We found some activities that are inherently governmental, said a VA official who asked not to be named. We did a better job of looking at positions the second year around than we did the first year. The official declined to say if VA has plans to outsource any of the commercial jobs, saying the FAIR Act does not require agencies to report their outsourcing plans. Conlin said NASA is not planning to outsource its commercial jobs because they are considered core responsibilities. Of these 603 commercial jobs, only 12 are subject to potential outsourcing, EPA reported.
Secretaries conduct personal services, so their jobs are considered inherently governmental.
In response to industry and labor union concerns about last year s lists, OMB directed agencies to make adjustments in this year s lists, including that they publish job invento-ries on their Web sites to be more accessible, provide more detailed reasons for including and exempting specific jobs on the list, and describe better the jobs on the lists. The changes have not satisfied some. We feel it should be available in a user-friendly, efficient, accessible manner, Starkey said. She said she has difficulty navigating the Web sites to find explanations of why the lists are smaller. Labor groups also criticized the FAIR process, saying it promotes outsourcing at a time when agencies already are short-staffed.