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

Summary

Agencies must hold a public-private competition before turning over any job done by 10 or more civilian employees to a private contractor. The competition must compare costs, make an agency plan (including a "most efficient organization" plan under OMB Circular A-76 as implemented on May 29, 2003), issue a solicitation, and check non-cost factors like quality, reliability, and timeliness. It must show contractor costs (based on offers), the agency’s employee costs, and any other costs the government would face. The job must stay with agency employees unless hiring a contractor would save, over the life of the contract, at least the smaller of 10 percent of the personnel-related costs in the agency plan or $10,000,000. The competition must also look at how contracting would affect the agency’s mission. Agencies may not change, split, or reorganize a function just to avoid these rules or to get around staffing limits. Officials deciding about a competition must talk with affected employees at least once a month while they prepare the work statement and the management study. Talking to union representatives counts for represented employees. Before starting a competition, the agency head must report to Congress the function, location, number of positions affected, expected cost and length of the competition and the budget line to pay for it, and certify that the move was not caused by imposed staffing limits. The report must look at the economic effect on employees and, if more than 50 employees do the job, on the local community and the Federal Government. A representative may file a written objection within 90 days if the report or certification was not provided; if so, no solicitation or award can happen until it is fixed. Jobs on the procurement list for the blind or other severely disabled nonprofit agencies are exempt. These rules do not apply during war or a national emergency declared by the President or Congress.