March 2006 Archives

Source: By ADAM WILSON, THE OLYMPIAN, March 27, 2006

The state and the Washington Federation of State Employees are going to the mat over contracting out government jobs, the first wrestling matches over how the state will use its new authority to go to the private sector. The largest state worker union has filed five unfair labor practice complaints and five appeals of proposed contracting out rules, hoping to restrain the state’s ability to go to the private sector for contracted workers. ..... The Personnel System Reform Act of 2002 was intended by legislators to make three major changes to state employment. It allowed unions to bargain for wages and pay, the first contracts for which went into effect in July. It also did away with the old Civil Service rules and gave agency managers more decision-­making power The final piece — which business interests have been skeptical would ever be used — allows state agencies to contract with private companies to do their work.

Source: By April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News (CO), March 31, 2006

Colorado senators backed two key measures Thursday that are aimed at stepping up oversight of multimillion-dollar state contracts. The unanimous passage of Senate Bills 63 and 64 came a day after state auditors told lawmakers that they found haphazard management of contracts awarded to private vendors. ..... Tech's SB 63 requires the state to train managers to oversee computer projects worth more than $5 million, and to hire consultants with such expertise. The companion measure by Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, would put in place tougher vendor-performance standards. It would require state agencies to closely monitor contracts over $500,000 and would create a centralized database to track vendors' work. It also would require state agencies to disclose how and why a particular vendor was selected. State agencies also would have to include performance measures and standards in all contracts and present periodic progress reports to the Legislative Council.

By April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News, March 30, 2006

Audits performed over the past two years have found a consistent lack of state oversight of multimillion-dollar contracts awarded to private vendors, state officials said Wednesday. Deputy State Auditor Cindi Stetson said performance audits found that nearly half of 44 contracts awarded by various state agencies were haphazardly managed. As a result, the state has potentially spent millions of dollars on contractors who have failed to fully deliver. ..... A series of audits in 2004 and 2005 found that agencies failed to comply with state purchasing guidelines and rules; found a number of contracts that were unsigned; found contracts that failed to include a maximum payout; and found contracts that failed to include monetary penalties if a contractor failed to perform or deliver goods or service as promised.

Source: Frida Berrigan, Mother Jones, March 30, 2006

...... "Privatization" has been in the news ever since George W. Bush became president. His administration has radically reduced the size of government, turning over to private companies critical governmental functions involving prisons, schools, water, welfare, Medicare, and utilities as well as war-fighting, and is always pushing for more of the same. . ........ Now, the long arm of privatization is reaching deep into an almost unimaginable place at the heart of the national security apparatus --- the laboratory where scientists learned to harness the power of the atom more than 60 years ago and created weapons of apocalyptic proportions. ..... At Los Alamos, the University of California has already been replaced by a "limited liability corporation," says Tyler Przybylek of the Department of Energy's Evaluation Board; and, more generally, the writing is on the containment wall.

Source: By Alice Lipowicz, Washington Technology, 03/29/06

Most states offshore at least a portion of the IT work needed to operate federal human services programs for food stamps, child support enforcement, family assistance programs and unemployment insurance, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. The GAO found that “some work is performed offshore in the majority of states” for the four state-administered federal aid programs it reviewed—child support enforcement, food stamps, temporary assistance for needy families and unemployment insurance. Offshoring occurred in one or more programs in 43 of 50 states and the District of Columbia, most frequently in the food stamp and temporary assistance programs, the GAO said.
..... Two states—New Jersey and Arizona—have prohibited offshoring in state contracts, GAO said.

Source: By MILT FREUDENHEIM, New York Times, March 31, 2006

Critics who say the private insurance industry got too big a role in the new Medicare prescription drug program may not know the half of it. For patients, the program's rollout has had mixed reviews, with many happy customers but more than a few tales of woe. But for many big insurers, the new Medicare program is shaping up as a great opportunity. And prescription drugs may be only a starting point. So far, about 18 million Americans are participating in the new drug program, known as Medicare Part D. If things play out the way some big insurers hope, the drug program could prove to be a feeder system into a much greater private presence in Medicare — a longstanding goal of the Bush administration.

Source: By MARY DALRYMPLE, Associated Press, Wednesday, Mar. 29, 2006 - 9:19 PM

The nation's chief tax collector said Wednesday that using private agencies to collect debts under a new program will cost more than hiring additional agents to do the job. But IRS Commissioner Mark Everson also said it's a necessary part of Washington's budget battles. ..... The private agencies will get 22 to 24 percent of the tax money they collect, Everson told lawmakers on the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the IRS budget.

Source: Tennessean, March 12, 2006

A group representing state employees vowed to try to kill proposed legislation to remove a layer of oversight for a private prison contractor in Tennessee. Zoyle Jones, president of the Tennessee State Employee Association, said yesterday that the bill is a step toward "widespread prison privatization" in the state. The bill advanced by a Senate committee Tuesday would eliminate a mid-contract comparison of a prison run by Corrections Corporation of America with two run by the state Department of Corrections.

Source: By Jeff Cull & Amy Williams, News Press (FL), March 26, 2006

When the Florida Legislature handed off child welfare to community-based groups in 2000 — a move designed to privatize the state system that cares for abused and neglected children — it was expected local nonprofit groups would replace the beleaguered state agency. That hasn't always happened.

Providence Service Corporation, a publicly traded Arizona company, owns or manages three companies that have garnered more than $120 million in state child welfare contracts in at least 11 of Florida's 22 child welfare districts. One of its partners, Camelot Community Care, a nonprofit child social-service provider in Florida and five other states, has a nearly $100 million contract to provide child welfare in Southwest Florida, taking over responsibility from the Florida Department of Children & Families.

...... Privatizing Florida's child welfare system began in 1996 when the Legislature directed DCF to establish pilot projects in four districts through contracts with community-based agencies. Even though three of those pilot projects failed, the state continued with its plan to move all foster care, adoption and child protection services into the hands of private nonprofit agencies.

Source: by Jenna Portnoy, City Paper (Philadelphia), March 30, 2006

…… While the city boasts that outsourcing would save millions, quell environmental concerns and eliminate noxious odors, employees counter that it would cost taxpayers more money, hurt the environment and address a harmless odor. Most of plant's 100 workers would also have to learn new jobs somewhere else within the city, but "it's not just about our jobs," says one of several longtime employees who did not want their names printed for fear of retribution. "It's about a waste of millions and millions of taxpayer dollars." ….. Underlying this debate is workers' concern that they have been excluded from plans. In a February letter to Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, Andrew Bond, the AFSCME District Council 33 agent who represents most BRC employees, declared, "We are confident that there are viable alternatives that will help the Philadelphia Water Department reach its goals of cost and odor control."