AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: By MARK McDONALD, Philadelphia News (PA), Thu, Nov. 30, 2006

Drive across the Platt Bridge and you can smell the problem issuing from the tons and tons of composting sewage sludge at the city's Biosolids Recycling Center. To solve its odor problem and to save money, arguably millions of dollars over a 20-year time frame, the Street administration is proposing the biggest privatization of a city function in a decade. …… But AFSCME District Council 33, which represents the city employees, has engaged in a vigorous lobbying campaign against the outsourcing plan. The Street administration had hoped to have Synagro in place by July 1, but instead the union has kept the package of bills bottled up in City Council.

Posted by Info Center at 2:22 PM in Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: By Tim Evanstim, Indianapolis Star, November 30, 2006

Safeguards built into a $1.16 billion privatization contract should spare Hoosiers applying for welfare programs from problems that plagued similar projects in Florida and Texas, state officials say. Gov. Mitch Daniels announced Wednesday that he will move ahead with the controversial project, which would change the way nearly one in six state residents apply for assistance programs, and hopes to sign a contract with a business group headed by IBM next month.

Related articles: Indianapolis Star:FSSA employees - Workers contemplate their futures
Associated Press: IBM dangles list of incentives to deal

Posted by Info Center at 2:19 PM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Griff Witte, Washington Post, Thursday, November 30, 2006

A Halliburton subsidiary agreed to pay the government $8 million to resolve accusations of overbilling related to the firm's work for the Army in the Balkans, the Justice Department said yesterday.

Posted by Info Center at 2:18 PM in Federal | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By Philip Marcelo, Providence Journal (RI), Thursday, November 30, 2006

Eight municipalities in northern Rhode Island have lost their fight not to cover a $1.6-million debt left when a state and federally financed job-training program went belly up more than eight years ago. ……. The council, which at one point had as many as 40 employees working out of its three offices in Lincoln, Pawtucket, and Woonsocket, hired contractors to run job and computer training sessions for hundreds of people looking to break into the customer-service, hospitality, food, and other industries. But the managers of the council overspent the $3 million in federal and state money that kept the organization afloat, because, they say, they relied on flawed auditing reports by KPMG Peat Marwick, the accounting firm hired to formulate the annual budgets. ……… The state shut the operation down in 1998 after a $200,000 budget shortfall was discovered. That led to the full-blown investigation of the company’s finances that disclosed a bigger financial mess. ….. But when the debtors came looking for their money, council officials pointed to the municipalities that benefited from the organization’s services to foot the bill.

Posted by Info Center at 2:09 PM in Horror Stories | Job Training | Permalink

Source: By Bill Jones, AFSCME Illinois On The Move November/December 2006 #103
“Crossing-Guards Left Standing at the Curb,” the local newspaper headlines read on Wednesday, Sept. 27, after an emergency Personnel Committee meeting to consider an agreement between the city and the local school district.
The Intergovernmental Agreement would have given the school district responsibility for all school crossing guards, meaning that three positions covered under our labor agreement, which expires December 2008, would be terminated from the city. The positions have been in AFSCME since 1988.

Posted by Info Center at 4:11 PM in Schools K-12 | Victories | Permalink

Source: By L.A. LOREK, San Antonio Express-news (TX), Nov. 28, 2006, 11:28PM

International Business Machines Corp. in Austin has won a seven-year, $863 million contract to consolidate the Texas state government's data centers in a move designed to beef up computer security and save the state money.

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

Source: Journal Gazette (IN), Sat, Nov. 25, 2006

Who’s in power in the Indiana General Assembly is important for one reason: It determines what gets done on the floor. In the House of Representatives, the power shift means that a thorough and much-needed review of the state’s headlong rush to privatization will get done. …… For now, those without a job are the state workers whose positions have been eliminated. David Warrick, director of Council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said about 3,000 state jobs have been lost to privatization so far, with 2,500 more likely to be eliminated with the FSSA contract. ……If Daniels is committed to privatization as a better way of providing public services, he should accept the House Democrats’ review as a way to prove its effectiveness.

Posted by Info Center at 10:26 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: Tracy Swartz, News-Leader (MO), November 28, 2006

Joplin River of Life Ministries, which operates the Anderson Guest House and other local care centers, has a history of rocky leadership and deficiencies in state inspections. The group's founder, Robert Joseph DuPont Jr., was sentenced to federal prison in 2003 for his part in a Medicaid fraud scheme. As the owner of a Joplin home health care facility, DuPont directed patients to handpicked doctors who falsely certified that the patients required residential health services, federal authorities said.

Related article from the News-Leader: Operation's founder led fraud scheme

Posted by Info Center at 10:23 AM in Horror Stories | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: By JESSICA DeLEÓN, STAR-TELEGRAM (TX), Tue, Nov. 28, 2006

BEDFORD - The city is looking at hiring a private company to run the city's public library -- an issue that will be discussed at a meeting and public hearing Thursday. The company would oversee operations, but the city would keep the building, the collection and maintain the right to manage or establish library policies, said City Councilman Charles Orean, who brought up the issue.

…… The loss of jobs concerns critics of outsourcing. Companies that contract for city services tend to hire less experienced workers, which can result in higher turnover and lower wages, said Kerry Korpi, director of research and collective bargaining services for the Washington, D.C.-based union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Posted by Info Center at 10:21 AM in Library | Permalink

Source: By David Koenig, Associated Press (IN), Tue, Nov. 28, 2006

The chief executive and top financial officer at a company Indiana wants to manage its welfare programs resigned after an internal investigation found that they manipulated grant dates for stock options, violating the information-technology company’s ethics code. Affiliated Computer Services Inc. CEO and President Mark A. King and Chief Financial Officer Warren D. Edwards signed separation agreements and relinquished their titles Sunday.

…… Critics of the Indiana contract called on Gov. Mitch Daniels to review the agreement Monday. “We would ask in light of recent happenings and just appeal to him (Daniels) one more time to reconsider this rush to privatization and allow elected legislators in the state to be part of this decision,” said David Patterson, spokesman for Council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents at least 5,000 FSSA workers.

Posted by Info Center at 10:20 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Griff Witte and Renae Merle, Washington Post, Tuesday, November 28, 2006

After riding high for five years, government contractors are bracing themselves for increased oversight, tighter budgets and stepped-up regulations as Democrats take over on Capitol Hill and vow to keep a closer eye on how companies spend taxpayer dollars.

Posted by Info Center at 10:19 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: BY SHEILA MCLAUGHLIN, Cincinnati Enquirer, November 27, 2006

Lifeway For Youth shouldn’t have allowed Liz and David Carroll to be foster parents because the couple wasn’t qualified or trained, a state review made public Monday concluded. The report by Ohio Department of Job and Family Services also said the private agency didn’t check on Marcus Fiesel as often as it was required.

Posted by Info Center at 10:17 AM in Child Care | Permalink

Source: JEFF ECKHOFF, Des Moines REGISTER (IA), November 24, 2006

Polk County supervisors, concerned that a privately run jail medical clinic hasn't pinched pennies enough, have launched a search for someone to keep an eye on how it is operated. Supervisors voted unanimously this week to hire a new "health services administrator" to oversee the county's contract with Correctional Medical Services Inc., a St. Louis company.

Posted by Info Center at 1:26 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Scott Higham, Washington Post, Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Private consultants hired by the Department of Homeland Security have found widespread problems with its contracting operation, including nearly three dozen contract files that could not be located. Files that could be found often lacked basic documentation required under federal rules, such as evidence that the department negotiated the best prices for taxpayers, according to a copy of the consultants' report obtained by The Washington Post.

Posted by Info Center at 10:17 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By NATALIA E. ARBULÚ, The Republican (MA), Wednesday, November 22, 2006

SPRINGFIELD - City officials are hearing complaints from some parents about the quality of school lunches, while cafeteria workers claim they don't have enough staff to promptly prepare and serve food to pupils. On Monday, the Joint Ad hoc Committee of the City Council and School Committee listened to concerns about lunches since Sodexho School Services took over the food services program.

Posted by Info Center at 10:16 AM in Food Services | Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: by Andy McCue, Silicon.com, November 21, 2006

Supermarket Sainsbury's is ahead of schedule to achieve £40m-a-year cost savings from bringing its IT back in-house after scrapping an outsourcing deal with Accenture last year. Sainsbury's signed a 10-year outsourcing contract with Accenture in November 2000, hoping to cut £35m per year off its £200m annual IT budget, but ditched the deal a year ago as part of a back-to-basics programme aimed at saving £285m this year and £440m next year across the company.

Posted by Info Center at 10:14 AM in Information Technology | Permalink

Source: San Antonio Express News, 11/20/2006 06:47 PM CST

The theory behind privatization of public services is to increase efficiency to consumers and lower costs to taxpayers. But as a new study by the Center for Public Policy Priorities suggests, that theory doesn't always hold up in practice.

......... No one doubts the state's system of public benefits needed modernizing or that, like any other bureaucracy, it could operate more efficiently. But Texas has either gone down the path of modernization and privatization too quickly or it has gone down the wrong path. And vulnerable children, the elderly and people with disabilities have paid the price.

Posted by Info Center at 2:24 PM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Jennifer Kuszynski, Sheboygan Press (WI), November 21, 2006

Sheboygan County is one step closer to getting out of the nursing home business at one of two facilities it owns. The county Health Care Centers Committee voted Monday to send a letter of intent to Health Dimensions Group of Minneapolis, a firm that submitted the only proposal to purchase the county-owned Sunny Ridge Health Care and Rehabilitation Center in September, said chairman Michael Vandersteen. The county put the facility up for sale in June after years of ballooning red ink. ……. For some Sunny Ridge employees, the lack of answers is frustrating. "We're being left in the dark," said Scott Doro, president of AFSCME Local 2427, one of the unions that represents employees of the county's health-care facilities

Posted by Info Center at 2:05 PM in Health | Permalink

Source: By Alison Hawkes, Herald-Standard (PA), 11/21/2006

The nation's first superhighway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, could be privatized to generate billions of dollars needed to fix the state's ailing transportation system in an idea quickly gathering political momentum. ...... Rendell said he talked to consultants who indicated that the Turnpike could fetch $3 billion to $10 billion up front.

Posted by Info Center at 1:59 PM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: By Jim Ash, Tallahassee Democrat (FL), November 21, 2006

After making a dramatic decision not to award a $707 million contract for prison health care, the Florida Department of Corrections spent its first day Monday managing the job itself. ........ McDonough said the solution they came up with is a ''hybrid'' form of privatization that involves issuing 145 smaller contracts and purchasing orders. The department does not have to hire additional workers to get the job done, McDonough said.

Posted by Info Center at 1:57 PM in Corrections Health | Publicization | Permalink

Source: By JOE FOLLICK AND KAREN VOYLES, Gainesville Sun (FL), Nov 18, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Ending one of the largest and most contentious privatization efforts in state history, the Florida Department of Corrections has decided to break apart a $700 million effort to provide health care for inmates in South Florida. Instead of handing the effort to one company, DOC Secretary James McDonough said Friday the agency will buy supplies and services from nearly 150 sources. McDonough made the move after an error was found in an earlier decision to allow Prison Health Services to keep the $700 million contract over 10 years.

Posted by Info Center at 10:32 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Steve Schmid, San Diego Union Tribune (CA), November 19, 2006

...... Faced with packed prisons, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is transferring inmates to out-of-state facilities for the first time. About 2,200 inmates, all volunteers, will be moved to private, medium-security prisons in four states, including the Florence Correctional Center in Arizona. The Schwarzenegger administration recently signed three-year contracts with the nation's two biggest, publicly traded private prison operators: Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group.

Posted by Info Center at 10:31 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: By JANET ELLIOTT, Houston Chronicle, Nov. 17, 2006

Glitches in the state's new computer system have left investigators unable to check for fraud and overpayments in food-stamp and other benefit programs in the two counties where it is being used, according to an audit released Thursday. The Office of Inspector General at the Health and Human Services Commission has been unable to investigate benefits cases processed through the privately run integrated eligibility call centers that screen needy Texans for a variety of public assistance programs. ……. The system was developed under a contract with Deloitte & Touche USA, Goodman said, and maintenance of the system transferred last December to Accenture and Texas Access Alliance.

Posted by Info Center at 11:00 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: THE FLINT JOURNAL (MI), Thursday, November 16, 2006

The Genesee County Community Mental Health Board of Directors could eliminate 21 jobs, which would wipe out one of two employee teams that reach out to hard-to-serve people with mental illness. ……. Russell said CMH clients won't be forgotten if a nine-person, in-house team is eliminated. The clients simply will be served by a contracted organization, such as others that already work with the agency

....... Russell said the job cuts, which would include closing a CMH cafeteria and eliminating internal mail delivery and maintenance positions, would allow the county to provide additional services with the savings.

Posted by Info Center at 10:57 AM in Food Services | Maintenance | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: By Natalie J. Ostgaard, Crookston Times (MN), Thursday, November 16, 2006 1:37 PM CST

A unanimous vote by the Polk County Board of Commissoners Tuesday determined that the license bureau in the Polk County Courthouse will remain open, though a few changes may be in store in the near future. Commissioner Bill Montague made the motion to keep the license bureau running under the county.

....... The board had considered divesting of the county's role in operating the bureau, instead allowing a private business to take over. However, in consulting with state officials, Auditor-Treasurer Jerry Amiot - under whose umbrella the license center currently falls - said they offered no guarantee that the state would approve a different Crookston site should the county-run center close.

Posted by Info Center at 10:52 AM in Licensing | Permalink

Source: By JASON DEPARLE, New York Times, November 17, 2006

Lawrence W. Reed is one of those people with so much passion for an unusual line of work that he invented a new occupation, and it has helped shape the conservative movement from here to the Himalayas.

........ From Midland, Mr. Reed runs Mackinac (pronounced MAK-in-aw), the largest of the right’s state-level policy institutes. The center started its training program eight years ago, and it has alumni in nearly every state and 37 countries, from Uruguay to Nepal. Among them was a Mongolian who went on to become prime minister, putting his free-market training to work by privatizing the national herd of yaks.

....... The Mackinac Center has often battled the Michigan Education Association, a teachers’ union. When the union opposed privatizing support services, like school meals and security, a Mackinac employee monitored the union parking lot and discovered that it used private contractors like the ones it was opposing. “We don’t just write papers, we do stakeouts,” Mr. Reed said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:35 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: Wisconsin Council 40 Leadership Update November 3, 2006 Vol. 27 no. 33

Members of Local 3363 at the Richland County Pine Valley Health Care Center recently won a new two-year contract in Interest Arbitration…. The real issue in arbitration was management’s right to subcontract our work performed by Union members. The Employer sought new language that would grant it the unfettered right to contract out for work along with a side letter only acknowledging the Union’s right to bargain the impact of such a decision. Local 3363 sought and won no change in the contract’s Management Rights clause which means the County must bargain with the Union concerning the decision to subcontract out work and the impact of such a decision. Staff Rep Jennifer McCulley represented Local 3363 in the proceedings.

Posted by Info Center at 1:51 PM in Health | Victories | Permalink

Source: By Theodore Kim and Mary Beth Schneider, Indianapolis Star, November 16, 2006

An $850,000 study for the Indiana Department of Transportation found that an outer beltway around Indianapolis would not generate much long-term economic growth or offer a traffic panacea -- two of Gov. Mitch Daniels' key arguments for building a private toll bypass. INDOT officials, however, say the study, completed last year, is flawed and does not take into account out-of-state truck traffic, what sort of new industries the bypass might attract and the impact of tolls and privatization on the project.

Posted by Info Center at 10:47 AM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: BY PATRICK GUINANE, Northwest Indiana Times, November 16. 2006

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels delivered a return volley this week in a rhetorical feud with Democrats regarding efforts to privatize state services and infrastructure. Daniels advocates business-like solutions to state problems, pointing to the $3.8-billion Indiana Toll Road lease that brought a windfall this year for transportation funding. But Democrats argue the governor is too quick to prescribe private-sector remedies -- a difference of opinion expected to loom large in next year's legislative session.

Posted by Info Center at 10:43 AM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: By Pat Shellenbarger, The Grand Rapids Press (MI), Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Declaring the "days of dead wood in the Department of Corrections are over," U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen ordered (.pdf) state prison officials immediately to improve care of mentally ill inmates and stop using restraints as punishment.

......... Enslen concluded with a warning to Corrections Department officials and Correctional Medical Services (CMS), the for-profit company under contract to care for Michigan's prisoners. Anyone who fails to provide proper care "may be arrested," he wrote, adding: "The days of dead wood in the Department of Corrections are over, as are the days of CMS intentionally delaying referrals and care for craven profit motives."

Posted by Info Center at 10:40 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: By Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN (TX), Tuesday, November 14, 2006

A group that works to support low- and middle-income Texans said Monday that the state's problems with outsourcing enrollment for food, health care and cash assistance benefits should serve as a warning for other states. …… As other states seek to modernize enrollment systems that tend to rely on filing cabinets rather than computer systems and in-person meetings rather than Web- and phone-based applications, they should avoid some of Texas' mistakes by allowing time for training and testing, the Center for Public Policy Priorities report says.

Posted by Info Center at 10:36 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By BARBARA MARTINEZ, Wall Street Journal (subscriptin req.), November 15, 2006

Some 55 million poor and disabled Americans are covered by Medicaid. With an annual price tag topping $300 billion, it's among the biggest government programs around. It's also a lucrative business for some private companies that act as middlemen between the government and patients. Instead of directly paying the bills when a Medicaid patient goes to the doctor, state governments increasingly outsource the job to private contractors. More than one in three Medicaid beneficiaries now receive care through a private insurer. …… With the growth has come criticism from some doctors and patients who accuse Medicaid HMOs of scrimping on care. Even as they restrict medical tests and use of prescription drugs, the companies spend the money they get from states on items that don't have an obvious connection to patients. Centene has funded a multimillion-dollar arts center in St. Louis and paid to put its name on stadiums in Montana and Missouri. The HMOs are also big donors to political campaigns.

Posted by Info Center at 10:31 AM in Federal | Health | Permalink

Source: By JESSICA DeLEÓN, STAR-TELEGRAM (TX), November 14, 2006

BEDFORD - More than 30 residents attended a Bedford City Council work session Monday that covered a variety of topics. Among the highlights: Library outsourcing: The council agreed to host a work session about hiring a private company to take over some of the public library's duties. The work session would likely include a presentation from Library Systems and Services, a Maryland company that runs library operations for some cities and companies.

Posted by Info Center at 10:27 AM in Library | Permalink

Source: By Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN (TX), Wednesday, November 15, 2006

A year into a massive overhaul of Texas' Child Protective Services, the death of a North Texas boy in foster care has a key state lawmaker and some children's advocates questioning a state plan to privatize the foster care system. Sixteen-month-old Christian Nieto died of a head injury over Labor Day weekend while in foster care in Corsicana. .........

At a meeting Tuesday of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Chairwoman Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, said that when she bought into the idea of privatizing the foster care system, she believed that there would be protections to prevent this sort of tragedy.

Posted by Info Center at 10:00 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Susan Snyder, Philadelphia Inquirer, November 15, 2006

In 2002, the Philadelphia School District embarked on the nation's largest experiment in private management of public schools, with educators across the country watching. As the five-year anniversary approaches, the district's leadership is proposing to halve funding next fiscal year to the six private managers running 41 of the district's 270-plus schools. The managers include the for-profit Edison Schools Inc., which runs 20 of the schools. Such a move could further erode the privatization movement in public school systems, which never took off as envisioned, experts say.

Posted by Info Center at 9:58 AM in Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: By Jim Ash, Tallahassee Democrat (FL), November 7, 2006

A Pennsylvania-based prison health-care firm filed a formal protest Monday, disputing the Department of Corrections decision to award a $707 million, 10-year contract to a rival company with a troubled history. Wexford Health Sources Inc. filed a 10-page protest late in the day, saying that its lowest bid of $689 million should have given it the advantage and that the department made mistakes in calculating its financial strength.

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

Source: By Griff Witte, Washington Post, Saturday, November 4, 2006

The list of alleged contractor misdeeds in Iraq has grown long in the past 3 1/2 years. Yet when it comes to holding companies accountable, the charges seldom stick. Critics say that because of legal loopholes, flaws in the contracting process, a lack of interest from Congress and uneven oversight by investigative agencies, errant contractors have faced few sanctions for their work in Iraq.

And the inspector general's office credited with doing the most to root out waste and fraud is scheduled to go out of business by next October. ......... The special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., has nearly 60 auditors and investigators based in Baghdad and has won bipartisan praise for his work. But the office, which was set up to be temporary, has an October 1, 2007, deadline for completing its mission.

Posted by Info Center at 11:18 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Shay Totten, Vermont Guardian, November 3, 2006

WATERBURY — After losing more than $1 million in three months, the out-of-state company in charge of providing medical services to Vermont’s nearly 1,700 inmates has told corrections officials it wants out of its three-year contract.

The state and Prison Health Services have been at the bargaining table for the past four months, but hit an impasse Monday, company officials said, and gave the state three months notice that it would not finish the last year of its contract.

Posted by Info Center at 11:15 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: Vic Vela, The Daily Record (CO), 11/4/2006

Editor’s Note: This is the final part of a three-part series on the prison industry.

As prison beds grow sparse and the number of inmates increases at a significant rate, the Colorado Department of Corrections has, in recent years, continued to search for ways of accommodating its desperate need to house offenders.

........ Meanwhile, the State Legislature, citing tighter budgets and constituencies who balk at the idea of prisons “in their backyards”, has not approved funding to alleviate the problem for DOC state-run facilities since it allocated certificates of deposit funds for the construction of the new Colorado State Penitentiary in 2002. However, construction has not even begun on that facility.

Part II: Being tough on crime a double-edged sword

Posted by Info Center at 11:09 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS, November 4, 2006

A small defense contractor now controlled by former Bush Treasury Secretary John W. Snow is taking on Halliburton Co. by bidding for one of three Army contracts worth up to $50 billion each to provide food and shelter to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Within days of Mr. Snow becoming chairman of the New York hedge fund that owns IAP Worldwide Services Inc., the company submitted its bid for huge Army contracts that will be awarded by year-end.

Posted by Info Center at 11:03 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Stephen Barr, Washington Post, Friday, November 3, 2006

…… Paul Dennett , in charge of federal procurement policy at OMB, pledged to continue efforts aimed at putting federal work up for private-sector competition to see whether in-house teams or contractors can perform commercial activities at less cost. "It is very important that we make competitive sourcing work," he said. The contracting initiative has been one of the most controversial workforce efforts undertaken by the administration, prompting union protests and some congressional restrictions.

Posted by Info Center at 10:54 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Sylvie Belmond, Moorpark Acorn (CA), Nov. 3, 2006

Moorpark city officials are earnestly preparing for the opening of the municipal library in January. They've already voted to extend hours and upgrade the collection.

........ The hours may increase in the future, but a schedule needed to be set now so the city can finalize an agreement with Library Systems and Services LLC. The consulting firm will staff the library for the first 18 months of operation, maybe more.

Posted by Info Center at 10:48 AM in Library | Permalink

Source: New York Daily News, Nov 3, 2006

The city is leaning on the private sector, spending more than $11 billion on outside groups to provide services ranging from foster care to garbage hauling, according to a new report.

In the last fiscal year, city officials sealed more than 46,000 deals with private contractors, according to the study from New York Law School's Center for New York City Law.

Posted by Info Center at 10:42 AM in Audits/Reporting | Permalink

Source: BY ETHAN ROUEN, New York DAILY NEWS, Nov 3, 2006

..... The Health Department shut down Vanderclute Hall on Oct. 27 because the school had been serving food without a permit since January......... The Maritime College, in the Throgs Neck neighborhood, scored 50 violation points during last week's inspection. ........ Besides evidence of roaches, "harborage or conditions conducive to vermin exist," the department's Web site stated. Food was not cooled properly, either. ...... The cafeteria, which is run by a contractor, Sodexho, reopened almost immediately in violation of the department's orders, and was again shut down Wednesday.

Posted by Info Center at 10:39 AM in Food Services | Higher Education | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: Houston Chronicle (TX), Nov. 2, 2006, 8:15PM

Despite the continuing turmoil caused by privatization of the state's Health and Human Services eligibility system, another unneeded and reckless effort could force Harris County Protective Services for Children and Adults to halt many of its programs.

If that happens, a legislative drive to outsource the provision of social services to private vendors will endanger the welfare of thousands of vulnerable children here. Each year $4.7 million in county funds finances essential protective programs for abused and neglected children.

Posted by Info Center at 10:38 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press (CA), Fri, Nov. 03, 2006

California is poised to start shipping inmates to other states as a way to relieve its overcrowded prisons after federal and state judges on Thursday rejected efforts to block the transfers.

....... Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last month ordered the moves, which would send 2,260 inmates to privately run prisons in Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Posted by Info Center at 10:30 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL, Star-Ledger (NJ), Thursday, November 02, 2006

State officials are studying whether selling the New Jersey Lottery to a private company can reap big money for cash-strapped state coffers, Treasurer Bradley Abelow said yesterday.

...... The state currently controls the lottery and uses a private firm to operate the lottery machines. Selling the entire lottery could provide the state with a huge windfall, and the buyer could get its annual revenues.

........ No U.S. state has tried such a deal, Abelow said, but Italy and Greece have sold off portions of their lotteries, reaping millions.

Posted by Info Center at 11:54 AM in Lottery | Permalink

Source: By Richard Sammon, Kiplinger, Oct. 30, 2006

Privatization is flowering at the state and local levels. In a bid to both save money and increase efficiency, state and local officials are increasingly tapping private firms to take on bigger responsibilities. Governments have always turned to companies for construction and other services, but now they are also asking businesses to manage more projects and programs. In most cases, the change has bipartisan backing, in part because privatization frees up funds for other government programs, including security, education and health care.

Posted by Info Center at 11:52 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By TOM DAVIS, North Jersey Media Group (NJ), Thursday, November 2, 2006

Privatizing the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway won't happen immediately. But exploring the idea will be a priority, state officials say.

Though the state could be months away from presenting a final analysis on privatization, officials said Wednesday that they have some clue as to what ideas may work or fail.

Privatizing the state's two busiest roads -- as well as the New Jersey Lottery -- could be marketable transactions that would reap much-needed revenue for the state, said Bradley Abelow, state treasurer.

Posted by Info Center at 11:47 AM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (WV), Nov 1, 12:02 AM EST

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - An aging work force and difficulty attracting and keeping young employees could force the Division of Highways to outsource design work in the future, which highways officials say will cost the state more money.

...... "Having in-house engineers and technicians will result in cost savings for the agency and the taxpayer in the end," Mattox said.

Posted by Info Center at 1:22 PM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: Today's Trucking, 11/01/2006

The American Trucking Associations' Board of Directors is stepping up its strong opposition to the privatization or leasing of existing toll facilities to fund highway infrastructure projects.

At the 2006 Management Conference and Exhibition in Grapevine, Tex., ATA President and CEO Bill Graves called on government to abandon these financing techniques, which generate revenue "at great expense to the trucking industry and taxpayers and with potential negative impacts on highway safety, security and the motoring public."

....... New DOT secretary Mary Peters, a former administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, is considered an advocate of further tolling and privatization of highways and bridges.

....... ATA has established a 10-point policy on privatization for those cases where toll facilities might end up in the hands of the private sector.

Related item: ATA position on Tolls on the Interstate System

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

Source: By Mike Zapler, Mercury News (CA), Wed, Nov. 01, 2006

Contractors that provide drug treatment to California parolees received $5 million more from the state than they were entitled to because of lax oversight by corrections officials, according to an audit released Tuesday (.pdf).

The report by the state inspector general's office also revealed that one contractor, Mental Health Systems, overstated its expenses by $250,000 over a period of several years by continuing to charge the state the full cost of 22 automobiles, even after they had depreciated significantly in value.

....... Representatives of the other three contractors named in the report -- Walden House of San Francisco, WestCare and Phoenix Houses -- did not return calls for comment.

Posted by Info Center at 11:15 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By JOHN R. WILKE, Wall Street Journal (subscription req.), November 1, 2006

….. At a time of rising concern over lawmakers who direct or "earmark" federal spending to their supporters and business partners, a growing part of the budget is shielded from scrutiny. This is the "black budget," mostly for defense and intelligence, which is disclosed only in the vaguest terms. The ties between Mr. Trepp and Mr. Gibbons raise questions about an influential politician in America's fastest-growing state, and also offer a rare glimpse of contracts in this secret budget being awarded to a politically connected businessman without competitive bidding.

Posted by Info Center at 10:35 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Brian David, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA), Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Beaver County's flirtation with private jail management is over. The county commissioners yesterday announced that they had accepted a contract offer from the county jail guards, which will run through the end of 2010 and sideline a deal the commissioners made with the Massachusetts prison management firm CiviGenics Inc.

The guards will pay 1 percent of their base pay toward health care, give up some vacation, holiday and sick time, go without raises for this year and the next two and agreed to more management-friendly work rules in a deal the commissioners say will save $600,000 a year.

........ The guards have worked without a contract since Jan. 1, with the commissioners demanding enough concessions to match the offer CiviGenics made in the summer of 2005.

Posted by Info Center at 10:28 AM in Corrections | Permalink