Tennesseans should applaud a governor who sets his sights on effective, efficient government, and that's what Gov. Bill Haslam has done with some success in the Volunteer State.
Now the state is exploring whether to expand the outsourcing of facilities management. A Request For Information (RFI) posted on the state's website seeks to gauge interest from vendors in managing building services for the likes of colleges and universities, state prisons, hospitals, parks and National Guard armories.
The idea is only at the information stage and no dollar figure has been attached, but the savings for the state are likely to be millions per year. Who could not get behind such efficiency? And the reduction in bureaucracy could be significant. Who would not be behind a less bureaucratic, more effective government?
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Unfortunately, it's never that easy.
Companies have only 10 days to respond to the RFI, and indications are the Haslam administration would like to ramp up such a project in 2016.
A proposal with a scope that large should not be made in haste.
And there are other considerations. If one company is given such a lucrative contract, the responsibility rests in the hands of a few private businesspersons. Those businesspersons may be as honest as the day is long, but the opportunity is ripe for cronyism.
Strict accountability and oversight must be put in place to protect the use of taxpayer dollars. It's one thing to save money but another to take damaging shortcuts to save a buck and in the long run make things worse.
Any company awarded such a contract has to answer to the state, of course, but the state as facilities manager must answer to the people. Though state government is corruptible too, one wants to believe on some level state bean counters keep efficient, effective use of their citizens' resources as their top priority.
Currently, a publicly traded company, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), has a management contract with the state that is expected to earn it $38 million over five years. Before he became governor in 2010, Haslam held a financial interest in the company. Before taking office, he sold his interest in it.
That shouldn't keep JLL from taking an interest in the governor's potential, much larger outsourcing deal, but the handling of its current contract should be thoroughly scrutinized before any new bid is awarded.
Privatizing government services makes sense to consider, but in this case it's better to take small bites of the apple before trying to swallow the thing whole.