AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: The Associated Press (FL), 11/26/2007

Faced with a $2.5 billion budget shortfall over the next two years, Florida officials are considering selling 50-year leases on Alligator Alley and other state toll roads and bridges in exchange for large sums of cash from private investors.

In a preliminary study, the Florida's Department of Transportation estimated a 50-year lease on Tampa's Sunshine Skyway Bridge could be worth $1.3 billion if investors were allowed to set tolls at ''market rates.'' Alligator Alley could bring in $1.3 billion as well, according to the estimates.

Posted by Info Center at 11:22 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Transportation | Permalink
Tags: Florida

Source: Associated Press (IN), November 21, 2007

Gov. Mitch Daniels said today he won't make a renewed pitch in the upcoming legislative session for his proposal to privatize the Hoosier Lottery, saying lawmakers will be too busy considering property tax reforms.

During the last session, Daniels proposed leasing the lottery to a private operator and said one company was willing to pay $1 billion plus $200 million in annual payments for the 30-year lease.

Posted by Info Center at 11:20 AM in Lottery | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By Erica M. Bush, The Winchester Star (VA), Thursday, November 22, 2007

Winchester -- The Frederick County Sanitary Landfill is officially off-limits to a waste management company that lost its contract with the county over alleged wrongdoing.

County Administrator John Riley confirmed on Wednesday that Browning-Ferris Industries has been denied access and prohibited from dumping any trash into the county landfill.

Posted by Info Center at 11:18 AM in Waste Management | Permalink
Tags: Virginia

Source: BY NASEEM S. MILLER, STAR-BANNER (FL), November 21, 2007

Marion County Sheriff's Office is finalizing its contract with a locally formed non-profit group that will provide medical care to Marion County Jail inmates.

Ocala Community Care Inc. will take over the responsibilities of the private company Prison Health Services on Jan. 2, 2008.

Sheriff Ed Dean did not renew PHS' contract for a third year, because the two could not agree on compensation.

Posted by Info Center at 11:16 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink
Tags: Florida

Source: By Steve Peoples, Providence Journal (RI), Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Less than a year after it became law, the General Assembly may reconsider a controversial "anti-privatization" bill criticized by a handful of Democrats who say it goes too far in blocking the governor's ability to save money by replacing state workers with private contractors.

....... Gablinske's bill, which won't be considered until the Assembly reconvenes in January, substantially weakens current law by removing language that allows unions, individual employees, or even state program recipients such as hospital patients, to appeal privatization decisions to Superior Court.

Posted by Info Center at 11:14 AM in Laws/Legislation | Permalink
Tags: Rhode Island

Source: By DON BEHM, Journal Sentinel (WI), Nov. 20, 2007

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District could save its customers in 28 communities about $5 million next year by hiring Veolia Water North America to operate the district's wastewater treatment system rather than giving the job to itself, district officials said.

The district and its employee unions cannot fully close such a gap by trimming labor costs, the one expense unions could help control, said Executive Director Kevin Shafer. The gap takes into account a savings of $800,000 gained by shutting down a contract compliance office if a private company no longer operates MMSD's treatment facilities.

Posted by Info Center at 11:12 AM in Water & Sewer | Permalink
Tags: Wisconsin

Source: ACS news release, November 20, 2007: 08:30 AM EST

Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. today announced a contract with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to provide pharmacy benefits management (PBM) services for its Medicaid program. The contract has a length of up to 10 years and a total value of $18.5 million, if a three-year option is exercised.

Posted by Info Center at 11:10 AM in Health | Permalink
Tags: Idaho

Source: By Mark Benjamin, Salon.com, Nov. 20, 2007

President Bush late last month nominated retired Lt. Gen. James Peake to be the next secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

........ On paper, Peake seems qualified. Wounded twice in Vietnam, he retired in 2004 from his post as Army surgeon general, the Army's top medical officer, with 40 years of experience in the field of military medicine.

But Bush plucked Peake directly from a private company that has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from contracts with the VA -- and Peake himself helped develop proposals for the company to contract with the VA. That has raised questions about conflict of interest, potentially pitting veterans' care against corporate profits. Moreover, if he is confirmed, Peake will be the second head of the VA under the Bush administration to come from that same private contractor, QTC Management Inc.

Posted by Info Center at 11:00 AM in Federal | Health | Permalink

Source: By William Welsh, Washington Technology (IN), 11/19/07 -- 08:44 PM

Maximus Inc. will provide enrollment broker services to Indiana for several Medicaid programs under a two-year, $15 million contract.

Posted by Info Center at 10:57 AM in Health | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: Peter Schnitzler, Indianapolis Business Journal, Thu. November 15 - 2007

The city of Indianapolis has signed a new contract with United Water Services, which has managed the city's wastewater-treatment facilities and sewage-collection system since 1994. The new nine-year contract, which takes affect Jan. 1, includes an option for renewal in 2017 and 2023.

United Water will earn $28.5 million in annual revenue for its services, plus an opportunity to earn another $7 million in yearly incentives if it reaches goals for operating efficiency and service enhancements.

Posted by Info Center at 10:55 AM in Water & Sewer | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By TODD RUGER, Herald Tribune (FL), November 13, 2007

A jail nurse faces a felony drug charge after replacing an inmate's oxycodone pills with Tylenol and taking the prescription medicine home with her, the Sheriff's Office said.

The arrest comes less than two months after Armor Correctional Medical Services, the nurse's employer, started its contract to provide health care to Sarasota County inmates.

Posted by Info Center at 10:54 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink
Tags: Florida

Source: By CAROL DeMARE, Albany Times Union (NY), Monday, November 12, 2007

County officials are contemplating hiring an outside company to run the mental health unit at the jail, partly because of the suicides of three inmates in the last two years.

Tentative plans call for privatizing the unit within the next six months, even before a new $13 million annex is built at Albany County Correctional Facility on Albany Shaker Road to house 80 to 100 mentally ill inmates.

Posted by Info Center at 10:52 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink
Tags: New York

Source: James Ridgeway, Mother Jones, November 1, 2007

How a company called Traffic.com landed an exclusive government contract worth millions to gather data on the nation's highways--and then sold the information back to us.

Posted by Info Center at 4:32 PM in Transportation | Websites/databases | Permalink

Source: Penny Gurstein and Stuart Murray, with Anisha Datta and Marika Albert, Canadian Centre for Policy Initiatives, October 2007

This report examines two cases of alternative service delivery (ASD) to assess the impact on customer service and the quality of working life for the outsourced workers in BC. Our findings suggest that, contrary to the government's claim that "this is alternative service delivery, not privatization," ASD is a form of privatization. ASD allows partnerships to form between the government and companies that specialize in outsourcing, changing the culture and delivery of public services.

This paper looks at how outsourcing has impacted government services and affected the economic security of the workers involved by focusing on two case studies:

• Outsourcing of "back office" work at BC Hydro to Accenture, including customer services, IT services, human resources, financial systems, purchasing, and buildings services; and

• Outsourcing of administration of the Medical Services Plan and PharmaCare to Maximus.

In both cases, work previously done by public sector employees is now administered by a multinational for-profit corporation.

Posted by Info Center at 4:26 PM in Custodial | Human Resources | Information Technology | Maintenance | Purchasing | Permalink

Source: AFSCME Council 24, AFSCME Legislative Update, November 1, 2007

Another issue of interest to AFSCME that was not vetoed was language in the budget requiring the state DHFS to issue a "request for proposals" and contract out the delivery of pharmaceutical services for residents at all DHFS institutions, including Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Facility, the Wisconsin Resource Center, Winnebago Mental Health Institute, Mendota Mental Health Institute, and all three state Centers for the Developmentally Disabled.

Posted by Info Center at 6:00 PM in Health | Social Services | Permalink