Official: Contractors will still play ‘a vital role’

By The Post’s Federal Diary columnist Joe Davidson:

The mix of government work done by federal employees and that done by outside contractors is out of balance, but the right balance doesn’t necessarily mean having those employees do more of the contractors’
work, the Obama administration planned to tell Congress Thursday.

“While contractors play, and will continue to play, a vital role, there are situations where the mix of work performed by our federal employees and contractors is out of balance – where agencies have
contracted out functions that should be performed by federal
employees,” Daniel I. Gordon, the procurement policy administrator for the Office of Management and Budget, said in testimony prepared for a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee.

But, he also said the administration does not anticipate that its plans to right that balance “will lead to a widespread shift away from contractors.” In fact, he continued, “rebalancing does not require an
agency in-source, to convert work from contract to in-house
performance.”

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