Sourcing, e-gov targeted in Army Corps budget

House Report 109-086 - ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2006

The House voted this week to cut back funding for competitive sourcing and e-government in the Army Corps of Engineers.

In approving the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill on May 24, House lawmakers supported a reduction in the Corps' budget that assumes the agency will spend $2 million less on competitive sourcing and $500,000 less on e-government during the next fiscal year. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water has yet to mark up its version for full floor consideration.

The restricting language is included in the House bill's accompanying report, which did not state the reasons behind the reductions. The Corps is in the middle of preparing to release a competitive sourcing request for proposals (RFP) for its entire domestic U.S. information technology support function. Two draft performance work statements have already been released and the RFP is slated for release by June.

Presidential officials have in response released a statement of administration policy stating it opposes the two funding reductions. Both efforts are part of the President’s Management Agenda, an executive branch effort to streamline government operations.