Joseph Wassmann thought he had a secure position producing videos
for the U.S. Military Academy, but not long ago he found his job on
the line because of a Bush administration plan to inject more
efficiency into the federal bureaucracy.
Wassmann, 40, was among a group of information management
employees at West Point who had to prove that they could do their
jobs better and more cheaply than a private contractor. If they
could not, they were told, the work would be outsourced. It was all
part of President Bush's government-wide plan to reduce costs by
inviting contractors to bid on about 425,000 federal jobs that could
be considered "commercial" in nature.
The West Point competition dragged ...