The Obama administration's 2011 budget proposal includes three welcome adjustments. First, it makes needed investments in hiring and training toward developing a more capable contracting workforce. And it starts returning to federal employees important contracting support work that had been outsourced, such as cost estimating and bid evaluations.

The Defense Department, for example, will add about 10,000 people to its acquisition staff, and half of those new employees will perform procurement work now done by contractors. The move should help the department better manage its acquisition projects and bolster integrity in the contracting process. Similarly, the General Services Administration will manage a $25 million fund to promote training and development for contracting staffs across government.

The budget also outlines numerous cost-cutting steps — proposed by front-line federal employees — that agencies will take to trim $200 million from their expenses. The figure is minuscule when viewed through the prism of a $3.4 trillion budget, but including these employee-generated measures in the budget — many of which promote eco-friendly practices — is important for creating a workplace culture that broadly embraces working efficiently.

Also, the 2011 budget — unlike this year's — promotes parity in pay raises for military and civilian employees. At 1.4 percent, it would be one of the lowest raises in years, but given the dismal state of the economy and high level of unemployment, it is fair. But if Congress should increase the raise for the military, which it often does, then it should do likewise for civilian employees. The feds received a little less this year than was given to those in uniform; keeping pace in 2011 is a reasonable expectation.