With President Bush?EUR??,,????'???s release of his FY 2004 budget plan, in which he targets 850,000 federal jobs for outsourcing, federal employees are fearing for their job security and their futures, according to he Organization of Professional Employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture?EUR??,,????'???s (OPEDA) April 2003 newsletter. The process, called ?EUR??,,????'??competitive outsourcing,?EUR??,,????'?? is when certain federal agencies classify certain federal jobs as ?EUR??,,????'??commercial.?EUR??,,????'?? These jobs then have the potential to be completed by the private sector instead of by government employees. Competitive outsourcing stems from the Office of Management and Budget?EUR??,,????'???s (OMB) Circular A-76 of the Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act (FAIR) of 1998. A-76 requires federal agencies to annually inventory their mission activities that they currently do that are commercial in nature. The process does, however, offer the opportunity for parties to challenge the FAIR reports. Yet the OPEDA newsletter reports that many people, including 135 members of the House of Representatives, are concerned about the possible privatization that could result from this act. The OPEDA letter also states that 35 senators expressed to OMB director Mitch Daniels that outsourcing ?EUR??,,????'??would favor contractors, limit federal employees?EUR??,,????'??? ability to compete for jobs and adversely affect federal agencies while raising questions of accountability.?EUR??,,????'?? More recently, the 135 House of Representative members wrote Daniels, ?EUR??,,????'??We are concerned that the OMB?EUR??,,????'???s controversial revision of Circular A-76 will undermine public-private competition. Many jobs will be lost without an opportunity for federal employees to compete and demonstrate greater efficiency.?EUR??,,????'?? Their letter further urged that Daniels ?EUR??,,????'??prevent the privatization of the work performed by federal employees without the use of a fair, cost-based public private competition process. According to OPEDA, the General Accounting Office (GAO) expressed concern that A-76 is more interested in doing lower-cost work that better-quality work. Consequently, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that in 2000, the median income for a private Landscape Architect was $43,540 annually. The median income for a government Landscape Architect was 31% higher, at $62,824 annually.