DHS improving on outsourcing

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is one of only two federal agencies that are improving efforts to outsource government jobs to the private sector.

A quarterly scorecard released this week by the White House Office of Management and Budget assesses the progress federal agencies and departments are making in competitive sourcing -- a presidential initiative that requires them to list jobs that could be done by private sector contractors and open some of them to bids.

The scorecard, for the third quarter of fiscal year 2007, which ended June 30, gives agencies stop-light-style ratings for their performance on the competitive sourcing issue and four other initiatives that are part of the president's management agenda: red for "unsatisfactory," yellow for "mixed results" and green for "success."

Five agencies' assessments declined one or two steps, and only the Department of Homeland Security improved: moving from red to yellow. Nine of the 26 agencies graded remained at green.