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Source: The Campaign for Quality Services, a project of SEIU and UNITE-HERE
Across the country, more than 50,000 food service workers in cafeterias are united as members of SEIU and UNITE-HERE. FactsOnAramark.info was launched to help inform the public about a troubling record of problems with Aramark accounts that is undermining progress toward higher standards in the food service industry.
Source: Associated Press, January 31, 2008
Under pressure to exercise greater control over private security contractors in Iraq, Bush administration officials outlined stricter rules for these armed guards during a three-hour meeting Wednesday at the Pentagon with 20 companies.
Source: Windsor Genova, AHN News, January 29, 2008 8:38 p.m. EST
Seventeen senators on Tuesday expressed support to an Internal Revenue Service union's call for the agency to end the use of private tax collectors.
...... The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) quoted Dorgan as saying in the letter, "While we understand and commend efforts to ensure that all taxpayers pay their fair share of taxes, we believe tax collection is an inherently governmental function that should only be performed by trained and proficient IRS employees."
Source: Centre Daily Times, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008
United Water announced today that the company has been awarded a new contract to operate the City of Jersey City, New Jersey's water system for the next 10 years. Under the terms of the agreement, United Water will manage the treatment plant, watershed, aqueduct, and distribution system and provide customer service, meter reading and billing services. The final contract terms have been submitted to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Local Finance Board for review and approval.
United Water, whose current contract ends January 31, 2008, has operated the Jersey City facilities through a public-private partnership since 1996.
Source: By Jonathan Martin, Seattle Times (WA), January 30, 2008
The state Department of Corrections plans to stop sending inmates to private, out-of-state prisons and to begin shipping home the 1,200 inmates at those facilities this summer, according to Secretary Eldon Vail.
...... The out-of-state transfers also put more pressure on prisons because CCA -- the largest private jailer in the country -- will take only healthy, well-behaved inmates.
Source: By Katherine Gregg, Providence Journal (RI), Wednesday, January 30, 2008
.......... While most of yesterday's testimony centered on Carcieri's attempts to cut employee benefits, the hearing also provided a forum for Carcieri's top legal adviser, Kernan F. King, to argue for the repeal of what he characterized as an "anti-privatization" law passed last year.
Defenders say the new law simply requires the administration to do a detailed cost-benefit analysis before it hires a private company to do work now done by state employees, but King said the law would stretch a routine contract award out over three years and give new opportunities to sue to anyone potentially affected by a privatization.
.... But James Cenerini, lobbyist for Council 94, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, told the committee that "Carcieri's track record on privatization does not warrant blind trust or a blank check."
Source: Urvaksh Karkaria, Atlanta Business Chronicle (GA), Monday, January 28, 2008 - 8:55 PM EST
The Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority on Monday OK'd a lease agreement that hands over daily operational control of Grady Memorial and opens the door to a public and private sector bailout.
The handover will be to a yet-to-be formed non-profit management corporation. The names of the 16 members on the non-profit board are expected to be released within a week, Grady board vice chairman Christopher Edwards said. In return for handing over operational control, Grady is expected to receive at least $200 million from the private sector for capital improvements. An additional $100 million in private money could also be raised and the state is expected to inject millions of dollars more.
Source: Associated Press (IN), January 29, 2008
Six black nurses sued a private company operating a Marion County jail Monday, alleging they were fired or forced to leave their jobs because of racism or exposing medical practices that put inmates at risk.
The 10-count complaint alleges Corrections Corp. of America retaliated against the six because they had complained to their supervisors that inmates did not receive prescribed medications, were given wrong medications or were given other patients' drugs to save money.
Source: Deseret Morning News (UT), Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008 12:37 a.m. MST
Two bills before the Utah State Legislature could keep government from dabbling into private enterprise. The House Government Operations Committee punted a decision on both HB 75 and HB 76 on Monday. Rep. Craig Frank, R-Pleasant Grove, who sponsored the bills, said the state and local governments need to curb activity that is not part of their core missions.
........ HB 75 would require the government to set up an advisory board that would review and create an inventory of all commercial activities the government is providing. The board would then report to the government privatization policy board, which has been in place for years.
........ The other bill, HB76, would abolish the government privatization policy board altogether. Instead, the state, cities and counties would have to create a commission to whom businesses could appeal the operations of publicly funded projects that compete with them, including golf courses, reception halls and recreation centers.
Source: By Bobbi Mlynar, Emporium Gazette (KS), 02:10 p.m., January 28, 2008
The state of Kansas expects to announce plans this afternoon about help that will be available to Tyson Foods workers who will be displaced when the slaughter division closes within the next 60 days.
...... Betty Senn, now director of the Emporia Convention and Visitors Bureau, formerly was manager of the Emporia and Paola job services centers. She was one of many state employees whose jobs were eliminated when the state ceded its operation of job services centers to Dynamic Educational Systems, a private business.
Senn was contacted this morning to gain information about what Tyson workers might expect in the way of hands-on assistance from the state. She emphasized that she is no longer a part of that system, but was willing to talk about services offered in similar situations in the past. She expects those types of services to continue.
Source: Robert Half Technology press release, January 23, 2008
MENLO PARK, CA -- Despite the attention focused on the outsourcing of technology jobs overseas, a recent survey by Robert Half Technology shows that the majority of U.S. companies are not engaged in the practice. Ninety-four percent of chief information officers (CIOs) surveyed said their company does not outsource information technology (IT) jobs outside the United States (see table 1). Among companies that once sent IT jobs overseas but discontinued the practice, nearly six in 10 (59 percent) respondents cited management challenges as the top reason.
Source: By PATRICK MARLEY, Journal Sentinel (WI), Nov. 22, 2007
Madison - The state outsourced work at least 74 times in the most recent fiscal year even after determining it would cost less to use state employees.
Despite those decisions, contracting costs dropped 14% for the fiscal year that ended June 30, continuing a downward trend since Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle took office, a new report shows. (.pdf)
The report suggests that the state could have saved more. Precise figures were not available, but a Journal Sentinel analysis of state records shows that as much as $12.5 million went to contractors that would have been saved if state workers had been used instead.
....... Early last year, Doyle signed the law requiring cost-benefit analyses for any service that would cost more than $25,000. Tuesday's report was the first look at how the law has been working.
Source: By Amy Gardner, Washington Post (VA), Monday, January 28, 2008
Private equity investors are drawing up proposals to partner with Virginia for a rail line to Dulles International Airport as hope fades that the federal government will help fund the 23-mile Metrorail extension.
State officials said several equity groups have expressed interest in investing in a rail since Thursday, when U.S. transportation officials declared the project unfit for federal funding. The $5 billion project had been counting on a $900 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration.
Private purchase of the rail line or the Dulles Toll Road to fund the extension would attract strong opposition from those who believe such public infrastructure is far too valuable to hand over to for-profit corporations. But with the outlook for keeping the rail project alive bleak, regional business and political leaders who are adamant that the rail line must not die are increasingly of the mind that private partnership must be considered.
Source: By Tom Hester Jr., Associated Press, January 27, 2008
Highways built by U.S. taxpayers are being leased to foreign-owned companies by cash-starved states, but New Jersey is weighing another approach amid worry such deals mean states lose control of crucial highways and potential profits.
New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine has rejected the traditional highway leases other states and cities are employing to raise billions of dollars to fund transportation projects.
Rather, the Democratic governor who once led Goldman Sachs has proposed creating a non-profit corporation to manage toll roads and issue bonds paid back by increasing tolls on some of the nation's busiest highways.
By Diane Bukowski, Special to The Michigan Citizen, January 27, 2008
DETROIT -- Dozens of demonstrators braved chilling winds outside the Detroit Public Schools Welcome Center Jan. 18 to kick off a national campaign aimed at dumping Aramark contracts at school districts, universities and hospitals.
Members of the community, including DPS parents and state legislators, along with the unions UNITE/HERE, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Operating Engineers Local 547, Teamsters Council 43, and the Detroit Federation of Teachers, among others, called on the new school board and DPS Superintendent Connie Calloway to cut ties with Aramark.
Source: By: MADELINE MCCURRY SCHMIDT, California Aggie, 1/28/08
A delegation of six Sodexho workers met at Mrak Hall on Friday to speak to Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef regarding the demands of Sodexho food service workers to become university employees. Vanderhoef was out of the office, so the Sodexho employees spoke with assistant executive vice chancellor Bob Loessberg-Zahl to ask for the higher wages and better benefits that they hoped would come with university employment.
........ Sodexho is the food service contractor that provides service to the dining commons, retail food service and catering service at UC Davis.
The six Sodexho workers were joined by two organizers from the union of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Max Alper, an organizer of the group, said the food-service employees are directly employed by the University of California on all other UC campuses except for UC Davis.
Source: By David Haldane, Los Angeles Times (CA), January 24, 2008
A contract Orange County employee who worked with welfare recipients was arrested Wednesday for allegedly stealing more than $300,000 from the county, authorities said.
....... At the time of the alleged crimes -- from 2005 to 2007 -- Gonzalez was a supervisor for Arbor Education and Training, an independent company contracted to provide services including financial assistance for housing and basic needs.
Source: By Walter Pincus, Washington Post , Friday, January 25, 2008
With even more U.S. contractors now in Iraq and Afghanistan than U.S. military personnel, government officials told Congress yesterday that the Bush administration is not prepared to manage the contractors' critical involvement in the American war effort.
....... Contractors "have become part of our total force, a concept that DoD [the Defense Department] must manage on an integrated basis with our military forces," he also said in prepared testimony for a hearing yesterday of the Senate homeland security subcommittee. "Frankly," he continued, "we were not adequately prepared to address" what he termed "this unprecedented scale of our dependence on contractors."
Source: OREGON AFSCME e-lert #1, Jan. 11, 2008
You'll recall that last fall, the union won a major Unfair Labor Practice award against Josephine County. The Oregon Employment Relations Board found that the county had privatized over 100 mental health workers in retaliation for Local 3694's four-day strike in early 2006. The vast majority of Local 3694's bargaining team and strike activists worked in JoCo Mental Health.
ERB's order (.pdf) said the county had to rehire all those employees, make them whole for any lost wages and benefits, reimburse Council 75 for lost union dues and pay a $1,000 civil penalty. The last item doesn't sound like much until you understand $1,000 is the maximum fine the law allows ERB to issue. Overall, the penalty was -- and is -- a very big deal.
Source: By DAVID EGGERT, Associated Press (MI), 01.23.08, 1:02 PM ET
Michigan should seriously reconsider having a private company provide health care inside state prisons because doctors and others aren't productive enough, investigators said in a report released Tuesday. (.pdf)
The Chicago-based National Commission on Correctional Health Care found that most doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants average seeing eight to 12 patients a day - which the group said is low.
Related item from the Michigan Department of Corrections: Response to the report (.pdf)
Source: By ABBY GOODNOUGH, New York Times, January 24, 2008
The two companies that managed the design and construction of the costly Big Dig project here will pay more than $400 million in an agreement with the government over leaky tunnels and a fatal ceiling collapse.
US Attorney Office - District of Massachusetts news release: Big Dig Management Consultant and Designers To Pay $450 Million (.pdf)
Source: GAO-08-160 December 20, 2007
Highlights Page (PDF) Full Report (PDF, 69 Pages) Abstract (HTML)
A growing portion of federal spending is related to buying services such as administrative, management, and information technology support. Services accounted for about 60 percent of total fiscal year 2006 procurement dollars. The Services Acquisition Reform Act (SARA) of 2003 established a Services Acquisition Advisory Panel to make recommendations for improving acquisition practices. In January 2007, the panel proposed 89 recommendations to improve federal acquisition practices. GAO was asked to determine how the panel recommendations compare to GAO's past work and identify how the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) expects the recommendations to be addressed. To do this, GAO analyzed the panel report and compared its findings and recommendations to GAO's past work and recommendations, obtained OFPP's views on how it expected the recommendations to be implemented, and reviewed proposed legislation in Congress to determine if legislative provisions had the potential to address some recommendations.
Source: By Dave Gram, Associated Press, January 21, 2008
Betting on the state lottery for some quick cash? Get in line: State governments across the country are thinking the same thing. Courted by Wall Street investment houses, Vermont is one of more than a dozen states where proposals have been floated to lease state lotteries to private investors.
...... But some fear that private companies would be more focused on profits than people, introducing addictive games that prey on compulsive gamblers.
..... Lehman Bros., Goldman Sachs, UBS Investment Bank and others -- lured by the prospect of millions of dollars in fees for bringing states and private lottery operators together -- are expected to keep knocking on state capital doors.
Source: UPI, Jan. 15, 2008 at 2:33 PM
A study suggests privatizing U.S. toll roads might result in significant diversions of truck traffic that could cause increased accidents and costs. Penn State University Assistant Professor Peter Swan and Michael Belzer of Wayne State University used federal and Ohio Turnpike data to conclude that if governments allow private toll road operators to maximize profits, higher tolls will divert trucks to local roads -- and that is important for economic and social reasons.
...... The study was presented Monday in Washington during the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
Penn State news release: Toll road privatization may result in indirect impacts
Source: Socialist Worker, January 18, 2008
NEW SEATTLE Public Schools superintendent, Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson, in her effort to centralize and standardize the Seattle Public School District has hired the New York-based consulting firm McKinsey & Co.--a corporation with a track record of supporting school privatization.
But the teachers developed a different lesson plan for the direction of the public schools--the Seattle Education Association (SEA, the local teachers' union) overwhelmingly ratified a motion strongly advising its members to not participate in interviews with McKinsey.
Source: Wyatt Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle (CA), Tuesday, January 8, 2008
San Francisco leaders are considering changes to the 15-year-old agreement that turned over control of the city's zoo to a nonprofit group, effectively relinquishing the city's direct oversight of an institution that at the time faced the loss of its accreditation because of conditions that one report described as "literally disgraceful."
Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the Recreation and Park Commission on Monday to hold a special public hearing into last month's attack by one of the zoo's tigers, which killed one visitor and injured two others. The hearing, Newsom said, would review the management agreement between the city and the San Francisco Zoological Society to "further investigate how this incident could have happened and how we can prevent future incidents."
Source: By Elizabeth Benton, New Haven Register (CT), Mon, Jan 14, 2008
Nearly 200 custodians working in city schools will petition the Board of Education tonight to terminate its relationship with Aramark Corp, calling the Philadelphia company's performance in New Haven an "unmitigated disaster."
"There's no more working together. There's no more covering for them," said Robert Montouri, president of Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 287.
Source: HOPE YEN, Associated Press, January 15, 2008
Federal gasoline taxes should be raised up to 40 cents per gallon over five years, a special commission urged Tuesday in calling for drastic changes to fix aging bridges and roads and reduce traffic deaths.
The two-year study by the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission is the first to recommend broad changes after the devastating bridge collapse in Minneapolis last August. It warns that urgent action is needed to avoid future disasters.
....... But the proposals for improving the nation's transportation system, which are expected to cost $225 billion each year for the next 50 years, is at risk of stalling because of internal division. The commission's chairwoman, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, and two other members oppose gas tax increases and were issuing a dissenting opinion to the report that said private-sector investment and tolls would be sufficient.
........The report also calls for the country to rebuild and expand its rail network to meet a growing demand for alternatives to congested highways and to promote partnerships between the public and private sectors at U.S. ports.
Source: By Michelle Sheldone, TCPalm.com (FL), Tuesday, January 15, 2008
PORT ST. LUCIE -- The Port St. Lucie center that helps manage the state's affordable health insurance program for children plans to remain in the area for another three months.
Call center employees with Policy Studies Inc. enroll and re-enroll participants in the state's Florida KidCare program, which is designed for ages 5 through 18 and administered by the public-private Florida Healthy Kids Corp.
Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services was scheduled to take over the service by Feb. 1, but Affiliated Computer Services underestimated the work effort and experienced staff turnover, according to an Affiliated Computer Services letter excerpt that Florida Healthy Kids representatives provided.
Source: By CHERYL WITTENAUER, Associated Press (MO), January 10, 2008
State officials have ordered an autopsy into the sudden death this week of a developmentally disabled man at a St. Louis-area group home.
Bob Bax, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Mental Health, said 47-year-old Jessie Thompson was found dead in his room Tuesday night.
........ Thompson was moved in August from the state-run Bellefontaine Habilitation Center in St. Louis County.
Under Gov. Matt Blunt, the state has been trying to close or reduce the Bellefontaine center, citing a belief that clients would be safer in private homes.
Source: By SUSAN M. COVER, Blethen Maine News Service (ME), January 12, 2008
AUGUSTA -- Most of the state jobs that the governor's supplemental budget would eliminate come from a facility in Bangor that would be taken over by a private company, state officials said Friday.
The Elizabeth Levinson Center, which opened in 1971, serves children who are severely mentally disabled by providing them with residential and medical services.
After a company takes over the operation, 43 state jobs would be eliminated, said Brenda Harvey, commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Source: By Emily Yehle, Roll Call (subscription req.), January 14, 2008
A new cafeteria vendor has sparked a dispute over wages and job security at the Library of Congress, with the cafeteria workers' union claiming that the company wants to decrease pay and fire employees. I.L. Creations took over the Library's cafeteria services only two weeks ago, stepping in after negotiations fell through between the Library and a long-standing food vendor.
Company President Steve Choi says he has no intention to change any pay or benefits employees enjoyed under the previous vendor, Sodexho. But he also has not signed an agreement to keep those wages and benefits, nor has he sat down with the union to hammer out new terms. Now, he stands accused of "union busting" by the cafeteria workers' union
....... At the Library, the union has some support. The LOC Professional Guild, a separate union for Library employees, criticized the Library for its choice in a vendor. "We are dismayed that the Library would continue with a business that would refuse to sign an agreement with a union," said Saul Schniderman, the guild's president. "When a government agency like the Library of Congress acts like this, it sends a message."
Source: By GERRY BRODERICK, Milwaukee County supervisor for the 3rd District, Journal Sentinel (WI), Jan. 12, 2008
........ Rather than favoring a much smaller increase in our sales tax to preserve quality of life offerings in Milwaukee County, Walker suggests saving money by eliminating public jobs - and thus the cost of employee fringe benefits - by privatizing a number of county programs and assets, including golf courses.
........ Many of us elected to public office see a very different solution to the fiscal woes besetting state and local government: Tax fairness.
Recent studies by the Institute for Wisconsin's Future (www.wisconsinsfuture.org) make it clear that hundreds of multinational corporations use loopholes and accounting schemes to avoid paying their fair share of Wisconsin state taxes. Instead, honest residents and small business owners are left to assume an increased share of the tax burden.
Source: By Donna Beutler, Whitewood Herald, December 3rd, 2007
It was bad news for private school bus owners who will no longer be in the business of providing bus service for students in the Prairie Valley School Division (PVSD) following the board's decision to have its own fleet of buses in operation by August of 2008. The motion was supported by six board members and opposed by four.
Private bus owners were shocked to hear the news that the decision had been made at special meeting of the board on November 23rd and according to local bus owners like Les Beutler and Kevin White last Thursday when The Herald spoke to them, they had not yet been notified of the decision by the Prairie Valley office.
Source: GAO-08-198, January 8, 2008
Pressure on state and local governments to deliver highway projects and services, and limits on the ability of state departments of transportation (state DOT) to increase staff levels have led those departments to contract out a variety of highway activities to the private sector. As requested, this report addresses (1) recent trends in the contracting of state highway activities, (2) factors that influence state highway departments' contracting decisions, (3) how state highway departments ensure the protection of the public interest when work is contracted out, and (4) the Federal Highway Administrations' (FHWA) role in ensuring that states protect the public interest. To complete this work, GAO reviewed federal guidelines, state auditor reports, and other relevant literature; conducted a 50-state survey; and interviewed officials from 10 selected state highway departments, industry officials, and FHWA officials.
State DOTs have increased the amount and type of highway activities they contract out to consultants and contractors. State DOTs are also giving consultants and contractors more responsibility for ensuring quality in highway projects, including using consultants to perform construction engineering and inspection activities as well as quality assurance activities.
Full Report (PDF, 74 pages)
Source: By Diana M. Alba, Sun-News (NM)m 01/11/2008
Some Doña Ana County detention center staff are upset about a county decision to outsource the jail's medical services to a private company because it means employees will lose their jobs.
...... The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners voted in December to pay $2.53 million annually to the Tennesee-based Prison Health Services Inc. to operate the jail's medical wing. The contract goes into effect Jan. 24.
...... The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -- a union representing jail workers -- attempted to voice concerns about the outsourcing during a county commission meeting Tuesday. However, county officials declined to allow it to address the commission, saying the matter related to collective bargaining -- discussions that are supposed to take place behind closed doors.
Source: Guardian Unlimited, Thursday January 10, 2008
They stand sentry at America's most sacred freedom sites - Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was ratified in 1776, and the Liberty Bell, now housed in a new building nearby. But to hear some of the more than 40 contract security agents employed by the massive government contractor Wackenhut Services describe their working conditions, it instead evokes another image from that era, the miserable winter that George Washington and his ragtag army spent at Valley Forge some 20 miles west of here.
The private guards - hired after the federal government decided to bulk up security at the Philadelphia historic sites in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks - describe long, sometimes cold days in which they are issued little or no protection from the elements, in which a torn raincoat is patched with duct tape and workers are disciplined for leaning against a wall or post.
..... Last September, the workers guarding Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell voted overwhelmingly - by a 31-2 count, with 15 abstentions - to join SEIU Local 32BJ, but so far Wackenhut has been able to fall back on a set of arcane labour regulations to avoid recognising the union.
Source: By Joseph Spector, Ithaca Journal (NY), January 11, 2007
Gov. Eliot Spitzer's announcement this week to explore a lease of the state lottery puts New York among a number of states looking to roll the dice on getting an infusion of cash to pay for services.
But from constitutionality questions to concerns about the social consequences of putting the gambling operations in private hands, no state has yet to adopt the potentially lucrative deals.
Lawmakers and gaming experts Thursday questioned whether New York would face the same issues as it explores either selling future lottery revenue in a lump sum or leasing it to a private entity for possibly up to 40 years.
Source: By STACY FORSTER and PATRICK MARLEY, Journal Sentinel (WI), Jan. 9, 2008
For the second time in just over a year, a state publication has been sent to tens of thousands of people with their Social Security numbers printed on the mailing labels.
About 260,000 participants in Medicaid programs were sent a recent mailing that included the recipients' Social Security numbers above their names on the address labels, the state Department of Health and Family Services said Tuesday.
........ While 485,000 copies were supposed to go out, the mailing was stopped after a recipient caught the error, according to EDS Corp., the vendor responsible for processing the mailings. State officials said they learned of the mistake Monday night.
Source: By Dave Flessner and Michael Davis, Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN), Wednesday, January 09, 2008
The city of Chattanooga has dumped at least $15 million in the past seven years into a sludge treatment process that was improperly designed and has yet to work, according to a new internal audit. (.pdf)
Mayor Ron Littlefield said Tuesday he wants the contractor hired in 2001 to develop the system -- US Filter, now owned by Siemens Water Technologies Corp. -- to fix the problem at the Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant as soon as possible. He said he will be meeting with a company official to discuss possible solutions within the next week.
Source: By LARRY HIGGS, Gannett News (NJ), Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Experts are calling Gov. Corzine's plan to borrow against future toll increases as a privatization plan with the state's proposed Public Benefit Corporation taking the place of a private company.
"All he did was substitute "Public Benefit Corporation' for "private owner,' " said Jon Peters, professor of finance at the College of Staten Island, who has studied toll roads and monetization deals in other states. "The question is how much burden is being placed on the road user to pay off the debt."
........ A major difference with other monetization deals is that the state continues to own the toll roads, Corzine said. He stressed they will not be sold or leased to a private company.
Source: Associated Press (MD), January 8, 2008
The Maryland Transportation Authority says it is seeing the benefits it expected when it privatized its Bay Bridge drive-over service.
Until last summer, the agency's vehicle recovery technicians drove nervous motorists across the bridge at no charge.
The service was privatized last spring to allow the workers to focus on their primary job, responding to disabled vehicles and other emergencies.
........ Kent Island Coach of Stevensville says it has handled more than 1,700 drive-overs since last May. The fee is $25 for motorists and $30 to transport bicycles.
Source: BY AMANDA N. MAYNORD, Nashville City Paper (TN), January 8, 2008
For three months last year the building that houses the Davidson County Election Commission was not guarded on Saturdays, but the city was being billed anyway according to Metro officials.
.......... Wackenhut Corp., which has provided security through a subcontractor for the building since May 20, 2007, as well as several other Metro buildings billed the city under a long-term contract the company has to provide security to Metro government buildings. The subcontractor, Specialized Security Consultants, Inc. and Wackenhut have come under fire in connection with A Dec. 23 break-in at the Election Commission that resulted in the theft of two laptop computers containing the Social Security numbers of 337,000 registered Davidson County voters.
Source: By John Lemberger, Oshkosh Northwestern (WI), November 18, 2007
.......... What do I get for my state and local tax dollars? Well, my wife and I paid about $9,000 in property, income and sales tax for 2006.
Let's consider what it would it cost me to purchase all of the goods and services that $9,000 chips in for from the private sector over one year.
........ If my math is right, I'm at $58,700 for buying necessary services from the private sector. That's quite a bit more than the $9,000 I'm paying in taxes.
There are, however, many other things your tax dollars provide you: Parks, libraries, child support services, emergency services, airport, veterans services, human services, county highway maintenance, public health department, coroner, clerk of courts, Park View Health Center, UW-Fox Valley, University Extension Services, natural resources protection, wardens, register of deeds, land and water conservation projects, scholarships, and more. Tax-supported, not-for-profit, universal health care is one more thing we need.
Please don't misunderstand. I'm not advocating that everything should be provided through the public sector. I'm not a communist. After all, who wants to drive a Trabant?
I'm a pragmatist who believes we should use whichever sector -- private or public -- works best. And I believe those who think they can do better without any tax-supported services are just plain wrong.
Source: Michael Nadol, MGA & Eric Neiderman, Ph.D., MGA, University of Pennsylvania, Fels Institute of Government, Spring 2007
This syllabus (.pdf) brings together a wide variety of resources on government contracting out.
Source: By MATT HANLEY, Courier News (IL), January 5, 2008
Three Kane County jail inmates, including a Carpentersville man, have filed suit claiming they are not getting proper nutritional value from their meals.
Michael Nance, Devalius McDonald and Deandre Clemons filed the civil suit in Kane County court this week against County Sheriff Pat Perez and the jail's food service provider. The suit claims the food provided by Aramark Food Service is "not sufficient."
Source: By Joseph Ryan, Daily Herald (IL), January 6, 2008
.......... The violation enforcement system is key to Gov. Rod Blagojevich's new Open Road Tolling initiative, which eliminated barrier toll plazas for highway-speed I-PASS lanes that rely on cameras and heavy fines to keep drivers paying.
The tollway botched a critical element of the system when it failed to send out violation notices for the 13 months between July 2006 and August 2007.
Tollway officials blame the delay on a mix-up after switching companies that run the violation enforcement system.
.......Officials with the new company, Texas-based Electronic Transaction Consultants, said they didn't expect the switchover to cause such a long delay, but it couldn't be avoided.
....... In 2002, the state's auditor general blasted tollway officials for failing to routinely send out violations over the previous two years. Tollway officials said at the time the job of sifting through scofflaw license plate pictures and matching them in a license database was too complex for in-house staff.
They hired TransCore to do it for $38 million over three years.
Related article from the Daily Herald: Critics call for reform of toll collection system
Source: Tomah Journal, January 3, 2006
Ah, the wonders of privatization.
On Dec. 10, locked doors greeted veterans seeking treatment at Veterans Administration clinics in Rice Lake and Hayward. Corporate Wellness & Fitness, the Kentucky company contracted to operate the clinics, cut and ran after just six months in Hayward and three months in Rice Lake. The company said it was losing $26,000 a month and that the VA reneged on promises to guarantee the venture's profitability. The Rice Lake clinic reopened Dec. 26 with VA personnel, but the Hayward clinic remains closed.
The fiasco raises numerous issues. Business Week magazine reported Corporate Wellness & Fitness "agreed to accept a fixed sum per month instead of having the VA reimburse it dollar for dollar ... It quickly felt pressure from the government to spend more on supplies and equipment than it had budgeted and could pay."
Source: By Robert Brodsky, Government Executive, December 18, 2007
Despite an audacious vow last spring to cut 500,000 federal contractors if elected the next president of the United States, Sen. Hillary Clinton has emerged as the top choice for the White House in 2008 by the leading companies that do business with the government.
According to an analysis by Government Executive, the former first lady has outpaced all candidates -- both Democrats and Republicans -- racking up more than $243,000 in direct campaign contributions from employees of the 50 biggest federal contractors. Clinton, D-N.Y., also added another $9,600 in contributions from the political action committees controlled by the contracting firms.
Source: The Associated Press, Jan. 2, 2008, 11:28AM
Maine's Health and Human Services Department has selected a Pennsylvania-based company to manage the MaineCare computer system. Negotiations with Unisys Corp. are expected to be completed this month.
...... The MaineCare billing system was plagued with problems including providers getting incorrect payments or no payments after the state switched to a new system to handle claims in January 2005. Privatizing the service will help bring the state system into compliance with federal standards, according to DHHS officials.
Source: By STEVE SCHULTZE, Journal Sentinel (WI), Posted: Dec. 24, 2007
Privatizing the operation of Mitchell International Airport could bring as much as $1 billion to the county, a tantalizing prospect that's captured the attention of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker.
..... "You can always generate savings on labor costs if you cut wages and benefits," said Richard Abelson, executive director of District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union. "That doesn't necessarily translate into a better airport."