AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: By ROBERT T. GARRETT, The Dallas Morning News (TX), Monday, March 19, 2007

A state effort to replace many welfare benefits offices with privately run call centers fell victim to unrealistic deadlines, budget cuts, stumbles by the contractor, a flawed public education campaign and mishaps with government-purchased computer software.

…… Accenture executive Dave McCurley testified to a House committee last month that software-related "inefficiencies" and an unexpectedly high number of calls pouring into the call centers early last year "combined to effectively break the camel's back."

…… Alec Davis, a state employee who has been an eligibility screener for 14 years and works at an Austin call center, said he has seen private contractor employees make less than conscientious efforts to help aid applicants. ….. "The job done over the years by the state workers has been a lot better than they give us credit for," he said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:40 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Pete Millard, Milwaukee Business Journal (WI) (subscription req.), March 19, 2007 Monday

A committee of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District board has overturned a staff recommendation to consider only two of the three national companies vying for the right to win the lucrative MMSD operations and management contract this fall. The MMSD staff recommended only seeking proposals from United Water Services Milwaukee L.L.C. and Veolia Water North America, Houston. The decision was based on the criteria established in the request for qualifications process, said Kevin Shafer, MMSD's executive director.

…… As part of its bid, EMC is forming a partnership with AFSCME Milwaukee District Council 48 that includes a proposal to return rank-and-file MMSD workers to the district-employee ranks like they were 10 years ago. United Water and Veolia propose keeping the employees under private, not public management.

Posted by Info Center at 10:32 AM in Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: By Eric Litke, Sheboygan Press (WI), March 18, 2007

Sheboygan County is a vote and a few lines of fine print away from selling one of its two health-care centers — a move that officials say will save millions — but the deal's final steps come amid concerns over the facility's future. Union representatives say expected cuts to wages, benefits and staffing levels will financially cripple employees and reduce the quality of care, but the incoming owners say Sunny Ridge Health and Rehabilitation Center will have more employees caring for more patients in a better building than would be possible under county ownership.

….. According to statistics compiled by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — the Sunny Ridge union — the proposed changes will mean annual pay reductions of $5,000 to $10,000 for many employees.

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

Source: Indianapolis Star, March 15, 2007

Gov. Mitch Daniels today said more than 80 percent of the state’s contracting dollars are going to firms defined as Indiana companies, a number that immediately was called into question by Democrats. The "Buy Indiana" initiative, Daniels said in a news release, was up from the previous mark, 60 percent, meaning almost $1 billion additional dollars spent with companies that employ Hoosier workers and invest in the state.

Posted by Info Center at 10:29 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By KEN KUSMER, The Associated Press (IN), 03-15-07 8:24 PM EST

Federal officials are tightening their oversight of Indiana's experiment in privatizing much of its welfare safety net, requesting that the state provide monthly reports on how many food stamp applications it approves. The U.S. Agriculture Department's Food and Nutrition Service also will send representatives to Indiana next month to observe firsthand the state's outsourcing to an IBM Corp.-led team of the eligibility determination for food stamps and other benefits received by 1.1 million people.

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

Source: KEN KUSMER, Associated Press (IN), March 18, 2007

The outsourcing of much of Indiana's welfare safety net reaches a key milestone Monday when more than 1,500 workers leave their state jobs to join a group of private vendors with a 10-year contract designed to streamline the way people receive benefits. Those former employees of the Family and Social Services Administration still will help people apply for and continue receiving food stamps, Medicaid and other aid, but not as state case workers. They'll now be employees of Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc., a partner in the IBM Corp.-led group calling itself the Hoosier Coalition for Self Sufficiency.

…… Dave Warrick, executive director of Council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, also said that many departing FSSA employees have little confidence that the new system will adequately take care of clients. "They don't see how the structure that they're creating is going to work," Warrick said. "There's a lot of worry."

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

Source: The Associated Press, Mar 18, 2007

An Army contract to privatize maintenance at Walter Reed Medical Center was delayed more than three years amid bureaucratic bickering and legal squabbles that led to staff shortages and a hospital in disarray just as the number of severely wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan was rising rapidly.

Documents from the investigative and auditing arm of Congress map a trail of bid, rebid, protests and appeals between 2003, when Walter Reed was first selected for outsourcing, and 2006, when a five-year, $120 million contract was finally awarded.

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

Source: Tiffany Roper, CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY PRIORITIES, Austin American Stateman, Monday, March 19, 2007

Texas recently announced the termination of its contract with Accenture, the private company the state hired to enroll Texans in health care, food stamps, and other social services. Though privatization was supposed to save the state money and improve services for families, thousands of the most vulnerable Texans were wrongly denied benefits and the state didn't save a dime.

Posted by Info Center at 10:25 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON Associated Press (TX), March 15, 2007, 10:48AM

Nearly every state senator has signed a letter asking the inspector general of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to investigate the failed contract with the company hired to privatize the state's social services eligibility system.

The commission announced Tuesday it was ending its contract with the Texas Access Alliance, a group of companies led by Accenture LLP. The letter was released Wednesday.

Posted by Info Center at 10:23 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By PAUL DAVENPORT Association Press (AZ), March 16, 2007, 5:38PM

Efforts to relieve Arizona's shortage of prison space were dealt a setback when procurement officials canceled a competition between the state Department of Corrections and three private prison companies to provide up to 3,000 new beds.

None of the proposals met a requirement to open 1,000 of the beds by April, 2008, the State Procurement Office said in a formal notice canceling the state's request for proposals.

Posted by Info Center at 10:22 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS, March 16, 2007

The House voted to limit no-bid federal contracts yesterday, charging abuses and citing huge losses in contracts for Katrina recovery and Iraq reconstruction.

....... Democrats cited figures showing that federal contracts have nearly doubled in the Bush years, to about $400 billion a year, and that sole-source contracts, with no competitive bidding, grew from $67 billion in 2000 to $145 billion in 2005.

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

Source: By Patrick Arden, Metro New York, MAR 15, 2007

BROOKLYN. The $15.2 million maintenance and operations budget for the planned Brooklyn Bridge Park calls for a workforce running between 53 and 94 to look after 62 acres. Speed is apparently not a requirement for a job. Snow removal that needs hand shoveling instead of a plow, for instance, will take up to 9,198 hours, or enough work to employ 4.4 people full-time and year-round. Checking sprinklers will require another 5,208 hours, or enough for 2.5 full-time employees working year-round and making $45.07 an hour. Rodent and pest control will need 8,286 hours and alone could account for 4 full-time dedicated workers.

… That $21.4 million contract seemed high to Claude Fort, president of AFSCME Local 375, which represents about 2,000 architects and engineers employed by New York City.

… He doesn’t understand why city or state architects weren’t used. … We are highly skilled, and we have been fighting this privatization, trying to make the city understand that when you do the work in-house it costs much less money and is often much better.”

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

Source: By Joe Mahr, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH (MO), 03/14/2007

Reversing course, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt now wants to keep open a state-run center for mentally retarded and developmentally disabled residents. But he wants to reduce its caseload and privatize much of its staff. Blunt's latest plan for the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center was met with a lukewarm response from residents' relatives, who say the state is still shirking its duty to care for their loved ones.

…… A parents' group at the center and the union representing workers fought the plan to close the facility, arguing that the past problems of abuse had been adequately addressed.

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

Source: By Nikita Stewart and Yolanda Woodlee, Washington Post, Tuesday, March 13, 2007

About half of the 50 red-light enforcement cameras in the District have been out of service in recent months, giving a pass to drivers and potentially depriving the city of millions of dollars in fines, according to a firm that has taken over the system.

……. Although officials were not able to estimate the amount of lost revenue, the city has collected more than $40 million in fines from drivers photographed running red lights from August 1999 to January, according to the D.C. police Web site. More than $128 million has been collected for speeding violations in the automated system since 2001. The cameras were managed during that time by a rival to ATS, Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services, or ACS, which was criticized recently in a city audit for its poor management of the city's 16,500 parking meters.

Posted by Info Center at 10:15 AM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: By CLIFFORD KRAUSS, New York Times, March 12, 2007

Halliburton, the big energy services company, said on Sunday that it would open a corporate headquarters in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai and move its chairman and chief executive, David J. Lesar, there. …… The move seemed to raise questions about whether Halliburton might gain tax advantages or other benefits.

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

Source: By Steve Vogel and Renae Merle, Washington Post, Saturday, March 10, 2007

The scandal over treatment of outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has focused attention on the Army's decision to privatize the facilities support workforce at the hospital, a move commanders say left the building maintenance staff undermanned. Some Democratic lawmakers have questioned the decision to hire IAP Worldwide Services, a contractor with connections to the Bush administration and to KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary.

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

Source: Sheboygan Press (WI), March 8, 2007

Municipal clerks in Wisconsin may soon be an endangered species. That's because many of them are throwing up their hands in frustration over the statewide voter registration list that is still incomplete a year past deadline, error-prone and cumbersome to work with.

Wisconsin, like the rest of the states, was ordered to have a statewide voter list in place by 2006, but program developer Accenture still hasn't delivered a user-friendly and acceptable electronic database.

Posted by Info Center at 11:26 AM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: The Associated Press (TX), March 8, 2007, 3:15AM

The state's probe into sexual abuse allegations in the Texas youth prison system resulted in the firing of a correctional officer when investigators discovered he was a convicted sex offender.

David Andrew Lewis, 23, was fired Wednesday from the Texas Youth Commission's Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, several newspapers reported. The all-male facility, which is run by the private contractor GEO Group, is about 30 miles northeast of San Angelo in the town of Bronte.

Posted by Info Center at 11:25 AM in Corrections | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By Corrie MacLaggan, Austin American Statesman, Wednesday, March 7, 2007, 05:04 PM

A lawmaker leading an investigation into what went wrong with privately-run call centers enrolling Texans in public assistance said the state had warnings that the plan to turn over enrollment for food stamps and Medicaid to a private group led by Accenture LLP wouldn’t work.

State Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, chairman of a House Human Services subcommittee studying the call centers, said he was concerned to learn during a hearing Wednesday that state officials signed an $899 million contract even though they knew that TIERS, the computer system being phased in to handle client information, was not designed to work in a call center.

Posted by Info Center at 11:22 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Jason Stein, Wisconsin State Journal (WI), March 6, 2007

By June the state will have poured more than $35 million into a computer server project that is delayed and has no timetable for completion, officials say. They expect to spend another $36 million over the next two years - for a projected $71 million by mid-2009. That includes rent and other expenses since last spring at a Far East Side data center that was intended in part to hold the project's computer servers. Relatively few have been installed there. The state has had a run of costly computer technology blunders publicized in the last year, and a report on them by the Legislative Audit Bureau is expected in the coming weeks.

Posted by Info Center at 11:32 AM in Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By Lisa Myers, NBC News Investigative Unit, Updated: 7:47 p.m. ET March 6, 2007

……. Critics say part of the problem may be an Army decision last year to contract out maintenance and support at Walter Reed to a private company, even though government workers argued they could do it better, and for less. "They were moving, come hell or high water, to contract these jobs out," says John Gage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees. The contract went to a company — International American Products, or IAP — that played a major role in the ice fiasco during Hurricane Katrina, when trucks roamed the country, delivering little and running up costs to taxpayers.

Posted by Info Center at 11:30 AM in Federal | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: Paul Krugman, THE NEW YORK TIMES (reprinted in the American Statesman), Tuesday, March 06, 2007

When Salon, the online magazine, reported on mistreatment of veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center two years ago, officials simply denied that there were any problems. And they initially tried to brush off last month's expose in The Washington Post. But this time, with President Bush's approval at 29 percent, Democrats in control of Congress, and Donald Rumsfeld no longer defense secretary — Robert Gates, his successor, appears genuinely distressed at the situation — the whitewash didn't stick.

Yet even now it's not clear whether the public will be told the full story, which is that the horrors of Walter Reed's outpatient unit are no aberration. For all its cries of "support the troops," the Bush administration has treated veterans' medical care the same way it treats everything else: nickel-and-diming the needy, protecting the incompetent, and privatizing everything it can.

Posted by Info Center at 11:26 AM in Federal | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: Milford Daily News, Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - Updated: 12:44 AM EST

As Congress prepared to open this week's hearings on the shoddy treatment of Iraq war veterans, TV networks were allowed to shoot crews spreading new paint on the walls of the outpatient facilities at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The larger story of the outrageous treatment of injured service members won't so easily be covered up.

Part of that larger story goes beyond the military brass who failed to do their duty by those who had fallen in war, beyond the Congress members who failed to provide oversight, and far beyond Walter Reed. It has to do with a policy that has been a hallmark of the Bush administration, especially in its most egregious failures: privatizing government services.

Posted by Info Center at 11:25 AM in Federal | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By Steven K. Paulson, Associated Press (CO), Mar 6, 2007 9:46 am US/Mountain

A state lawmaker called on the Department of Corrections to rescind a contract for a private prison in Ault, saying the company failed to deliver on a previous contract and never should have been allowed to bid on the new 1,500-bed facility.

Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said GEO Group lost its contract to build a detention facility in Pueblo because it delayed the start of construction, then tried to renegotiate its contract to get a guarantee that it would be paid for 90 percent occupancy, even if beds were not filled.

Posted by Info Center at 11:21 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: By Gus G. Sentementes, Baltimore Sun (MD), March 1, 2007

....... Faced with pressure to improve the system, particularly in Baltimore, state officials offered separate contracts for the prison system's varying health care needs. Different companies were awarded contracts for medical, dental, mental health and pharmaceutical coverage. These contractors now "pass-through" the costs of their goods and services to the state for reimbursement. For fiscal year 2006, the tab for inmate health care in the state totaled $109.7 million.

(.pdf) Auditors found that medical care, dental care and mental health care providers weren't providing required levels of staff. They also noted problems with medical screenings, chronic care checkups, medication dispensation and timely treatment based on inmate needs.

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

Source: Earl Morgan, Jersey Journal (NJ), Tuesday, March 06, 2007

...... Meanwhile, United Water won the contract to run the system and problems cropped up almost immediately. Homeowners complained to The Jersey Journal about excessive billing, such as the retired school teacher who was twice hit with $9,000 water bills for just one quarter. Surprise surprise, it turns out she didn't use a lake's worth of water over those few months, but rather it was a billing error. It wasn't the only one, either.

It remains to be seen if United Water will win the next contract or if another firm will get the job. But there have been suggestions from some city officials that restoring the Jersey City Water Department might be the best solution. At least it would mean no longer paying $20 million a year to United Water.

Posted by Info Center at 11:16 AM in Water & Sewer | Permalink