Administration Opposes “Revolving Door” Bill The Bush administration’s procurement policy chief says proposed legislation to slow the “revolving door” between government and contractors goes too far and will hurt the government’s ability to hire and retain acquisition personnel. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has approved legislation that would tighten restrictions on government employees who go to work for contractors and contractor employees who take government jobs. The Executive Branch Reform Act, H.R. 984, is sponsored by the committee’s chairman, California Democrat Henry Waxman. Under current law, a federal procurement official handling contracts worth more than $10 million may not receive compensation from a company involved in that contract for one year after leaving the government. Waxman’s bill would extend the ban to two years. Under the bill, contractor employees who take government jobs would be prohibited from awarding contracts to their former employers. It also restricts the activities of former government employees who become lobbyists and former lobbyists who go to work for the government. The Washington Post reported that Paul A. Denett, head of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy, wrote to Waxman saying the proposed restrictions “would do great damage” to the government’s ability to hire and keep qualified acquisition personnel. “They will have the unintended effect of harming the career prospects of the overwhelming number of honest, experienced government employees and encourage them to leave government service early,” Denett wrote.