The Division of Administration (DOA) on Friday issued a new request for proposals (RFP) for the consolidation of the information technology (IT) departments of 20 departments within the state’s Executive Branch. http://wwwprd1.doa.louisiana.gov/OSP/LaPAC/agency/pdf/5479100.pdf
July 12 is the deadline for submissions and Aug. 16 is the target date to announce the awarding of the contract, tentatively set to begin on Aug. 30, according to the RFP.
This is sure to be yet another contract to be awarded to some company who will in all likelihood underbid the cost and come back later with expensive contract amendments like F.A. Richard and Associates (FARA) with the Office of Risk Management and CNSI with the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) to mention two that come quickly to mind.
But even more important, it appears that possibly hundreds—maybe more than 1,000—of state IT employees will be losing their jobs as a result of the new contract which probably will end up costing the state more money than the current in-house IT systems.
The Office of Information Services (OIS) is responsible for the development, implementation and support of the Integrated Statewide Information System (ISIS) application as well as the DOA programmatic and desktop application, including traditional application development of large complex systems run on the DOA mainframe, client service applications run on midrange computers and Web-based applications.
Remember when Carol Steckel tried to fire 69 IT employees and to contract out DHH’s Center for Health Care Innovation and Technology services to the University of New Orleans?
In that case, she got a little ahead of herself by holding a conference call with the IT employees last December to announce that their jobs would be gone in January. The employees returned to their work stations after that call only to find they had been locked out of their computers. These were the employees who, among other things, help other state employees with their computer problems.
After the Civil Service Commission, in a rare moment of lucidity, denied Steckel’s layoff plan because of insufficient information, UNO backed out of its agreement to take over the agency’s IT services.
An IT employee with DHH’s Center for Health Care Innovation and Technology wrote LouisianaVoice that employees had been misinformed on future employment by DHH executives on three separate occasions. “At each meeting, we felt as though we were being threatened with furlough without pay, having to pay 100 percent of COBRA to maintain our insurance, (and) being threatened (with) not receiving our 300 hours of saved annual leave,” the employee wrote.
In March, Jan Cassidy, sister-in-law of Congressman Bill Cassidy, was hired to head DOA’s Procurement and Technology section at a salary of $150,000 per year, prompting one observer to ask, “What is she going to procure? The state is broke and there’s an expenditure freeze.”
Apparently we will be getting the answer to that question when the proposals start coming in from vendors and a contract is awarded.
Jan Cassidy previously worked for Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) for 20 months, from June 2009 to January 2011 and for 23 months, from January 2011 to November 2012, for Xerox after Xerox purchased ACS.
As Xerox Vice President—State of Louisiana Client Executive, her tenure was during a time that the company held two large contracts with the state.
The first was a $20 million contract with DHH that ran from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2011 and paid Xerox $834,000 per month.
The second contract was for $74.5 million, 100 percent of which was funded by a federal community development block grant (remember how Jindal abhors federal money?) and which ran from March 27, 2009 to March 26, 2012 and required ACS/Xerox to administer a small rental property program to help hurricane damaged parishes recover rental units.
A state contract data base search by LouisianaVoice turned up four contracts with ACS totaling $45.55 million and campaign finance reports revealed three ACS political contributions totaling $10,000 to Gov. Bobby Jindal.
In Texas, an ACS contract awarded by the Rick Perry administration quadrupled to $1.4 billion as Texas Medicaid spent more on braces in 2010 ($184 million) than the other 49 states combined but which an audit found that 90 percent of the reimbursements were not covered by Medicaid.
The Wall Street Journal said statewide fraud reached hundreds of millions of dollars as ACS spent more than $6.9 million lobbying Texas politicians from 2002 to 2012.
In June of 2007, ACS agreed to pay the federal government $2.6 million to settle allegations that it had submitted inflated charges for services provided through the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Labor and Health and Human Services by submitted inflated claims to a local agency that delivered services to workers using funds provided by the three federal agencies.
http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2007/07/11/acs-settles-federal-fraud-case.aspx
In Washington, D.C. the Department of Motor Vehicles reimbursed $17.8 million to persons wrongly given parking tickets. The contract that operated the District’s ticket processing was ACS.
http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2007/07/11/acs-settles-federal-fraud-case.aspx
In 2010, ACS settled charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had backdated stock option grants to its officers and employees.
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2010/lr21643.htm
In Alabama, Steckel, then director of the state Medicaid agency, awarded a $3.7 million contract to ACS in 2007 even though the ACS bid was $500,000 more than the next bid. ACS, of course, had a decided edge in getting that contract: it hired Alabama Gov. Bob Riley’s former chief of staff Toby Roth. And Steckel, of course came to Louisiana to work for DHH though she still maintained her residence—and, apparently, her vehicle registration—in Alabama. http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2007/8/22/Alabama-Contract-for-Medicaid-Database-Sparks-Controversy.aspx
http://harpers.org/blog/2007/09/the-inside-track-to-contracts-in-alabama/
Steckel first said the proposed contract with UNO would save DHH $2.1 million over three years but later revised that figure upward to $7 million, prompting members of the Civil Service Commission to express “zero confidence” in her figures and to reject her layoff plan.
Jan Cassidy also worked for 19 years, from 1986 to 2005, for Unisys Corp. where she led a team of sales professionals marketing hardware and systems applications, “as well as consulting services to Louisiana State Government,” according to her website.
Unisys had five separate state contracts from 2002 to 2009 totaling $53.9 million, the largest of which ($21 million) was with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and which was originally signed to run from April 1, 2008, through Nov. 30, 2009, but which State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson cancelled in April of 2009, saying he was dissatisfied with the work and that his staff could complete the project.
That contract called for an upgrade to the state computer system that dealt with driver’s licenses, vehicle titles and other related issues within the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles.
http://www.wafb.com/global/story.asp?s=10152623
Altogether, the 23 agencies account for 1,158 IT employees who stand to lose their jobs with the awarding of a contract for the consolidation.
The agencies and the number of filled positions to be affected are as follows:
• Executive: 275;
• Public Safety: 142;
• Children and Family Services: 120;
• Transportation and Development: 111;
• Health and Hospitals: 62;
• Revenue and Taxation: 88;
• Retirement Systems: 58;
• Workforce Commission (formerly Labor): 45;
• Civil Service: 8;
• Agriculture: 13;
• Corrections: 39;
• Economic Development: 3;
• Education: 44;
• Environmental Quality: 29;
• Insurance: 8;
• Natural Resources: 30;
• State: 25;
• Treasury: 3;
• Wildlife and Fisheries: 24;
• Culture, Recreation and Tourism: 14;
• Juvenile Justice 5;
• Public Service Commission; 7;
Given problems and cost overruns in other states, there have to be concerns over similar problems or questions whether there even is a company out there willing to submit a proposal that has not gotten contracts under questionable circumstances or which found it necessary to come back later for costly contract amendments.
In the movie Saving Private Ryan, the operative term was FUBAR. In administration Jindal, the concern should be whether or not we might be headed for another CNSI or ACS/Xerox scenario.
Louisiana Voice 
Reblogged this on Crazy Crawfish's Blog and commented:
Soon everyone will be privatized. The only job we could really do without is out absentee Governor who’s been “phoning it in” since he was elected. I wonder if anyone will have a job, except Jindal, when he’s done?
Think I B M. We already bought and paid for them to come with tax incentives and discounted or free land. Now we’ll give away the cheapest version of IT available for what is likely already a back room deal long completed to get them here in the first place. IBM has held the state’s multimillion dollar contract to replace all of its financial systems for five years but the state has only “found” the money to implement DOTD’s systems to date. I guess the money will miraculously be found for that with this deal, too.
This contract should set us back 50 to 100 million, with 10% increase to come later. Remember the new IT company, Ameritas? It came to Baton Rouge last year, with economic incentives granted by the Jindal aministration. And more recently, IBM, coming with more Jindal administration incentives; I wonder if either of these two companies bottom line will be just a bit brighter?
Question is how u find a company that can maintain all of state agency’s IT systems. They are not all the same type of systems.
Think about this, if all the state is under the same IT system, how will anything be kept “private”? Social Security numbers, addresses, banks used by employees, salaries, will be hacked and criminals will obtain access to all of this information. We see it everyday that even the Federal Government gets hacked, credit cards and banks are hacked, etc. If all employees are under the same system, looks like it will be easier to obtain all this information. Another mess the Jindal administration will have a part of and to those that suffer, Jindal is the wisest of all, ask him, he’ll tell you.
I am in total agreement with the comments above made by “tired2407” and “No name please.” They both know what they are talking about.
Tom, you have the involved IT employee headcount. Is it possible to obtain a “ballpark” value as to the other IT costs that might be part of the contract? Without all of these numbers, how will we ever know if the “new” contract creates a savings to the state? We know it won’t, but at least we’d have some idea just how terribly we are getting taken to the cleaners by Jindal, Nichols, Rainwater and our Lilly Livered Legislature.
Jindal’s mother is the head of the IT department at the LA Workforce Commission. So is he going to fire his mother too?
Not anymore. She retired just before this scheme became public.
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise, as Gomer Pyle would say. Does it really surprise anyone???
I can attest to the problems that occured when the IT departments of the 5 Texas Health and Human Service agencies were combined. Prior to privatizing the IT staff at the agency from which I retired, program staff could count on IT issues being resolved quickly as our IT staff were familiar with the program specific software that we used. When the agencies’ IT departments were combined, the few State employee IT staff that remained had to teach contract IT staff our programs and our special IT needs.
It definitely costs more to contract out IT.
Please email us at louisianavoice@cox.net so we can get more details of what occurred in Texas.
If IBM gets the contracts, check out Cringley. He has uncovered some shocking details about what they’ve been up to.
http://www.cringely.com/2012/04/18/not-your-fathers-ibm/
Tom and Company – you mentioned the DHH IT 69, and that UNO backed out of the proposed contact. Update; the contract was put on hold, but went through on March 1, 2013. What was left of the 69, which was on March 1 the IT 14, are now working at their same stations – but are now employees of UNO. The only difference, financially, is that in addition to the regular salaries and benefits, which did not change, DHH is also paying UNO an additional 18 percent administrative overhead fee. So, the “savings” from the senseless transfer from one state agency to another is an additional 18 percent. FACT.
Also, to update, Carol Steckel is no longer. with DHH. She has moved on and is now laying waste to the state government of North Carolina. She left over six months ago. Have mercy on the people of North Carolina – she is the Medicaid director.
I heard that DHH is begging for IT staff now, but they only want temporary appointments.
People, it is past time to stand up for our fellow citizens and colleagues and tell our “elected representatives” no more. No more wholesale layoffs of loyal, dedicated employees who have endured five years of increasing workloads due to shrinking workforces, with no raises. No more backroom deals resulting in shady contracts with out-of-state companies that rape our state and then demand more money to make a mess of things (Magellan, anyone?). No more revelations of big political contributions by the rapist contractors to bobby Jindal’s coffers. It’s past time to demand an end to blatant, unvarnished cronyism at the expense of the people of this state. The wanton corruption on the part of the “ethics” governor is criminal, y’all, and should be treated as such.
It’s time to “take back our state.” (A veto session would be a big step in the right direction.)
Sometimes the carpetbaggers are, sadly, homegrown. Ask yourself why the little monster hates the people of Louisiana so much; the answer is the same as the reason that the monster will never be president. Or anything else of substance.
Steckler-Alabama, ACS-AL,TX-LA and now apparently N. Carolina. They are like locusts going from state to state, sucking up all the dollars they can and then moving on to start anew on another set of taxpayers.
I prefer to call them leaches
#Rampant ALEC cockroaches….
The DOA is a disaster right now. Seasoned directors (like Mrs. O’Hara) are being ousted/teagued and replaced by young men who know nothing about the departments they now oversee. All of the moves, part of a political game of favors. Martha O’Hara was forced out of her Director position so Susan Stockstill – wife of Ray Stockstill – could run OIS. The kicker is that Mrs. Stockstill was promoted to Deputy, but months later has yet to actually be officially changed in the HR system. Why’s that? Oh yes – she would lose the extra money her unclassified position is entitled to. So for now, she gets to act as Deputy Director but doesn’t have to take the lower salary that comes with it. Interesting no? And who did they “replace” Mrs. O’Hara with? Someone from another agency, who had zero knowledge of the department. No job was posted, they didn’t go through a hiring process, and no one in that office was ever given a chance at a promotion. Doesn’t make much sense. But then neither does replacing the director of OCS last week with yet another young DEQ male employee. One with 7 total years of state service. Seven. Why not go through the proper process of finding qualified replacements? The DOA truly believes they are above the law when it comes to these things.
Show me someone who does right by their employees and the people of this State, and I’ll show you someone who either has been teagued, or is well on their way. Same goes for those who know enough to stand up to this administration and prove what they are doing is wrong. So they remove these employees from their leadership positions and replace them with cowardly soldiers. If consolidation and outsourcing are the true goals of this exercise, it will fail. Then all the rats – Ruth Johnson, Jan Cassidy, Dickie Howze – will scatter back the gutters, leaving things in shambles. But not without taking a hike in salary/retirement benefits with them. All in the name of consolidation and savings.
Things are stinking over at DCFS too, with Xerox’s inadequate technology pulling the agency under. Being streamlined sure is strange. We now pay outsiders to do our mail and take our calls – simple things we did just fine – and instead they’ve created this monstrous FUBAR of a system that taints all who attempt to use it, employees and customers alike. (And I often wonder if these minimum wage workers at the call center and document processing center treat confidential information as required.) Legislators in the southern regions: getting any calls? Northern regions: It’s going to roll out to y’all real soon. And the Secretary, on her monthly call, who denies the problems areI significant, actually claims we couldn’t survive without CAFE’ (another joke of a system) and turns the subject to how magnificently we overspent in preparation for the disaster food stamp program. Apparently, her finest hour was overstaffing DSNAP sites while the rest of the offices were unable to provide federally mandated services. She recently had to decide: snacks or no snacks for customers. Whew! But privatization is good for who… Xerox? And all Jitler’s appointees greatest talent must be to polish the turd of the day.
If anyone in DCFS can shed additional light on this, LouisianaVoice would love to pursue the story. Your identity will be protected at all costs and never divulged. We would need specifics, such as who is being paid to handle your mail and take calls, how has the Xerox contract affected your caseload, response time, etc. You may email us at louisianavoice@cox.net to set up a confidential interview.
Xerox = Jan Cassidy
DCFS = Ruth Johnson and Dickie Howze
Same rats feeding on new cheese.
Tom,
Of the 275 Executive positions you listed, do you have a breakdown? I assume executive means OCS, OIS, OIT and OTM..correct?
Look on page 2 of this doc to see the orgs that comprise the Executive Department:
Click to access Analyst_Agency_Assignments.pdf
Yes, I would think that much of the IT staff are undoubtedly concentrated in the DOA.
All branches of executive department – not only the four you listed. No one is safe with these rats. IT directors be ready – you’re first out. That is unless you know someone who can get you detailed into a director job at the Division. You need no real qualifications other than unwavering allegance to the rats in charge and a lack of integrity so you don’t feel guilt for taking a raise to supervise a group of people who deserved the job you were given and will end up teaching you how to do it. Surely that will make sense when the layoffs begin.
Jindal is pimping out Louisiana to any company that wants a cheap lay.
The RFP has been posted! This makes me sick!
Where would we go to look at it. What is the RPF/Bid number? THX
Found it – http://wwwprd1.doa.louisiana.gov/OSP/LaPAC/agency/pdf/5479100.pdf
And Jindal is getting closer and closer to his day of reckoning! He’s learned nothing from our notorious Governor Edwin Edwards, whom I for one, would vote for a fifth time if he ran. “Once he crawls into a barrel with a bunch of snakes, one or more will strike back, and there will be no cure for the venom spewed upon him”!
Mr. Aswell, this post, like so many posted here, is incredibly good and puts the established newspapers to shame. Since you obviously are dedicated to saving the state from our narcissitic little dictator, can you use your network to get somebody to do some opinion polls? That would be a practical way to continue to cut into Jindal’s political capital. A recall effort and an override session are just to difficult to succeed. But polls could do the trick, that is, continue to weaken Jindal vis a vis the legislature and the national GOP.
I know it is difficult to get the whole story due to all the secrecy involved, but your post had some inaccuracies.
Martha O’Hara was removed from her director position and basically put in a corner. She was not assigned to oversee the consolidation. It is true that the jindal administration illegally put somebody 32 years old in as Director who is well connected and only has 7 years experience.
Legality matters not. Ruth Johnson had a valid contract (as pretend CIO) at the same time she was being paid as a salaried state employee. That’s illegal but no one did anything.
How is he well connected?
DEQ was glad to get rid of Derek the Red.
The citizens of Louisiana as well as the legislature, the state departments, all state employees, and the local/regional IT service providers should pay close attention to what is about to happen here. How many existing contracts will be broken? How many state citizens will be unemployed? How does one pay for the existing IT systems and services while migrating to the new “outsourced” environment?
It seems the Jindal administration has decided that the only way to gain the cost efficiencies offered by consolidation is by outsourcing/privatizing all of IT. Bull! This is simply a ploy to build on his reputation for downsizing state government (a.k.a. fewer state civil service employees). Look at all the examples of contract add-ons referenced by Tom and the previous commenter’s. Do you really think this situation will be any different? The scope, scale and complexity is so much greater and the business risk will be huge for all parties involved. The total cost of this outsourcing initiative will not reveal itself for 4-5 years, but I can assure you the cost will be much higher than IT spends today. Jindal and his cronies will be long gone by then, but they will still be laying claim to “creating a smaller state government” and “creating private sector jobs” (even if they are in other states). The total financial impact on taxpayers will never be discussed by the Jindal camp.
Every state that has gone down the outsourcing path has learned some very harsh lessons. Perhaps the most important lesson is “You can’t outsource your brains”. Not that this administration doesn’t have brains, but I can assure you they do not have the IT skills/knowledge nor business savvy necessary to negotiate such a contract.
This administration has clearly and consistently illustrated its lack of common sense and dare I say its total distain for our state, our state employees, our small Louisiana based businesses and our fellow citizens. Many times the posts have read “It is a sad day for Louisiana”. I’m afraid we have even sadder days ahead.
Bingo. The entire civil service IT staff are merely a number to Jindal.
And if things go in Louisiana as they have in many other states, the consulting corporations will take this state for hundreds of millions of dollars, and Jindal will get plenty in legal campaign contributions.
Jindal is already screwing with IT departments ahead of the contract in what appears to be a plan to cripple several agencies. If it’s not his intent to cripple these agencies, then he’s wildly incompetent because it means that he believes they can operate without computers. Thanks to years of Jindal’s cuts, many systems are old and fragile, and many experienced staff have been incentivized into retirement. Those who remain are all that stands between the Wizkid governor and disaster.
Ironically, if it weren’t for the fact that civil servants are locked into a retirement system which Jindal is trying to destroy, many of the staff could already have left. Many staff are just hanging on, hoping against hope that they’ll survive and not have to start over.
If I had to guess from the Jindal is destroying our State he has never read President Lincoln”s 2nd inaugural address.
Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States
Abraham Lincoln
Second Inaugural Address
Saturday, March 4, 1865
Weeks of wet weather preceding Lincoln’s second inauguration had caused Pennsylvania Avenue to become a sea of mud and standing water. Thousands of spectators stood in thick mud at the Capitol grounds to hear the President. As he stood on the East Portico to take the executive oath, the completed Capitol dome over the President’s head was a physical reminder of the resolve of his Administration throughout the years of civil war. Chief Justice Salmon Chase administered the oath of office. In little more than a month, the President would be assassinated.
Fellow Countrymen:
AT this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
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Interesting that you would log your comment from a state email account. If a state employee opposed to Jindal were to do the same, he’d be teagued in a nano-second. Good to know you have such job security.
Tom, Jeya S., must think you just fell off that turnip truck or that she/he doesn’t really care. Maybe they are a spy for the other side? Why else would they be on your blog but to run interference for the gov himself or to start a rumor that isn’t true? Perhaps they have more to share with us.
For those that don’t know, Jeya (male) is the head of IT for DPS. My guess is he doesn’t give a damn that he posts on blogs during work hours because he knows he won’t lose his job. I also wouldn’t be surprised if OIT director “little” Dickie Howze put him up to it.
Where did Mr. Jeya go Tom, did you scare him off or perhaps he didn’t want his name being used on your blog??? Think he was surprised by being disclosed for all the world to know, even his boss? Keep them guessing, smile, they might think you know something they are hiding!!! Thank you Tom and “IT No More” for busting the head of IT for DPS, quite a move.
Maybe it’s the fact that Jindal is a crook and a cheat who will be costing the State money by privatizing more services so he can reward campaign contributor$. Everyone of his privatizations so far has cost the state more money than the services did beforehand….look at the mess already with the hospitals.
You don’t care about the state workers below you because you will likely keep your DPS job. I have been in meetings with you and you are rude and beligerent to your employees. That’s probably why you could care less about hundreds of others losing their jobs. Karma will pay you back.
Watch when Jindal hires a private IT person who turns into a SNOWDEN and all the little back room deals and big deals are disclosed, Karma would have his revenge. And believe me it will happen! It may have already begun then all those creeps will have their names put out there for all to see. Maybe sooner than later!!! Watch and see and follow the money!
The RFP for consolidation is set to open July 31st. Pay close attention to who wins this. It is virtually impossible for most vendors to respond b/c it lacks details but I suspect that one vendor will get it right and have the “only complete response”. They will be a contributor to Jindal. Who do you think it will be? IBM, they just got a cush deal on 15 yrs of free rent but their TX deal was a complete flop; ACS, that would be a dumb move since Mrs. Cassidy is head of procurement but then again she has no problem pushing a managed print contract for Xerox and still fails to pull the plug on the failing imaging project at DCFS due to her ties to her former employer; Northrup, such great accomplishments in Va (NOT); EDS?, Deloitte????? I guess we’ll see but get ready, this contract will cost the state 100s of millions. Its going to be the blind leading the blind. Not one person in this administration is capable of making a project like this a success.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/07/layoffs_rise_along_with_unempl.html
Layoffs on the rise, along with unemployment
“Civil service figures showed more than 3,800 state employees were laid off in the last budget year, more than the four prior years combined. Meanwhile, Louisiana’s unemployment rate rose to 7 percent, in the sixth straight month of growing joblessness in the state.” Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration, whose outsourcing policies are responsible for most of the state worker layoffs, dismisses suggestions the two numbers are linked and says many of those employees found new jobs with the private companies that took over state services.”
Meanwhile Jindal is making big investments in outside companies to come to La. What about the companies already here? does it make sense to compete our locals with out of state companies? Local businesses suffer with these backdoor negotiations. Layoffs, consolidation, privatizing, investments in out of state companies- when are you going to take care of the people who actually live in this state?