Governmental Outsourcing Council

Bringing Private Business & the Outsourcing Community Together
Council Lobbyist: Peter Harris

The State of Florida currently spends over $17 billion per year on outsourced health and human services contracts, with both for-profit and not-for-profit companies throughout the state. The outsourcing concept was originally conceived to allow private entities to provide services on behalf of government in areas where they have an expertise or a track record of performance, and it was envisioned that these entities could provide the services at a lower cost than government. The anticipated cost savings were predicated on the fact that economies of scale, expertise in performing the work, less burdensome government regulations, and the ability of these business models to perform in a business fashion, would lead to a superior outcome.

In regulating the outsourcing community, government has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that the dollars it expends on behalf of taxpayers are not stolen or wasted. However, caution must be exercised to prevent excessive government oversight from stifling creativity, lowering performance, and eliminating the cost savings that are possible for the government outsourcing model.

To help balance the needs of government and the private sector, and in response to the growth of the outsourcing industry and its importance to Florida’s government and taxpayer communities, AIF created the Governmental Outsourcing Council (GOC) in 2006 to educate and influence the legislative and executive branches and impact the process on issues which deal with the three critical business processes: procurement, contracting, and rule promulgation

Members include both for-profit and non-profit outsourcing entities, and the Council’s leadership advises AIF staff on the key issues for this industry. By crafting solutions that ensure a level playing field, governmental outsourcing entities will be better able to perform their services at peak efficiency without sacrificing consistent levels of care, realize the potential of the outsourcing concept, and pass on resulting cost savings to the government.

GOC Activities & Issues

Education

• Educating legislators about the importance of governmental outsourcing
• Explaining to legislators the realities and importance of the business model: executive compensation, composition of the board, cash flow, rainy-day funds, etc.

Legislation

• Procurement methodology, including competition versus model rates
• All contracting issues, including; negotiations to adjust payments when contracts are amended; payment for non-disputed items; unexpended funds to be authorized revenues for purposes of cash flow, program expansion and development, or administrative costs; cost of living increases subject to legislative appropriation; etc.
• Oversight and accountability; shifting focus to output and outcomes
• Rule promulgation
• Paperwork reduction
• Any other issues that the Governmental Outsourcing Council deems necessary so long as they are business process issues (not related to agency budget increases, provision of social services, etc.)