TRAC hearing fuels debate over private sector contracting for federal buildings

July 23, 2001—On June 28, 2001, the US House Government Reform Technology and Procurement Policy Subcommittee held a hearing on the “Truthfulness, Responsibility, and Accountability in Contracting” (TRAC) Act. The hearing included testimony from both sides of this issue, including a statement from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which opposes the legislation.

“This measure would override successful federal policy that has been in place for more than thirty years that has drawn upon the valuable expertise and resources of the private sector,” AIA said. “The TRAC Act would hinder the effective design, construction, and restoration of federal government buildings. Under this legislation, private-sector contracts would not be awarded unless there is “extraordinary economic harm” to the government. We believe that this language is inappropriate and unresponsive to the needs of federal agencies.

If passed, the TRAC Act would, among other things:

• Prohibit any federal agency from making a decision to privatize, outsource, contract out, or contract for the performance of a function currently performed by the agency or to conduct a study to convert a function from federal to contractor performance.
• Allow an agency to contract out a function not then performed by federal employees if such function would be performed under contract by the blind or handicapped.
• Require any agency decision to privatize, outsource, or contract out for the performance of a function, after expiration of the prohibition enacted by this Act, to be based on the results of a public-private competition process meeting specified requirements.
• Require an agency either to conduct a new public-private competition or to convert a function to performance by federal employees if a report indicates that: 1) contracting out costs exceed costs of performance by Federal employees; or 2) contracting out fails to meet quality control standards.

For the complete text of the TRAC Act, visit the US Congressional legislation Web site.
     Based on a report from AIA’sANGLE