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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 01/04
Lifting the Winner’s Curse and Avoiding Buyer’s Remorse: Lessons from HR Outsourcing Experiences
June 25, 2003
Introduction
As the title of this forum suggests, both the government and contractors can lose when outsourcing does not work. At the same time, the prevailing view expressed by the panelists was that outsourcing presents a promising opportunity for the public and private sectors to improve performance and minimize costs.
The panelists saw government and contractors, which often have acted as adversaries in the past, moving toward "partnership" and "networking" to accomplish the more efficient delivery of public services. This process is particularly relevant in enabling DHS to get up and running in such critical areas as protecting air travelers and preventing terrorist entry via land or sea.
When Congress set an ambitious deadline for screening all baggage at the nation’s airports, TSA felt it had to outsource the task. Although mistakes were made in the rush, 65,000 airport baggage screeners and administrative personnel were recruited, screened, hired, and trained within six months. In addition, TSA has relied heavily on contractors to establish and service its information technology needs.
Well before the events of September 11, outsourcing, which takes several forms, was being embraced by government at all levels. Academy Fellow Paul Light estimates that for every federal civilian employee, there are more than three times as many contract personnel performing functions in support of government.
Outsourcing concepts go far beyond subcontracting discrete functions like picking up trash, maintaining buildings, or providing food service. They involve an ongoing business partnership between government and the private sector to perform major functions for government agencies. This is relevant to DHS since it must evaluate the existing human resources capabilities of the 22 agencies it is absorbing and identify areas where outsourcing is the most effective option for fulfilling its mission.
