AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: Jay Gallagher, Democrat & Chronicle (NY), July 26, 2006

ALBANY — Personal information on about 540,000 New Yorkers was known to be missing almost two months before officials of the company responsible for the loss reported the incident, a company spokesman acknowledged Tuesday. ….. The missing information was stored in a computer shipped to Chicago by the Special Funds Conservation Committee, a private agency that works with the state Workers' Compensation Board to provide benefits for workers hurt on the job who have had previous injuries. …… The contract between CS Stars and the Special Funds Conservation Committee wasn't approved by the state comptroller, as are all contracts signed by state agencies, said Jeffrey Gordon, spokesman for Comptroller Alan Hevesi. That's because the committee is a private group, he said, although it had access to data from the publicly run Workers Compensation Board.

Posted by Info Center at 1:24 PM in Information Technology | Permalink

Source: BY JAMES MCNAIR, Cincinnati ENQUIRER (OH), July 24, 2006

Four Ohio state employees who exposed questionable billing practices by a computer consulting firm in 1999 have reached an out-of-court settlement with the company. According to the 11-page settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, CGI-AMS Inc. continues to deny wrongdoing but agreed to pay $1.53 million to bring an end to the 4-year-old lawsuit. The computer vendor was known as American Management Systems when the suit was filed in 2002. It was acquired by CGI Group of Montreal in 2004.

Posted by Info Center at 1:21 PM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union Tribune (CA), July 23, 2006

…… Last year, nearly 19 percent of the county's $4.1 billion budget went to private companies, nonprofits and even other government agencies. Now the city of San Diego, which is plagued by talk of bankruptcy, is looking to save money by outsourcing jobs. Within weeks of taking office in December, Mayor Jerry Sanders formed a panel to figure out which city services could be put out to bid. The City Council agreed to place a “managed competition” proposal on the November ballot, an amendment to the city charter that must be approved by voters.

Posted by Info Center at 1:20 PM in | Permalink

Source: By Tim Evans, Indianapolis Star (IN), July 24, 2006

A $1 billion proposal to privatize the application process for welfare benefits in Indiana now has a favored candidate: a group that includes the most recent past employer of the state's social services chief. Gov. Mitch Daniels recently confirmed that the only group left in negotiations is an IBM-led team of 10 companies that includes Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Systems, which is where Indiana Family and Social Service Administration chief Mitch Roob worked just before joining state government. …… "My concern is not that Mitch Roob will benefit personally," said David Warrick, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 62 and a critic of the privatization plan.

Posted by Info Center at 1:17 PM in Information Technology | Social Services | Permalink

Source: GARY FINEOUT, Miami Herald, July 26, 2006

A company that runs private prisons in Florida is among the handful of donors that have quietly helped bankroll an effort to tout the ''conservative'' credentials of Attorney General Charlie Crist to Republican voters.

........ Recently filed IRS records show that the coalition, a third-party group known as a 527 organization, took in more than $219,000, including $50,000 from The GEO Group, the Boca Raton company that runs two private prisons in the state and is building a third.

Posted by Info Center at 1:12 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: BY CHARLIE FRAGO, Arkansas Democrat & Gazette, Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Providing psychiatric care to prison inmates will no longer be a state job after the Board of Corrections decided Monday to hire a private medical contractor to staff the position. The move came after two psychiatrists gave notice of their resignation recently, leaving the Department of Correction with just three part-time practitioners for about 13, 500 inmates. ....... Monday’s unanimous vote authorizes an expansion of the department’s $ 43 million contract with Correctional Medical Services Inc. by $ 1, 385, 000. The St. Louis-based company is in the third year of a 10-year contract with the Correction Department to provide medical services to inmates.

Posted by Info Center at 1:10 PM in Corrections Health | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: Austin American Statesman (TX), Friday, July 21, 2006

It's too soon to terminate the state's deeply troubled human services contract with the consulting firm Accenture, as a bipartisan group of 60 state lawmakers wants to do. But the experience with Accenture so far suggests that taxpayers ought to grab hold of their wallets the next time politicians and lobbyists start ballyhooing the alleged efficiency of the private sector over a state agency.

Posted by Info Center at 2:15 PM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: BY John Pulley, Federal Computer Week, July 10, 2006

Fallout from the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, particularly the increased scrutiny of federal contractors, could lead to restrictions that will hamper information technology providers seeking to do business with state and local governments, according to a new Federal Sources Inc. report. …… Surveying the IT landscape recently during the firm’s annual State of the States Briefing, Bjorklund said the unpredictability of this fall’s elections presents another challenge for technology vendors operating in state and local IT markets. “If there are programs tied to a particular administration, those are the ones you want to be careful about,” he said.

Posted by Info Center at 2:13 PM in Information Technology | Permalink

Source: Lynn Bonner, Barbara Barrett and Anne Blythe, News Observer (NC), July 21, 2006

The company that had a lucrative state contract taken away last week is suing the Department of Health and Human Services and a state employee for alleged violations of the state Public Records Act. Last week, the state canceled its contract with Affiliated Computer Services, which in 2004 won a $171 million, five-year agreement to build and run the state's Medicaid billing system. The project is behind schedule, and the state and the company fought over deadlines and money.

Posted by Info Center at 2:11 PM in Health | Permalink

Source: Tri City Herald (WA), Thursday, July 20th, 2006

Selling assets to solve a cash-flow problem might bring temporary relief, but it's no way to run a business. It's an even worse way to run a country. …… While some experts believe privatizing roads and bridges is a good way to give a budget boost to the government, something seems instinctively wrong with the practice. It isn't right, or fair, for Americans to pay tolls to foreign companies for the use of roads and bridges they've already paid for with taxes. ….. Someone ought to set out the flares and slow down this scary practice before it zooms out of control.

Posted by Info Center at 2:09 PM in Asset Sale/Lease | Transportation | Permalink

Source: By Tim Archuleta, Albuquerque Tribune (NM), July 20, 2006

Senate President Manny Aragon, who tried for years to kill the state's private-prison deal with Wackenhut Corrections Corp., is now on the prison payroll.…. A prison union representative said Aragon has "betrayed" corrections officers who work at publicly run prisons in the state. "Manny Aragon, in front of me and another (union official), said that privatization would only happen over his dead body," said John LaBombard, a staff representative with the American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees. "He turned his back on his constituents -- those who work in the prisons and in the public sector. We feel betrayed."

Posted by Info Center at 2:08 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Wed, Jul. 19, 2006

Don’t feel bad if you missed the news of a federal report showing public school students did as well or better than private school students in reading and math. That’s just what the Bush administration intended.

....... The report reinforces a 2005 study by University of Illinois researchers with almost identical findings from math test scores posted in 2000. And it should put an end to the commonly held assumption that private schools are superior to public schools.

Posted by Info Center at 10:30 AM in Federal | Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: By MEREDITH KOLODNER, New York Times, July 19, 2006

As the Bush administration gets tougher on illegal immigration and increases its spending on enforcement, some of the biggest beneficiaries may be the companies that have been building and running private prisons around the country.

....... The Corrections Corporation of America and the Geo Group (formerly the Wackenhut Corrections Corporation) — the two biggest prison operators — now house a total of fewer than 20 percent of the immigrants in detention. But along with several smaller companies, they are jockeying for a bigger piece of the growing business.

Posted by Info Center at 10:25 AM in Corrections | Federal | Permalink

Source: BY SARAH OKESON, THE PEORIA JOURNAL STAR (IL), July 19, 2006

.......In other developments, research director Bryan Chumbley said the district will use a dual student assessment program after learning it can't use the system provided by Edison Schools Inc. if it terminates the contract with Edison before the 2008-2009 school year. Half of the non-Edison schools will use a system called "Edusoft," and half will use the Edison model. Chumbley said it will be more difficult to implement both systems, which officials had wanted to have in place before school starts.

....... "We all thought that with the renewal came the free assessment system," said board member Jim Stowell. "I take exception with how they're trying to pigeonhole us into extending the contract." But board member Mary Spangler said she and other board members didn't read the material from Edison carefully enough.

Posted by Info Center at 10:23 AM in Schools K-12 | Permalink

The California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District court has struck down under the state constitution a collective bargaining agreement provision that provided a preference for state employees over private firms for architectural or engineering services for public works projects.

See link for decision

Posted by Info Center at 3:47 PM in Laws/Legislation | Permalink

Source: JASON CLAYWORTH, Des Moines REGISTER (IA), July 17, 2006

Des Moines has followed the leads of other cities and, in small steps, has begun to putt its way out of the golf business. Iowa’s capital city, on average, has lost more than $200,000 a year at its three public golf courses since 2000.

....... The latest agreement was signed last week for Blank Park Golf Course on the city’s south side. It lets a private company, C-Corporation, control almost all hiring decisions, maintenance, major improvements and renovations. City officials earlier this year hired a private company to supply 11 workers at Waveland and Grand View golf courses, which will save taxpayers an estimated $114,000 a year.

Posted by Info Center at 2:41 PM in Parks & Recreation | Permalink

Source: Houston Chronicle, July 17, 2006

Since the Texas Health and Human Services Commission approved an $899 million contract with a consortium led by Bermuda-based Accenture, very little has gone right. The people who've paid for the blunders are the state's poor, particularly children and the elderly.

...... At minimum, HHS officials need to develop much tighter monitoring procedures of the new call centers to guarantee proper handling of applications and eligibility screening. Accenture should be financially penalized for its failure to meet promised service levels and its contract revoked if problems continue.

Posted by Info Center at 2:37 PM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By The Associated Press (IN), Monday July 17, 2006

More than 80 percent of the money spent on state purchases went to in-state vendors, according to a state database — but a newspaper analysis found that not all of those companies were based in Indiana.

A recent “Buy Indiana” report tracking state expenditures on goods and services from July 1, 2005, to June 19, 2006, classified the University of Cincinnati and the University of Utah as in-state vendors, The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette found.

...... Gov. Mitch Daniels made increasing state procurement from Indiana companies a plank of his 2004 campaign. Published reports at the time said at least 15 percent of the professional services and 40 percent of the goods bought by the state were from out-of-state companies. ...... But the state has changed the definition of what constitutes an Indiana business. ...... last year, Daniels and the General Assembly expanded the definition to include any business that makes significant capital investments in Indiana or has a substantial positive economic effect in the state.

Posted by Info Center at 2:33 PM in Audits/Reporting | Websites/databases | Permalink

Source: By Scott Mobley, Record Searchlight (CA), July 16, 2006

Redding will likely push ahead Tuesday with plans to tap a private, for-profit firm to run the new main library and its two branches. The Shasta Library Foundation and other core booster groups support privatizing management, saying the move will expand operating hours and catapult the long-suffering library system into the 21st-century vanguard of customer-driven book lending. ....... The City Council on Tuesday almost certainly will direct staffers to negotiate a contract with Library Systems and Services LLC (LSSI). ...... LSSI would realize the bulk of these savings by offering employees less expensive benefits and 401(k) retirement plans rather than the far more costly and generous public pensions library employees currently receive.

Posted by Info Center at 2:29 PM in Library | Permalink

Source: By M. William Salganik, Baltimore Sun, July 14, 2006

....... Working at her kitchen table, she and two partners, all pharmacists, put together a business plan for Correct Rx Pharmacy Services, a name chosen to represent both accuracy in filling orders and a target market of correctional facilities.

...... In the beginning, "We focused most of our marketing on the correctional market," she said. Correct Rx's largest customer, and one of its first, is the GEO Group Inc., a private company that manages and provides medical services to prisons. GEO manages prisons in 16 states with some 43,000 beds.

Posted by Info Center at 10:29 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: Bill Sloat, Plain Dealer (OH), Thursday, July 13, 2006

Cincinnati- Four state whistleblowers will split a $232,000 settlement from a welfare-reform contractor that they said billed Ohio at excessive rates and received payments for work it was never hired to perform. Some of that work included preparing data for one of Gov. Bob Taft's State of the State speeches, their lawyer said Wednesday. …… They sued American Management Systems Inc., which got nearly $120 million in state consulting contracts. Court records show the company negotiated a deal with the whistleblowers and Justice Department lawyers.

Posted by Info Center at 10:34 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Will Dunham, Reuters, Wed Jul 12, 2006 6:37 PM ET

The U.S. Army said on Wednesday it will end a Halliburton Co. unit's multibillion-dollar contract to provide logistical support to soldiers in Iraq and other parts of the globe, and will rebid the contract later this year. ...... KBR has gotten orders worth $17.1 billion since the start of the contract, including about $15.4 billion in Iraq, according to Army figures. "The termination of Halliburton's contract is long overdue. Taxpayers can breathe easier knowing that the days of $45 cases of soda and $100 bags of laundry are coming to a close," said Rep. Henry Waxman, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Government Reform Committee.

Posted by Info Center at 10:29 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By SARITHA RAI, New York Times, July 11, 2006

BANGALORE, India, July 10 — A decision by the Indian government to halt all sales of stakes in state-owned companies could crush investors’ interest as it raises fear that a larger program of economic change will be bogged down in politics. ...... Privatization had come virtually to a standstill, as opposition rose from regional allies and workers’ unions.

Posted by Info Center at 10:20 AM in | Permalink

Source: By LIZ AUSTIN, The Associated Press (TX), July 13, 2006

AUSTIN - Sixty state representatives asked the Health and Human Services Commission on Wednesday to fire the contractor in charge of processing applications for Texas' low-cost insurance program for children and running the state's new benefits eligibility system. The letter, written by Republican Rep. Pat Haggerty of El Paso, urges Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins to cancel the state's contract with Accenture and rebuild the community-based benefits system.

Posted by Info Center at 9:57 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: Liz Bowie, Baltimore Sun (MD), July 13, 2006

Three Baltimore elementary schools taken over by the state six years ago have seen a significant drop in test scores this year, and at least one might not meet federal No Child Left Behind standards. ...... The three schools are run by Edison Schools Inc., a for-profit company chosen in 2000 by state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick and the state school board.

Posted by Info Center at 9:54 AM in Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: Tampa Tribune (FL), Jul 8, 2006

The rat's nest of corruption at the state Department of Corrections will cast a shadow over Gov. Jeb Bush's legacy, and not just because his former prisons chief and a colleague this week admitted taking more than $135,000 in kickbacks. ...... What's more troubling than the governor's bad hire is the seeming lack of oversight over prisons, particularly the outsourcing of services where the kickbacks occurred. Sadly, this revelation is not surprising. In his quest to privatize government, Bush has failed to institute controls that hold people accountable.

Posted by Info Center at 2:37 PM in Corrections | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: Darren A. Nichols, The Detroit News (MI), July 7, 2006

REDFORD TOWNSHIP -- The township has privatized its assessing department, hoping to save about $100,000 annually. The township board hired Wayne County Appraisal to a three-year contract last week worth $265,000. ..... Last year, the township privatized its ice arena as a cost-cutting measure. Revenue since 1998 had dropped more than $175,000, A private firm also runs the Glenhurst Golf Course. Both moves have "saved us losing hundreds of thousands of dollars," Handy said.

Posted by Info Center at 2:34 PM in | Permalink

Source: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (WA), Friday, July 7, 2006 · Last updated 12:00 p.m. PT

SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Community Colleges of Spokane engaged in unfair labor practices by hiring private workers for some jobs and making it difficult for union members to get information needed for negotiations, a state labor panel has found.

On June 30, the Public Employment Relations Commission ordered the colleges to stop subcontracting out several jobs and to stop "obstructing" union requests for information. "I think it's a strong statement that the state at all levels needs to negotiate about contracting out" labor, said Tim Welch, director of public affairs for the Washington Federation of State Employees.

Posted by Info Center at 2:27 PM in Higher Education | Maintenance | Permalink

Source: By STACY A. ANDERSON, Wall Street Journal (subscription req.), July 11, 2006

Companies may be tapping the brakes in the race to outsource information-technology. A survey by DiamondCluster International Inc., a Chicago-based management-consulting firm, found that 64% of the buyers of offshore outsourcing services and 50% of buyers of onshore services planned to increase their use of such services in the next 12 months, a much lower figure than in previous years. Last year, 74% of the survey respondents said they planned to increase their outsourcing overall.

Posted by Info Center at 1:13 PM in Information Technology | Offshore | Permalink

Source: y Steve Terrell, The New Mexican, July 11, 2006

A Florida-based private prison company that does tens of millions of dollars worth of business with the state has become a big player in the world of New Mexico's campaign contributions. The GEO Group, formerly known as Wackenhut, has dropped since 2002 more than $79,000 on politicians running for state office here. The biggest beneficiary is Gov. Bill Richardson, who has collected $42,750 from the company since 2005.

Posted by Info Center at 1:08 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: The Associated Press (WV), Tuesday July 11, 2006

As a way to save money, the state of West Virginia is looking at whether to hire the world's largest private prison company to run its two mental hospitals. The proposal by Florida-based GEO Group, formerly known as The Wackenhut Corp., is not being well received by a union official and at least one legislator, who fear the quality of care might suffer and jobs could be lost.

Posted by Info Center at 1:07 PM in Corrections | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: Associated Press, Thu, Jul. 06, 2006

HONOLULU - Hawaii's inmates housed on the mainland will be consolidated into two prisons in Arizona under newly signed contracts with a private prisons company. The state will send more than 2,500 inmates to the prisons run by Corrections Corp. of America at a cost of over $50 million a year.

Posted by Info Center at 10:12 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: BY MICHAEL ROTHFELD, Newsday (NY), July 5, 2006

Nassau officials are investigating an accusation that a consultant hired to assist the county on a multimillion-dollar technology project has an inappropriate financial and business relationship with one of the bidders selected as a finalist to win a contract. County officials said the relationship between Accenture, a large global consulting company, and Workbrain, a software provider, was raised in May by Comptroller Howard Weitzman, whose office received a tip.

..... Peter Soh, a spokesman for Accenture, said its financial interest in Workbrain is negligible.

..... The county hired Accenture for $600,000 in May 2005 to help it purchase a computerized human resources management system.

Posted by Info Center at 10:05 AM in Human Resources | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: KEN KUSMER, Associated Press, July 05. 2006 6:59AM

INDIANAPOLIS -- Federal reviews of documents and other factors will delay -- possibly for months -- the state's plan to outsource the application process for food stamps, Medicaid and other government safety-net programs. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration originally hoped to turn over the application process to private vendors with the start of the new state fiscal year this month.

Posted by Info Center at 10:04 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: by Jeff Clabaugh and Ben Hammer, Washington Business Journal - 2:43 PM EDT Monday, July 3, 2006

Maximus will take a $10 million charge in the fiscal third quarter because of a lawsuit it recently settled. The Reston-based company, which runs various programs for state and local governments, completed the settlement June 30. It didn't provide details of the size of the settlement or with whom it settled the case. Maximus (NYSE: MMS) officials weren't available for comment.

The suit, which was filed on behalf of Solarcom and Fleet Business Credit, accused the company of fraudulent guarantees of computer equipment leases signed by two former employees. The plaintiffs sued for damages of approximately $17.0 million.

Posted by Info Center at 10:02 AM in Information Technology | Permalink