THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 4, 1994 TAG: 9411040042
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A20 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
The controversy resulting from rebidding the maintenance contract for Norfolk schools is a matter to be settled in court, but the idea of rebidding contracts that have been privatized hopefully will not be sullied in the process. Rebidding is a primary way of making privatization even more efficient and thus saving the taxpayers more money.
The reason that a private company rather than the school system runs the maintenance program is because it saves money. In Norfolk's and Virginia Beach's case, the savings talked about amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Money that can be used to fund other school functions.
Private companies, unlike the government, have to turn a profit. In order to do so they look for efficiencies. Rebidding a contract every few years only ups the ante for a company to be more efficient and provide quality service for as low a price as possible. That another company could come in and provide the government with more money by doing the job cheaper is a great incentive. A private monopoly, after all, is no better than a public one.
Rebidding is an exercise in accountability. If the company does not perform up to its promises, out it goes. The only accountability for government-run services is privatization.
With thousands of privatization projects being conducted yearly at all levels of government - including the privatization of schools and school districts - rebidding makes sense.
Rebidding can run into controversy, as the company with the contract sees its business endangered, but it is a process the city must stick with if it is to make privatization efforts work. by CNB