State, UT agree to outsourcing review after disagreement

On the heels of mounting criticism from college leaders and workers' rights groups, the state announced Wednesday it would hire a third party to review its proposal to outsource some jobs on college campuses across Tennessee.

In a joint statement, state officials and the leaders of the University of Tennessee and Board of Regents college systems said an independent party would be hired to vet the state's "business justification report," which will outline potential savings that could be made by privatizing facilities management at colleges, state parks and prisons. Although the state's report will not be released until the end of the month, college leaders have publicly questioned its veracity.

The statement came from UT system President Joe DiPietro, Board of Regents Chancellor David Gregory and Terry Cowles, head of the state Office of Customer Focused Government. Cowles' office is leading the review of whether to pursue outsourcing for Haslam's administration.

Haslam supported the idea of an independent review during a conversation with a group of reporters Wednesday.

"I think it's important to have that outside, third-party validator saying, 'Yeah, those numbers are real,' " Haslam said.

DiPietro said Tuesday that numbers gathered by the university suggested in-house facilities management workers were operating efficiently, and below industry benchmarks selected by the state. He also alluded to a disagreement between state and college leaders.

“There is differences in opinion about our numbers versus their numbers," he told reporters after his state of the university speech.

Dave Irvin, the associate vice chancellor for facilities management at UT's Knoxville campus, disputed the state's projections last week, telling students that outsourcing "would be a disaster" for the campus. Irvin said the state projected the Knoxville campus would save $12 million annually, with $55 million in savings across the UT system. Irvin said those figures "didn't pass the sniff test."

Administration officials said some of the information from Irvin was either subjective or incorrect, but provided few clarifying details. DiPietro later said the comments were Irvin's opinion and "regrettable," but never disputed any of the information in Irvin's statements.

Haslam and administration officials are adamant they've made no decision on whether to move forward with outsourcing. But employee unions and associations, along with state Democratic lawmakers, believe the governor has already made up his mind to move forward with the proposal.

In the statement, state and university officials emphasized that in the event the university does outsource facilities management, "no current qualified and productive facilities management employee will lose their job." State universities will still have the chance to opt out of the program after the state provides justification for the concept; the letter makes no mention as to whether the university could opt out after agreeing to a contract.

The statement indicated more information about the possibility of outsourcing, including any cost savings determined by the state, would be available later this month.

Tennessee State Employees Association President Bryan Merritt said in a statement he was "encouraged" by the decision to hire a third party to review the state's numbers.

“This outsourcing effort is a serious decision that should only be made using the best, objective evidence available," Merritt said. "We hope the review is objective and comprehensive, with consideration given to the impact on employees, as well as the many unseen costs of the plan, such as cuts to services, the plan’s effect on Higher Education facilities and the overall impact on local communities.”

Reporter Jason Gonzales contributed to this report. Reach Dave Boucher at 615-259-8892 and on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1. 

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