Special Rights Under the A-76 Program
The A-76 program (“A-76″ refers to the number of the implementing Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular) imposes a long and cumbersome procedure for any government facility that wishes to contract out (i.e., outsource) an activity that employs ten or more civilian government employees. (The average A-76 study takes 23 months.) Language in the Defense Appropriations Act3 provides that a command does not have to go through the A-76 process but may do a direct conversion of that function to a private contractor, regardless of the number of civilian employees, if the command contracts with a firm that is 51% or more Native American owned, so long as the conversion is cost-effective.