AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: California State Auditor/Bureau of State Audits Summary of Report 2006-114 - October 2006

The California Children and Families Commission (state commission) contracts with media and public relations companies to conduct mass media campaigns related to various issues involving early childhood development and school readiness. We found a number of problems with the way it awards and manages these contracts. For example, the state commission allowed one of its media contractors to circumvent the payment provisions of a contract by paying invoices totaling $673,000 between February 2002 and December 2003 for fees and expenses of some of the contractor's employees. These payments violated the terms of the contract, which stated that payment was to be based solely on commissions applied to the cost of advertising placed by the contractor and prohibited the charging of other services or fees. As a result, the state commission paid for services it had not contracted for, effectively preventing that money from being used to further the other activities allowed by the contract, namely purchasing printed ad space or broadcast media time.

Posted by Info Center at 1:16 PM in Horror Stories | Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: GAO-06-1065, September 29, 2006

In 2005, the inventory of tax debt with collection potential had grown to $132 billion. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has not pursued some tax debt because of limited resources and higher priorities. Congress has authorized IRS to contract with private collection agencies (PCA) to help collect tax debts. IRS has developed a Private Debt Collection (PDC) program to start with a limited implementation in September 2006 and fuller implementation in January 2008. As requested, GAO is reporting whether (1) IRS addressed critical success factors before limited implementation, (2) IRS will assess lessons learned before fuller implementation, and (3) IRS's planned study will help determine if using PCAs is the best use of federal funds.

Posted by Info Center at 1:14 PM in Federal | Tax Collection | Permalink

Source: By Don Thompson, ASSOCIATED PRESS (CA), Tue, Oct. 31, 2006

Two state employee unions sued Monday to block Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to ship more than 2,000 inmates to other states to ease crowding in the nation's largest state prison system. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation signed contracts this month to use private prisons in four states to house 2,260 medium-security inmates at a cost estimated at $51 million a year.

Posted by Info Center at 11:49 AM in Corrections | Laws/Legislation | Permalink

Source: KEN KUSMER, Associated Press (IN), October 31, 2006

The state is on course to privatize by Jan. 1 the system of determining who's eligible for the food stamps, Medicaid and welfare received by one in six Indiana residents. ….. FSSA officials have said for months that they were negotiating with a single team of contractors led by IBM Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob has said the contract would be worth about $1 billion over 10 years. ………..The potential deal has come under scrutiny because of problems that other states have had with similar contracts, and Gov. Mitch Daniels named a team of top aides from outside FSSA to review the need for outsourcing the services. …… "The administration continues to push through this privatization scheme when they have yet to show any social or financial benefits from it," said David Patterson, a spokesman for council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Posted by Info Center at 11:48 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By ASHLEY COOK, The Lufkin Daily News (TX), Thursday, October 26, 2006

The Angelina County food stamp office has added 14 temporary employees to skirt a mismanaged private call center application process until problems can be addressed when the legislature returns to session in January, state Rep. Jim McReynolds, D-Lufkin, said Thursday. New applicants to the food stamp program have been waiting between 18 and 40 days for eligibility, getting by on short-term emergency stamps and donations, overburdening local charities, according to Linda Smelley, executive director of the Christian Information and Service Center, the county's largest food bank.

....... Mishandling by the commission and a private contractor dragging its feet means Texas may lose millions in federal food stamp dollars, according to a press release by Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn Wednesday.

Posted by Info Center at 11:46 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: Palm Beach Post Editorial (FL), Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Floridians who thought Gov. Bush was on to something when he touted privatization as the cure-all for government's ills know better now after seven years of disappointing results. When it comes to disappointment, no private contractor has been worse than Prison Health Services.

Posted by Info Center at 11:33 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By NATALIA E. ARBULÚ, The Republican (MA), Tuesday, October 31, 2006

SPRINGFIELD - A top official for Sodexho School Services, which runs the school district's food services program, has called a local union's charges of unfair labor practices against the company a stalling tactic. Sodexho has questioned the legality of an Oct. 2 vote of 82 to 12 where employees chose the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1459 as their union.

...... But Daniel P. Clifford, secretary and treasurer of Local 1459, said Sodexho was the first to stall the process by not recognizing the union.

...... Sodexho has hired employees at hourly wages that are lower than what they would have received under a contract with the city. These wages are subject to negotiation.

Posted by Info Center at 11:24 AM in Food Services | Permalink

Source: By Steve Raabe, Denver Post (CO), 10/30/2006 11:21:22 PM MST

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment expects to report by January whether it can salvage any of a nonworking $39 million computer system. A report issued Monday by the Colorado Legislative Audit Committee says the state Labor Department will determine by January if parts of the system can be saved or if it will have to start from scratch to create a new method for tracking unemployment taxes and jobless benefits. The Labor Department last year terminated its contract with Accenture LLP after state officials said two key components of Accenture's new computer system didn't work.

Posted by Info Center at 11:17 AM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By Bill Cotterell, Tallahassee Democrat (FL), October 27, 2006

Backed by two women whose secret ''whistleblower'' lawsuit exposed the transfer of state employee personnel data to a computer processing company in India, the Democratic nominee for attorney general said Thursday that privatization of state personnel services has posed ''a clear and present danger'' of identity theft.

State Sen. Walter ''Skip'' Campbell said terrorists might even find use for personal information contained in more than 100,000 files that were indexed by a Denver company, GDXData, in the ''People First'' personnel system.

..... Newcomer said the lawsuit against GDXData is ''in the final investigative part'' determining to expand the case to include Convergys.

Posted by Info Center at 3:46 PM in Horror Stories | Human Resources | Offshore | Permalink

Source: By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN, Palm Beach Post (FL), Friday, October 27, 2006

The state has rejected the only private company that bid on the Palm Beach Regional Juvenile Detention Center. Blackhawk Inc., a security company based in Maryland, will not get the deal and the Department of Juvenile Justice plans to offer the contract again in an attempt to attract more offers.

Related editorial from the Palm Beach Post: End more than contract

....... Having learned that private companies want the job only if they can make more money under lowered standards, the department should can its privatization effort.

Posted by Info Center at 3:41 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Dallas Business Journal, 5:01 PM CDT Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn on Wednesday recommended the state terminate its contract with Accenture Ltd., a private company hired to administer health and human services to low-income residents. Strayhorn said she conducted the review into Bermuda-based Accenture's $900 million contract at the request of Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso; Rep. Carter Casteel, R- New Braunfels; and Rep. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio.

Posted by Info Center at 11:39 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Melissa Harris, Baltimore Sun, October 26, 2006

Diebold Election Systems shipped Maryland flawed electronic voting machines that were used in the 2004 election, then quietly replaced the malfunctioning components last year, documents and interviews show. Gilles W. Burger, chairman of the State Board of Elections, said this week that he and fellow members were initially told that Diebold was performing a "technical refresher" of the voting machines during July and August last year. He later learned that the refresher was really the repair of a flaw discovered by Diebold about three years earlier but not disclosed to him and other board members. …… The consequences of the last-minute security upgrades were clear in a March 26, 2004, e-mail from another consultant to Lamone. "This put SBE [State Board of Elections] into a position to deal with a last-minute fire drill, taking their time and attention from election operations at a critical period just prior to the election," wrote consultant Michael E. Curtis of Accenture. "Not to mention the risk that the state could have been in a situation to abandon the use of the equipment at the last minute."

Posted by Info Center at 11:38 AM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: Scott Stephens, Plain Dealer (OH), Thursday, October 26, 2006

The state's network of publicly funded, privately operated charter schools is constitutional, a sharply split Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The 4-3 ruling was a big win for charter school operators and removes the uncertainty that dogged the state's 305 charter schools and the 72,000 students who attend them.

Posted by Info Center at 11:36 AM in Laws/Legislation | Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: By JAMES GLANZ, New York Times, October 25, 2006

Overhead costs have consumed more than half the budget of some reconstruction projects in Iraq, according to a government estimate released yesterday, leaving far less money than expected to provide the oil, water and electricity needed to improve the lives of Iraqis. The report (.pdf) provided the first official estimate that, in some cases, more money was being spent on housing and feeding employees, completing paperwork and providing security than on actual construction.

Related editorial from the New York Times: Editorial: Money Down the Drain in Iraq

Posted by Info Center at 11:33 AM in Federal | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By KAREN VOYLES, Gainesville Sun (FL), Oct 24, 2006

Florida's prison chief is giving another chance - and another $58 million - to a company that is bailing out of a health care contract for a quarter of the state's inmates. Prison Health Services of Tennessee signed a 10-year, $644.8 million contract earlier this year, promising to provide health care for inmates in Region IV - southernmost Florida - of the Department of Corrections. Over the summer, the company announced it would pull out of the deal in November after 10 months, claiming the contract "underperformed financially."

Posted by Info Center at 11:42 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Andy Furillo, Sacramento Bee (CA), Saturday, October 21, 2006

The first transfers of California inmates to private, out-of-state prisons are scheduled to take place next month under two no-bid contracts the overstuffed Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation signed Friday. Under the deals worked out with the GEO Group and the Corrections Corporation of America, the state will move 2,260 inmates out of its jampacked prisons over the next 120 days to private institutions in Indiana, Arizona, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Posted by Info Center at 11:44 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: By Eric M. Weiss, Washington Post, Monday, October 23, 2006

A privately backed plan to build express toll lanes on the Virginia portion of the Capital Beltway, which was promoted as a way to ease traffic without using taxpayer money, has become so expensive that the firms behind the project could require more than $100 million in public funds to make it work, according to state transportation officials. ……. Virginia and Maryland leaders have been counting on privately funded highways as a quick, cheap way to ease congestion when there is little public money to build big projects. Now the changes in the Beltway plan, as well as delays in a similar project on Interstates 95 and 395, have politicians and transportation officials wary. "I think it demonstrates the risks involved in seeing privatization as a panacea," said Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

Posted by Info Center at 11:42 AM in Horror Stories | Transportation | Permalink

Source: By Renae Merle and Griff Witte, Washington Post, Monday, October 23, 2006

…… At a time when federal spending is slowing , state and local governments -- flush with cash from rising property-tax revenue and a generally healthy national economy -- are an increasingly juicy target for government contractors. Many have flocked to the state and local market after years on the sidelines, following the money being poured into information-technology projects ranging from humdrum computer system upgrades to innovative wireless networks. Spending by state and local governments on such projects is projected to reach $54.96 billion in 2008, up from $44.24 billion last year, according to Gartner Inc., a research firm.

Posted by Info Center at 11:41 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By KAREN RICHARDSON, Wall Street Journal (subscription req.), October 21, 2006

........ Using his knowledge as a public official, he helped companies bid for municipal contracts. Two big-name clients were M.R. Beal & Co., a minority-owned New York investment bank, and Waste Management Inc., a giant garbage-hauling company based in Houston.

Municipal contracting has expanded rapidly in recent years as cities turned to private companies to provide basic services. Last year municipalities issued $408 billion in bonds to pay for filling potholes, laying sewers, wiring street lights and picking up trash -- nearly double the sum of a decade earlier. It is a business notorious for corruption, in part because of the clubby nature of city governments.

Posted by Info Center at 11:33 AM in Transportation | Waste Management | Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: YaSHEKIA SMALLS, South Bend Tribune (IN), October 20. 2006 6:59AM

BUCHANAN -- Two startup petitions and "No Outsourcing" fliers and T-shirts are in place in Buchanan, where community residents are challenging the Buchanan Community Schools Board of Education's move to explore privatization. More than 70 Buchanan residents and school employees -- who call themselves the Concerned Citizens of Buchanan -- showed up at an informal meeting of the minds Tuesday night to address ways to combat the idea -- a possibility they claim neglects the value of school safety and security.

Posted by Info Center at 9:57 AM in Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: By Beth Musgrave, HERALD-LEADER (KY), Thu, Oct. 19, 2006

The state's top auditor is calling for an overhaul of laws that exempt about $1 billion of state contracts from strict oversight. State Auditor Crit Luallen, in a third and final report on the state's contracting laws, said the state's privatization statute is ineffective. Almost all privatization contracts are exempt from strict scrutiny, meaning thousands of contracts to private vendors do not have to go through a cost-benefit analysis before a deal is signed.

.......To illustrate her point, Luallen cited the state's handling of contracts at the Communities at Oakwood, the Somerset home for the mentally handicapped. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which oversees Oakwood, entered into a contract that eventually totaled $17 million for Liberty Healthcare, a private Pennsylvania company, to provide management and staff at Oakwood last year. But those contracts were not covered under the privatization law because the Liberty contract did not call for the replacement of more than 10 state workers.

Instead, Liberty replaced state workers as they left.

Kentucky Auditor press release: State Auditor Crit Luallen Releases Assessment of Kentucky’s Privatization Efforts

Report: Assessment of Kentucky's Privatization Efforts (.pdf), October 2006

Posted by Info Center at 11:29 AM in Laws/Legislation | Oversight/Contract Management | Permalink

Source: By EVAN McLAUGHLIN, Voice of San Diego, October 19, 2006

For a clue of how Mayor Jerry Sanders' proposal to allow private businesses to compete for city jobs might work, look to Indianapolis. About 2,000 miles away and with a population about half the size of San Diego, Indianapolis is being held up as a shining example of why voters should -- or shouldn't -- vote for Proposition C in the Nov. 7.

...... Indianapolis now contracts out its information technology, golf courses, wastewater treatment, some of its trash collection and snow-plowing services, and its airport operations.

In addition, some city employees in the heartland city beat out their private-sector competitors when it came time to put the services to bid, downsizing their own operations in the process.

Posted by Info Center at 11:12 AM in Information Technology | Parks & Recreation | Waste Management | Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: By ASSOCIATED PRESS (NM), October 18, 2006

The work of a Virginia contractor that installed New Mexico's problem-plagued payroll and accounting computer system is being reviewed by state officials. The state confirmed Tuesday that the review is focusing on the work of Maximus Inc., which beat out three other firms to win the contract for the new payroll and accounting system in early 2005. ….. Payments to thousands of jurors statewide were delayed because of the system, and workers at more than three dozen state agencies have lodged complaints since the system went online in July. …….. Maximus employees are so busy running the system that they can't train state workers how to take over, said Anthony Armijo of the state Department of Finance and Administration. He said the state is hiring contractors to train workers on the system.

Posted by Info Center at 11:08 AM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: by Dallas Frey, Indiana Daily Student, Thursday, October 19, 2006

Current staffers of two University services could be jobless or under new management as early as the 2007-2008 academic year. Last Friday, University administrators issued a request for proposals about the management of the IU motor pool, IU Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Terry Clapacs said. The request invites companies to make a bid to run the service. Many IU employees still oppose the idea of outsourcing. ….. Dallas Murphy, an IU employee of 27 years and president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 832, said the threat of additional outsourcing is clearly growing. "Our rank and file are very concerned," Murphy said.

Posted by Info Center at 9:52 AM in Higher Education | Permalink

Source: Janna Goerdt, Duluth News Tribune (MN), Thursday, October 19, 2006

..... Duluth Parks and Recreation Director Carl Seehus predicted this week that the city-owned and operated courses could earn between $50,000 and $60,000 this year.

....... The profits resulted in part from favorable summer weather that led to higher-than-normal turnout. Another factor, Seehus said, is the continued effects of a 2005 “restructuring” of golf course management. The city dropped a golf manager position that paid $50,000 to $100,000.

Other city-owned golf courses in northern Minnesota rely on profitable bar and restaurant businesses, private management companies, land sales and continual loans from city governments to stay afloat.

Posted by Info Center at 9:49 AM in Parks & Recreation | Permalink

Source: BY CHARLES THOMPSON, The Patriot-News (PA), Wednesday, October 18, 2006

No slow toll collections. Special overnight rates for trucks. Time-of-day pricing to encourage motorists to drive other than during rush hours. All are some of the measures in use on privately managed highways around America. Within the next week or so, an Altoona lawmaker will introduce legislation he sees as the first step toward coaxing more of those efficiencies in Pennsylvania while filling a transportation funding gap.

Posted by Info Center at 10:03 AM in Laws/Legislation | Transportation | Permalink

Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution (GA), October 15, 2006

The city of Sandy Springs can add one more city employee to its roster—yes, that would bring the grand total to five. On Tuesday, the city will consider changing its finance director position from one who is controlled by private company CH2M Hill-OMI to one controlled by the city.

The change comes on the heels of new North Fulton cities Johns Creek and Milton stealing several city and private company employees from Sandy Springs. Some were hired by the new cities outright, others transferred by CH2M Hill to work for the new cities.

Related article from the Journal Constitution: Top Sandy Springs staff lured away

Posted by Info Center at 10:03 AM in Contract Cities | Permalink

Source: MidHudsonNews.com (NY), Oct 14-15, 2006

Middletown – As the city works through the early stages of building a new water treatment plant at a cost of roughly $15 million, one alderman Friday called for the city to sell all of its water assets.

Alderman Raymond DePew said Middletown could make hundreds of millions of dollars if it sold everything – its reservoirs, water treatment plant, pipes – to a private company to operate.

Posted by Info Center at 10:00 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: BY JOHN WISELY, Detroit FREE PRESS (MI), October 13, 2006

After decades of squabbling between Detroit and its suburbs over water rates, a court-appointed lawyer has been looking into a possible solution that is sure to stir controversy: the prospect of the city selling off the third-largest water system in the country. …… No formal recommendations are expected until spring. But any talk of selling off the system, privatizing it or putting it under the control of a regional authority is certain to generate heated debate.

Posted by Info Center at 11:51 AM in Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: BY RICK HEPP, Star-Ledger (NJ), Friday, October 13, 2006

Under a deal between state and federal authorities, New Jersey will rely on existing county voter registration rolls for the Nov. 7 election after determining a new statewide computer system could threaten the integrity of the vote. ……. The state contracted Covansys Corporation in March 2005 to develop, install and implement the statewide system. Covansys subcontracted the work to PCC Technology Group, which failed to meet specifications and was removed from the project last January.

Posted by Info Center at 11:44 AM in Information Technology | Permalink

Source: DAVE UMHOEFER, Journal Sentinel (WI), Oct. 13, 2006

In the first test of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's privatization proposals, a key County Board committee on Thursday sided with retaining county employees for courthouse security screening and housekeeping. The Finance Committee voted unanimously to delete Walker's plan to privatize more than 70 positions. .........

The vote came after testimony from union leaders and workers who questioned whether private companies would provide the same quality of service as county employees who run courthouse visitors through metal detectors at public entrances and clean county facilities.

Posted by Info Center at 11:37 AM in Custodial | Public Safety | Victories | Permalink

Source: The Associated Press (OK), October 12, 2006

HINTON, Okla. — The Oklahoma Department of Corrections will have to make other arrangements for about 800 inmates who are being evicted from a private prison, officials said Wednesday. Cornell Corrections, the private company that runs the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton, has given the state 180 days to find new housing for the prisoners, spokesman Jerry Massie said.

.........State Corrections Director Justin Jones said last week the Hinton prison had been negotiating a better deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, who offered a better rate. "You're dealing with a private business here, and they are in it to make money and answer to shareholders," Jones said. "Our mission is public safety, and the ideologies don't always line up."

Posted by Info Center at 11:16 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: MICHAEL J. O'BRIEN, president of the Connecticut State Employees Association 2001 SEIU Local 2001, Hartford Courant (CT), October 12 2006

A year ago, our union released a report, titled "Highway Robbery," (.pdf) detailing the abuses of contracting out inspection and design work to consulting engineers by the state Department of Transportation. This report detailed the DOT's practice of wholesale contracting-out of inspection and design work, wasting at least $7 million a year and lessening accountability for state designs, construction and inspections of roadways and bridges.

Posted by Info Center at 10:06 AM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: BY JOHN DORSCHNER, Miami Herald (FL), October 12, 2006

In a major shake-up of South Florida's healthcare industry, two financially troubled, for-profit hospitals in Miami-Dade and South Broward will become government-owned facilities aimed at serving the poor and the ever-growing number of uninsured. Jackson Health System announced that its board approved Wednesday the purchase of Parkway Regional Medical Center in North Miami Beach for $35 million from Tenet Healthcare, a national chain.

Posted by Info Center at 10:05 AM in Health | Publicization | Permalink

Source: BY NIALA BOODHOO, Miami Herald (FL), Thu, Sep. 28, 2006

Florida International University to move contract janitorial jobs in-house. Janitors at Florida International University will be eligible for salary increases of almost 50 percent and access to healthcare under a new plan to bring the janitorial staff positions back in-house, the state university said Wednesday.

The union that organized janitors at University of Miami, the Service Employees International Union, had been campaigning for similar representation on behalf of the 133 workers at FIU who were contract workers for the university.

Posted by Info Center at 3:20 PM in Custodial | Publicization | Permalink

Source: By EDWARD SIEGER, The Express-Times (PA), Wednesday, October 11, 206

EASTON | The city will settle a lawsuit with its former water plant operator over disputed fees because the city for eight years never challenged those costs, according to the city solicitor. City council is expected to approve a settlement tonight with United Water Contract Services LLC that pays the firm $171,250.

...... Public Works Director David Hopkins said the city argued it did not owe United Water as much as the company claimed. While United sought payment for overages, it did not credit the city for expenses that came in under budget, he said.

Posted by Info Center at 3:12 PM in Water & Sewer | Permalink

This website, created by OMB Watch, is a free, searchable database of federal government spending. To begin searching, select either the Grants or Contracts tab at the top left side of this page. You can easily switch back and forth as you search.

Posted by Info Center at 2:28 PM in Audits/Reporting | Federal | Websites/databases | Permalink

Source: By AETNA SMITH, Jackson Sun (TN), October 5, 2006

At the end of an often contentious Jackson-Madison County Library Board meeting and amidst opposition from several audience members, the board signed a contract Wednesday with a private company to manage library operations.

Library Systems and Services LLC (LSSI), based in Maryland, and the Library Board will enter into the contract effective Monday, and management services will commence Nov. 1, according to a draft obtained by The Jackson Sun.

........ The contract signed Wednesday notes that if the appeals court finds the board does not have authority to privatize, the board will have the right to terminate the agreement with LSSI.

Posted by Info Center at 11:13 AM in Library | Permalink

Source: Manny Gonzales, Denver Post (CO), October 4, 2006

Female workers at a private prison in Crowley County were sexually harassed and then given dangerous assignments as retaliation for raising objections to their treatment, according to an EEOC lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver.

....... The lawsuit names the prison's current owner, Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corp. of America, one of the largest private-prison companies in the nation, and the previous owner, Edmond, Okla.-based Dominion Correctional Services, which owned the facility between December 2000 and January 2003.

Posted by Info Center at 2:21 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: By Joe Wessels, Cincinnati Post (OH), Tuesday, October 3, 2006

Some City Council members see a recent audit of street sweepers in the city as an opportunity to call again for managed competition.

...... Crowley cited the fact that the private company now cleaning streets in the central business district - Contract Sweepers and Equipment Inc. - came in with a bid for the rest of the city more than $200 per curb mile swept higher than the city workers bid. "I think that is a clear indication that they didn't want anything to do with that," he said, another reason city employees are key to getting the tough jobs done.

Posted by Info Center at 11:52 AM in Street Maintenance | Permalink

Source: GAO-06-750, August 30, 2006

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a component within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is responsible for overseeing the Medicare and Medicaid programs--the nation's largest health insurance programs--which benefit about one in every four Americans. CMS relies on a contractor-owned and operated network to facilitate communication and data transmission among CMS business related entities. Effective information security controls are essential to protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of this sensitive information.

....... CMS did not always ensure that its contractor effectively implemented electronic access controls designed to prevent, limit, and detect unauthorized access to sensitive computing resources and devices used to support the communication network.

Posted by Info Center at 11:38 AM in Federal | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By Jason Szep, Boston Globe, September 29, 2006

BOSTON (Reuters) - Private tutors are a luxury many American families cannot afford, costing anywhere between $25 to $100 an hour. But California mother Denise Robison found one online for $2.50 an hour -- in India.

"It's made the biggest difference. My daughter is literally at the top of every single one of her classes and she has never done that before," said Robison, a single mother from Modesto. Her 13-year-old daughter, Taylor, is one of 1,100 Americans enrolled in Bangalore-based TutorVista, which launched U.S. services last November with a staff of 150 "e-tutors" mostly in India with a fee of $100 a month for unlimited hours.

Posted by Info Center at 10:40 AM in Offshore | Permalink