GAO disputes savings reports

The Bush administration’s competitive-sourcing policy took a hard smack from the Government Accountability Office less than three weeks after Office of Management and Budget officials publicized one agency’s success story about saving an estimated $100 million a year from that initiative.

The Agriculture Department’s Forest Service reported savings of $38 million from competitive sourcing based on three public/private job competitions between fiscal 2004 and 2006. However, the agency spent an estimated $40 million on transition costs in 2005 and 2006 to restructure its information technology infrastructure for one of the competitions.

That cost is $5 million more than the $35 million in savings that the agency reported to Congress, according to a GAO report issued Feb. 21.

Read the story: FCW.com News - GAO disputes savings reports