“The Congressional Oversight Panel’s October oversight report, Examining Treasury’s Use of Financial Crisis Contracting Authority, found that Treasury’s extensive use of private contractors in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) programs creates significant concerns about transparency and potential conflicts of interest. Although Treasury has taken considerable steps to ensure the appropriate use of private contractors, further improvements can and should be made. Private businesses today perform many of the TARP’s most critical functions, operating under 91 different contracts worth up to $434 million. In fact, the vast majority of people working on the TARP now receive their paychecks from private companies. Fannie Mae alone employs 600 workers on TARP’s foreclosure programs, while Treasury has only 220 staffers working on all TARP programs combined.”