a true accounting of study costs; however, this was stripped in an unprecedented and profoundly antidemocratic process.

Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-108) adds reporting requirements and places a $5,000,000 limit on competitive sourcing activities. However, costs to be reported are only “incremental costs,” which has been interpreted by OMB to exclude the salaries of current employees working on studies. This portion is a sham. It also prohibits direct conversions to contract of work performed by more than 10 employees and mandates that successful bids must beat government costs by 10% or $10,000,000.

Treasury and General Government Consolidated Appropriations Resolution of 2003 prohibits use of arbitrary competitive sourcing quotas.

Hearings and other information

Sen. Durbin’s opening statement and witnesses’ testimony at the July 24, 2003 hearings by the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia on the Bush Administration’s so-called “competitive sourcing” initiative. The Forest Service Council submitted written testimony to the Subcommittee.

Legislative information (including how to contact your Congressional representatives)