Investigators contracted by the federal government to look into discrimination allegations are doing the job much faster and cheaper than the government's investigators, according to a new report to be released Thursday from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

And the difference is widening. The average cost for a contracted-out investigation dropped by nearly 1 percent between fiscal 2007 and fiscal 2008 to $2,324. The average in-house investigation, however, increased by 12.6 percent and reached $5,352 last year — more than twice as expensive as a contract investigation.

Contract investigators also finished investigations in 165 days on average, while in-house investigators averaged 213 days. Federal agencies completed EEO investigations in 180 days on average last year, up slightly from 176 days in fiscal 2007. This ended a three-year streak in which federal EEO investigations were taking less time.

EEOC said poorly staffed equal employment opportunity offices, unnecessary and time-consuming procedures, and inadequate tracking and monitoring systems may be hindering federal investigators.

Federal employees filed 16,752 complaints alleging discrimination in fiscal 2008, a 2.4 percent increase over the previous year. Agencies also used counseling to try to resolve conflicts before an employee formally filed a complaint 38,898 times last year. That's about 1,000 more than in fiscal 2007, but about 3,500 less than in fiscal 2004.

Federal agencies paid out more than $50 million to resolve complaints in fiscal 2008.

Tell us what you think. E-mail STEPHEN LOSEY.