Agencies Will Detail Costs and Savings in Job Competitions Federal agencies will be required to report on the costs and savings in public-private job competitions and to explain how they chose the winners of the competitions. The Office of Management and Budget issued detailed instructions for the reports in an Oct. 15 memo. Congress ordered agencies to report on their fiscal 2004 competitions by Dec. 31. OMB Deputy Director Clay Johnson III said the reports should “improve the usefulness of the data and the transparency of the competitive sourcing initiative overall.” In addition to the costs of conducting each competition and any savings or performance improvements achieved as a result, agencies will report how many offers and tenders they received and describe their acquisition strategy. Some contractor groups and federal employee unions welcomed the new reporting requirements, saying they could shed some light on what has often been a murky process. But many senior career government executives continue to view the Bush administration’s competitive sourcing initiative as an unwelcome distraction. A survey of 36 top procurement officials delivered “a stinging critique” of the initiative, according to a report by the Professional Services Council and the consulting firm Grant Thornton. The report said, “A-76 competitions are viewed as taking extra time and attention, as detrimental to morale and productivity, and as being costly.” (See separate story, page 3.)