SmartContracting: contractor cuts

The Professional Services Council today sharply criticized the American Federation of Government Employees for urging the executive branch to focus its budget reduction efforts on federal contractors because AFGE incorrectly believes contractors have been largely “spared” any impacts from the government’s fiscal challenges.

“AFGE’s perspective is wrong on multiple levels,” PSC President and CEO Stan Soloway said in a media statement. “To start with, they ignore the thousands of contractor jobs that have already been cut, as well as the thousands more that will have to be cut in the execution of the OMB and DoD implementation guidance. Even worse, their perspective ignores entirely the best interests of the agencies and the taxpayer.”

“We cannot approach our current fiscal crisis solely on the basis of parochial interest. Every community that supports the government is already being affected, and will continue to be affected, by the government’s fiscal challenges,” Soloway continued. “That includes federal employees, contractors, grantees, state and local entities and more. None of us like it, but we all must face it. As we have repeatedly stated, rather than arbitrarily targeting one community or the other, agencies must be free to strategically determine how to meet their individual short- and long-term mission requirements in the most efficient and effective manner.”

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

NDAA Conference Report Addresses Top PSC Concerns

The conference version of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act addressed three of the Professional Services Council’s top concerns about the bill.

Sec. 955 (formerly Senate Sec. 341): Rather than mandating civilian and contractor workforce reductions at a set ratio, as Senate Sec. 341 required, the new provision gives the Defense Department needed flexibility to develop an efficiency plan to adjust civilian and contractor staffing to meet the department’s actual needs.

Sec. 864 (formerly Senate Sec. 842): Rather than arbitrarily set the allowable compensation cost limits contractors could be reimbursed for at the salary levels of the Vice President, as Senate Sec. 842 would have imposed, Sec. 864 smartly requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct a comprehensive study of the effects reducing compensation reimbursements would have on the department, it’s industrial base, and contractor employees.

Sec. 832 (formerly Senate Sec. 843): Rather than grant the Defense Contract Audit Agency unlimited access to defense contractor internal audit reports and working papers, as Senate Sec. 843 provided, Sec. 832 ensures that DCAA cannot use internal audits and supporting materials for purposes other than assessing risk and evaluating the efficacy of contractor internal controls and the reliability of associated contractor business systems. The new provision also denies auditors the ability to disapprove a system based on internal audit information alone.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

PSC Asks NDAA Conference Committee to Drop Arbitrary Cuts Provision

The Professional Services Council asked the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act conference committee to drop a Senate provision that would impose arbitrary reductions on the civilian and contractor workforces at the Defense Department, in a December 14 letter.

The provision, Section 341, directs the Defense Department to implement a plan to reduce funding for both DoD civilian and contractor personnel by at least the same percentage as the planned reduction in funding for military personnel between 2012 and 2017.

“PSC opposes the imposition of arbitrary reductions in the civilian and contractor workforces in Section 341 and believes that requiring DoD to make equal cuts across its blended workforce deprives the department of the ability to make strategic decisions about how to best meet its mission needs,” PSC President and CEO Stan Soloway said in the letter.

Under the current law, DoD is required to determine the most appropriate and cost-efficient mix of military, civilian and contractor personnel needed to perform its mission. While not perfect, the policy does allow DoD to access the skills they need, which the arbitrary cuts required by Section 341 would deny.

“In a budget constrained environment Congress should be reinforcing DoD’s ability to make strategic decisions about its workforce needs and how best to balance its reliance on military personnel, DoD civilians, and contractors,” Soloway said. “Such flexibility is necessary as the mission needs of the department change.”