After reviewing the lists, OMB is required to submit them to Congress and make them publicly available. The FAIR Act allows interested parties to challenge the inclusion or exclusion of jobs on the list. Under the FAIR Act, over one million federal jobs have been identified as commercial in nature. The FAA identified over 7,700 jobs as commercial in nature in 1999, and 7,345 jobs in 2000. The FAIR Act does not require that jobs listed be privatized.
Agencies determine which commercial activities to open to outside competition.
The OMB Circular sets guidelines for agencies in determining which activities can lawfully be contracted out, and establishes mandatory procedures and standards that must be met in order to justify contracting out by the federal government to a private commercial enterprise. Inherently governmental functions are not to be contracted out. The Circular characterizes an inherently governmental function as being so intimately related to the public interest as to mandate performance by Government employees. These functions include those activities which require either the exercise of discretion in applying Government authority or the use of value judgment in making decisions for the Government. As a candidate, President Bush proposed to reduce federal management ranks by 40,000, to contract 450,000 federal jobs to the private sector, and to mandate A-76 competitions for half of the positions listed on the FAIR inventories.