Federal Workers Score a Victory

Of 17,595 federal jobs studied in competitions last year, 15,660 jobs, or 89 percent, were found to be best-performed by federal civil servants, the OMB report said. Agencies determined that the work done by 1,935 federal employees could be handled more efficiently by private contractors.

Moreover, agencies transferred work done by 4,309 more federal employees to the private sector without even conducting competitions. Such "direct conversions" are being discouraged and phased out, Johnson said, and were not included in computing the 89 percent win figure for federal employees.

Johnson noted that employees do not automatically lose their jobs when work is moved to the private sector. Some are reassigned within agencies, while others may be offered jobs with contractors and some may be offered buyouts.

"This is not anti-employee," Johnson said of the initiative.

The experience of agencies varied widely, according to the report. The Defense Department, the government's largest, completed competitions involving more than 9,200 positions last year, with 81 percent of the jobs staying in-house. Meanwhile, no competitions were completed at such agencies as the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security, the Smithsonian and OMB.

Several agencies that ran job competitions reported a net loss of money, including the Agriculture Department ($3.6 million), the Social Security Administration ($78,000) and the Environmental Protection Agency ($7,100).

Johnson said such deficits are less likely to happen as agencies gain experience with the process.

"We now have a base of information to continue to discuss this with Congress and with the agencies," he said, "and a base of best practices and worst practices and real solid experience -- as opposed to anecdotes -- to build upon to get even better about it as we go forward. . . . It's a very positive sign for the taxpayers and it's a very positive sign for what the federal employees are capable of doing."