Privatized CPS, DCF. Would u let 'em in your house?

NO, NO , NO......

These folks need customers to survive. Be polite. Decline to talk to the
folks who hold the contracts to KEEP THEIR JOBS.

DESCRIPTORS; ACS, FIA, DFPS, DYFS, DFYS, DSHS, DSS,FAMILY LAW, DCFS, SRS, DHS,
CYS, CYF, DCYF, DCS, CHILD PROTECTIVE, TDPRS, CYFS,DHR,ILDCFS, SCF, SoSCF, ACF,
DHHS, PRS, CHILD ABUSE, NEGLECT


Subject: Cozy over contracts
From: wexwimpy
Date: 7/20/2004 6:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id:

Cozy over contracts
DCF woes start with friends in high places

Last update: 19 July 2004

Last fall, about 100 local employees of the Department of Children &
Families gathered in a Daytona Beach conference room to hear Deputy
Secretary Ben Harris make his pitch. Things were getting better at the
troubled agency, he promised. But there would have to be adjustments.
Chief among them: Employees working in the DCF welfare-to-work office
would be given the "opportunity" to compete for their own jobs against
private-sector companies vying to provide the service. Some of their
functions might be outsourced, possibly even sent to call centers
overseas.

It was clear from the expressions on the faces of the workers that
they were dubious -- both for themselves and for their clients. Their
suspicions were grounded in the understanding that "competition" and
privatization have not worked well, thus far, at DCF.

What they didn't know was that the competition principle only reached
so high.

Thursday, Harris and Glenn Palmieri, another top DCF official,
resigned after admitting they accepted gifts and trips from businesses
with lucrative state contracts -- including hundreds of thousands of
dollars' worth of business awarded with no competitive process.

Gov. Jeb Bush said the gifts and trips violate his tight
anti-corruption policies, and launched an investigation that resulted
in an inspector general report released this week. The report is a
step in the right direction. But Bush needs to look further and higher
-- and he should have done it sooner.

That closer look should start with Jerry Regier, the head of DCF, who
apologized Thursday for his role in the mess but did not resign.
Regier has been shrugging off reports of cronyism long before he came
to Florida, and the governor should have been on guard for similar
problems here.

Regier came to Florida trailing accusations that, as Oklahoma's
secretary of health and human services, he funneled state funds to
friends and skirted state competitive-bidding laws. The record should
have been a red flag. Yet, Bush stuck to his pick, and Regier was
confirmed by the Senate.

Two years later, the same kinds of allegations are surfacing. The
gifts uncovered, so far, and the contractors who gave them are
relatively small potatoes compared to the massive fiscal black hole
surrounding HomeSafeNet, the computer system that is central to the
state's child-abuse prevention system. The state is already $100
million-$200 million over budget on the system, and few are confident
that it will be finished by its 2005 completion date. The system is so
unwieldy that it might actually be putting children's lives at risk,
state auditors have warned.

That makes it hard to understand why Regier hired a company to "fix"
the problems with HomeSafeNet that was ranked lower -- and bid nearly
$5 million more --than the nearest competitor. Did it make a
difference that the winning company had Regier's old boss, former
Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, on its board when it got the $21 million
contract? Regier says no and that the low bid didn't meet
specifications. If so, why was it ranked higher to begin with? Those
questions have yet to be answered, but state officials have seized
Regier's computer and other records.

Even if the investigation turns up no further problems, there's plenty
of cause for concern. Entry-level DCF employees are being told they
will have to "compete" with the private sector just to keep their jobs
(though the state has yet to ask for outside bids). Meanwhile,
companies with ties to top DCF staffers are scooping up millions of
dollars in state contracts, often without competitive bids.

And Florida's children still aren't safe as they could be. Families
aren't getting the help they need to stay afloat. That's DCF's real
bottom line, and it's dangerously close to red
http://www.news-journalonline.com/Ne...Editorials/03O
pOPN67071904.htm

Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a
member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at
http://www.aclu.org/action.

Yes, I would let "Privatized CPS, DCF" in my house. However, I'd be a
whole lot more cautious than I would be with public CPS, CCP, or DCF
workers. "Privatized" workers have no guidelines, general guidelines
to follow, and that would scare me. For goodness sakes, I might be sent
to jail for refusing to burn my child's trachea with the famous "hot
pepper as an alternative to spanking" discipline. Remember that one
that you supported, Fern?

LaVonne



Fern5827 wrote:

NO, NO , NO......

These folks need customers to survive. Be polite. Decline to talk to the
folks who hold the contracts to KEEP THEIR JOBS.
be
DESCRIPTORS; ACS, FIA, DFPS, DYFS, DFYS, DSHS, DSS,FAMILY LAW, DCFS, SRS, DHS,
CYS, CYF, DCYF, DCS, CHILD PROTECTIVE, TDPRS, CYFS,DHR,ILDCFS, SCF, SoSCF, ACF,
DHHS, PRS, CHILD ABUSE, NEGLECT


Subject: Cozy over contracts
From: wexwimpy
Date: 7/20/2004 6:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id:

Cozy over contracts
DCF woes start with friends in high places

Last update: 19 July 2004

Last fall, about 100 local employees of the Department of Children &
Families gathered in a Daytona Beach conference room to hear Deputy
Secretary Ben Harris make his pitch. Things were getting better at the
troubled agency, he promised. But there would have to be adjustments.
Chief among them: Employees working in the DCF welfare-to-work office
would be given the "opportunity" to compete for their own jobs against
private-sector companies vying to provide the service. Some of their
functions might be outsourced, possibly even sent to call centers
overseas.

It was clear from the expressions on the faces of the workers that
they were dubious -- both for themselves and for their clients. Their
suspicions were grounded in the understanding that "competition" and
privatization have not worked well, thus far, at DCF.

What they didn't know was that the competition principle only reached
so high.

Thursday, Harris and Glenn Palmieri, another top DCF official,
resigned after admitting they accepted gifts and trips from businesses
with lucrative state contracts -- including hundreds of thousands of
dollars' worth of business awarded with no competitive process.

Gov. Jeb Bush said the gifts and trips violate his tight
anti-corruption policies, and launched an investigation that resulted
in an inspector general report released this week. The report is a
step in the right direction. But Bush needs to look further and higher
-- and he should have done it sooner.

That closer look should start with Jerry Regier, the head of DCF, who
apologized Thursday for his role in the mess but did not resign.
Regier has been shrugging off reports of cronyism long before he came
to Florida, and the governor should have been on guard for similar
problems here.

Regier came to Florida trailing accusations that, as Oklahoma's
secretary of health and human services, he funneled state funds to
friends and skirted state competitive-bidding laws. The record should
have been a red flag. Yet, Bush stuck to his pick, and Regier was
confirmed by the Senate.

Two years later, the same kinds of allegations are surfacing. The
gifts uncovered, so far, and the contractors who gave them are
relatively small potatoes compared to the massive fiscal black hole
surrounding HomeSafeNet, the computer system that is central to the
state's child-abuse prevention system. The state is already $100
million-$200 million over budget on the system, and few are confident
that it will be finished by its 2005 completion date. The system is so
unwieldy that it might actually be putting children's lives at risk,
state auditors have warned.

That makes it hard to understand why Regier hired a company to "fix"
the problems with HomeSafeNet that was ranked lower -- and bid nearly
$5 million more --than the nearest competitor. Did it make a
difference that the winning company had Regier's old boss, former
Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, on its board when it got the $21 million
contract? Regier says no and that the low bid didn't meet
specifications. If so, why was it ranked higher to begin with? Those
questions have yet to be answered, but state officials have seized
Regier's computer and other records.

Even if the investigation turns up no further problems, there's plenty
of cause for concern. Entry-level DCF employees are being told they
will have to "compete" with the private sector just to keep their jobs
(though the state has yet to ask for outside bids). Meanwhile,
companies with ties to top DCF staffers are scooping up millions of
dollars in state contracts, often without competitive bids.

And Florida's children still aren't safe as they could be. Families
aren't getting the help they need to stay afloat. That's DCF's real
bottom line, and it's dangerously close to red
http://www.news-journalonline.com/Ne...Editorials/03O
pOPN67071904.htm

Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a
member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at
http://www.aclu.org/action.