To require the Government Accountability Office to conduct an audit of the competitive sourcing programs of the Forest Service.

SA 1043. Mr. DORGAN (for Mr. Feingold) proposed an amendment to the
bill H.R. 2361, making appropriations for the Department of the
Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending
September 30, 2006, and for other purposes; as follows:

On page 249, line 19, before the period, insert the
following: ``conducted in accordance with generally accepted
full cost accounting principles''.

On page 250, between lines 23 and 24, insert the following:
(e) Audit.--(1) In this subsection:
(A) The term ``baseline organization'' means the
organization performing the work to be studied prior to
initiation of a competitive sourcing study under this
section.
(B) The term ``new organization'' means the private
contractor, or the most efficient public agency, and
associated management and oversight functions used at the
conclusion of a competitive sourcing study under this
section.
(2) Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall
conduct an audit of the competitive sourcing program of the
Forest Service.
(3) The audit shall include--
(A) an analysis of the costs and benefits of the
competitive sourcing initiative conducted by the Forest
Service;
(B) an analysis of existing procedures to track (in
accordance with full cost accounting principles) all costs
required to calculate accurate savings or losses attributable
to a competitive sourcing study, and recommendations on how
the existing procedures can be improved, including all costs
attributable to developing, implementing, supporting,
managing, monitoring, and reporting on competitive sourcing
(including personnel, consultant, travel, and training costs
associated with program management), including--
(i) costs incurred by the Forest Service before initiation
of the competitive sourcing study in performing the work to
be studied with the baseline organization;
(ii) costs of performing the competitive sourcing study,
including--
(I) travel and per diem costs;
(II) training and communications costs;
(III) contractor costs; and
(IV) the cost to the Federal Government of Federal
employees working on any aspect of the study or performing
any work necessitated by the study;
(iii) costs of implementing the competitive sourcing study
results, including costs described in clause (ii) and costs
associated with buyouts, transfers of station, and reductions
in force;
(iv) ongoing operational costs of performing the work with
the new organization employed as a result of competitive
sourcing study, including any modifications to the contract
or letter of obligation necessitated by omissions in the
statement of work of the solicitation;
(v) costs associated with oversight and maintenance of the
contract or letter of obligation;
(vi) savings realized or costs borne by the Forest Service
that are not included under clause (iv), including savings or
costs due to--
(I) changes in the timeliness or quality of the work
provided by the new organization;
(II) changes in procedures of the Forest Service
necessitated by the new organization;
(III) the assignment to employees or contractors outside of
the new organization of duties previously performed by the
baseline organization; and
(IV) changes in the availability of personnel to perform
high priority fire suppression or other emergency response
work on a collateral basis; and
(vii) costs of maintaining and operating a competitive
sourcing infrastructure, including office, salary,
contractor, and travel costs associated with the Forest
Service Competitive Sourcing Office and the cost to the
Federal Government of Federal employees for the time for
which the employees are managing the program;
(C) recommendations on what accounting practices should be
adopted by the Forest Service to improve accountability;
(D) an evaluation of the comparative efficiencies of the
Forest Service competitive sourcing and business process
reengineering procedures; and
(E) an analysis of--
(i) the A-76 study that resulted in the information
services organization and the continuing Federal Government
activity;
(ii) the A-76 study of Region 5 fleet maintenance work that
resulted in the transfer of work to Serco; and
(iii) the financial management improvement project,
accomplished by means of business process reengineering.
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