Official: DOD Needs To Balance Federal Workers, Contractors When the Defense Department outsourced many acquisition functions, it “unbalanced the system,” Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said, and the current “major insourcing initiative” is aimed at restoring the balance between in-house work and contractors. Speaking Dec. 2 at the Aerospace and Defense Conference in New York, Lynn said outsourcing “needs to be more targeted.” Even after the insourcing initiative is complete, he said contractors will continue to play an important role in DOD operations, the American Forces Press Service reported. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced last spring that he intends to replace 30,000 support services contractors with government employees over the next five years, beginning with those in areas such as acquisition that are close to inherently governmental functions. (SAA, 4/17) As a result of the outsourcing that began during the 1990s, DOD “lost some of the capabilities that we need to be a good buyer,” Lynn said. “So we are trying to bring those functions back into government.” He said that will help the administration accomplish its acquisition reform agenda. Lynn said that agenda includes improving the front end of the acquisition process, the establishment of requirements; conducting independent cost estimates to reduce the risk of overruns; greater reliance on fixed-price contracts; and cancelling programs that aren’t working or are no longer needed.