AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: KEN KUSMER, Associated Press (IN), Wed, Feb. 21, 2007

Much of the philosophy driving Indiana's outsourcing of government programs has its roots in similar initiatives by the city of Indianapolis during the 1990s. Advising the city behind the scenes was an Eli Lilly and Co. executive named Mitch Daniels. "He was the philosophical heart behind a lot of this effort to examine the way government purchases services and to compete them effectively," said Mitch Roob, a city official then who now serves as Daniels' human services chief. Republican Stephen Goldsmith, who became mayor in 1992, said property taxes were too high when he took office, so he turned to competitive bidding of city services to bring costs down.

Posted by Info Center at 11:22 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: The Associated Press, 6:37 p.m. ET Feb 21, 2007

Like the auto industry, the computer programming field and the customer-service business, the state of Indiana is outsourcing.

....... [Gov. Mitch] Daniels is leading the way among cash-strapped governors who are contracting out services states historically have handled themselves. The primary goal of these deals: saving tax dollars, or generating quick cash that can be used to fix roads, reduce debt or provide college scholarships.

....... But some legislators and government-watchers warn that some of these privatization deals have yielded shoddy service. And some fear that in leasing toll roads and lotteries, politicians are signing away a reliable, long-term stream of revenue for a big lump sum of money they might squander on some short-term ideas.

Posted by Info Center at 11:16 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: The Associated Press (FL), Feb. 21, 2007, 1:58PM

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Geo Group Inc., which runs prisons and residential treatment centers, said Wednesday it signed a five-year contract with Florida to run a mental-health facility.

The contract with the state's Department of Children and Families covers the management and operation of the 175-bed Treasure Coast Forensic Treatment Center, starting April 1. The deal is expected to generate $14.5 million in revenue in 2007 and $21 million in 2008, Geo said.

Posted by Info Center at 11:14 AM in Mental Health | Permalink

Source: By Christine Stapleton and Deana Poole, Palm Beach Post (FL), Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The Convention and Visitors Bureau doesn't provide adequate management and operational oversight of the convention center and shouldn't oversee the $84 million county-owned facility, an audit released today concluded.

....... The audit report stopped short of calling for the county to take over management at the center. But the audit's release comes just days before county commissioners are scheduled to debate the matter.

Posted by Info Center at 11:12 AM in Audits/Reporting | Convention Centers | Permalink

Source: By Bill Cotterell, Tallahassee Democrat, Feb 22, 2007

Gov. Charlie Crist ordered a top-to-bottom review of privatization in state government Wednesday - starting with the troubled ''People First'' contract with Convergys for online personnel services.

''The review will serve as a starting point for evaluating how to reap the most value from the system, whether privatization has merit - if it does, we should use it, if it doesn't, we should not,'' Crist said at a news conference with Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

Posted by Info Center at 11:09 AM in Audits/Reporting | Human Resources | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: Local 3299 News, Local 3299

...Local 3299 currently represents over 19,000 workers at all ten UC campuses and all 5 of the medical centers. Workers represented include custodians, food service workers, cooks, bus drivers, licensed vocational nurses, nursing assistants, medical assistants and technicians. Six years ago only about 2,000 of the 19,000 represented workers had signed a green membership card. Today more than 11,000 workers have signed the green membership card and become voting members of our union. Because our membership has increased so significantly we were able to win first time ever victories over the last 6 years including a 6.3% raise in one year, stopped contracting out of our jobs, and shocked UC when we had our first ever STRIKE!! Because more than 9,000 workers have joined AFSCME, our membership jumped from 12% to 54% and this has resulted in great gains for our membership….

Posted by Info Center at 2:40 PM in Victories | Permalink

Source: By PATRICK MARLEY, Journal Sentinel (WI), Feb. 18, 2007

The state has pulled the plug on what was to be a $41.2 million computer project after it spent $10 million on a key component that has yet to work. The suspension of the federally funded EnABLES project comes in the midst of an audit of state information technology projects and less than a year after the University of Wisconsin System abandoned a payroll system that had cost $26 million. …… Of the $23.6 million spent on the project, $10.4 million went to prime contractor Tier Technologies, $2.6 million went to Curam Software and the rest was used to pay state employees and buy equipment. ……

A related project has also been plagued with delays. The Statewide Unemployment Insurance Tax Enterprise System, or SUITES, was originally budgeted at $17.2 million, but is now expected to cost $29 million - $12.2 million more than originally planned. ….. Accenture, the prime contractor for the job, completed its share of work in 2005, and state employees are now completing the project.

Posted by Info Center at 11:14 AM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: KEN KUSMER, Associated Press (IN), Fri, Feb. 16, 2007

Gov. Mitch Daniels criticized limits on the outsourcing of state services that House Democrats have written into a proposed state budget, saying Friday the restrictions would hurt taxpayers and favor big government.

He also said the limits might be bargaining chips that could be removed during budget negotiations later in the legislative session.

The proposed budget that House Democrats formally presented Friday would require legislative approval for any funding after mid-2008 to outsource the processing of food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits to an IBM Corp.-led partnership.

Posted by Info Center at 11:13 AM in Laws/Legislation | Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Mike Smith, Associated Press (IN), Thu, Feb. 15, 2007

Gov. Mitch Daniels would have been barred from signing a $1.16 billion contract to outsource some human services work without legislative approval if a bill now before the full House had been law at the time.

The House Interstate and International Cooperation Committee unanimously endorsed the privatization review legislation Wednesday. The bill largely stems from the Republican governor’s moves to contract out services that have historically been run by the state.

....... Under the bill, any privatization contract worth more than $10 million would have to be reviewed by a panel of 12 lawmakers and three other members appointed by legislative leaders. One of the three would represent labor, one business and the other universities.

Posted by Info Center at 1:51 PM in Laws/Legislation | Social Services | Permalink

Source: AFSCME 48: Newspaper Voice of Milwaukee District Council 48, January 2007
… As for job security: the County can’t lay off any bargaining unit employees in 2007 “unless the State and/or Federal government fails to provide the funding mechanism and/or program dollars, or if the State and/or Federal government enact legislation limiting or prohibiting the County from maintaining current funding levels.” Moreover, the County has agreed not to privatize work currently being performed by bargaining unit employees who are current incumbents in such positions.
And from Jan. 1, 2008, through Dec. 31 2008, the County agreed not to privatize bargaining unit work except for the work of bargaining unit positions that are vacant on Jan. 1, 2008, and those belonging to bargaining units which are vacated by resignation or retirement, (but not discharges) of bargaining unit employees in 2008. The county has agreed not to hold open 2007 vacancies solely for the purpose of privatization in ’08. And the County agreed not to reassign employees to a different work location or department/division in order to accomplish a privatization goal….

Posted by Info Center at 4:39 PM in Victories | Permalink

Source: By Jim McElhatton, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, February 12, 2007

U.S. Department of Justice criminal division lawyers say a Reston-based government consulting company either "willfully or recklessly" submitted inaccurate Medicaid claims on behalf of the D.C. government, the company recently disclosed.

Officials with Maximus Inc. said in a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that they disagree with the criminal division lawyers' assessment. The company also said it is engaged in ongoing talks with the Justice Department concerning a potential civil settlement, the SEC filing states.

Posted by Info Center at 1:04 PM in Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By Sam Scott, Star News Online (NC), February 11, 2007

........ Under a unique North Carolina law - which supporters in Raleigh are now pushing to expand - licensed firms have full police powers on properties they are hired to protect, including the power to write citations, to investigate and to arrest. North Carolina, according to security professionals, is the only state that allows for-hire police, although some cities like Boston have similar programs.

For some, the arrangement is an economical way to fill in gaps traditional law enforcement can't. For others, policing-for-hire raises serious concerns about accountability underscored by the legal problems now facing the two private special police companies based in Wilmington.

Posted by Info Center at 1:01 PM in Laws/Legislation | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (AZ), Feb. 8, 2007 06:04 PM

Three private companies will compete with each other and - for the first time - the state Department of Corrections to provide 3,000 new prison beds to help house Arizona's bulging prison population. ….. However, it was Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano who insisted that the DOC be allowed to compete for the chance to provide the 3,000 minimum-security beds.

....... Arizona already has 4,200 state inmates in private prisons, including 1,400 housed in Oklahoma, out of a total prison population of approximately 35,000.

...... Along with the Corrections Department, three private prison operators submitted sealed proposals by Thursday's deadline for all or some of the 3,000 beds: GEO Group Inc., based a Boca Raton, Fla.; Management & Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, and Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America.

Posted by Info Center at 10:34 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: BY JESSE JACKSON, Chicago Sun Times, February 6, 2007

They guard U.S. officials. They patrol the Green Zone, the U.S. headquarters in Iraq. They supply the food, the oil, clean the barracks and fix the machines. They aren't U.S. soldiers; they are private contractors. The Bush administration has privatized war. The second-biggest army in Iraq consists of armed security forces supplied by private contractors.

........ Under President Bush, the use of private contractors generally has doubled to about $400 billion a year in 2006, as the administration is driven by a philosophy to privatize everything it can. Finally, with Democrats reviving congressional oversight, questions are being asked.

Posted by Info Center at 2:03 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: Land Line Magazine, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007

Monday, Feb. 5, President Bush unveiled a $67 billion funding request for transportation in his 2007-08 budget. ……. The U.S. Department of Transportation has had public-private partnerships on its agenda for quite some time, even recently providing model legislation for states seeking to privatize their highways and toll roads. Joyce said that agenda will likely be furthered later this week with an event scheduled at the White House. Friday, Feb. 9, the White House has scheduled a meeting that is billed as a “Transportation Legislative Leadership Summit.” The keynote address will be given by Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, her topic – public-private partnerships. Participants in that summit include privatization notables such as Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and private-sector representatives from companies like Australia’s Macquarie Infrastructure Group and New York-based Merrill Lynch.

Posted by Info Center at 1:39 PM in Federal | Transportation | Permalink

Source: New York Times, February 7, 2007

The United States is quickly becoming a government of the contractors, by the contractors and for the contractors. While the private security personnel in Iraq have attracted the most attention, many day-to-day operations are no longer in the hands of federal employees. Functions as disparate as clerical work and tax collection are handled by private companies, while oversight of this always for-profit work is being sorely neglected.

Posted by Info Center at 1:32 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By EDWARD SIEGER, The Express-Times (PA), Tuesday, February 06, 207

EASTON | Weeks after relinquishing control of its water operations, Easton is planning to bring management of its sewer plant back under city control. Public Services Director David Hopkins asked city council to consider hiring four new employees and ending a contract with Miller Environmental. Despite adding new employees, Hopkins said the proposal should save Easton at least $90,000 a year.

…… Miller Environmental will remove a no-competition clause from the transition contract allowing Miller employees to apply for the new positions, Hopkins said. A secretary will be the only new union position and can be bid for by members of AFSCME Local 447.

Posted by Info Center at 10:54 AM in Publicization | Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: BETH DeFALCO, Associated Press (NJ), Mon, Feb. 05, 2007

A company hired to collect back taxes will reimburse New Jersey nearly $2 million it over-billed the state. Chesterfield, Mo.-based OSI Collection Services Inc. also agreed to other provisions dealing with illegal gifts it gave to Treasury Department employees, state Attorney General Stuart Rabner announced Monday.

…… Rabner also announced on Monday the indictment of two more employees of OSI Collection Services, which has been accused of submitting padded bills to the state.

Posted by Info Center at 10:51 AM in Horror Stories | Tax Collection | Permalink

Source: By ROBERT T. GARRETT and CHRISTY HOPPE, The Dallas Morning News (TX), 07:24 AM CST on Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Gov. Rick Perry plans to ask lawmakers Tuesday to follow him in the boldest initiative of his administration: selling the Texas Lottery to subsidize health insurance for 500,000 low-income adults and fund research to help cure cancer in 10 years.

Posted by Info Center at 10:50 AM in Lottery | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (WI), Fri, Feb. 02, 2007

MADISON, Wis. - A state Department of Transportation attorney says two appointees of Gov. Jim Doyle told him to delay the release of a politically damaging 2004 report. Jim Thiel testified Thursday he had been told to not release the report until after he got a copy of a Department of Administration rebuttal that questioned the DOT's finding that state engineers cost 18 percent less than consultants. Doyle pledged during the 2002 governor's race to trim 10,000 employees from state payrolls and has argued that contractors could do some work more cheaply than state employees.

Posted by Info Center at 10:48 AM in Audits/Reporting | Transportation | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (IN), February 4, 2007

A private company will take over portions of the Indiana University campus' motor pool under a plan officials say allows all school employees to keep their jobs. IU President Adam Herbert said Friday the school will contract with Enterprise Rent-A-Car for the daily rental fleet that employees use for university-related travel.

……. IU union leaders and a group of community and faculty supporters met Friday with three members of IU's Board of Trustees, delivering petitions signed by 3,455 people opposed to the school's outsourcing plans. "I think they heard us, but I'm not sure it will change their opinion," said Dallas Murphy, president of Local 832 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents service and maintenance workers.

Posted by Info Center at 10:46 AM in Higher Education | Transportation | Permalink

Source: By SCOTT SHANE and RON NIXON, New York Times, February 4, 2007

(Special series on federal contracting)

In June, short of people to process cases of incompetence and fraud by federal contractors, officials at the General Services Administration responded with what has become the government’s reflexive answer to almost every problem. They hired another contractor. It did not matter that the company they chose, CACI International, had itself recently avoided a suspension from federal contracting; or that the work, delving into investigative files on other contractors, appeared to pose a conflict of interest; or that each person supplied by the company would cost taxpayers $104 an hour.

…… The contracting explosion raises questions about propriety, cost and accountability that have long troubled watchdog groups and are coming under scrutiny from the Democratic majority in Congress. While flagrant cases of fraud and waste make headlines, concerns go beyond outright wrongdoing.

Posted by Info Center at 10:44 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: BY Robert Balicki, Daily Californian (CA), Tuesday, February 6, 2007

DUBLIN—The medical center at a county jail that some say has poor medical care will hire additional personnel this year following the jail’s settlement of negotiations with the health care providers’ union.

....... Union officials said the health workers were ill-equipped to respond to the inmates’ medical needs. “There were many days when the staffing levels were as low as 50 percent of the staffing levels that Prison Health Services had committed to provide in their contract,” said Dana Simon, spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union-United Health Care Workers-West. “Absolutely, it was affecting the basic care.”

Posted by Info Center at 10:41 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Nathan Newman, TPM Cafe: The Coffee House, February 5, 2006

Want to make a deal? Privatization is in the air and the multinational profiteers are circling. And the action is bipartisan and involves big money:

....... One reason the privatized firms can expect so much money in the future is that they can do things that the politicians might not be able to get away with if the decisions were subject to democratic accountability. They can raise tolls without a political debate or use marketing or employment practices that would be stopped in their tracks if the job was still being done by the public sector.

Posted by Info Center at 10:39 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Sean P. Murphy, Boston Globe (MA), February 2, 2007

A state contractor gained access to the identities of 1,200 accident victims at the state Department of Industrial Accidents and stole the identities of at least three people, opened credit card accounts in their names, and rang up thousands of dollars in jewelry and other purchases, according to court documents.

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

Source: By BILL KACZOR, Associated Press (FL), Thursday, February 1, 2007

Private prisons operating under lease-purchase agreements with the state will remain exempt from paying millions of dollars in local property taxes after the Florida Supreme Court reversed course Thursday and let stand an appellate decision. The justices earlier had agreed to consider an appeal by Bay County, but wrote in a unanimous, three-sentence opinion that they had changed their minds "because the circumstances of this case are fact-specific."

....... The case was being closely watched by officials in other jurisdictions with private state prisons. CCA also operates correctional facilities in Lake City and Quincy. Another company, GEO Group of Boca Raton, runs the Moore Haven and Southbay correctional facilities and has a contract for a new one at Graceville.

Posted by Info Center at 2:18 PM in Corrections | Laws/Legislation | Permalink

Source: Lisa Cornwell, The Associated Press (OH), Sunday, January 28, 2007

CINCINNATI -- The state attorney general's office is trying to find ways to improve enforcement and oversight of criminal background checks on school bus drivers after a private bus company discovered that it had not done complete checks on all drivers.

........ First Student Inc., based in Cincinnati, suspended service for the day Thursday to the Columbus Public Schools while it scrambled to check if all drivers had required background checks. The district had to cancel classes for the day, and other districts that use the company around the state questioned if their drivers had the required checks.

Posted by Info Center at 2:11 PM in Horror Stories | School Bus | Schools K-12 | Transportation | Permalink

Source: International Transport Workers' Federation news release, 2 February 2007

Trade unions from European countries where passenger carrier FirstGroup is planning to expand have announced plans to send a fact finding mission to the USA to investigate the company's service record and whether it is living up to its pledge to remain neutral during union membership drives.

....... The British and American delegates passed on examples of FirstGroup's poor service quality after being awarded local government and school contracts for bus service. Delegates learned that just in the past week schools in Ohio were shut down for a day because FirstGroup's school bus subsidiary failed to screen out drivers with criminal records.

Related article from the Cincinnati Enquirer, January 25, 2007: Schools close over bus driver checks

Posted by Info Center at 2:07 PM in Horror Stories | School Bus | Schools K-12 | Transportation | Permalink

Source: WTOP News Radio, Jan 31st, 2007

A controversial new way for local governments to raise money has found its way to our area. The District is weighing a plan to privatize its lottery.

Under the new plan, a private firm would take over the District's lottery for the next 20 years or more, in exchange for a huge lump sum payment up front.

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

Source: By Joe Mysak, Bloomberg, January 31, 2007

Well, so much for selling all the airports. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is going to buy the lease of the first, and so far only, U.S. airport approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for its Airport Privatization Pilot Program.

....... The larger question here, though, is what this means for airport privatization in the U.S. In general, the FAA is against it, primarily because it wants all the money made at an airport to stay at the airport.

Posted by Info Center at 2:09 PM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: By BILL KACZOR, Associated Press (FL), February 1, 2007

Gov. Charlie Crist ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Wednesday to conduct a preliminary investigation into more than $4.5 million in alleged overpayments to two companies that operate private prisons for the state.

The contracts with GEO Group of Boca Raton and Nashville,Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America were signed by the now-defunct Correctional Privatization Commission.

Related article from the News-Press: Corrections co. say they didn't cheat state

Posted by Info Center at 2:07 PM in Corrections | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By Martha Woodall, Philadelphia Inquirer (PA), February 1, 2007

Desperate to find ways to boost student performance, districts across the country have turned to companies to run schools, but researchers say the management change didn't transform the schools. "They have neither destroyed the schools nor have they made a big difference," said Henry M. Levin, director of Columbia University's National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education

........ Overall, results have been mixed, Levin said. And a study by the Rand Corp. released today concludes that privately run schools in Philadelphia did no better in raising student test scores than did district-run schools.

Posted by Info Center at 2:04 PM in Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: Waco Tribune (TX), Thursday, February 01, 2007

With apologies to Annie Get Your Gun, ever since the Republican House takeover in 2002, the Texas Legislature has become a musical comedy with one lyrical theme: Anything government can do, business can do better. Business can do anything better than that.

No, it can’t.

In fact, to this point, you could call state privatization of human services a certifiable disaster.

Posted by Info Center at 2:03 PM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: by Annemarie Franczyk, Business First of Buffalo - 11:11 AM EST Wednesday, January 31, 2007

....... The state Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, also called the Berger Commission after its chairman, has recommended new models of health-care delivery. Among them is the merger of Kaleida Health and Erie County Medical Center, where medical training is concentrated in Western New York, and the privatization of the three State University of New York teaching hospitals.

Related item from CSEA Local 1000 website:

Fighting For Public Health Care: CSEA has led the way in fighting proposals to close, privatize and consolidate hospitals and nursing homes across the state, as recommended by the Pataki-appointed Governor's Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, or the Berger Commission.

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