§1710 Public-private Competition Required Before Conversion to Contractor Performance

Summary

Requires a public‑private competition before any job done by 10 or more civilian agency employees can be turned over, in whole or in part, to a private contractor. The agency must compare the contractor cost to the agency cost, prepare an agency plan called an "agency tender" (including a most efficient organization plan) under OMB Circular A‑76 as applied on May 29, 2003, issue a solicitation, check non‑cost factors like quality and timeliness, and add up contractor costs, agency costs, and any other government costs to show whether switching will save money over the life of the contract. The agency must keep doing the work unless contractor savings meet or exceed the smaller of 10 percent of the personnel costs in the agency tender or $10,000,000. Functions can’t be split up or changed just to avoid these rules or to get around staffing limits. Reworked or improved duties that still do the same service are not treated as new requirements. Agency staff who run the study must meet at least monthly with affected employees while key documents are prepared and consider their views. Before starting a competition, the agency head must send Congress a report listing the function, location, number of jobs affected, expected cost and funding source, and a certification that the move is not caused by imposed staffing limits. The report must look at economic effects on employees and, if more than 50 jobs are involved, on the local community and the federal government. A local representative can file a written objection within 90 days if the report or certification is missing, and no contract offer or award may proceed until the problem is fixed. The rules do not apply to certain items on the procurement list for nonprofit agencies serving the blind or severely disabled, and they do not apply during war or a presidential or congressional national emergency.