41 U.S.C. § 1710: Public-private competition required before conversion to contractor performance

formally compares the cost of performance of the function by agency civilian employees with the cost of performance by a contractor; creates an agency tender, including a most efficient organization plan, in accordance with Office of Management and Budget Circular A76, as implemented on May 29, 2003 , or any successor circular; includes the issuance of a solicitation; determines whether the submitted offers meet the needs of the executive agency with respect to factors other than cost, including quality, reliability, and timeliness; the estimated cost to the Federal Government (based on offers received) for performance of the function by a contractor; the estimated cost to the Federal Government for performance of the function by agency civilian employees; and an estimate of all other costs and expenditures that the Federal Government would incur because of the award of the contract; 10 percent of the personnel-related costs for performance of that function in the agency tender; or $10,000,000; and examines the effect of performance of the function by a contractor on the agency mission associated with the performance of the function. A function that is performed by the executive agency and is reengineered, reorganized, modernized, upgraded, expanded, or changed to become more efficient, but still essentially provides the same service, shall not be considered a new requirement. modified, reorganized, divided, or in any way changed for the purpose of exempting the conversion of the function from the requirements of this section; or converted to performance by a contractor to circumvent a civilian personnel ceiling. shall, at least monthly during the development and preparation of the performance work statement and the management efficiency study used in making that determination, consult with civilian employees who will be affected by that determination and consider the views of the employees on the development and preparation of that statement and that study; and may consult with the employees on other matters relating to that determination. In the case of employees represented by a labor organization accorded exclusive recognition under section 7111 of title 5 , consultation with representatives of that labor organization shall satisfy the consultation requirement in paragraph (1). In the case of employees other than employees referred to in subparagraph (A), consultation with appropriate representatives of those employees shall satisfy the consultation requirement in paragraph (1). The head of each executive agency shall prescribe regulations to carry out this subsection. The regulations shall include provisions for the selection or designation of appropriate representatives of employees referred to in paragraph (2)(B) for purposes of consultation required by paragraph (1). The function for which the public-private competition is to be conducted. The location at which the function is performed by agency civilian employees. The number of agency civilian employee positions potentially affected. The anticipated length and cost of the public-private competition, and a specific identification of the budgetary line item from which funds will be used to cover the cost of the public-private competition. A certification that a proposed performance of the function by a contractor is not a result of a decision by an official of an executive agency to impose predetermined constraints or limitations on agency civilian employees in terms of man years, end strengths, full-time equivalent positions, or maximum number of employees. agency civilian employees who would be affected by such a conversion in performance; and the local community and the Federal Government, if more than 50 agency civilian employees perform the function. the report required by paragraph (1) has not been submitted; or the certification required by paragraph (1)(E) was not included in the report required by paragraph (1). In the case of a failure to submit the report when required, the date on which the representative individual or an official of the representative entity authorized to pose the objection first knew or should have known of that failure. In the case of a failure to include the certification in a submitted report, the date on which the report was submitted to Congress. If the head of the executive agency determines that the report required by paragraph (1) was not submitted or that the required certification was not included in the submitted report, the function for which the public-private competition was conducted for which the objection was submitted may not be the subject of a solicitation of offers for, or award of, a contract until, respectively, the report is submitted or a report containing the certification in full compliance with the certification requirement is submitted. included on the procurement list established pursuant to section 8503 of this title ; or planned to be changed to performance by a qualified nonprofit agency for the blind or by a qualified nonprofit agency for other severely disabled people in accordance with chapter 85 of this title. The provisions of this section shall not apply during war or during a period of national emergency declared by the President or Congress.