AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: By POLLY ROSS HUGHES, Houston Chronicle (TX), August 31, 2007

The Texas Department of Transportation is pushing Congress to pass a federal law allowing the state to "buy back" parts of existing interstate highways and turn them into toll roads.

The 24-page plan, outlined in a "Forward Momentum" report that escaped widespread attention when published in February, drew prompt objections Thursday from state lawmakers and activists fighting the spread of privately run toll roads.

........ The report not only advocates turning stretches of interstate highways into toll roads, but it also suggests tax breaks for private company "investment" in such enterprises.

It seeks changes in federal law to allow the use of equity capital as a source of transportation funding. Along with that, it calls for altering the tax code to "exempt partnership distributions or corporate dividends related to ownership of (a) toll road from income taxation."

....... Anti-toll road activist Sal Castello, the Austin-based founder of the TexasTollParty.com, said he's frustrated by the "schemers and the scammers" who "never stop" divisive toll road proposals despite widespread opposition and fretted that a required referendum could be creatively worded to disguise the conversions.

Posted by Info Center at 10:16 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Laws/Legislation | Transportation | Permalink

Source: By Dan Klepal, The Courier-Journal (KY), August 31, 2007

It's called privatization, or sometimes managed competition. Whatever it's called, it's controversial. Louisville Metro Council members Tina Ward-Pugh and Ken Fleming want to study the cost of government services -- from filling potholes to picking up garbage.

....... For an idea of how controversial privatization is, consider a message that was posted on the AFSCME union Web page earlier this year when the plan was first announced. AFSCME, which stands for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, represents about 900 metro employees. "We need to have members to sign up to speak out against this legislation. We need to forward e-mails, faxes and phone calls to the members of the Budget Committee, as well as our individual council members, and urge them to reject this Union Busting Legislation."

Posted by Info Center at 10:15 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Sharon Stello, Davis Enterprise (CA), Aug 30, 2007 - 14:18:06 CDT.

Sodexho will increase wages and benefits for its food service workers at UC Davis under a new agreement with the campus, adding about $2 million in annual costs for the remaining three years of UCD's contract with the company. UCD will evaluate all options for providing food service in anticipation of that contract's end.

...... A UCD spokeswoman noted that Sodexho workers have the right to unionize without becoming university employees. UCD's announcement came as a surprise to William Schlitz, spokesman for AFSCME Local 3299, the union that would represent the food workers if employed by UCD.

Posted by Info Center at 10:13 AM in Food Services | Higher Education | Permalink

Source: By Jonathan Keehner, Reuters, Thu Aug 30, 2007 1:35PM EDT

Private equity firms suddenly short on big buyout targets are revisiting an elusive goal -- the privatization of infrastructure.

The crumbling network of roads, ports and bridges have previously intrigued private equity, but a political backlash derailed a wave of anticipated deals sparked by the Chicago Skyway lease for $2 billion in 2005.

Cash-strapped states might now reconsider their aversion, especially if private equity firms are willing to spend as enthusiastically for infrastructure assets as they were before a credit crunch made public markets unreceptive to them.

Posted by Info Center at 10:10 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Transportation | Permalink

Source: The Denver Post Editorial Board, 8/29/2007 08:24:31 PM MDT

We're not overjoyed about the takeover of the Northwest Parkway by foreign investors. It's hard to cheer about the prospect of paying tolls for 99 years to travel the 9-mile link between Interstate 25 and the Boulder Turnpike - as the sale ensures will happen.

But the sale to Portuguese-based Brisa and CCR of Brazil was probably the best outcome available for the financially troubled toll road - a necessary link in the metro area's still incomplete beltway network.

Posted by Info Center at 10:41 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Transportation | Permalink

Source: By ROBERT T. GARRETT, The Dallas Morning News (TX), Thursday, August 30, 2007

The state has suspended placements of foster children with most foster parents recruited by Lutheran Social Services of the South Inc. in North Texas and Central Texas, citing "serious incidents" in four homes last spring.

...... State spokesman Darrell Azar said the state this summer has closely scrutinized Lutheran - an Austin-based child-placing agency managing 660 foster homes, more than any other contractor in Texas - because of insights gained from difficulties with another private agency, now-defunct Mesa Family Services of Harker Heights.

Posted by Info Center at 10:08 AM in Nonprofits | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Richard Willing, USA TODAY, August 30, 2007

The Defense Department is paying private contractors more than $1 billion in more than 30 separate contracts to collect and analyze intelligence for the four military services and its own Defense Intelligence Agency, according to contract documents and a Pentagon spokesman.

....... Outside contracting demoralizes lower-paid federal workers and places critical security tasks and sensitive information in the hands of private parties, says Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy specialist at the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington privacy group.

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

Patrick Thibodeau, Computerworld (CA), August 29, 2007

Affiliated Computer Services Inc. this week announced an outsourcing contract extension with the municipal government in Riverside, Calif., that could be worth up to $17 million over three years. But in four months, Riverside CIO Steve Reneker plans to seek new bids to manage the city's IT operations to see if he can improve on its deal with ACS.

Reneker said he doesn't want Dallas-based ACS, or any other IT outsourcing vendor that he may hire in the future, to get too comfortable. So Riverside's new contract with ACS is guaranteed for just one year through next July, with two one-year renewal options.

....... But Reneker said that before he was hired as Riverside's CIO in 2005, the outsourcing vendor's contract manager was also heading the city's IT department. "That didn't work out well -- obviously, their motivator was to generate revenue and not to save the city money," he said.

...... And increased data center consolidation is the trend, according to a report (.pdf) released this month by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. IT executives from 29 states completed the survey, and the NASCIO said that 18 of the respondents were either planning consolidations or working on projects, while four others said they had already completed consolidation moves.

Posted by Info Center at 9:59 AM in Information Technology | Permalink

Source: Sacramento Business Journal, 2:25 PM PDT Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The University of California Davis has reached an agreement with food service contractor Sodexho Inc. in the labor debate between the university and the labor contractor.

For the three years remaining in the contract, Sodexho will increase the employer contribution to employees' medical benefits plan, and increase wages for employees. The increased medical benefit contribution will begin Jan. 1. Sodexho will determine the amount before open enrollment for the health plan begins in October.

The agreement also calls for Sodexho-employed hourly workers to be paid more comparably to university workers.

Posted by Info Center at 9:58 AM in Food Services | Higher Education | Permalink

Source: Norman Oder, Library Journal, 8/29/2007

After an intense petition campaign and facing a crowd urging that local management of the Bedford Public Library, TX, be maintained, the Bedford City Council last night voted 4-3 against outsourcing library management to Library Systems and Services, LLC (LSSI).

....... LSSI's response to the city's request for a proposal was said to be confidential, because it contained "trade secrets and/or privileged or confidential or financial information." Because that prohibited discussion at the Council's meeting, and because the topic would not qualify for an Executive Session under state law, the city asked the State Attorney General to rule as to whether parts of the document could be disclosed. Some 36 hours before the meeting last night, LSSI agreed to allow disclosure of the entire document, thus leading to details about proposed staffing and more.

Posted by Info Center at 11:49 AM in Library | Permalink

Source: BILL DRIES, The Memphis Daily News (TN), August 29, 2007

Shelby County Commissioners Monday approved a contract with Porter-LeathChildren's Center to provide Head Start services to 460 children.

........ The contract, authorized by an earlier County Commission and negotiated by County Mayor A C Wharton Jr., met fierce resistance from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the union that represents county employees who work at the Head Start centers now operated by county government. Those centers care for nearly 3,200 children.

....... Commissioner Mike Carpenter said the compromise "stinks."

"Shelby County Head Start is in good shape. That's not the argument here," he said, pointing out figures from the National Head Start Association that show only 6 percent of the country's Head Start programs are run by local governments. Most are run by non-profits similar to Porter-Leath.

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

Source: By Steve Peoples, Providence Journal (RI), Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The Carcieri administration has selected the Massachusetts firm Hurley of America Inc. to replace scores of housekeeping employees at Eleanor Slater Hospital with private contractors.

....... Yesterday's announcement represents a direct challenge to the General Assembly, which passed a law two months ago as part of the state budget aimed at slowing Carcieri's aggressive push to expand privatization. The law outlines a series of detailed reporting requirements and cost-benefit analyses before the governor can replace state employees.

...... "This is a premeditated shot at the unions prior to Labor Day. I don't know what [the governor] is thinking," said Dennis Grilli, executive director of Council 94, the largest state employees union.

Posted by Info Center at 10:25 AM in Custodial | Health | Permalink

Source: Associated Press, August 28, 2007

The Pentagon is sending a team of investigators to Iraq because of the growing number of cases of fraud and other irregularities in contracts involving weapons and supplies for Iraqi forces

...... In the most recent high-profile contract probe, the Government Accountability Office said last month that the Pentagon cannot fully account for $19.2 billion worth of equipment provided to Iraqi security forces.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said it had reviewed records of the U.S. unit running the program to train and equip Iraqi forces and couldn't account for what happened to least 190,000 weapons. U.S. officials, while acknowledging that some might have fallen into the hands of militants, said the majority of weapons went to Iraqi security forces but that records weren't property kept to show that.

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

Source: By Greg Johnson, Frontiersman (AK), August 28, 2007

MAT-SU - Alaska may be near to milking its last cow.

The state Board of Agriculture and Conservation decided Monday to privatize Matanuska Maid Dairy and get the state out of the dairy business.

....... Mat Maid has been producing Alaska-grown milk for 71 years and was a private cooperative until 1985, when financial pressures prompted the state to buy the dairy out of bankruptcy.

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

Source: By JAIME GATTON, Mooresville Tribune (NC), Wednesday, August 29, 2007

CH2M Hill said this week it needs nine additional months to complete the design of the town's wastewater treatment plant expansion.

The firm also said it's going to need more money.

.......More specifically, CH2M Hill stated that the delay is due to the state setting limits on phosphorous discharges into Lake Norman. Now, said Wimberly, the design plans that CH2M Hill has developed the past year will have to be "tweaked" to accommodate the changes.

Osborne said CH2M Hill wasn't aware of the potential phosphorous limits until a meeting that the firm and town had with the state in April.

..... CH2M Hill's local experience has been a point of contention since October 2004, when the town's engineering and utilities departments unanimously recommended Black & Veatch to negotiate the scope and fee of Mooresville's treatment plant expansion.

Posted by Info Center at 10:13 AM in Horror Stories | Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: By Jane Huh, Post-Tribune (IN), August 29, 2007

Unions from across the region gathered in Merrillville on Tuesday to lend support to the town's paramedics.

About 50 people stood near the intersection of 78th and Broadway in front of the town's government building to protest the Town Council's decision two weeks ago to accept proposals from private emergency medical service providers.

Posted by Info Center at 10:12 AM in Health | Public Safety | Permalink

Source: Terry Davis, Hutchinson Leader (MN), August 27, 2007

It may seem like it has taken forever, but the more than 18 months of work setting up the privatization of city-owned Hutchinson Area Health Care appears to be on the cusp of completion.

A quintet of resolutions and ordinances related to the privatization are on the agenda for the Hutchinson City Council's Aug. 28 meeting.

The ordinances include one approving the lease of the hospital's property, including Burns Manor, to the new nonprofit Hutchinson Health Care, and another for the nonprofit's articles of incorporation and bylaws.

Posted by Info Center at 10:02 AM in Health | Permalink

Source: By RAY LIGHTNER, Houston Daily Journal (GA), 08/24/07

The Hospital Authority of Houston County will be privatizing the operation of its two hospitals.

The authority voted Wednesday to form non-profit corporations as part of a reorganization effort in which the non-profits will aquire, by lease or transfer, the assets and operations of the authority.

Posted by Info Center at 9:59 AM in Health | Permalink

Source: By Mark Capron, PUBLIC WORKS MAGAZINE, August 1, 2007

Keep roads in public hands by making it easier for transportation planners to deploy intelligent electronics technology.

Your editorial about transportation departments granting long-term toll road operating concessions to foreign firms like Australia's Macquarie Infrastructure Group (April 2007, "Leased to the highest bidder!") asks a good question: "If operating public infrastructure makes good business sense, why are we getting out of the business?"

We don't have to. The public sector can improve full-spectrum service--not just transit time, but safety, costs, air quality, aesthetics, noise, and the environment--by implementing "intelligent" vehicle technology that's available today.

Posted by Info Center at 2:53 PM in Asset Sale/Lease | Transportation | Permalink

Source: by Gil McClanahan, WOWK (WV), Saturday, August 25, 2007 ; 06:42 PM

The issue of privatization has some State Department of Highways workers worried. They say Governor Joe Manchin is trying to privatize the DOH.

On Saturday morning, they rallied at the State Capitol to protest the move. The workers say vital equipment used for repairing highways is being sold, paving the way for private contractors, and that has some worried about the possibility of unemployment.

Posted by Info Center at 10:49 AM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times (CA), August 24, 2007

...... Childress is a part of a first wave of about 700 male convicts that California has shipped to privately owned and operated prisons in Arizona, Tennessee and Mississippi. "I feel good, like I could do another 10 years," he said, half-jokingly. The nation's big private prison companies like it too. Having long lusted after a share of California's 173,000-inmate population, they now foresee a steady stream of business. Depending on the outcome of legal challenges, California could be "one of the longtime drivers of growth for the private prison industry," industry analyst Kevin Campbell said.

...... For decades, these companies attempted to win contracts to house convicts in privately owned or leased in-state prisons, only to see their efforts thwarted by the wealthy, politically influential California prison guards union.

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

Source: By HELEN COLWELL ADAMS, Lancaster Newspapers (PA), Aug 26, 2007 12:15 AM EST

A year after its first attempt at privatizing prison health care was scrapped because of questions about the contractor, the county Prison Board is expected to try again this week to recommend an outside provider for inmate medical services.

The Prison Board, which includes the county commissioners and other top officials, has narrowed the field of four candidates to CFG Health Systems of New Jersey and PrimeCare Medical of Harrisburg.

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

Source: By Jessica DeLeón, Star-Telegram (TX), August 25, 2007

Residents hope to collect 1,000 signatures this weekend in opposition to possibly outsourcing the Bedford Public Library.

Organizers plan to present the petition Tuesday to the City Council, which could vote on the issue that night.

The city has received proposals from two groups to run the library. Library Systems and Services of Germantown, Md., bid $622,740 a year with radio-frequency identification technology, a system that identifies materials without bar codes, and $652,740 without the technology. The Bedford Public Library also made a proposal for $764,626 a year.

Posted by Info Center at 10:33 AM in | Permalink

Source: School Bus Fleet (IL), August 23, 2007

On Aug. 17, Gov. Rod Blagojevich approved a bill to apply new rules for school boards that outsource support services. Under the new law, districts are not allowed to enter into a contract during collective bargaining, and contracts are limited to two years. In addition, both the district and the contractor must make cost projections for each expense category, which cannot be increased during the contract. The school board must provide a cost comparison, and a minimum of two public hearings to discuss the proposal must be held.

...... The bill was supported by teacher unions and public employee unions. School bus contractors were among its opponents.

Posted by Info Center at 1:57 PM in Laws/Legislation | School Bus | Schools K-12 | Transportation | Permalink

Source: By Gary Washburn, Chicago Tribune (IL), August 24, 2007

A blue-ribbon panel will spend the next year studying strategies to streamline city government and find ways to stretch the public dollars needed to run it, Mayor Richard Daley announced Thursday. The formation of the 21st Century Commission comes at a time when the city is confronted with a projected $217 million funding shortfall for 2008 and, beyond that, long-term financial challenges.

...... Daley refused to say whether increased privatization of public services could be in the mix. But Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation and one of the commission's 22 members, said he is convinced hiring private companies to perform some of the work now handled by city employees could bring new efficiencies and savings.

....... Only one union leader is on the commission: Thomas Villanova, president of the Chicago & Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council.

Posted by Info Center at 10:04 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: BY JOHN LUCIEW, The Patriot-News (PA), Thursday, August 23, 2007

Mayor Stephen R. Reed said Wednesday that the federal government is plotting a new twist in its efforts to build a U.S. courthouse in downtown Harrisburg.

Citing "federal officials in a position to know," Reed told a community group fighting the project that the U.S. General Services Administration has not relented in its desire to build a $100 million courthouse on one of two downtown sites.

Reed said the agency is preparing to sweeten the deal by offering to "privatize" the existing federal courthouse at Third and Walnut streets.

Reed said that building would be sold to a private owner, with the government leasing space for federal offices that would remain there. The move would return the building to the city tax rolls.

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

Source: Michael Zeigler, Democrat & Chronicle (NY), August 23, 2007

A state commission has concluded that a private company gave inadequate mental health treatment to a teenager who hanged himself in Monroe County Jail.

A report by the state Commission of Correction stopped short of saying that Correctional Medical Services Inc. of St. Louis, which contracts with the county to provide medical care to jail inmates, was responsible for the death of 16-year-old Javon Leggett on Aug. 29, 2004.

Posted by Info Center at 10:12 AM in Corrections Health | Mental Health | Permalink
Tags: New York

Source: By JAIME GATTON, Mooresville Tribune (NC), Wednesday, August 22, 2007

While Mooresville taxpayers wrestle with rising utility bills, largely to pay for the expansion of the town’s wastewater treatment plant, the company hired to design the project has been paid more than $150,000 for expenses ranging from airline tickets and $176 hotel rooms to chewing gum and $4.65 Starbucks coffees.

Many of the expenses turned in by the company, CH2M Hill, had no receipts and non-itemized receipts, but the town reimbursed them anyway, a Tribune examination shows.

Posted by Info Center at 1:11 PM in Horror Stories | Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: By Jane Huh, Post-Tribune (IN), August 22, 2007

Some Merrillville paramedics say they are bracing to lose their jobs a week after the Town Council began looking into private emergency medical service.

"Everybody's looking," said 39-year-old David Ferris, a paramedic who says he feels betrayed by the council's "sneak attack."

Last week, the Town Council voted to accept proposals from private emergency medical service providers until Sept. 25. Council president Shawn Pettit said town leaders are trying to find ways to cut costs.

Posted by Info Center at 10:42 AM in Health | Public Safety | Permalink

Source: By BRIAN LYMAN, Press Register (AL), Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The Alabama Medicaid Agency on Tuesday chose a subsidiary of Affiliated Computer Services, a Dallas-based database services company, to implement an electronic database for Medicaid clients around the state.

The Fortune 500 company, which hired a former aide to Gov. Bob Riley as a lobbyist days before the contract was awarded, has won projects throughout the world but has been followed by scandal in recent years, including the loss of millions of personal records in two states and allegations of bribery in securing a Canadian contract.

Posted by Info Center at 10:40 AM in Health | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By ED SEALOVER, THE GAZETTE (CO), August 22, 2007 - 12:02AM

The state auditor’s office blasted the Department of Labor and Employment for failing to oversee the development of a new computer system earlier this decade, saying problems that cost Colorado $24 million could have been found and addressed sooner.

The Labor Department contracted with a private firm in 2001 to create a computer system, known as Genesis, which would process unemployment benefits and taxes. After a series of missed deadlines and failed tests, the department canceled the project in December 2005 and received back just $8 million of the $32 million it had paid to Accenture.

....... An audit released Tuesday (.pdf) found that the department did not establish a project-management structure that involved three levels of oversight on the contractor, relying instead on Accenture to oversee and manage its project.

Posted by Info Center at 10:35 AM in Audits/Reporting | Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source:By Robert O'Harrow Jr., Washington Post, Wednesday, August 22, 2007

....... Under pressure from the White House and Congress to deliver a long-delayed plan last year, officials at the Department of Homeland Security's counter-narcotics office took a shortcut that has become common at federal agencies: They hired help through a no-bid contract.

…….. Though small by government standards, the counter-narcotics contract illustrates the government's steady move away from relying on competition to secure the best deals for products and services. A recent congressional report estimated that federal spending on contracts awarded without "full and open" competition has tripled, to $207 billion, since 2000, with a $60 billion increase last year alone. The category includes deals in which officials take advantage of provisions allowing them to sidestep competition for speed and convenience and cases in which the government sharply limits the number of bidders or expands work under open-ended contracts.

Posted by Info Center at 10:24 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Damian Mann, Mail Tribune (OR), August 22, 2007

……… The county negotiated with Library Systems and Services LLC (known by the acronym LSSI), a Maryland-based library management company, to operate all 15 branches at $4.3 million a year, or about half the former budget before libraries were closed April 6.

……. Olney, one of about 40 audience members, said that without the union contract libraries operated under previously, volunteers can assume more duties and even potentially fill in on Sundays.

……. During a preliminary review of bids to operate all libraries from LSSI and the Service Employees International Union Local 503, the difference in cost was $1.4 million for the first year. But after a more careful analysis, the county determined LSSI's bid was actually $1.8 million less. Over five years, LSSI's bid saved $11.6 million over the union's proposal.

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

Source: International City/County Management Association

Contracting for a new service is seldom trouble free. The problems that arise in planning and implementing a contract for a new service stem primarily from three sources: contractors’ inexperience, internal opposition from managers and middle managers in the department that would provide the service if it were delivered in house, and inexperience on the part of local government staff. Here are guidelines from Service Contracting: A Local Government Guide, Second Edition, to help local governments deal with these problems.

Posted by Info Center at 10:18 AM in Overview/General | Permalink

Source: By Peter Reina, Engineering News Record (Subscription Required), 8/15/2007

Enriched by booming domestic orders, Spanish construction groups now are flexing their muscles globally. As well as moving into high-value-added sectors, contractors are increasingly exploiting their toll road know-how to pry open new markets. The U.S. is among prime destinations.

....... The company with the most privately financed U.S. toll road concessions is Cintra, controlled by Spain’s Grupo Ferrovial. Spanish firms are in three of four teams shortlisted last month to bid for the $2-billion Texas North Tarrant Express concession, and were in six of the original the seven candidates.

Posted by Info Center at 2:13 PM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: Capital Times (WI), 8/21/2007 11:56 am

One of the reasons why this newspaper began editorializing years ago about the need for the state of Wisconsin to avoid doing business with Accenture, the contractor that was unfortunately given the responsibility of building a voter registration system, was our sense that the corporation had a troubling record of respecting its responsibilities.

……… Paying any more money to Accenture would be a travesty. Formally breaking ties with Accenture would seem to make sense, but it is essential that any transition assures that state employees will be able to quickly clean up any messes left by the contractor.

Posted by Info Center at 1:31 PM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

...... Rare is the reporter who has not dealt with some privatization, whether that is with a contractor paid for some traditionally governmental service — such as running prisons in Texas or performing military duties in Iraq — or with an entity that has some public and private characteristics, such as an economic development corporation.

But the public records and open meetings laws that the press relies on provide much less access to the private contractors than if those responsibilities are still in government hands. That can make it nearly impossible for the media to provide oversight of important public services and report on how taxpayer money is being spent.

See the full Special Report on Privatization v. The Public’s Right to Know with links to additional articles.

Posted by Info Center at 11:42 AM in Audits/Reporting | Oversight/Contract Management | Permalink

Source: By BOB LOWRY, Huntsville Times (AL), Monday, August 20, 2007

Workers who routinely check out cars from the state motor pool for the weekend, have state e-mail accounts and take home state-owned laptop computers may appear to be public employees. But that wasn't the case with 10 employees of a company who worked under a contract with the Alabama Department of Human Resources and Auburn University at Montgomery.

…… AIM's contract with DHR for information technology services was scheduled to run from Sept. 25, 2006, through April 30, 2007, but it was cut short after Ken Wallis, Riley's legal adviser, received complaints.

……. Among the problems cited, he said, was improper use of state vehicles by AIMS' employees. Other problems were AIMS employees being paid late, being paid with cash and their payroll checks bouncing.

Related editorial from the Huntsville Times: Public vs. private

…….. But what also needs to come from this is a re-examination of the pluses and minuses of using private companies for state work. Sometimes, in terms of accountability and good government, private may not always be best.

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

Source: Indianapolis Star (IN), August 21, 2007

A company that provided electronic voting machines used in more than half of Indiana's counties is appealing a $360,000 fine for election law violations in 2006.

The fine levied last month against Indianapolis-based MicroVote General Corp. by the secretary of state was based on the company providing uncertified voting equipment to 47 counties.

MicroVote previously sued Secretary of State Todd Rokita for withholding Help America Vote Act funds from several counties that had purchased election systems from the company. That suit is pending in Marion Superior Court.

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

Source: By Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman, USA Today, August 21, 2007

....... In July, the Stockton City Council voted unanimously to roll back the largest water privatization in the West. After four years, the $600 million showcase deal with a multinational consortium, OMI-Thames Water, has been scrapped in favor of a return to public control.

The decision came after repeated court rulings determined that the deal violated California's environmental law, but the legal issue was only the last straw. Noxious odors drifted regularly from the sewage treatment plant. There were sewage spills, fish kills, increased leakage from underground pipes, staff turnover and increases in water rates after years of rate stability.

........ Now, doubts about corporate water privatization are spreading from small towns such as Lee, Mass., to midsize cities such as Stockton and metropolises such as Atlanta, where water privatization failed miserably in 2003.

Even so, whenever a bridge falls, a levee breaks or a steam pipe bursts, we invariably hear renewed calls to privatize. Let Stockton's experience testify that privatization is not the solution.

Posted by Info Center at 10:35 AM in Publicization | Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: By Sarah Fenske, Phoenix New Times (AZ), August 16, 2007

After the tragic highway collapse in Minneapolis two weeks ago, Governor Janet Napolitano assigned the Arizona Department of Transportation to inspect every highway bridge in Arizona.

....... The problem is, the ADOT inspection process is deeply flawed, chiefly because the agency has been using private consultants to handle many inspections. (Think: foxes being paid to watch the henhouse.) A lengthy report (.pdf) from the state auditor general spells out a host of flaws with ADOT's inspection process even beyond this privatization: Inspectors don't keep accurate paperwork. They also don't have the experience, or confidence, to tell construction firms what to do.

Related articles from the Phoenix New Times:
Friends at Work / When it comes to million-dollar contracts at the Arizona Department of Transportation, it's all about whose back gets scratched

Roadkill/ Now the Arizona Department of Transportation is being attacked on affirmative action

Posted by Info Center at 11:31 AM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: By PATRICK MARLEY, Journal Sentinel (WI), Aug. 19, 2007

The contractor in charge of building a voter registration system is in a billing fight with the state Elections Board, with the vendor saying it is owed nearly $2 million and the board contending too much work remains to make that payment now.

…….. The vendor, Accenture, says it finished its contract work in January and is performing additional duties under a nine-month warranty. That would mean Accenture would be done completely in October, and the state would have to pay additional sums for any other work. The board, however, says Accenture hasn't delivered the full system yet and that the warranty clock won't start ticking until it does.

Posted by Info Center at 11:15 AM in Information Technology | Permalink

Source: Star Telegram (scroll down) (TX), http://www.star-telegram.com/407/story/206898.html

The city has asked the Texas attorney general whether Library Systems and Services can withhold certain parts of its proposal for running the library.

The city believes that some parts can be exempted because they contain trade secrets or confidential financial matters, according to City Attorney Stan Lowry's letter to the attorney general.

Two requests, including one from the Star-Telegram, have been made to see the company's proposal through the Texas Public Information Act.

The company and the Bedford Public Library were the only organizations to submit proposals.

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

Source: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (IN), August 15, 2007

The state's steps to fix the rollout of its plan to have private vendors help in delivering welfare benefits to the needy has won approval from the federal food stamp program.

...... Holden had warned Roob in July that the state's program to have a team of companies led by IBM Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. process applications for benefits had broken federal food stamp rules in some cases because they bypassed state employees.

In response to the warning, FSSA ordered more training for its employees, began requiring case workers and their supervisors to use a checklist during interviews with benefit applicants, and ordered supervisors to observe case workers while they conducted interviews.

Posted by Info Center at 11:10 AM in Federal | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2007

IBM Corp. and PricewaterhouseCoopers have agreed to pay nearly $5.3 million combined to settle allegations that they made improper payments on government technology contracts, the Justice Department said Thursday.

IBM agreed to pay nearly $3 million, while accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers would pay $2.3 million.

Neither company admitted wrongdoing.

........ The settlement is part of a larger, continuing federal investigation of three technology companies -- Hewlett-Packard Co., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Accenture Ltd. -- that also have been accused of providing kickbacks to federal consultants to get government tech contracts.

Posted by Info Center at 11:06 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Sunday, August 19, 2007

The Defense Intelligence Agency is preparing to pay private contractors up to $1 billion to conduct core intelligence tasks of analysis and collection over the next five years, an amount that would set a record in the outsourcing of such functions by the Pentagon's top spying agency.

Related column By Walter Pincus in the Washington Post: Contractors in Iraq Have Become U.S. Crutch

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

Source: By Sarah Fenske, Phoenix New Times (AZ), August 9, 2007

For years, people have argued about who really runs Phoenix. The mayor? The city manager? City Council? But when it comes to city buses, the answer is all too clear. It's a bunch of French businessmen. Seriously.

As it turns out, most of the municipal buses in Phoenix, as well as the shuttle service at Sky Harbor, are run by subsidiaries of a French-based conglomerate named Veolia. That company makes its living by handling the municipal details that typically bore politicians to tears: trash removal, transportation management, and shuttle service.

Naturally, the company does it all for a fee. And in Phoenix, that fee just got a whole lot bigger.

....... The upshot is that, this summer, Phoenix agreed to increase Veolia's management fees by a collective $7 million on its two contracts — without shopping around.

By my calculation, Veolia is getting a 79 percent raise.

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

Source: By Renae Merle, Washington Post, Friday, August 17, 2007

A South Carolina defense contractor pleaded guilty yesterday to bilking the Pentagon out of $20.5 million over nearly 10 years by adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of shipping spare parts such as metal washers and lamps.

The parts were bound for key military installations, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan. In one instance, in 2006, the government paid C&D Distributors $998,798 in transportation costs for shipping two 19-cent washers. Charlene Corley, 47, co-owner of C&D Distributors, used the money to pay for luxury homes, cars, plastic surgery and jewelry, according to court documents.

Posted by Info Center at 10:53 AM in Federal | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By Aliya Sternstein, National Journal's Technology Daily, August 14, 2007

A debate is stirring over a proposal by the Health and Human Services Department to privatize the government's existing advisory body on health information technology.

The American Health Information Community, chartered in 2005, currently counsels HHS on hastening the adoption of health IT. Now HHS is forming a successor entity, as required under the charter. The agency's proposition calls for an independent and sustainable public-private partnership.

……. Several labor and consumer advocacy groups and the seniors' group AARP have submitted comments opposing privatization over concerns that the proposed spin-off would lack accountability and transparency.

Posted by Info Center at 10:40 AM in Federal | Health | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By Lauren Dorgan and Sarah Liebowitz, Concord Monitor (NH), August 15. 2007 12:15AM

New Hampshire's voting system tallied votes in last year's elections, but is it constitutional? Nope, says attorney Paul Twomey.

"In the New Hampshire constitution, there's about four or five separate places where they indicate how voting is to occur, and they all say in a slightly different form that an election official is to count and sort in an open fashion," said Twomey, who represented the Democratic Party in the Election Day 2002 phone-jamming lawsuit. But with the state's optical scan voting machines, "the counting is outsourced to Diebold," the voting machine manufacturer.

Posted by Info Center at 10:38 AM in Information Technology | Laws/Legislation | Permalink

Source: By DAVID REID, The Republican (MA), Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The New Jersey-based United Water Inc. has bought the AOS Operating Company, which has been upgrading and running the city's wastewater treatment plant since fall 2005.

In a statement on its Web site on Monday, United Water announced it has paid $6.55 million to buy AOS - formerly the Aquarion Operating Services Company - of Bridgeport, Conn., from The Kelda Group of London.

Posted by Info Center at 10:33 AM in Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: By Sharon Woods Harris, Pekin Times (IL), Tuesday, August 14, 2007 2:33 PM CDT

City Council member Tom Blanchard says he cannot support any increase in the wastewater fee in the future because the city has saved a lot of money by operating the wastewater plant on its own.

Previously, the wastewater plant was operated by United Water. The city took over operations of the plant in April 2005 while under the administration of former Mayor Lyn Howard, when bids increased significantly.

United Water's bid was $949,568 for one year in 2005. The city estimated it would save $221,355 in the first year if the contract was not renewed and it operated its own wastewater facility.

Posted by Info Center at 10:31 AM in Publicization | Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: The Associated Press

Two managers at a private Arizona prison that houses inmates from Hawaii quit the facility with complaints of poor management, inadequate facilities and lack of staffing.

Two days after the managers abruptly left their jobs, staff members at the Saguaro Correctional Facility in Eloy inadvertently opened security doors Aug. 3, releasing seven inmates from their cells.

...... They didn't tell Tennessee-based Corrections Corp. of America, which runs the Saguaro facility, why they were leaving.

........In the e-mails, Stokes said upper management at the facility spies on staff, controls all communication with the outside and degrades inmates.

Posted by Info Center at 1:10 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: By Damian Mann, Mail Tribune (WA), August 14, 2007

A union bid to outsource operation of all 15 branches in Jackson County would trim $1 million off the library budget, though the offer doesn't include maintenance and utility costs. The Service Employees International Union, Local 503, which is affiliated with the Jackson County Employees Association, released a copy of the proposal Monday that offers three different plans to open libraries.

…….. He [SEIU organizer John Mulvey] said the union's proposal doesn't provide the 40 percent savings expected from LSSI, but he said he doubts his competitor could offer a substantially lower price. He said the only way LSSI could offer a lower price is by cutting salaries and benefits dramatically, or offering a reduced rate the first year just to get the contract.

Posted by Info Center at 11:12 AM in Library | Permalink

Source: By Stephen Barr, Washington Post, Tuesday, August 14, 2007

A three-year controversy over who should answer telephone calls for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission appears to be at an end.

The EEOC has decided that calls from the nation's workers about job discrimination will be handled by an in-house team, replacing a contractor-operated call center.

Posted by Info Center at 11:10 AM in Federal | Publicization | Permalink

Source: By Greg Garland, Baltimore Sun (MD), August 13, 2007

The O'Malley administration is moving to terminate the contract of a private firm charged with providing security at the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School after two youths escaped last month -- the third escape from the juvenile detention center this year.

Until last fall, securing and monitoring the gates and perimeter fencing at the facility in Baltimore County had fallen to state employees. But the service was contracted out to a private vendor late last year by the administration of former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

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

Source: Tom Mugan, president of the State Engineering Association, Capital Times (WI), 8/11/2007 10:19 am

In the wake of the Twin Cities bridge tragedy, we are all paying renewed attention to our national infrastructure and the dangers of deferred maintenance. The state of Wisconsin engineers responsible for designing our bridges have a special perspective that's up close and personal. We're engineers, but we're also taxpayers and citizens. We care about our work, and we feel a strong responsibility to provide for the public's safety.

Posted by Info Center at 11:06 AM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (CO), August 14, 2007

Dismayed lawmakers learned Monday that the state might have to scrap a new but flawed computer system for vehicle registrations that already has cost taxpayers nearly $11 million.

........ As for the Colorado State Titling and Registration System, or CSTARS, Huber said the state is still assessing how to proceed. She said her department and the attorney general are talking to the vendor, Avanade, a subsidiary of Accenture, a company that worked on two other troubled state computer projects.

Posted by Info Center at 11:02 AM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: Galen Scott, Weatherford Democrat (TX), August 13, 2007 06:13 pm

In a 4-1 vote Monday, the Parker County Commissioners Court approved a five-year contract with private jail management company CiviGenics.

...... Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Webster cast the lone vote of opposition.

........ “My feeling on this is that privatization is not the answer for government problems, and I think we need to find that answer within ourselves,” he said. “I disagree with the conclusions that have been drawn up, but I feel like I will be outvoted, and that’s fine. Because that is what we are able to have in a democracy where one person can speak his piece.”

Posted by Info Center at 10:58 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: MyFox Dallas (TX), Last Edited: Tuesday, 14 Aug 2007, 6:22 AM CDT

A private prison facility was on lockdown early Tuesday as authorities investigated a disturbance that erupted when hundreds of inmates refused to leave the recreation yard.

Two employees of Corrections Corp. of America's Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer Facility were treated on site for minor injuries during the Monday night disturbance, spokesperson Louise Grant said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:09 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: BY GARY FINEOUT, Miami Herald (FL), Thu, Aug. 09, 2007

The agency responsible for helping Florida's disabled residents has come up with a novel way to cut its budget: Hire more state workers and fire the private companies that now do the work.

If the proposal is accepted by the state Legislature, it would represent a startling turnaround from the eight years under former Gov. Jeb Bush, who cut thousands of state jobs and handed the work to private vendors.

Officials with the Agency for Persons with Disabilities say that hiring state employees would in fact, save the state money.

Posted by Info Center at 11:50 AM in Publicization | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Carol D. Leonnig, Washington Post, Friday, August 10, 2007

Brenda Belton had some gall, by her own admission. As charter school oversight chief for the D.C. Board of Education, she repeatedly stole from the school system, arranging about $649,000 in illegal school payments and sweetheart contracts to herself and her friends.

…… She bypassed the city's competitive bidding process to select contractors to monitor the charter schools, according to D.C. and federal education investigators.

Posted by Info Center at 11:48 AM in Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: Gregory B. Hladky, New Haven Register (CT), 08/10/2007

A state commission heard sharply contrasting testimony Thursday of how corruption investigations and contracting reforms have either damaged or helped worker performance at the state transportation agency. Donald Shubert, executive secretary of the Connecticut Road Builders Association, claimed there now is a "culture of fear" in the state Department of Transportation that is delaying decisions on highway projects and costing taxpayers "a tremendous amount of money."

……. According to Doody, DOT engineers are more than capable of designing bridges of 20 feet or less and that "We are $25 per hour cheaper" than hiring outside consultants for that design work.

…….. Meanwhile, Rell announced the creation of a new state Web site to get citizens’ ideas on how to reorganize the DOT.

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

Source: By BEN GREENE, Associated Press, 08.09.07

A federal grand jury indicted a corporate executive who allegedly ran a scheme to make $32 million in false purchases of computer equipment, spending the money instead on beach real estate and private jet travel, prosecutors said Thursday.

........ At a news conference, U.S. A