Privatization hasn't resulted in predicted savings for Texas

[GOPisEvil]

Well no kidding. :eyes:

Nice going by my now former employers. The Accenture deal will be a boondoggle too.

http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/10/5Human.html

Putting government workers' tasks into private hands has yet to achieve any of the predicted $21.7 million in savings at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the state auditor reported Tuesday.

The auditor said it's not clear whether using private workers for payroll and human resources jobs will save the state any money at all.

(snip)

The commission's oversight of Convergys also is inadequate, the report says.

"The lack of definitive performance measures makes it difficult for the commission to hold its contractor accountable for failing to perform to expectations," the report says.

Hagert said the audit's findings should be heeded as the commission heads into a privatization project that is eight times larger.

She urged the state auditor to review the commission's contract with Accenture, which says it will save the state $646 million over five years as it replaces 2,500 state eligibility workers with a controversial and privately operated call-center system.

The state has awarded Accenture an $899 million call-center contract to screen applicants for food stamps, health insurance and welfare payments.

That privatization project remains on hold, awaiting approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

[Union Thug]

1. Of Course Not! The Privatization Ruse has great marketing talent,

and has been sold like snake oil since the Reagan years. The reality is, it just fucks the average working stiff and further enriches the already well-to-do.

[liberal N proud]

2. And they want to do this sort of thing with many federal agencies?

They being the repuke neo-cons

[FloridaPat]

3. Privatization wasn't meant to save money. It is meant to move money

from the public treasury to the private sector to the repub coffers. Rumors here in Florida are that companies have to give to the party and if their name shows up on the Democratic list, they loose their state contract.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. "Outsourcing government."

Someone else coined the phrase but it does open up a new avenue of thinking. Do you remember when the Republicans said that the problem of government was that it wasn't being run like a business? So all these Harvard and Yale MBAs finally make it to the top ranks of the government and what is their solution? They outsourced everything so now it costs more and there is less accountability and oversight.

Who needs more Harvard or Yale men or women? Certainly not the U.S. with this kind of self-destructive thinking.