Offshoring in human services?

In a study released March 28, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined offshoring in four federally-funded, state-administered programs: child support enforcement, food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and unemployment insurance; and two federally-administered student aid programs: Pell Grant and Federal Family Education Loan. GAO found offshoring in 43 of 50 states, primarily in customer service for food stamps and TANF, and software development for unemployment insurance and child support enforcement; and no offshoring in the student aid programs. State officials report lower costs as a benefit, but offshore expenditures in the four programs appear to be relatively small. GAO also reported that state agencies rarely contract directly with foreign companies, but in outsourcing, their U.S. contractors subcontract work in foreign countries. (Hawaii reported offshoring in its food stamp program.)

See FR post on revised report issued May 25, 2006.

Links to the six programs in the report:

Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (CSE)
State CSE web sites
Food Stamp Program
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Unemployment Insurance
Pell Grant
Federal Family Education Loan

OFFSHORING IN SIX HUMAN SERVICE PROGRAMS: Offshoring Occurs in Most States, Primarily in Customer Service and Software Development, GAO-06-342
     Full report (pdf, 628KB, 45p.)
     Highlights (pdf, 80KB, 1p.)
     Abstract (html)

Related GAO report:
Offshoring of Services: An Overview of the Issues, GAO-06-5 (pdf, 3.2MB, 87p.), Nov. 28, 2005