GAO: Federal Workers Cannot Protest Job Competitions Federal employees and their unions have no right to protest decisions to contract out work under OMB-Circular A-76, the General Accounting Office ruled. But GAO urged Congress to consider giving the employees protest rights. GAO has consistently said that government employees do not having standing to file official protests. It revisited the issue after the revised Circular A-76 was released last year. In dismissing four separate protests by local union officers, GAO said the Competition in Contracting Act allows protests only by an “interested party;” the law defines “interested party” as “an actual or prospective bidder or offeror whose direct economic interest would be affected by the award of the contract or by failure to award the contract.” Under that definition, GAO General Counsel Anthony Gamboa wrote, federal employees don’t qualify. Even though the revised Circular A-76 requires in-house teams to sign a “letter of obligation” when they win a job competition, Gamboa said, “the letter of obligation is not a contract.” For one thing, the government cannot recover costs if the employee team violates the terms of the letter, as it can when a contractor violates the terms of a contract. Gamboa wrote, “We recognize the concerns of fairness that weigh in favor of correcting the current situation, where an unsuccessful private-sector offeror has the right to protest to our Office, while an unsuccessful public-sector competitor does not.” He said GAO has written to congressional committee chairmen, recommending that they consider amending the Competition in Contracting Act. A spokeswoman for the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee said its chairman, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), would introduce legislation broadening the protest rights of federal employees, GovExec.com reported, but Collins has not decided whether she favors allowing them to protest to GAO. The Contract Services Association said it opposes permitting employee protests. “That would allow individuals or their unions the ability to sue the federal government regarding management decisions,” the association said in a statement. “Logically, similar rights would then have to be extended to private sector employees and their unions – which currently have no such right – thus grinding the entire process to a screeching halt.” OMB’s revised Circular A-76 gives employees the right to appeal competitive sourcing decisions within their agency. A congressionally chartered Commercial Activities Panel recommended last year that contractors and federal employees be given equal rights to appeal decisions in job competitions. That panel was headed by Comptroller General David Walker, the head of GAO. The cases are GAO file numbers B-293590.2, B-293590.3, B-293883, B-293887 and B-293908.