News summaries
Coming soon: New guidelines on which federal jobs can be outsourced
The Office of Management and Budget plans to release new guidance later
this month that will help federal agencies define which tasks should be
performed by the government and which are suitable for outsourcing,
according to the Obama administration's new procurement chief...Daniel
Gordon, the administrator of OMB's Office of Federal Procurement
Policy, spelled out his goals for increasing the size of the
acquisition workforce, reducing high-risk contract spending, and
rebalancing the relationship between industry and the government. That
relationship, Gordon said, fell out of balance during the George W.
Bush administration. The government grew too reliant on the private
sector and the line between services that should be kept in-house and
those that could be contracted out blurred, according to Gordon. "It's
not a healthy situation," he said. "There are way too many stories
where it looks like the government has lost control of its own
operations."
Government Executive
TX: Commissioners clash over creation of new toll authority
The Dallas County commissioners clashed this morning over an idea to
create a county toll authority at meeting frequently punctuated by
sarcasm and shouting. Commissioner Maurine Dickey wants the county to
create a county toll authority, a move that would give it the legal
authority to work with private companies or other local governments to
finance and build toll roads. "This puts another tool in our toolbox,"
she said, noting that state and federal tax dollars for roads are
increasingly inadequate...But Dickey said it's too soon for details,
and declined to name a particular project the county authority would be
tasked to build. She said it would allow the county to form new
partnerships with other counties, cities or even private companies --
like the Spanish toll builder Cintra with which TxDOT has worked so
closely -- to build area toll roads while NTTA is paying down its
debt...Mayfield shouted at Cantrell, railing at him for his role on the
RTC (Regional Transportation Council) in 2007 and the support he gave
to requiring NTTA to pay to the region $3.2 billion in return for the
SH 121 contract. "That was leveraged on the backs of the people who
drive those toll roads," he thundered. But it was unclear how
supporting the creation of a new toll road authority, just as the NTTA
has announced it will slow its pursuit of new roads for a few years,
would lessen the region's reliance on toll roads.
Dallas Morning News
MT: Audit uncovers lax management
Montana's penal agency has improperly handed out millions of dollars to
private companies in no-bid deals or allowed companies to supervise
Montana prisoners for years in deals with unsigned contracts, a new
audit shows...Montana relies on private companies for much of its
correctional system, including all of the state’s innovative lockdown
treatment centers. Private companies, which by law must be nonprofit
corporations organized in the state of Montana, run all of Montana’s
pre-release centers, lockdown treatment centers, even a prison.... But
according to legislative auditors, the agency has been lax in managing
the contracts with such companies. In one case, according to the audit,
a company transported Montana inmates three years with no signed
contract in place for the service...Several lawmakers on the committee
said Corrections’ problems with contracts are historic and must be
fixed. “Are we playing with fire here?” said Sen. Taylor Brown,
R-Huntley, questioning that if a company supervising Montana inmates
without a contract ever had an accident, would its liability insurance
cover the costs.
Billings Gazette
TN: School board votes not to outsource positions
Hundreds of Sumner County school employees were up in arms Tuesday
night, worried that their jobs might soon be outsourced to save money.
But the school board voted to drop the discussion all together...At
issue, whether to allow the budget committee to further research the
idea of outsourcing more than 700 transportation, food, and custodial
jobs. With a budget shortfall between $6 million and $8 million, Sumner
is looking to save...Board member Beth Cook said, “I think it’s very
interesting that we are even thinking about this when there was only
one school system that outsources their lunch program and they lost
$300,000 last year.” Ultimately the board voted not to move forward
with the idea of privatizing Sumner County school positions. an idea
that left some actually wanting more...Outsourcing or privatizing
custodial positions in Sumner County has come up before. The board
voted no last summer to outsourcing those positions.
WSMV Nashville
Upcoming events
How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education: A forum featuring
Diane Ravitch, Monday, March 15, 2010, 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
In her new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System
(Basic Books), noted education historian and former (under President
George H.W. Bush) Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch
repudiates her earlier support of No Child Left Behind's standardized
testing regime and the law's endorsement of charter schools as a
solution to the shortcomings of American education. As Ravitch recently
stated on National Public Radio, "I was known as a conservative
advocate of many of these policies. But I've looked at the evidence and
I've concluded they're wrong." Please join the Economic Policy
Institute for a discussion of these issues with Dr. Ravitch and
distinguished experts in this exciting forum. Location: Economic Policy
Institute, Suite 300, 1333 H St. NW, Washington, DC 20005.
please RSVP here to attend this event.
