"Rebalancing" The Federal Workforce

On March 31, 2010, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in OMB issued a proposed policy letter to provide guidance to the Executive Branch regarding when work must be reserved for Federal employees, whether that work is "inherently governmental" (100% of which must be reserved), or "closely associated with governmental functions" and "critical functions" (some portion of which must be reserved). The recently-appointed Administrator of OFPP, Daniel Gordon, made clear at an April 26 ABA meeting that the purpose of the draft guidance is to "rebalance" the Federal government's relationship with contractors, who are, according to Administration, currently filling jobs that should be reserved for Federal employees.