Haslam mulls outsourced buildings at Tennessee colleges, prisons

The Commercial Appeal reports (http://bit.ly/1NBlVoh) Haslam's administration last week posted a request for companies to submit information on a proposal for "facilities management outsourcing" on any state government buildings not already outsourced to property management giant Jones Lang LaSalle.

The scope of the request includes classrooms, dorms and administrative offices in the state's two higher education systems; hospitals; prisons; parks; and military facilities.

"Please be specific about abilities to cover the breadth of locations and the depth of services to provide these ... services across the wide geography of the state of Tennessee," the request for information posted on the website of the state Department of General Services on Aug. 11 reads. The deadline to respond is Friday.

General Services spokesman David Roberson said in an email that "there's been no firm decision made," and that the request for information is simply an information-gathering process.

"The vendors will have no problem responding promptly since the information we are requesting should be readily available to them," he said. "Ten days seems like a reasonable period."

The submitted forms are kept confidential.

Haslam was criticized two years ago when his administration converted a $1 million contract with Jones Lang LaSalle to assess the condition of state buildings into a multimillion contract to operate many buildings.

That change came as a surprise to lawmakers, who were not asked for their approval through the legislative process. The latest information request about privatizing operations at colleges and prisons caught some state lawmakers off-guard.

"This represents a dramatic philosophical break with the past in terms of the way we do things in Tennessee," said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Stewart of Nashville. "You're talking about completely transforming the way government operates in Tennessee."

Campus workers at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville were informed about the changes being explored by the Haslam administration last week, according to United Campus Workers, which represents campus facilities employees at some state colleges and universities. Employees were told that the timeline for the outsourcing project calls for a contract to be awarded by June.

The group said "the dizzying scope of the RFI threatens to affect public services and tens of thousands of jobs across every county in Tennessee."