From Our Readers - Brief Article

Program Manager, March, 2000

I enjoyed the article "On the Ethics of Outsourcing" in the November-December issue of Program Manager. David Breslin raises some very cogent points. But as one who has sat on both government and industry sides of the table, I believe there are at least two "philosophical" points of ethics that he misses.

One of these is that government exists to do for the people what they cannot do for themselves. Viewed from this perspective, what are the ethics of reserving jobs for the government that can readily be done by others? Is it truly ethical to base make-buy decisions on the criterion of protecting government jobs?

I believe that there should be a clear and compelling case if work is to be assigned to, or remain with, the government. Examples might include 6.1 and 6.2 weapons research (no civilian application to attract private investment); the cannon factory at Watervliet Arsenal, N.Y. (low demand, high infrastructure investment); and certain high-security fields -- although it's interesting that nuclear weaponry has been outsourced or GOCO [Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated] from the outset. Work not meeting this "necessity" criterion should, in virtually every case, be privatized. It is very difficult to see (other than from a political standpoint) how the criterion can be stretched to include routine depot maintenance.

Secondly Mr. Breslin rightly addresses the human costs of outsourcing. They are very real. But in my experience, it is too often the government that causes these human costs. The Air Force's usual manner of competing metrology and calibration is illustrative: fixed prices; either no best value criterion or mere lip service to best value; [or] technical merit basically irrelevant (and possibly even counterproductive if seen as rocking the boat).

The result is a straight shoot-out where no offeror dares to bid salaries and benefits higher than Wage Determination floors. The "winner" is the contractor who bids the fewest and least-qualified heads. Service contractors like treating their employees well, but too many times the government quite deliberately makes it impossible. Now just where are the ethics in that?

David A. Appling

Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.)