Every organization has things to get done.
Some things they do themselves. Some things they have others do.
It is often called a “Make or Buy” decision (or a “Do or Hire” decision for services).
The government falls on the “buy” or “hire” side of this equation. The government has others do most of the things that it needs to get done. Those things are done through government contracts…and hence so many contracts…and nearly 500 podcast episodes, and counting, that are dedicated to the topic.
The government outsources a LOT because the FAR (and other regs) allow, encourage (“require”?) the government to outsource services as long as those services are not “inherently governmental.” Inherently Governmental functions are the ones that are so “intimately related to the public interest as to mandate performance by Government employees.” We covered the details of inherently governmental functions in Episodes 195 (What are Inherently Governmental Functions?) and 441 (Why is this Inherently Governmental?).
But what about when there are questions about whether the government should continue to perform services that are already being done by government employees? In other words, how is the decision made to “outsource” the first time? How should/could/would the government decide between “do or hire” in those cases?
It turns out there’s a FAR part for that.
FAR 7.3, Contractor vs Government Performance outlines the application of OMB Circular A-76 that describes how to execute public / private competitions.
The Skyway mission is to Bring Context to Both Sides of GovCon: one situation at a time. We help people work with the FAR we have, the rules we have, the options we have…to get the job done. Given that there is currently a Fog of GovCon around the use of, and mix of, government employees, Kevin and Paul decided it was a good time to outline what’s already in the FAR about this.