AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: Daniel Hall, The Public Manager (subscription req.), Spring 2008

Contracting professionals must ensure that the federal government receives the best value for the taxpayer dollar while following acquisition regulations during procurement and contract management. Without a large influx of new workers, federal government contract processes could be severely impaired as the number and complexity of procurements increase. From 1991 to 2005, the number of contracting officers declined from thirty-seven thousand to twenty-eight thousand while procurement spending increased from $150 billion to $350 billion.

The large number soon eligible to retire and the marked increase in those less experienced give the field a lopsided demographic. Those in the middle of their career are woefully few. Young professionals, therefore, have an opportunity to replace those who are retiring and become leaders in the contracting field. To do so, they must quickly garner an institutional education, learning from others in the field to avoid the gaps in knowledge that will cost the taxpayer.

To inform young contracting professionals, this article reflects on the legal regimen of the procurement of food and beverages, with emphasis on conferences. It also discusses the state of the meeting industry and how this can influence rates, as well as negotiation techniques to ensure fair and reasonable pricing.

Posted by Info Center at 3:26 PM in Federal | Food Services | Permalink

Source: By Bruce Falconer, Mother Jones, May 2, 2008

Theft, hookers, melting down Iraqi gold to make cowboy spurs--all in a day's work for private military contractors in Iraq?

Posted by Info Center at 10:42 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: White House news release, May 2, 2008

Competitive sourcing is producing significant savings for federal agencies, according to a report released today by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The report shows that public-private competitions completed in FY 2007 are expected to yield almost $400 million in savings over the next five years. For the fourth year in a row, agencies reported an average return of over $25,000, or 25 percent, for each position studied.

Posted by Info Center at 10:38 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: Associated Press, May 6, 2008

A defense contractor accused of overcharging the U.S. government for radar components pleaded guilty Monday to obstruction and will pay $9.5 million in fines, federal authorities said. (.pdf)

Herley Industries, based in Lancaster County, Pa., admitted to two counts of obstructing audits of bids to supply components for Navy and Air Force radar systems. Its former chairman Lee N. Blatt, 80, pleaded guilty to failing to create and maintain tax records; he was sentenced to a year's probation, community service and a $25,000 fine.

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

Source: Jason Embry, AMERICAN-STATESMAN, Tuesday, May 06, 2008

A move in Congress to limit the role of private firms in doling out food stamps is dead for now, allowing Texas to move forward with its privatization plans.

U.S. House and Senate negotiators voted late last week against including a privatization ban in a $300 billion farm bill that lawmakers hope to finish this week. The ban would have prevented states from allowing employees of private companies to interact with people who are applying for food stamps or to decide someone's eligibility.

...... Last year, Texas canceled what was originally a five-year, $899 million contract with Accenture LLP to run call centers enrolling people in services. But the state did not altogether abandon its plan for private call centers, which state officials say can save money and give Texans more ways to apply for services, instead of just in person.

Posted by Info Center at 3:09 PM in Federal | Laws/Legislation | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Texas

Source: By Christopher Lee, Washington Post, Friday, April 25, 2008

........ The public-private face-off at West Point illustrates just what Bush envisioned when he proposed the "competitive sourcing" initiative in 2001 as part of his management agenda. It turned on a simple idea: Force federal employees to compete for their jobs against private contractors and costs will decrease, even if the work ultimately stays in-house. But as Bush's presidency winds down, the program's critics say it has had disappointing results and shaken morale among the federal government's 1.8 million civil servants. Private contractors have grown increasingly reluctant to participate in the competitions, which federal employees have won 83 percent of the time.

............. "The competitive sourcing initiative did little to improve management, produced a ton of worthless paper, demoralized thousands of workers and cost a bundle, all to prove that federal employees are pretty good after all," said Paul C. Light, a professor of government at New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Posted by Info Center at 11:52 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Roxana Tiron, The Hill, Posted: 05/01/08 05:51 PM [ET]

A Senate panel is seeking to rein in private security firms in Iraq and Afghanistan by prohibiting them from conducting military detainee interrogations and operations in combat areas.

...... The move follows high-profile scandals involving private contractors, particularly in Iraq, where the U.S. government has been employing them in record numbers.

Posted by Info Center at 11:27 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: CNN, May 1, 2008

The head of the U.S. government's top contracting agency has resigned amid accusations of misuse of authority, including allegations that she tried to enlist agency officials to help Republican political hopefuls. "It has been a great privilege to serve our nation and a great president," Lurita Doan said in a statement released Wednesday by the General Services Administration, which buys and manages billions of dollars worth of federal government property.

Posted by Info Center at 3:42 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch, April 29th, 2008

When U.S. troops or embassy officials want to investigate Iraqis - such as interrogating prisoners, the principal intermediary is a Manhattan based-company named L-3. The company has just lost its biggest contract for failing to recruit qualified translators, and is also being investigated for human rights abuses.

Posted by Info Center at 3:32 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: Associated Press, March 26, 2008

Big worries for the nation's first high-tech census should have been obvious when the door-to-door headcounters couldn't figure out their fancy new handheld computers. Now, officials say, technology problems could add as much as $2 billion to the cost of the 2010 census and jeopardize the accuracy of the nation's most important survey.

A congressional agency says the census is at "high risk" of producing an expensive yet unreliable count, and lawmakers are planning hearings. ...... Census officials are being blamed for a poor job spelling out technical requirements to the contractor, Florida-based Harris Corp. The computers proved too complex for some temporary workers who tried to use them in a test last year in North Carolina. Also, the computers were not initially programmed to transmit the large amounts of data necessary.

...... Harris Corp. was awarded a $596 million contract in March 2006 to supply the handheld computers and the operating system that supports them. The contract has since grown to $647 million, and could balloon by as much as $2 billion, according to a report this month by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

Posted by Info Center at 11:30 AM in Audits/Reporting | Federal | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By JANE ZHANG, Wall Street Journal (subscription req.), March 25, 2008

....... Covering the uninsured is a central issue in this year's political campaign. Yet while politicians debate how best to cover the growing ranks of the uninsured, the federal government -- by outsourcing service jobs -- quietly is adding to those numbers.

"As federal employees, we get great insurance," says Dr. Rogers, a physician who believes prompt treatment might have staved off Ms. Derricotte's disability. "People who work as contractors often don't enjoy those benefits."

Federal contract employees, including cafeteria workers, security guards and cleaning crews, work on Capitol Hill and in federal agencies across the country.

Under a 1965 law, called the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act, most contractors with service contracts of more than $2,500 are required to pay locally prevailing wages, plus fringe benefits or the cash equivalent -- $3.16 an hour this year, under a government formula.

Yet some contract employees don't get either the health insurance or the extra cash.

Posted by Info Center at 11:05 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Dan Friedman, CongressDaily , March 14, 2008

A bill to set up a public database on federal contractor performance and misconduct won approval Thursday from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee despite Republican concerns the measure could allow unfair attacks on contractors as well as end up barring large companies from receiving government contracts.

Introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and passed by voice vote, the measure (H.R. 3033) would require creation of a publically accessible list of any completed criminal, civil and administrative proceedings against federal contractors in the last five years.

Posted by Info Center at 10:55 AM in Federal | Websites/databases | Permalink

Source: By Lyndsey Layton and Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post, Monday, March 17, 2008

...... For Gribbin, Duvall and Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, the goal is not just to combat congestion but to upend the traditional way transportation projects are funded in this country. They believe that tolls paid by motorists, not tax dollars, should be used to construct and maintain roads. They and other political appointees have spent the latter part of President Bush's two terms laboring behind the scenes to shrink the federal role in road-building and public transportation.

They have also sought to turn highways into commodities that can be sold or leased to private firms and used by motorists for a price. In Duvall and Gribbin's view, unleashing the private sector and introducing market forces could lead to innovation and more choices for the public, much as the breakup of AT&T transformed telecommunications.

Posted by Info Center at 2:09 PM in Asset Sale/Lease | Federal | Transportation | Permalink

Source: By Dana Hedgpeth, Washington Post, Tuesday, March 11, 2008

U.S. soldiers at a military base in Iraq were provided with treated but untested wastewater for nearly two years by KBR, the giant government contractor, and may have suffered health problems as a result, according to a report (.pdf) released yesterday by the Pentagon's inspector general.

Posted by Info Center at 3:22 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: CQ TODAY MIDDAY UPDATE, March 10, 2008 - 1:15 p.m.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman , D-Calif., asked federal regulators Monday to investigate whether security contractor Blackwater Worldwide violated federal tax, small business and labor laws.

Posted by Info Center at 3:08 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Farah Stockman, Boston Globe, March 6, 2008

Kellogg Brown & Root, the nation's top Iraq war contractor and until last year a subsidiary of Halliburton Corp., has avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies based in this tropical tax haven.

..... A Globe survey found that the practice is unusual enough that only one other major contractor in Iraq said it does something similar.

..... With an estimated $16 billion in contracts, KBR is by far the largest contractor in Iraq, with eight times the work of its nearest competitor.

Posted by Info Center at 2:38 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 2/27/08

Member Statements
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman
Senator Susan M. Collins
Senator Daniel K. Akaka

Witnesses Testimony

Panel 1
The Honorable Patrick F. Kennedy, Under Secretary of State for Management , U.S. Department of State
The Honorable P. Jackson Bell, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness , U.S. Department of Defense
James D. Schmitt, Senior Vice President , ArmorGroup North America
Laura A. Dickinson, Professor of Law , University of Connecticut School of Law

Posted by Info Center at 11:39 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: OMB M-08-11, Competitive Sourcing Requirements in Division D of Public Law 110-161 (February 20, 2008) (8 pages)

· "This memorandum provides guidance on certain government-wide provisions related to competitive sourcing in sections 739 and 747 of Division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, P.L. 110-161. Specifically, this guidance addresses: (1) health and retirement fringe benefit comparability requirements, (2) the use of competitive sourcing for human resources (HR) activities, (3) application of the conversion differential, and (4) the performance of commercial activities by non-profit agencies under the AbilityOne Program."

Other OMB competitive sourcing documents

Posted by Info Center at 2:55 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By: Samuel Loewenberg, The Politico, February 27, 2008 04:57 PM EST

Few people know the underbelly of government spending better than David Walker, who is stepping down next month as the head of the Government Accountability Office.

..... At the top of his hit list is Medicare, and in particular the new prescription drug benefit that went into effect in 2006. The true costs of that program were hidden from Congress and the American public, said Walker, who previously served as a Medicare trustee during the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The real cost of the drug program for seniors, Walker said, will be more than $8 trillion.

...... Another area that drew the comptroller general's fire was the use of contractors by government agencies, particularly the Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon and other agencies in Iraq. "The biggest area of waste in this government is acquisition and contracting," Walker said.

Posted by Info Center at 2:50 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By ROBERT PEAR, New York Times, February 28, 2008

Private Medicare plans often cost beneficiaries more than the traditional government-run Medicare program, Congressional investigators say. Many private plans advertise extra benefits and low costs.

But in a report to be issued Thursday, the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, says that many people in private plans face higher costs for home health care, nursing homes and some hospital stays. About one-fifth of the 44 million Medicare beneficiaries -- 9 million people -- are in private plans, known as Medicare Advantage plans.

Related testimony from GAO: Medicare Advantage: Higher Spending Relative to Medicare Fee-for-Service May Not Ensure Lower Out-of-Pocket Costs for Beneficiaries

Posted by Info Center at 2:44 PM in Federal | Health | Permalink

Source: By Stephen Barr, Washington Post, Friday, February 22, 2008; Page D04

The Government Accountability Office faulted outsourcing projects at the Forest Service in a report released yesterday, prompting renewed calls for more scrutiny of the Bush administration's effort to contract out federal jobs, a plan known as competitive sourcing.

The Forest Service does not have a realistic long-term plan for determining which agency jobs should be given to the private sector and does not have reliable data to back up claims of cost savings, the GAO said.

In addition, outsourcing substantial numbers of Forest Service jobs to the private sector could, over time, reduce the agency's ability to fight fires in the wilderness and to respond to emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina.

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

Source: Human Rights First (.pdf), 2008

This report examines the dramatic and expanded use by the United States of private security contractors in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and the abject failure of the U.S. government to control their actions or hold them criminally responsible for acts of excessive violence and abuse. As the ranks of private security contractors have grown and the number of serious incidents has increased, the U.S. government has failed to establish a workable accountability mechanism. In Iraq in particular the interplay between private security contractors, international military forces and local populations has exposed severe problems. But these issues are not unique to Iraq, and they will continue after Iraq.

Posted by Info Center at 2:48 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press, Feb 2, 6:00 AM ET

ITT Federal Services International, a defense contractor hired to maintain battle gear for U.S. troops in Iraq, repeatedly failed to do the job right.

........ Formal "letters of concern" were sent to the contractor. Still, the Army didn't fire ITT. Instead, it gave the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based company more work to do. Since October 2004, ITT has been paid $638 million through the Global Maintenance and Supply Services contract.

..... Contract personnel working for the Defense Department now outnumber U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan; there are 196,000 private-sector workers in both countries compared to 182,000 troops.

Contractors are responsible for a slew of duties, including repairing warfighting equipment, supplying food and water, building barracks, providing armed security and gathering intelligence.

The dependence has come with serious consequences.

Posted by Info Center at 2:01 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Jason Embry and Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN, Monday, February 04, 2008

In a direct response to problems in Texas, Congress is considering new limits on the role that private companies can play in states' public assistance programs. A provision in a major farm bill approved by the U.S. House would bar states from allowing employees of private firms to interact with people who are applying for food stamps or to decide someone's eligibility for the program. The measure could force Texas to rework its plans to privatize food stamp enrollment.

....... In 2007, Texas canceled what was originally a five-year, $899 million contract with Accenture LLP to run call centers enrolling people in services. But the state did not abandon its plans for private call centers.

Posted by Info Center at 1:39 PM in Federal | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Texas

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.

Posted by Info Center at 1:44 PM in Federal | Permalink

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."

Posted by Info Center at 1:41 PM in Federal | Tax Collection | Permalink

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."

Posted by Info Center at 3:12 PM in Federal | Permalink

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.

Posted by Info Center at 10:38 AM in Federal | Permalink

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.

Posted by Info Center at 10:56 AM in Federal | Transportation | Permalink

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.

Posted by Info Center at 11:05 AM in Federal | Public Safety | Permalink
Tags: Pennslyvania

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.

Posted by Info Center at 3:05 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By JED GRAHAM, Investors Business Daily, December 10, 2007

The era of big government has made a strong comeback since the late 1990s, but federal payrolls have barely budged. The real growth has come in the hiring of contractors. Sen. Hillary Clinton says she would end that as president. She has proposed cutting 500,000 government contractors, claiming it would save $10 billion to $18 billion a year.

But independent analyses suggest the plan could hurt mission-critical work or boost costs if the government does the work. In Iraq alone, contractors -- many of them Iraqi -- outnumber troops by about 180,000 to 160,000.

........ "Her appeal is much less to the public and much more to labor organizations such as AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees)," he [Paul Light] said. Indeed, at an AFSCME-sponsored debate earlier this year, Clinton made a strong pitch. "I stood with AFSCME against the privatization of Social Security," she said, "and now I want to stand with you against the privatization of our government."

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

Source: USASpending.org

Have you ever wanted to find more information on government spending? Have you ever wondered where federal contracting dollars and grant awards go? Or perhaps you would just like to know, as a citizen, what the government is really doing with your money. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act) requires a single searchable website, accessible by the public for free that includes for each Federal award:

1. The name of the entity receiving the award;
2. The amount of the award;
3. Information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, etc;
4. The location of the entity receiving the award;
5. A unique identifier of the entity receiving the award.

Welcome to www.USAspending.gov, a relaunch of www.FederalSpending.gov, that provides citizens with easy access to government contract, grant and other award data.

Posted by Info Center at 11:49 AM in Audits/Reporting | Federal | Websites/databases | Permalink

Source: Public Integrity news release, November 19, 2007

Center Unveils Windfalls of War II Investigation

Center for Public Integrity: "It's been four years since the Center released its acclaimed Windfalls of War investigation, which first named Halliburton as the largest single contractor in Iraq and revealed the most comprehensive list of the top Iraq and Afghanistan contractors available at the time. That list included more than 70 American companies that had been awarded up to $8 billion in contracts from 2002 through July 1, 2004. By the end of 2006, U.S. contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan have grown to $25 billion, while oversight has seriously deteriorated, according to a new Center analysis, Windfalls of War II. The Center report shows that KBR, Inc., formally known as Kellogg, Brown and Root and a Halliburton subsidiary until April 2007, continues to top the list at more than $16 billion in U.S. government contracts from 2004 to 2006. DynCorp International, at $1.8 billion, came in at a distant second...The Center assembled its list of the top 100 contractors, where the reported place of performance was in Iraq and Afghanistan, by analyzing the General Service Administration's Federal Procurement Data System. After reviewing this federal database, the Center was able to piece together the 100 companies that received the most contracts from fiscal years 2004 to 2006. However, even this publicly available federal database does not include all Iraq and Afghanistan contracts, including the ones originating at the Baghdad contracting agency. The Baghdad contracting agency has rebuffed Center efforts to obtain missing contracts. The Center is now seeking to acquire them through Freedom of Information Act requests."

Posted by Info Center at 11:42 AM in Federal | Horror Stories | Permalink
Tags: Iraq

Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists), January 26, 2007

This report will examine logistical support contracts for troop support services in Iraq primarily administered through the United States'(U.S.)Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP). LOGCAP is an initiative to manage the use of civilian contractors that perform services in support of DOD missions during times of war and other military mobilizations. It was established on December 6, 1985 with the publication of Army Regulation 700-137.

LOGCAP has been used in a variety of military contingency operations and provides for the awarding of contingency, or bridging contracts, or for the inclusion of contingency clauses in peacetime contracts. LOGCAP contracts have been previously awarded for work in Rwanda, Haiti, Saudi Arabia, Kosovo, Ecuador, Qatar, Italy, southeastern Europe, Bosnia, South Korea, Iraq, and Kuwait. LOGCAP contracts are "costs-plus award fee" contracts, meaning that there is a fee paid based on contract costs, in addition to the potential for incentive fees based on performance. There has been a substantial shift in the types of contracts for troop support services, the size of the contracts, and the apparent lack of effective management control over the administration of the contracts and the oversight of the contractors.

Some observers have noted that costs-plus contracts have characteristics that can make oversight difficult. Others note that the very nature of the types of contracts employed in Iraq, combined with the challenges in contract administration, serve as major factors which make contract administration difficult. Given the size and scope of the contracts in Iraq, and the challenge of managing billions of DOD-appropriated dollars, many have suggested it appropriate to inquire whether these types of contracts can be managed better.

Posted by Info Center at 11:35 AM in Federal | Oversight/Contract Management | Permalink

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 Ken Kusmer, Associated Press (IN), October 29, 2007 4:19 PM

Applying for food stamps or Medicaid was just a telephone call or mouse click away for residents of 12 north central Indiana counties Monday with the state's initial rollout of its closely watched, privatized welfare eligibility system.

. ....... The Democratically controlled Congress also is watching FSSA's progress. A provision in the House version of the federal farm bill would force Indiana and other states to reverse steps they've taken to privatize food stamps and return that work to state employees.

Posted by Info Center at 1:22 PM in Federal | Information Technology | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By TYLER COWEN, New York Times, October 28, 2007

..... The recent comeback of private contracting suggests that central governments have become weaker again, at least relative to the tasks they are undertaking. Alexander Tabarrok, my colleague (and sometimes co-author) at George Mason University, where he is also a professor of economics, traced the history of private contractors in a study, "The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Privateers" (The Independent Review, spring 2007). He showed that public navies and armies began to displace private contractors in the 19th century, as governments became more powerful and better funded.

...... Contractors are a symptom of government weakness, but are not the problem itself. ..... Compared with the military, contractors are not subject to direct scrutiny by Congress and they are not covered by international law with the same clarity. Excessive use of private contractors erodes checks and balances, and it substitutes market transactions, controlled by the executive branch, for traditional political mechanisms of accountability. When it comes to Iraq, we've yet to see the evidence of a large practical gain in return; instead, use of contractors may have helped to make an ill-advised venture possible.

Posted by Info Center at 3:16 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Naomi Klein, Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2007

'We didn't want to get stuck with a lemon." That's what Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said to a House committee last month. He was referring to the "virtual fence" planned for the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada.

....... But this debacle points to more than faulty technology. It exposes the faulty logic of the Bush administration's vision of a hollowed-out government run everywhere possible by private contractors.

According to this radical vision, contractors treat the state as an ATM, withdrawing massive contracts to perform core functions like securing borders and interrogating prisoners, and making deposits in the form of campaign contributions. As President Bush's former budget director, Mitch Daniels, put it: "The general idea -- that the business of government is not to provide services but to make sure that they are provided -- seems self-evident to me."

The flip side of the Daniels directive is that the public sector is rapidly losing the ability to fulfill its most basic responsibilities -- and nowhere more so than in the Department of Homeland Security, which, as a Bush creation, has followed the ATM model since its inception.

Posted by Info Center at 1:17 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By ERIC SCHMITT and DAVID ROHDE, New York Times, October 23, 2007

A pair of new reports have delivered sharply critical judgments about the State Department's performance in overseeing work done by the private companies that the government relies on increasingly in Iraq and Afghanistan to carry out delicate security work and other missions.

A State Department review of its own security practices in Iraq assails the department for poor coordination, communication, oversight and accountability involving armed security companies like Blackwater USA, according to people who have been briefed on the report. In addition to Blackwater, the State Department's two other security contractors in Iraq are DynCorp International and Triple Canopy.

At the same time, a government audit expected to be released Tuesday says that records documenting the work of DynCorp, the State Department's largest contractor, are in such disarray that the department cannot say "specifically what it received" for most of the $1.2 billion it has paid the company since 2004 to train the police officers in Iraq.

Posted by Info Center at 11:07 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press, October 22, 2007

The Democratic chairman of a House watchdog committee said Monday that Blackwater USA violated tax laws and may have defrauded the government of millions of dollars, a charge the embattled security firm said is groundless.

Rep. Henry Waxman, who chairs the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released a March letter from the Internal Revenue Service that states the company's classification of a security guard as an independent contractor, instead of company personnel, was "without merit."

Posted by Info Center at 10:55 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: by JEREMY SCAHILL, The Nation, October 10, 2005

......... As business leaders and government officials talk openly of changing the demographics of what was one of the most culturally vibrant of America's cities, mercenaries from companies like DynCorp, Intercon, American Security Group, Blackhawk, Wackenhut and an Israeli company called Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) are fanning out to guard private businesses and homes, as well as government projects and institutions.

...... Blackwater's success in procuring federal contracts could well be explained by major-league contributions and family connections to the GOP. According to election records, Blackwater's CEO and co-founder, billionaire Erik Prince, has given tens of thousands to Republicans, including more than $80,000 to the Republican National Committee the month before Bush's victory in 2000.

Posted by Info Center at 1:45 PM in Federal | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 10/17/07 10:30 AM

Member Statements
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman [View PDF]

Today we will examine the extent to which the Department of Homeland Security relies on contractors to carry out its crucial mission to secure our home land from terrorism and natural disaster. Plainly put, we will ask who is in charge at the Department of Homeland Security - its public managers and workers, or its private contractors.

Today this Committee is releasing the Government Accountability Office's report, which we requested, in which GAO calls on DHS to improve its oversight of contractors and to better manage the risks associated with relying on contractors. GAO examined 117 statements of work for DHS service contracts and found that over half of those contracts were for services that closely support inherently governmental functions. GAO then examined 9 of these contracts in detail.

Senator Susan M. Collins [View PDF]

Witnesses Testimony: Panel 1

• John Hutton [View PDF] , Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management , Government Accountability Office


• Elaine C. Duke [View PDF] , Chief Procurement Officer , U.S. Department of Homeland Security


• Steven L. Schooner [View PDF] , Co-Director , Government Procurement Law Program, The George Washington University

Posted by Info Center at 11:26 AM in Federal | Oversight/Contract Management | Permalink

Source: By Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post, Wednesday, October 17, 2007

At the Department of Homeland Security, contract employees help write job descriptions for new headquarters workers. Private contractors also sign letters that officially offer employment. And they meet new government hires on their first day on the job. About the only thing they do not do, a critical new congressional audit concludes, is swear in DHS employees.

....... Independent analysts have increasingly warned in recent years that the government's growing reliance on private firms threatens to undermine agencies' decision-making, a risk the audit found was heightened in DHS's case by its complex 2003 start-up and the rapid expansion of its workload.

Posted by Info Center at 11:20 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Stephen Barr, Washington Post, Thursday, October 11, 2007

The House voted yesterday to kill an Internal Revenue Service program that uses private companies to track down delinquent taxpayers and lets the companies keep a percentage of the taxes they collect. The vote, generally on party lines, was 232 to 173.

....... Meanwhile, the White House yesterday threatened a veto, saying that the private collectors bring in taxes "that are otherwise not likely to be collected by the IRS."

Posted by Info Center at 3:37 PM in Federal | Tax Collection | Permalink

Source: Associated Press, October 10, 2007 6:03 PM ET

The Associated Press has learned the U.S. State Department may phase out or limit the use of private security guards in Iraq. That could mean that the State Department may cancel the contract for Blackwater USA or award it to another firm.

Posted by Info Center at 3:35 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By ELISE CASTELLI, Federal Times, October 09, 2007

Congress is pressing the Defense Department to transfer possibly billions of dollars worth of contracted work in house.

The Senate last week passed a Defense authorization bill that would direct the Pentagon to transfer its contracted professional services work to its own employees or else renegotiate those contracts to promote better performance and less cost. If Defense can't do that, it must cancel the work, according to the bill.

The bill also would require the department to let employees compete for new and existing work that would typically go directly to contractors.

Posted by Info Center at 1:53 PM in Federal | Publicization | Permalink

Source: GAO Report, GAO-08-6 October 5, 2007

Over the last 10 years, the cost to confine federal Bureau of Prison (BOP) inmates in non-BOP facilities has nearly tripled from about $250 million in fiscal year 1996 to about $700 million in fiscal year 2006. Proponents of using contractors to operate prisons claim it can save money; others question whether contracting is a cost-effective alternative. In response to Conference Report 109-272, accompanying Pub. L. No. 109-108 (2005), this report discusses the feasibility and implications of comparing the costs for confining federal inmates in low and minimum security BOP facilities with those managed by private firms for BOP. GAO reviewed available data on a selection of 34 low and minimum security facilities; related laws, regulations, and documents; and interviewed BOP and contract officials.

Posted by Info Center at 11:19 AM in Corrections | Federal | Permalink

Source: Michael Gochfeld, MD, PhD and Sandra Mohr, MD, MPH, American Journal of Public Health, September 2007, Vol 97, No. 91607-1613

ABSTRACT

Increased reliance on subcontractors in all economic sectors is a serious occupational health and safety challenge. Short-term cost savings are offset by long-term liability. Hiring subcontractors brings specialized knowledge but also young, inexperienced, inadequately trained workers onto industrial and hazardous waste sites, which leads to increased rates of accidents and injuries.

Reliable data on subcontractor occupational health and safety programs and performance are sparse. The US Department of Energy has an excellent safety culture on paper, but procurement practices and contract language deliver a mixed message--including some safety disincentives.

Its biphasic safety outcome data are consistent with underreporting by some subcontractors and underachievement by others. These observations are relevant to the private and public sectors. Occupational health and safety should be viewed as an asset, not merely a cost.

Posted by Info Center at 2:46 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By DAVID STOUT, New York Times, October 4, 2007

Amid the fallout over the shooting of Iraqis by private American security guards, the House today overwhelmingly passed a bill to make all private contractors working in Iraq subject to prosecution in United States civilian courts.

The vote was 389 to 30, with all of the "no" votes cast by Republicans. Voting for the bill were 225 Democrats and 164 Republicans.

Posted by Info Center at 2:26 PM in Federal | Laws/Legislation | Permalink

Source: US PRIG, 10/3/2007

Companies with immediate past histories of shoddy work and fraudulent practices are being rewarded with billions of dollars in federal contracts. The data suggest that the process by which the federal government currently spends $422 billion per year in taxpayer funds is insufficient to ensure that the American people receive good quality for goods and services purchased for the American people.

The rapid increase of federally contracted dollars--100 percent since 2000--makes outsourcing the fastest growing component of discretionary spending. The government's preference for using outside contractors to provide goods and services makes careful scrutiny of the process and the decisions more important than in the past. At present, loose rules, lack of competition, and limited accountability permit so-called 'bad actors' to receive contracts that put taxpayers and our money at risk.

For this report, we reviewed hundreds of records and found numerous cases of contractors with questionable performance or responsibility records receiving contracts without competition or sufficient time to determine the extent of the problems identified. While the report outlines specific contractor practices, it is as much an indictment of the flawed contracting process as it is about any single company.

The profiles included in this report illustrate how little consideration is given to past performance and contractor responsibility. None of the companies faced suspension or debarment from receiving contracts for the incidents detailed in this report. The range of contracts shows the breadth of the problem and a sampling of the companies involved. A few examples include:

Posted by Info Center at 2:12 PM in Federal | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By DAVID STOUT and JOHN M. BRODER, New York Times, October 1, 2007

Guards working in Iraq for Blackwater USA have shot innocent Iraqi civilians and have sought to cover up the incidents, sometimes with the help of the State Department, a report to a Congressional committee said today.

The report, based largely on internal Blackwater e-mail messages and State Department documents, depicts the security contractor as being staffed with reckless, shoot-first guards who were not always sober and did not always stop to see who or what was hit by their bullets. In one incident, the State Department and Blackwater agreed to pay $15,000 to the family of a man killed by "a drunken Blackwater contractor," the report said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:42 AM in Federal | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: New York Times, October 1, 2007

There is, conveniently, no official count. But there are an estimated 160,000 private contractors working in Iraq, and some 50,000 of them are "private security" operatives -- that is, fighters. The dangers of this privatized approach to war became frighteningly clear last month, after guards from Blackwater USA, assigned to protect American diplomats, were accused of killing at least eight Iraqis, including an infant.

..... The lesson here is that such essential jobs cannot be outsourced. War is not a private business.

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

Source: JONATHAN WALTERS, Governing Magazine, September 2007

...... After several years of relatively little congressional interest in this subject, the premise is coming under new scrutiny in a Congress newly controlled by Democrats. That is in no small part because of the string of recent privatization disasters that have befallen a variety of states in areas ranging from child protective services to Temporary Aid for Needy Families.

...... But if states want the right to use federal money to continue experimenting -- on privatization or any new strategy for doing the public's business -- then it's crucial that those experiments produce some tangible successes that can be demonstrated to the public. Otherwise, at least as long as the Democrats control Congress, there will be increased scrutiny in all program areas where states want to let their fingers do the walking and let the private sector do the work.

Posted by Info Center at 2:53 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post , Thursday, September 27, 2007

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday that his concerns over insufficient oversight of private security firms in Iraq led him this week to dispatch a team to the country to investigate the issue, while also instructing commanders to tighten their controls over the armed guards.

Posted by Info Center at 2:20 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Sudarsan Raghavan and Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post, Wednesday, September 26, 2007

A confrontation between the U.S. military and the State Department is unfolding over the involvement of Blackwater USA in the shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians in a Baghdad square Sept. 16, bringing to the surface long-simmering tensions between the military and private security companies in Iraq, according to U.S. military and government officials.

Posted by Info Center at 10:50 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: POGO blog, September 24, 2007

Today, I attended a meeting featuring www.ffata.org, a recently unveiled database operated by Global Computer Enterprises, Inc. - the same company that owns and operates FPDS-NG.

Following in the footsteps of OMB Watch's www.fedspending.org, GCE brings federal contract and grant spending information to the public in a very user-friendly format. GCE's portal to government information mirrors the recently added "ezSearch" function in FPDS-NG (if anyone still uses that data) and more features (RSS, exporting, and company synonyms) are forthcoming. GCE's new database allows users to conduct word searches to find information about agency contract actions, contractors receiving federal dollars, and the types of goods or services purchased by the government.

Posted by Info Center at 10:35 AM in Federal | Websites/databases | Permalink

Source: By GINGER THOMPSON and ERIC SCHMITT, New York Times, September 24, 2007

...... Pentagon officials are investigating some $6 billion in military contracts, most covering supplies as varied as bottled water, tents and latrines for troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. The inquiries have resulted in charges against at least 29 civilians and soldiers, more than 75 other criminal investigations and the suicides of at least two officers. They have prompted the Pentagon, the largest purchasing agency in the world, to overhaul its war-zone procurement system.

Posted by Info Center at 1:41 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Ellen Nakashima and Brian Krebs, Washington Post, Monday, September 24, 2007

The FBI is investigating a major information technology firm with a $1.7 billion Department of Homeland Security contract after it allegedly failed to detect cyber break-ins traced to a Chinese-language Web site and then tried to cover up its deficiencies, according to congressional investigators.

At the center of the probe is Unisys Corp., a company that in 2002 won a $1 billion deal to build, secure and manage the information technology networks for the Transportation Security Administration and DHS headquarters. In 2005, the company was awarded a $750 million follow-on contract.

Posted by Info Center at 1:39 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Eamon Javers, Business Week, OCTOBER 1, 2007

........ Across the federal government, tens of thousands of baby boomers like Fretwell are hitting retirement age: In 2006, more than 60,000 people bowed out of the civil service. The federal Office of Personnel Management expects 2009 will be the peak year for boomer retirements, when more than 61,000 workers will leave their jobs. As the wave of retirements hits, agencies are offering enticements--from signing bonuses to subsidized college degrees--to attract new blood. Few expect the government to fill all the slots itself, however.

And waiting in the wings are contractors like Accenture (ACN ), BearingPoint (BE ), and Computer Sciences (CSC ). They're angling to take over swaths of the bureaucracy and further accelerate the outsourcing of the government. "For us, that's where the business opportunity lies," says Lisa M. Mascolo, Accenture's group CEO for public service. "My expectation is not to replace federal workers body for body, but for us to help transform the mission."