FederalDaily - April 19, 2007

CBO Estimates Cost of Larger Military at $108 Billion

It would cost about $108 billion over the next five years to bring troop levels up to the point recommended by President Bush in his plan to permanently increase the size of the military, said a new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). CBO looked at the cost of increasing the size of the standing military over the 2007-2013 period and compared those expenses against the force levels recommended in the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR)—DoD’s long-term planning/staffing document. Bush wants to permanently increase the size of the active-duty Army to 547,400 personnel, and the Marine Corps to 202,000 over the next five years. The administration also plans to increase the size of the Army Reserve and National Guard. The QDR recommended a troop level of 482,400 for the Army and 175,000 for the Marine Corps. The administration’s plan represents an increase of 65,000 and 27,000 personnel for the Army and Marine Corps, respectively, said the report, dated April 16. The combined increases for the Army Reserve and National Guard would total about 9,200 personnel. To see more, go to: www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/80xx/doc8004/04-16-MilitaryEndStrength.pdf  

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Science Agencies Have Few Activities Left To Outsource

After years of public-private A-76 outsourcing competitions, the government’s five science agencies have few activities left to outsource, said a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released April 16.  GAO’s study looked at sourcing competitions conducted by the five scientific agencies: the Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute for Standards and Technology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA. Except for NASA, in-house teams have won most of the competitions—and now officials responsible for conducting the A-76 contests told GAO that they expect federal employees to win most of the remaining competitions. Also, DOE and NASA explained that there are few remaining commercial activities at those agencies that do not require expert knowledge; giving federal employees a special advantage, the report noted. “Between 2003 and 2005, GAO says that there were only 22 competitions under Circular A-76 at these science agencies,” said Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology. “There were only three cases where the private sector was determined to be the most efficient at achieving agency goals.” To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/new.items/d07434r.pdf

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Three USPS Consolidations Halted

The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is applauding the end of three U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Area Mail Processing (AMP) studies that would have shut down mail-processing operations in Watertown and Binghamton, N.Y., and Bloomington, Ind. There is also news that the Bronx, N.Y. study—which proposes that mail from three major processing facilities there be sent into Manhattan for sorting—may be on hold, an APWU news brief said on April 17.  “After preliminary review, it has been determined that there are currently no significant opportunities to improve efficiency or service through consolidation of mail processing operations” for the Watertown and Binghamton facilities, USPS management wrote. “Therefore, no changes will be made at this time.” Similar language appears in a letter regarding the AMP study in Bloomington. Published reports indicate that the Bronx study was on hold, but USPS refused to confirm that any decisions have been made on the Bronx AMPs, APWU said.

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