Hybrid Workforces Complicate Outsourcing Reforms

The most interesting issues are raised by proposals to bring significant elements of “staff augmentation” contracting in-house. The contracting that is most problematic involves work that is ongoing — not a temporary, surge requirement of the kind ripe for contracting — and often involves similar skills and activities as civil servants', and frequently at the same location. The National Academy of Public Administration and the Government Accountability Office, among other watchful observers, are concerned about the blended workforce that outsourcing creates in those situations.