Good morning. I want to thank Chairman Voinovich for holding today's hearing which continues this Committee's interest in issues affecting the federal workforce and the management of agencies. Ms. Styles, I sincerely appreciate the time and effort you have spent on these issues over the past several years. I would also like to thank Mr. Walker for his tremendous dedication, and I thank our witnesses for their testimony this morning.

No one disputes the importance of a government that is both cost-effective and accountable. Agencies require the appropriate tools and skilled personnel to meet their missions. It is in that light that we should examine what work is best performed by government employees and which could be performed by the private sector.

As agencies make their contracting decisions, we should ask what impact outsourcing will have on the federal workforce. With a large number of the current federal workforce eligible for retirement, we should take steps now to fill the void that they will leave.

We cannot expect young people to work for the government if they believe their work will be subject to outsourcing. Nor should we accept policies that will instill fear and distrust in current employees.

While the contracting debate is not new, the administration's contracting and other management proposals have attracted congressional attention. There is growing bipartisan concern that too much government work has been contracted out already.

For example:

• The Fiscal Year 2003 Omnibus Appropriations bill prohibits the use of funds to impose outsourcing goals, targets, or quotas at federal agencies without thorough analysis.

• The Senate-passed Department of Defense Appropriations bill includes a bipartisan amendment requiring the Department to achieve a 10 percent cost savings before work is contracted out.

• The House – by a vote of 362 to 57 – passed legislation to restrict contracting out in the National Parks Service.

We should encourage – not discourage – employment with the federal government.

We should tear down barriers that stand in the way of promoting the federal government as an employer of choice.

We should ensure that federal managers, employees, their unions and associations, Congress, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Office of Management and Budget work together to determine what is inherently governmental. By involving all parties within the federal government we are better able to forge contracting policies that are fair to federal workers, transparent, and in the best interest of the public.

We can do all of this and still ensure efficient and cost effective government contracting. We already have a strong and effective federal workforce. We ought to put to rest, once and for all, the false stereotype of the inefficient government bureaucrat.

Shifting federal jobs to the private sector has, in the words of Dr. Light, created a shadow government.

As the Comptroller General has said repeatedly, poor contract management costs the government billions of dollars. These deficiencies can be improved by ensuring that the government has the employees, skills, and technologies to determine costs for both government and contracted out activities over the long-term.

Let me touch briefly on the newly revised A-76 process for public private competitions. Mr. Walker and Ms. Styles are familiar with my concerns over what I see as a lack of fairness and transparency in the revised rules for A-76 competitions.

Under the revised A-76 process, government work could be contracted out even if the work could be performed more efficiently by federal employees. Moreover, the revision sets unrealistic deadlines for conducting public-private competitions that could push government work out the door to the private sector as fast as possible and may not give federal workers a fair chance to compete. Unlike the private sector, federal workers are required to compete for their jobs every five years and are prevented from competing for contracted out work. True competition should be cost-effective and promote trust. Federal workers should be provided with sufficient funds and personnel to compete. Revising the government's contracting process without improving contract management will likely result in hollow victories.

Mr. Chairman, thank you again for holding today's hearing. I thank our witnesses for their time today, and I look forward to hearing their thoughts and suggestions on the new A-76 process and other contracting issues.