House Panel Backs Moratorium on Job Competitions The House Armed Services Committee has voted to halt public-private job competitions for three years. The committee added the provision to HR 2647, the 2010 Defense authorization act. It would suspend all studies under OMB Circular A-76, including those already in progress. The amendment’s sponsor, Rep. Jim Langevin, D-RI, said, “The new administration must have time to review the current A-76 process and determine how it can be updated and made more useful.” Public-private job competitions were a key part of President Bush’s management agenda, but Democrats have fought the program with the backing of federal employee unions. The Obama administration is pushing to bring some contractor jobs back in-house. The Office of Management and Budget has reported that federal employees have consistently won the vast majority of competitions. But the Bush administration contended that even when federal workers kept the jobs, they achieved cost savings through reorganization. Langevin argued that the cost savings do not “justify the enormous strain [the competitions] put on government offices and personnel.” Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-MD, has introduced similar legislation.