[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 66 (Friday, May 13, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E904]
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

                          Friday, May 13, 2011

  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. 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.
  Especially in our current era of budget deficits, efficient 
government is paramount. 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 the government workforce--even if it meant diminishing the 
quality or increasing the cost of government services that are 
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, Congress has begun to rein 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 I have introduced the CLEAN UP Act.
  The CLEAN UP Act will:
  Impose a uniform, government-wide standard for government work, 
distinguishing between the functions which 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.

                          ____________________