GAO to Army: Scrap West Point Job Competition The U.S. Military Academy at West Point should cancel a decision to outsource public works jobs, the Government Accountability Office said. The Army had decided to award nearly 400 civilian jobs to Ginn Group Inc. of Peachtree City, GA. GAO found the public-private competition was flawed because Army officials “had no reasonable basis” to accept Ginn’s claim that it could improve efficiency by 10%. Ginn’s offer was calculated at $64 million for comparison purposes, $4 million less than the offer submitted by the federal employees. A provision of the 2009 appropriations act prohibits the Army from conducting another competition, so GAO recommended that the outsourcing decision be canceled. An Army spokesman did not reply to a request for comment. “The GAO decision illustrates the failure of the [public-private competition] process as implemented by DOD,” the American Federation of Government Employees said in a statement. “The Army started working on this study in 2002. After seven years and likely millions of dollars in consultant fees and staff time, the Army could not provide any evidence to GAO that a contractor is more efficient than the federal employees.” The case is Matter of: Frank A. Bloomer—agency Tender Official, File B-401482.2, B-401482.3. The decision is available at www.gao.gov.