Overview
This section prescribes the conditions under which agencies may contract with temporary help service firms for short-term staffing needs while ensuring these arrangements do not circumvent civil service laws.
Key Rules
- Permissible Use: Contracts are allowed only for the "brief or intermittent" use of private sector temporary skills.
- Non-Personal Services: Services provided by temporary help firms must not be treated as personal services (i.e., no direct supervision by government employees that creates an employer-employee relationship).
- Prohibitions: These services cannot be used to displace current Federal employees or serve as a substitute for regular recruitment under civil service laws.
- Regulatory Compliance: Acquisitions must adhere to the requirements of 5 CFR Part 300, Subpart E, as well as specific agency-level procedures.
Practical Implications
- Contracting officers must strictly monitor the duration and nature of these contracts to ensure they remain "temporary" and do not evolve into long-term staffing solutions that bypass formal hiring processes.
- Agencies must maintain a clear distinction between the contractor's management of its employees and the government's oversight of the contract deliverables to avoid "de facto" personal services.