Letter to the editor
Bureaucratus' appraisal of uncounted/unaccountable government contractors
is dead on ["Accounting for contractors," Federal Computer Week, May 15, 2000.]
I have noted a particularly galling specimen. In many instances, government
workers retire with "buyouts," then return to what is essentially their
former position, but they are hired for it as a "temporary" employee.
Agencies cloak that practice under such subterfuges as CASUs [Cooperative
Administrative Support Units], a growing practice. Using this method, the
agency hires a "contract employee" through a "temporary" staffing company.
Of course, augmenting staff this way is not confined to retirees. My
term for it is "stealth staffing." No agency, to my knowledge, publishes
an accounting of their "stealth staffs."
Name withheld upon request
Alexandria, Va.