From the Federal Times: Federal employees will be able to protest before the Government Accountability Office or federal appeals court competitive sourcing decisions if the conference report on the fiscal 2005 Defense authorization bill the House and Senate agreed to on Oct. 7 is signed into law, as expected. Unions lobbied for the provision, but an association that represents contractors said it is unfair and will unnecessarily extend the competitive sourcing process. “Individual contractor employees can’t file protests if their company loses a competition,” said Stan Soloway, president of the Professional Services Council, an Arlington, Va.-based organization of federal services contractors. “Why should it be different for federal employees? Employees will file left and right and nothing will ever get decided.” Soloway said the provision will discourage companies from competing for federal work. “Employees already win more than 80 percent of the competitions. Why should companies spend the money and effort to compete when there are so many obstacles?” Soloway said. So why do federal worker win so often? Are they just top-notch performers? Not exactly. Reason’s Geoffrey Segal explains in this (pdf) Privatization Watch article.