Out of Control

Following up on my post from the other day, another batch of federal employees have won a public-private job competition:

A team of technology workers at the Office of Personnel Management held on to their jobs in the agency's 15th public-private competition by agreeing to cut back on overtime, agency officials announced Thursday.

The 52 IT specialists, based in Macon, Ga., proposed a 40 percent cut in overtime expenses, said Ronald Flom, OPM's deputy associate director for contracting, facilities and administrative services, in the announcement. OPM expects to save $9.9 million during the next five years by going with the in-house team's plan. Of that, $900,000 will come from the overtime reductions.

Employees at the personnel agency have prevailed in 13 out of 15 public-private competitions held since the Bush administration introduced the competitive sourcing initiative. "The record of OPM keeping jobs in-house ... is excellent and confirms the fairness of the process," Flom said.