Civilian Agencies Development And Implementation Of Insourcing Guidelines

Fed. agencies rely on a multisector workforce composed of fed. employees and contractor personnel to perform services as they carry out their missions. Determining whether to obtain services through insourcing with current or new fed. employees, outsourcing with private sector contractors, or co-sourcing with a combination of the two is an economic and strategic decision. The exec. branch has encouraged fed. agencies since the mid-1950s to obtain commercially available services from the private sector when outsourcing is cost-effective. This report identified: (1) actions taken to assist affected agencies as they develop insourcing guidelines; and (2) the status of selected civilian agencies' efforts to develop and implement insourcing guidelines.

Civilian Agencies' Development and Implementation of Insourcing Guidelines

Federal agencies face a complicated set of decisions in finding the right mix of gov¿t. and contractor personnel to conduct their missions. But, agencies face challenges with increased reliance on contractors to perform core agency missions. A March 2009 Presidential memo tasked the Office of Mgmt. and Budget (OMB) to take several actions in response to this concern. This statement discusses: (1) civilian agencies' development and implementation of guidelines to consider whether contracted functions should be brought in-house -- a process known as insourcing; (2) OMB's proposed policy on work reserved for fed. employees; (3) challenges agencies face in managing the federal workforce; and (4) key tools available for insourcing. Illustrations.

In his 1961 Farewell Address, President Eisenhower famously referred to the emergence of a "military-industrial complex" so powerful that it threatened to warp America's political institutions and economy. However, the military was not the only part of a blended government workforce that was growing by leaps and bounds. Over the next half century, the true size of the federal government expanded in almost every department and agency as it came to depend on 7-9 million federal, contract, and grant employees to faithfully execute the laws. In The Government-Industrial Complex, public management expert Paul Light not only traces the expansion of the federal government's workforce over the past few decades, but also explains why it has taken the shape that it has. In marked contrast to governments in other wealthy countries, America's relies heavily on contract and grant employees to deliver goods and services even as the number of federal employees has held steady for seventy years. Light traces the rise of this government-industrial complex and asks whether and how the nation can be sure that the right people are in the right jobs to assure maximum performance for the public good. To do this, he offers short histories of the roles of various presidents and the impacts of war and economic crisis on the changing size of government. He also highlights the Trump administration's early strategies on downsizing and deconstructing government. Light emphasizes that achieving the right balance between public and private responsibilities is the key to making government both more efficient and more responsive. Comprehensive and pointed, this is a landmark account of the true nature and scope of national governance in the United States.