When firing and hiring are so constrained that managers can’t even view resumes and termination takes years, agencies shift work to contractors. Outsourcing then substitutes for in-house competence and makes performance harder to control and audit. Streamlining civil service rules can reduce this reliance and rebuild state capacity.
— It links personnel rules to state capacity and procurement, reframing contractor growth as a symptom of HR sclerosis rather than pure market choice.
Santi Ruiz
2025.08.21
100% relevant
Judge Glock’s line—“If you make the civil service more stultified, you have to contract stuff out”—and his contrast of federal HR with states’ at‑will and broadbanded pay systems.
Santi Ruiz
2025.07.31
70% relevant
Questions about USAID’s procurement rules (gender/environment/fairness requirements) and contractor concentration map onto the mechanism where rigid internal processes push agencies to outsource, weakening control and innovation.
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