Thursday, May 14, 2009
After 110 days in office, President Obama is trying to take a big step in reversing an important trend that he opposed during the presidential election campaign. The new proposed federal budget, which was released last week, outlines the administration’s plan to shift many tasks and projects from the private sector back to government control. This includes expanding the federal workforce by about 141,300 jobs.
Some believe that the tendency to outsource government jobs to private contractors has led to decreased efficiency. The most high-profile example has taken place in the Department of Defense (DOD), where half of all jobs related to the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan are performed by private contractors. A recent report by the Inspector General of the DOD showed that military facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan have repeatedly failed to bill insurance providers of private contractors for medical expenses, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars to the federal government. Under Obama’s proposed budget, the DOD would grow by 19,000 full time civilian jobs; the vast majority of new federal employees would be replacing contractors.
Other Departments targeted to expand are Homeland Security (up 22% since 2006), Commerce and the Social Security Administration. According to Obama’s proposed budget, the federal workforce in 2010 will grow to 2.1 million.
-Tyler Schenk-Wasson
It's A Good Time To Work For Uncle Sam (by Declan McCullagh, CBS News)
Huge Federal Staffing Increase Planned in 2010 (by Stephen Losey, Federal Times)
Taxpayers Fund Health Care for Iraq and Afghanistan Contractors (by Tyler Schenk-Wasson, AllGov)
Obama Team Outlines its Management Agenda (by Elizabeth Newell, Government Executive)
Many Hires Needed for Budget Goals (by Philip Rucker, Washington Post)
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