Outsourcing government services to the private industry could become more commonplace, under legislation passed by the 2008 Legislature.

Lawmakers approved a pair of bills requiring state and local governments to inventory all "competitive activities" that potentially could be done better -- and cheaper -- by the private sector.

Hundreds of cafeteria and other food-service workers rallied in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon for higher wages and improved benefits as part of an ongoing battle between Aramark and the union Unite Here, which represents about 20,000 Aramark employees, including about 4,000 in the New York region.

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.

Minnesota on Tuesday ended its rocky, five-year relationship with a company that was supposed to create a computerized database to quickly sort people into one of the state's health-care programs.

....... Brian Osberg, an assistant commissioner at the Department of Human Services, said the state decided it would be better off developing HealthMatch without the company, ACS State and Local Solutions.

In a win for consumers, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a private California debt collector can be sued for its overly aggressive tactics, even though the company is working on the behalf of local prosecutors.

The company, American Corrective Counseling Services Inc. (ACCS), is a so-called "check diversion" company, meaning that it uses its contract with local prosecutors to send out letters on official stationary threatening consumers who have written bad checks with criminal prosecution or jail unless they pay collection fees.

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

Some Kansans already are taking advantage of a new Web site allowing them to research how state government spends their tax dollars. However, the information they'll be able to access has limits and some details, such as the individual salaries of state employees, won't be available just yet through the database.

A study done for state House Democrats has concluded that it is unwise to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private operator, as Gov. Rendell hopes to do. Instead, the study supported the legislature's move to keep the Turnpike Commission, raise tolls on the turnpike, and introduce tolls on I-80. The study, by three experts from Pennsylvania State and Harvard Universities, is to be formally released today in Harrisburg.

Privatization is on the rise, but public access laws have yet to catch up -- shielding important organizations from media scrutiny.

Detroit, Mich. public school officials are investigating Aramark's food service management contract, according to The Detroit Free Press. The district could be forced to pay penalties to the state if it is found to have used federal money that by law was not supposed to be paid to Aramark, said Barry Sackin, a consultant and former vice president of public policy for the School Nutrition Association in Alexandria, Va.

A British government inquiry into a P3 to upgrade London's subway system concludes the scheme was a "spectacular failure".

In a report released late last month, the House of Commons Transport Committee said the private consortium's "pathetic underdelivery" should be a warning against future P3 contracts.

A nearly 5-year-old computerized medical records system for inmates at the Milwaukee County Jail and the House of Correction in Franklin has failed to provide more than $1 million in expected savings and has worked so poorly it should be trashed, a new audit (.pdf) says.

..... The vendor chosen for the system, Illinois-based Seaquest Technologies, did not have experience designing records systems for correctional facilities.

Gov. Mitch Daniels told a conservative Washington think tank on Monday that leasing Gary/Chicago International Airport to a private operator represents a "heck of an opportunity" for Gary.

· "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

Members of Birmingham Public Schools' custodial and transportation staff are up in arms about the district's exploration of possible changes to school services.

...... On Feb. 5, an alert from the Michigan American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 25 was placed next to the agenda outside the Board of Education meeting room for members of the community to pick up on their way into the meeting.

The flier, endorsed by Michigan AFSCME Council 25 President Albert Garrett and Secretary-Treasurer Lawrence A. Roehrig, stated, "As public school districts consider choosing moving forward with plans to privatize school services, they are treading a well-worn and ill-chosen path filled with pitfalls."