Tuisicaasano nantes rout ear SIME on Congress of the United States i aaaone Surcomret on ROONEEE ‘Mouse of Representatives ‘oumirreon FOREN aera recat September 19, 2016 ‘The Honorable Mac Thomberry ‘The Honorabe John McCain Chairman Chairman House Armed Services Committee Senate Armed Services Committee 2216 Rayburn Building 208 Russell Building ‘Washington, D.C. 20515 ‘Washington, D.C. 20810 ‘The Honorable Adam Smith ‘The Honorabe Jack Reed Ranking Member Ranking Member House Armed Services Committee Senate Armed Services Committee 2216 Rayburn Building 228 Russell Building ‘Washington, D.C, 20515 ‘Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members, ‘Thank you for your continuing efforts to enact a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) {or Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17). As you move into conference deliberations forthe NDAA for FY17, | respectilly ask thatthe Senate recede tothe House position on the following issues: ‘+ Maintaining the Moratorium on A-76 Privatization Studies. A-76 studies proseribe a methodology forthe U.S. government to determine whether job functions should be performed by the public or the private sector. The studies evaluate the 20st savings from privatizing job functions, among other factors. However, reports from the Government ‘Accountability Office (GAO) and from the DoD’s Office ofthe Inspector General have shown the A-76 studies to be unreliable in estimating those savings. Fer that reason, ‘among o*hers, Congress has placed a moratorium on the A-76 studies, ‘The language in the Senate version (Section 806) would lift the moraterum on conducting A-76 privatization studies atthe Department of Defense (DoD). The prohibition on A-76 studies was implemented as part of the FY2010 NDAA. One of the Act's reeuirements for lifting the prohibition is that the DoD submit a eport to Congress. ‘outlining the Department's inventory of service contractors. The DoD has yet not ‘deliverec that report. Congress cannot properly conduct oversight ofthe A-76 studies without a baseline inventory ofthe contractors the DOD is curently using, We cannot and should not lift the prohibition on A-76 studies until that inventory s delivered, Furtherrore iting the moratorium now would send the wrong signalto the DoD and ‘other Federal agencies about the importance of responding to Congressional mandates.‘+ Completing the DoD Service Contractor Inventory. The Senate version of the NDAA- Section 820, in paricular—does away with a requirement tasking the DoD with compiling a service contractor-inventory list In place of that inventory lst, Section 820 requires the DoD have to account for “staff augmentation” contracts. However, few contractors are employed under “staff augmentation” contracts—particulrly when compared to the hundreds of thousands of DoD contractors. tis vital to know how many contractors DoD employs. They oflen serve side-by-side \with DoD's military and civilian personnel, and their companies receive billions of dollars In FY2014, for instance, more than half ofthe DoD acausitions obligation— bout $285 billion went to pay contractors fr services, rather than simply acquisition, Congress must havea fll accounting of DeD contractors in order to oversee that spending ‘+ Protecting DoD’s Per Diem Rates for Long-Term Official Travel: In 2014 the DoD implemented a policy that cut government and military personnel per diem rates for those ‘on temporary duty assignments lasting 31 to 180 days. The policy reduced DoD civilian and military personnel's per diems by 25% for travel of more than 30 days and by 45% for travel of more than 180 days, Cost cutting is meant to reduce inefficiencies and redundancies—not penalize ‘government civil servants and military personnel. The DoD policy has harmed morale, and has negatively affected many businesses catering to the DoD's civilian and military employees. Already, in the House, abill (H.R. 1193) to reverse the DoD’ per diem cuts has received widespread and bipartisan suppor. ‘Thank you for taking my concerns on these important issues into consideration, Sincerely. Yul Caldard)