Contracting Issues Arise at DHS, EEOC
Fed Week 7/14/04
 

Meanwhile on the contracting-out front, the House in passing an appropriations bill (HR-4751) covering the Commerce, Justice and State Departments and some smaller agencies included language discouraging the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from setting up a privatized national customer service center and consolidating field offices. The measure would bar the agency from spending any money on those plans until notifying Congress--the type of restriction that often acts to effectively bar an agency's action until getting congressional approval. And the House in passing an appropriations bill (HR-4567) for the Department of Homeland Security barred a study of contracting-out certain immigration officer, contract representative and investigative assistant jobs on grounds that those jobs are inherently governmental.