In his confirmation hearing in front the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week, then-OMB Director nominee Peter Orszag (confirmed on Tuesday) made some encouraging remarks about curtailing the use of contractors to perform governmental work.

On other issues, Orszag outlined his plans to promote efficiency and cut waste by, among other things, cracking down on federal procurement programs. He noted that while procurement spending has doubled in recent years to more than $400 billion, the number of government contracting officers has remained steady at 28,000.

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Orszag said he also intends to rein in government's use of outside contractors because this "depleted the capability'" of the federal work force.

This is really great to hear. Unlike the previous administration that outsourced government functions as a matter of dogma, it appears that the Obama Administration intends to rationalize the use the private contractors.