Contractor paid to cut contracts / But state agency questions savings found by firm
Source: By PATRICK MARLEY, Journal Sentinel (WI), Mar. 20, 2006
Madison - The state is paying nearly $265,000 a month to a consulting firm to tell officials how to cut contracting costs, but at least one state agency doubts the program will save it much money. The Department of Administration says the $7.7 million deal with Silver Oak Solutions will produce up to $127 million in savings through mid-2009 by identifying contracts that can be consolidated and products that can be purchased in bulk. But a Department of Transportation review of the program found the projected savings for computer contracts at the DOT are dramatically inflated. The administration says the DOT will save $2.25 million through mid-2007, but the DOT says the savings will be just 5.7% of that, or $127,130, according to a DOT memo obtained through the state's open records law. ........A review of state records and other documents also shows:
• Three of the five people on the committee that selected Silver Oak Solutions were political appointees. The three were Frank-Reece; Karen Timberlake, the state employment relations director; and Jan Hamik, who was then the administrative services administrator. Doyle has said contracting decisions are made by career state employees rather than political appointees. When he canceled the Adelman Travel contract, he barred political appointees from sitting on review committees in the future.
• Silver Oak was purchased by CGI-AMS in September 2005. That firm is responsible for a $27.6 million state computer system to track sales tax collections. Reports have shown the system has never worked properly, leading to counties and other taxing authorities not getting their fair share of the taxes.
Related editorial from the Capital Times: Editorial: Contracting out causes trouble