[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 83 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CLEAN UP ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN P. SARBANES

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 4, 2009

  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Correction 
of Longstanding Errors in Agencies Unsustainable Procurements, CLEAN 
UP, Act. This legislation will reform the badly flawed competitive 
sourcing process--saving taxpayer dollars and reinvigorating our civil 
service.
  This bill is about good government. Over the last decade, we have 
been much too quick to outsource many of government's most basic 
functions to the private sector. The desire to do so reflected a 
political ideology of shrinking government at all costs--even if it 
meant diminishing the quality of certain government services that are 
paid for and overwhelmingly supported by American taxpayers. This 
course of action negatively impacted everything from national defense 
and border security to the collection of taxes and the stewardship of 
our public lands. In many cases, work was outsourced with little or no 
competition--subverting the public interest and wasting billions in 
taxpayer dollars.
  This bill is not about punishing the contractor community or 
criticizing the work that they do. The vast majority of these firms 
want to do the right thing and have performed many important functions 
on behalf of the government. However, there is some government work 
that is not appropriately awarded to the lowest bidder. Often this work 
is about providing a service as a matter of policy without regard to 
profit. The process by which we make decisions to hire government 
workers or to contract with the private sector for certain functions 
must reflect a mature understanding of the real differences between the 
mission of government and that of business.
  More recently, the Congress has begun to reign in Administrative 
procurement policy by requiring more robust competition in contracting 
and ensuring that the core functions of government are performed by 
government employees. The CLEAN UP Act seeks to reverse the damage that 
has already been done by requiring agencies to develop plans to bring 
inherently governmental work back in-house and ensuring that future 
procurement decisions are made based on the best interest of the 
government and the taxpayer. The CLEAN UP Act will make the contracting 
process fair to federal employees and accountable to taxpayers.
  Congress has heard from federal workers and advocates in and out of 
government and their conclusions are the same--the current system is 
broken. We must develop a clear, government-wide standard for what work 
should or must be performed by government workers and put in place a 
fair process for competing all other work. That is why, with the 
support of 50 of my colleagues of both parties, I have introduced the 
bipartisan CLEAN UP Act.
  The CLEAN UP Act will: Impose a uniform, government-wide standard for 
government work, distinguishing between the functions which can and 
must be done by our civil servants and those functions that may be done 
competently by the private sector; incrementally bring work that should 
be performed by federal employees back in-house; encourage agencies to 
consider assigning new work to federal employees if they would be more 
efficient rather than pursuing a policy of contracting-out, frequently 
through sole-source or limited competition contracts; require agencies 
to determine where there are or will be shortages of federal employees 
and develop plans to address these shortages; maintain the existing 
suspension of the use of the Office of Management and Budget, OMB, 
Circular A-76 process until OMB determines that the reforms required by 
this legislation have been implemented; direct Agencies to implement an 
alternative to the A-76 process in order to continually improve and 
streamline services--developing a more efficient process without the 
costs and controversies of the A-76 process.
  We have some of the best and brightest in our civil service; public 
servants with a deep and abiding love for this country. They have 
important missions--to make the next scientific breakthrough; to 
protect our nation from foreign threats; to keep our communities safe 
from crime or disaster; to maintain our critical infrastructure. By 
enacting the CLEAN UP Act, we have an opportunity to support our 
federal workforce, save taxpayer dollars, restore good government, and 
reduce waste, fraud, and abuse.

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