The Limits of Outsourcing

摘要

Vince Gasaway, Air Force deputy chief of competitive sourcing and privatization, did some quick math when he was asked how much money can be saved by opening service jobs to private sector competition. He came up with a dollar figure, but he then thought the better of it and said only that the Air Force would cut the cost of doing that work by at least 25 percent. "If I give you dollar figure," he said, "then the [Pentagon] comptroller will say, 'Where is that in the budget?'" As the remark suggests, there are no easy or safe answers when it comes to the status of Air Force efforts to save money by opening tens of thousands of jobs to commercial competition. At present, USAF comprises 359,000 active duty airmen and 165,500 civilian workers. The stakes are high for the Air Force, which expects to evaluate 51, 500 jobs for possible outsourcing by decade's end. If this move produces monetary savings, the service would be in a position to finance new personnel spaces in areas of Shortage, such as security police, intelligence specialises, and combat controllers.