George Voinovich: “I would just like to clarify something for my colleagues in the Senate. First of all, the A-76 old rule was considered…”

“I would just like to clarify something for my colleagues in the Senate. First of all, the A-76 old rule was considered to be broken. Congress recognized the problem, and they established a Commercial Activities Panel as part of the 2001 Defense Authorization Act. The panel was convened specifically to consider revisions to the A-76 competition. It was led by Comptroller David Walker, the head of the General Accounting Office. Now, there have been some allegations here that the circular that was put out by the Bush administration was not reflective of the panel's decision. First of all, the recommendations coming from the panel were either agreed to unanimously or by a supermajority of the public and private representatives. I will say, in all candor, I correct my earlier statements. They were not supported by Bob Tobias. They were not supported by Colleen Kelley. And they were not supported by Bobby Harnage. So let's clarify that. The union representatives did not like it that much. So the question is, Is the new A-76 better than the old one that the Senators from Maryland want us to adopt? As I noted earlier, the A-76, the new regulation, quoting David Walker: . . . is generally consistent with the commercial activities panel's sourcing principles and recommendations and, as such, provides improved and foundation for competitive sourcing decisions in the Federal Government.”