Base Operating Support: Why Not Just Implement the A-76 Plans?

After reading “A Month In The Life: Oct 2006 US Base Operating Support Contracts“, a DID reader writes: “You need to take an in-depth look at the A-76 process going on in DoD… While the government’s civil service people have won the last five AF competitions with their “Most Efficient Organization” (MEO) bids, it’s still unsettling to be under one of these competitions. [But] A senior DoD official, at the last DoD A-76 meeting, had the best idea of all: Noting that DoD had directed organizations to develop their MEO plans in case of A-76 competitions, he wondered why DoD didn’t simply tell the services to implement their MEOs and quit screwing around with soliciting bids from contractors [DID: excellent question]. Doing so would free up thousands of military personnel for the worldwide operational commands to use, would cut manpower needs (you can replace three uniformed people with two civilians, as a basic rule, because one of the three will always be involved in strictly military-related duties at any one time) with concommitant reductions in logistical overhead costs, and would actually improve the civilian hiring situation (Even with replacing 3 with 2, there will still be many, many new jobs […]