Senate Adopts DOD Insourcing Amendment The Senate has approved an insourcing amendment that would require the Defense Department to replace contractors with federal employees if that would save money. The amendment to the defense authorization bill has been a key goal of federal employee unions since the Bush administration launched its competitive sourcing program, which has put thousands of federal jobs up for competition with the private sector. Under the provision sponsored by Senators Edward Kennedy, D-MA, and Barbara Mikulski, D-MD, DOD would be directed to take an inventory of all work being performed by contractors, and turn the work over to federal employees if they could do it cheaper. DOD would also be required to issue guidelines on how to decide whether to outsource new requirements or keep them in-house. Mikulski said the provisions would “level the playing field” between government employees and contractors. The amendment also makes permanent several other restrictions on public-private job competitions. It provides that contractors must show at least a 10% saving in order to win a competition. The Senate adopted the amendment on Oct. 1 by a 51-44 vote that split mostly along party lines. The authorization bill now goes to a conference with the House. Federal employees have won more than 80% of the jobs competed under the Bush administration initiative. The administration said it opposes the Kennedy-Mikulski amendment.