There is already a hiring freeze in the DoD.
Bring Federal-Employee Pay in Line with Private Jobs ($32 billion per year)
The average is heavily skewed upwards because most that is cost-of-living (i.e., housing) expenses associated with the DC area. Contractor pay is obscene in the DC area--should we cut that?. Would you be in favor of adjusting those gov't salaries to match the private industry when the economy takes off again (think late 1990s). Historically, gov't salaries were always lower than industry and it was a trade-off between stability (gov't) or higher pay (industry). The economy is just in a jacked-up place right now.
Reduce Federal-Employee Travel by 25 Percent ($2.25 billion per year)
There is currently a travel freeze in the DoD. Many conferences have already been canceled and the travel/hotel/airlines industry are getting hammered. Most contractors lack the ability to discuss classified information over the telephone or VTC; how do you want to handle this?
Focus Military Research on Military Needs ($6 billion per year)
Define research. What level of development? R&D is historically the smallest portion of the acquisition budget (~10%). Most of the money is spent on the operational phase of a weapon system.
Require Competitive Bidding for Government Contracts ($19 billion per year) The vast majority of weapons systems and contracts are competitive and not sole source and can have up to hundreds of subcontractors. There are pass-through limitations and small business participation quotas on just about every contract.
For what. Understand, every job on USA jobs are budgeted for. There are over 8,000 government jobs. Let’s say the average salary for those 8,000 jobs is 50,000 dollars.
If you eliminated every job, that’s a 400 million savings. Defund the EPA, department of education and combine several agencies. Several billion more in savings.
Finally, everyone earning up to 50,000 a year, a flat 10% tax. They need skin in the game.
Allow contractors to work directly for FedGov and eliminate the middleman. Rates would fall 50% overnight. When I contracted for FEDGOV Accenture LLC was billing me at $200/hr and paying me a salary of $70/hr thereby pocketing $140/hr for little old me.