BUREAU OF RECLAMATION

The Bureau of Reclamation is recognized for a best practice in all aspects of Competitive Sourcing. By the end of FY 03, Reclamation will have successfully competed over 25% of their full-time equivalent commercial activities listed on the FY 00 FAIR Act Inventory.

Early on when the President announced Competitive Sourcing as a part of the President's Management Agenda (PMA), Reclamation's Leadership Team took a corporate approach in determining functions to be competed, keeping Reclamation's missions and long-term strategic view as the primary decision factors. Reclamation made the decision to form an in-house team to conduct competitive sourcing studies for the activities selected for competition. In addition, Reclamation decided to use streamlined competitions to accomplish the majority of their studies. They were confident their in-house workforce was efficient and cost effective. This has proven to be an excellent decision. Reclamation has completed four streamlined competitions covering over 250 full-time equivalent positions. In all cases, the in-house workforce has proved to be the most cost effective provider of services. In addition, Reclamation has direct converted to contract approximately 136 full-time equivalents identifying savings in excess of $800,000 per year. To date, no Reclamation employee has lost their job based on competitive sourcing decisions.

Reclamation's Competitive Sourcing Implementation Plan includes a standard competition which is in the final stages of completion. By the end of 2003, Reclamation will have completed studies on over 484 full time equivalent spending $170,000 in consultant support and $1,184,600 in in-house support costs.

Reclamation's FAIR Act inventories are submitted on a timely basis and reflect consistent reporting due to the use of Reclamation established guidelines for commercial, commercial core, and inherently governmental functions, with examples specific to Reclamation's workforce. In addition Reclamation uses the FPPS to verify FTE counts and executes an excellent quality control process to the inventory.

Since 1998 the NPS has restructured its processes for acquiring construction design and construction project supervision. While Government personnel previously provided these services, the transformation of the processes now has all construction supervision and 90% of all design requirements satisfied through support contracts.

By shifting from a project-focused activity to a project management and standards activity the NPS has experienced new successes and achievements. NPS has established more meaningful and professional associations with the design community on both a national and local level. Greater emphasis on the development of common construction specifications is helping to standardize the facilities maintenance and support function. These efforts are foundational to increasing the authority of superintendents to execute projects at the local level, within the standards and specifications developed. This transformation has simplified the funding of the entire construction program, providing for base funding of the Denver Service Center activities within established funding metrics developed to reflect significant major projects components and cost drivers.

The National Park Service (NPS) is recognized for a best practice in implementation of Competitive Sourcing. The competitive sourcing team at the Southeastern Archeological Center, Tallahassee, Florida, made a decision to test the new Streamlined Competition with a Most Efficient Organization (MEO) developed by the Department of the Interior and adopted by Office of Management and Budget for inclusion in the new OMB Circular A-76.

The team of 45 archeologists at the Southeastern Archeological Center in Tallahassee, Florida, was the winners in a recent streamlined competition (with an MEO). The in-house team reorganized itself into a most efficient organization and eliminated 17 full time equivalent positions. The elimination trimmed $850,000 per year in annual personnel costs. Over the next five years, the NPS will save $4.2 million as a result of the competitive sourcing study. Not one permanent employee lost their job as a result of the competitive sourcing study. In accordance with the Secretary's policy, the savings realized by this study will be retained by the National Park Service.

A Letter of Obligation will be presented to the Center on October 1, 2003 to cover operation over the next five years to ensure consistency with the MEO. The results of this study reflect the largest cost savings realized by Department of the Interior in implementing the President's Management Agenda of Competitive Sourcing.

The Office of Aircraft Services (OAS) serves as the Department's central contracting office for the acquisition of aviation services. In this role OAS has been instrumental in facilitating the evaluation of cost effective alternatives to the delivery of the needed services and equipment to support bureau missions and priorities.

OAS has developed an understanding of the discreet factors that differentiate inherently governmental and commercial type aircraft services activities in the Federal government. Building on this awareness they have been able to fashion a competitive acquisition process that allows comparison of solutions on a best value basis. The use of best value contracting techniques has provided for more cost effective delivery of services while raising safety standards and promoting the economical operation of aircraft. At the same time, the discernment used to select the best value contractor also allows the OAS staff to objectively determine when the performance of work duties is either inherently government or representative of a core commercial functionality that needs to be retained. It has allowed them to determine when equipment needs to be government-owned and when complete divestiture is more appropriate. Decisions reflecting this more business-like approach have changed the lead plan requirements for the fire fighting missions, smokejumper aircraft requirements and fleet aircraft maintenance needs in Alaska.