Office of Management and Budget
News Release

OMB Releases Third and Final Group of Year 2000 FAIR Act Inventories
Information Available on OMB Website

Washington, DC, February 13, 2001 -- The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released the third and final group of agency Year 2000 Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act inventories of commercial activities performed by Federal employees. This final group consists of 49 agencies, including the Department of Defense, and covers 1.3 million Federal employees, of whom 552,225 or about 44 percent are designated as commercial. For the year 2000, 115 Federal agencies with approximately 1.7 million employees identified 849,389 as commercial in nature.

To improve the usefulness of the inventories and to improve public access, this year OMB requested agencies to (1) use a standard reporting format, (2) post the inventories to the agency’s website, and (3) place their inventories in the context of the agency’s overall employment and contracting practices. In addition, OMB developed clearer guidance for agencies on how to develop their inventories, including a wider range of employment (function) codes. OMB requires the agencies to describe how they have developed their 1999 and 2000 inventories as part of an Annual Report on Agency Management of Commercial Activities.

To make the entire process more useful and accessible to the public, this year OMB created a "FAIR Act User’s Guide", which is available on its website at /OMB/procurement/index.html. This User’s Guide provides general FAIR Act information and links to the agencies whose FAIR Act inventories have been released, as well as point-of-contact information. (OMB is also making this information available through a notification in the Federal Register.)

OMB Director Mitch Daniels said, " I am pleased to release this information to the public for review, challenge, and appeal under the FAIR Act. It is my sense that the FAIR Act inventory has already become an important management tool to the agencies as they consider the allocation of scarce resources and alternatives in the performance of commercial activities. We believe that government works best when it seeks to do things better, faster, and more economically. OMB completed its review of the Year 2000 inventories during the prior Administration. OMB looks forward to working with the agencies later this year in the development and issuance of the Year 2001 inventories."

The FAIR Act requires that each agency report yearly on the commercial activities performed by Federal employees. After review and consultation with OMB, the agency inventories are made available to the public. Interested parties who disagree with the agency’s initial judgment can challenge the inclusion or the omission of an activity on the list and, if not satisfied with this review, may also demand a higher agency review/appeal.

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