I work as a writer/editor for the federal government. About 2 months ago, I was told that my husband and I will be part of what the government calls “A-76.” What is A-76? I it s a federal policy mandated by the White House to proceed with a study that would compare the cost effectiveness of keeping me on the staff as an editor/writer or whether to hire outside contractors to do my job.
According to the studies that have been made on the financial effect of A-76, it takes 15 years for the government to recover financially from the required procedures, which by the way, will take at least 18 months.
During the next 18 months, I and 50 other employees from my agency, as well as 833 other employees from my department will have to compete for the rights to keep our job. Chances are, the federal government will win the bid, but winning is not really winning. If we win the bid, my position will be downgraded. My salary will be frozen for 2 years (no raises) and if I still don’t find another job, I will lose my pay to a lower grade.
Needless to say, I am looking for another job. My userpic is a small version of a figure I made for my union's newsletter:

What bothers me about the whole thing is that the government (hence, the tax payers) lose. First, there’s the
financial loss that the actual study creates. Second, if the government loses the bid and contractors are hired, then the
government pays higher fees to obtain the contractors, AND the contractors hire workers at a lower salary that a government worker would be earning.
Where’s justice?