Myth: The government has outsourced government services on a “wholesale” basis and relies more heavily on contractors than in any period in the past.

The Facts:
As the government’s missions have grown in scope and complexity its workforce size and capabilities have not kept pace, and the role of contractors has clearly grown. Indeed, 9/11 dramatically changed our country and had a profound impact on the federal government’s spending on goods and services, especially in the area of homeland security.  Even beyond these obvious areas, the extraordinary pace of change in processes, skills and technology that drive all aspects of management, coupled with the global competition for talent that is in short supply, has caused the government to increasingly go where the technology and skills principally reside—the private sector. And that, more than any political ideology or proposal, has driven the growth in the role of contractors in government.

That said, it is a myth to assert that we have witnessed a “wholesale privatization” or outsourcing of the government.  In fact, even as the role of contractors has grown, so too has the overall discretionary budget of the US—almost 75 percent since 9/11.  As a proportion of that total spending, service contracting has grown only slightly faster, from 21 percent to 25 percent of the total discretionary budget.
 
As the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and others have said, the growing role of contractors in government is a reality that requires the government to focus more directly on whether it has the right balance of contractors and government personnel, and whether it has the management structures and capabilities in place to evaluate, award and oversee work being performed by contractors.  Revitalizing the acquisition workforce is a critical element of meeting that challenge and should be among the government’s highest priorities.

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