EDITORIAL: Private troubles, public dollars
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL), May 23, 2007
In pulling the plug on an $89-million accounting system disaster, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has delivered a potent message to those who do business with the state: Get the work done right, on time and on budget, or be gone.
Private companies can and often do perform valuable work for government, but the failed "Project Aspire" is a case study in how wholesale privatization can run amok.
...... The primary contractor, BearingPoint, has already left the job. It blames bureaucrats for constantly changing their minds. Bureaucrats blame lawmakers for changing the funding. Meanwhile, the state still uses its old accounting methods.