There are also some 2.5 million people who receive government grants for such tasks as constructing sewage treatment plants and conducting research at universities, he said. It's on the budget but hidden from view. Bobby Harnage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 600,000 federal workers, charged that privatization does not save money. Contracting out costs more. They can't do it any better.
Nobody does it better than federal employees.
Robert Lieberman, the Pentagon's deputy inspector general, said he has no problem with the growth in contracting itself. But he has concerns about the quality of government oversight of contracts. But they could provide engineering support to technical decision-makers. That's where the national security implication might come in. A February 2000 audit that Lieberman oversaw found weaknesses in the procurement of everything from shoes to weapons, he said.