DOD Will Send Work to Other Agencies Rather Than Contractors The Defense Department will outsource some contract support functions to other government agencies, the newspaper Federal Times reported. The Government Accountability Office has criticized the widespread use of contractors in some DOD contracting shops, saying they were being used interchangeably with federal employees. “The only apparent distinction is their different badge color,” GAO said in a March report. Shay Assad, director of defense procurement, acquisition policy and strategic sourcing, said the Army Contracting Center for Excellence and DOD’s Washington Headquarters Service will hire GSA and Interior Department procurement offices to replace the contractors. Assad had expressed “grave concern” that contractor personnel were performing such duties as market research, assistance in preparing statements of work, developing acquisition plans, and preparing documents for the contracting officer’s signature. “I’d much rather have folks from the Department of Interior or GSA supporting us than going to the contractor work force to do that stuff that is inherently governmental,” he told the newspaper. GAO found that contractors filled 42% of the contract specialist positions at the Army Contracting Agency’s Contracting Center of Excellence last year. The center handled nearly $1.8 billion in procurements. The Army hired most of the private-sector contract specialists through a blanket purchase agreement with CACI. The auditors said there is a risk that contractors will improperly influence government purchasing decisions. Army officials said they had been unable to hire or retain enough government personnel to handle their workload. (SAA, 4/4) If the pilot program with GSA and Interior is successful, Assad said it could be expanded to other contracting offices.