U.S. Office of Government Ethics
1201 New York Avenue, NW.
Suite 500
Washington, DC  20005-3917



					March 12, 2008
					DO-08-007


MEMORANDUM

TO:		Designated Agency Ethics Officials 

FROM:		Robert I. Cusick
		Director

SUBJECT:	Government Accountability Office Report on 
		Contractor Employee Conflicts of Interest


	The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) would like to 
bring to your attention a new report issued by the 
Government Accountability Office (GAO), Defense Contracting: 
Additional Personal Conflict of Interest Safeguards Needed 
for Certain DOD Contractor Employees (March 2008), 
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08169.pdf.  OGE believes this report 
makes an important contribution to the ongoing policy 
discussion concerning appropriate ethical standards for 
employees of Government contractors.  As many of you know, 
OGE has been raising concerns about this subject for several 
years, particularly in light of the growing reliance of the 
Federal Government on contractor employees to perform a wide 
range of mission-critical services.  See, e.g., OGE, Report 
to the President and to Congressional Committees on the 
Conflict of Interest Laws Relating to Executive Branch 
Employment 38 (January 2006), 
http://www.usoge.gov/pages/forms_pubs_otherdocs/fpo_files/reports_plans/
rpt_title18.pdf.  A number of you have expressed similar 
concerns to OGE in the past, and we look forward to working 
with ethics officials, policymakers, and other interested 
persons as the Government seeks a reasoned and effective 
response to this emerging ethics issue.