Administration puts its stamp on ‘inherently governmental’

April 1, 2010 at 8:43 am | Posted in Remote Sensing Law Current Events | Leave a comment

by Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz with the blog faculty

Editor’s note: This post relates to the U.S. National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive and a National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive Policy White Paper submitted to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior by the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive Advisory Committee

Source: Government Executive

By Robert Brodsky

This story has been updated.

After years of ambiguity over which jobs are inappropriate for outsourcing, the Obama administration has settled on a single government wide definition for inherently governmental functions.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy issued a proposed policy memo to agencies on Wednesday instructing them to use the definition of “inherently governmental” in the 1998 Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act. The FAIR Act classifies an activity as inherently governmental when it is so intimately related to the public interest that it must be performed by federal employees. The OFPP memo directs agencies to disregard changes to the definition when it was revised in 2003 under OMB Circular A-76. The notice also instructs officials to avoid an overreliance on contractors for functions that are “closely associated with inherently governmental” or that are “critical” for the agency’s mission. Agencies with more than 100 employees would be required to develop new procedures and training and to designate a senior official accountable for implementing the changes.

“The proposed guidance is built around the general principle that the more critical a function is, the greater the need for internal capability to maintain control of the agency’s mission and operations,” wrote OFPP Administrator Daniel Gordon in the letter. “This is most obviously the case where the function is critical to achievement of the agency’s core mission, but even for functions that may not be viewed as critical, such as functions that are not directly involved in performing the core mission, the agency may determine that the function is, nonetheless, sensitive enough as to require that many, most, or, in some situations, all positions be filled by federal employees.” More…