Unease among state IT workers
They worry about how outsourcing will affect long-term job security
Despite official assurances that their jobs will be secure through Virginia's information-technology outsourcing, state government IT employees cannot expect to remain in their jobs until retirement, officials now say.
[ entire article ]
Reality-check, folks. A lot of people will lose their jobs. Some of the best minds in state IT will leave voluntarily to avoid getting sacked. Virginia will be left with the debris of the Warner Administration's IT hurricane. And what will we have after the dust has settled and lives have been discarded?
SSDD.
But we'll hear a lot of rhetoric like, "We've saved $1 billion this year by NOT buying the moon. We'll save even more next year by NOT buying Venus."
Ain't progress grand?
Monday, October 17, 2005
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28 comments:
First of all I would like to thank Peter Bacque for staying on this issue and not buying the party line that is being shoved down the public's throat. Thank goodness for Freedom of Speech and the American way (as I’ve known it, not as it is going). And thanks also to this anonymous blog. Below are my thoughts on the recent article about VITA-Nam.
The whole concept of lifetime employment doesn't exist anymore," said Secretary of Technology Eugene J. Huang.
"My generation has . . . been told that lifetime employment is not a given," said Huang, who is 29. "Over the course of one's lifetime, one can expect upwards of six or seven different jobs."
Why is it, that a non-Virginian waltzes into Virginia and gets to say things like this as he waltzes his young rich family money never lived nor will never have to live like a regular Joe state worker self right back out of our state. At least he registered his car in Virginia and has paid Virginia taxes, unlike George Newstrom who never registered his beamer in Virginia, until he had to buy a new one, because the old one got washed away in Gaston.
"These are the best deals I've ever seen," said Dan Ziomek,vice chairman of VITA's review committee for the outsourcing. "These are in many respects trend-setting offers from IBM and Northrop Grumman. I think the employees are well taken care of."
And how many deals has he seen? Party line talk. Or better yet - puppet talk so I can keep my job talk.
"Assuming the deal moves forward, the contract will go to the governor for approval around Nov. 1."
Well hasn't this been a done deal ever since IBM named Lem Stewart "man of the year" or whatever bogus butt kissing award it was? Or ever since Bearing Point was appointed VITA's consultant or something like that. Not sure about my facts here - but something like that transpired between them.
"IT workers are also among the commonwealth's best-paid public servants.
The typical state IT specialist earns an average of $60,383, while the average state government worker's salary is $36,945, according to the Virginia Department of Human Resource Management"
Governor Gilmore raised the IT salaries to compete with the private sector and trying to retain IT workers during the 90s. IT workers are still not at the level of private sector, but workers do consider the benefits when staying with the state. Now those are being "not guaranteed".
How stupid of us to think like that. Of course I think like that, not being of the 29 year-old generation but of a generation that where you worked and worked hard you really did expect the same loyalty back from a company. Oh, that's right I can get retrained? To do what and make the same amount of money? IT was the job that you were retrained to go into, but what is it now?
The average of $60,383 is probably not an accurate reflection of the true average IT salary. Once you include VITA's over-paid management salaries (all to the good ole boy and girl network of the old DIT and DMV cronies) that average may be a little lower for the people who actually do the work. VITA management is a prime example of the The Peter Principle - "The theory that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent." That's one Warner can put on his presidential-seeking resume as Virginia knowing how to apply The Peter Principle. Goes right along with Bush and his newest nominee to the Supreme Court, but that is another disaster for another day to discuss.
"One IT worker said, "I decided years ago that I was going to forgo the big IT salary and fat stock options that private industry offers, and put all my eggs in the stability of the commonwealth, and the Virginia Retirement System."
One of the reasons I came to work for the state because one of my children was chronically ill. I could never had gotten or taken the amount of sick leave to take care of her working for the private sector. Family lives are involved here. And now I stay because I'm closer to retirement and don't want to blow those years away.
"I am having a hard time sitting back and watching this 'partnership' form and watching all that I have worked for vanish without me having any input whatsoever."
"The state makes it clear in its personnel information that classified workers have no employment guarantees and can be fired."
Well, that's why I write anonymously because my career would even be more short-lived than it already is. The normal Joe IT worker has had no input whatsoever. Oh they invited us to those meetings at first to pretend like they got our input, but that was SSDD also. I feel really sorry for some of the people in those meetings who truly believed VITA when they said we would have better training, etc etc. Retraining was more like it. They are a bunch of liars and I usually don't say that lightly about people, but they are.
I think that is why the woman that was hired from Housing for the Human Resource job at VITA left VITA to go back to Housing after a short tour of VITA-Nam. She sure was on fire with optimism at those first meetings. Did she truly see them as they were and finally realize she had to lie to us and being a good moral hard working loyal employee decide she couldn’t tow the party line anymore? We will never know because she likes her job also.
One last thought, to set the record straight, I am not an unhappy IT state employee. I like my job and I love the Commonwealth of Virginia being born and raised here and get tired of all the presidential-wannabe Governor’s using us as their testing ground. They will move on and we are always left to clean up the mess or wait for another round of it. That is guaranteed. The VITA management talking heads always fire back that the agencies are unhappy because the agencies are losing control, etc. etc. Could it be that the agencies know at ground level that it is a bad plan for the Commonwealth and how much VITA has massaged the figures and facts in their favor and that the Warner administration has swallowed it – hook, line, and sinker?
you know... this whole VITA thing has just worn me down to a nub after years of the uncalled bullshit, the sadly ill-conceived notion that somehow became a vast, shambling Imminent Fact, and the apparent truth that the whole legislature seems to have swallowed it whole because they don't know anything about technology themselves and frankly don't care about it. Remember in the beginning when some honorable member of the assembly was claiming that the state's email systems "couldn't communicate with each other[!!!]", which was and is wildly false, but it was lost on an assemblage of legislators who barely know what email is themselves. Warner, like every schoolyard weasel who ever joined in beating up the class scapegoat just to avoid becoming one himself, shamelessly took advantage of the contempt people seem to have for state workers generally and fed the public a line that nobody in state government knows what they're doing, that the situation is so dire nothing short of total annihilation would do. Like another famous idiot-with-power in the news, he closed the door on dialogue from the beginning and listened only to yes men. I voted for the man, didn't blame him personally for the layoffs in 2002, and thought he was doing a competent job of governing. But VITA makes me wish horrible, vile things on his body and soul. It sickens me that he is determined to push this abomination through just so he can deem it a 'success' and try to gain higher offices with this dubious feather in his cap. I can't tell if he genuinely doesn't know he's wrong if is just refusing to admit it; either way, I'll be hard pressed to ever vote for him again. And it infuriates me that Kaine has pretty much promised to see VITA through, so no vote for him either.
Perhaps it's time to talk about what impact the election will have on VITA's future, if any. If Kilgore wins (shudder), would he tank VITA just because it has Warner cooties all over it? Or would he let it live because it's sure to be a source of generous corporate support for whoever has influence over it? If Kaine wins, will VITA go through unscathed or will the GenAss fight him just on principle? I personally think that if Russ Potts actually got in, he'd try to put a stop to this expensive nonsense, but even on that long shot one wonders if cutting the beast's head off would suffice at this point.
And even if someone finally 'undid' VITA, what would happen then? Would things stay as they are, which is Quite Bad Enough?
Forgive me, Shadow. I wasn't sure where else to spew all this stuff out. And spewing is all it is... but I certainly feel a little better now, so {urp} thanks...
And it infuriates me that Kaine has pretty much promised to see VITA through, so no vote for him either.
Do you have links or articles as to Kaine saying this? I'd like to see it in print before I change my vote, even if it means voting for Kilgore (double shudder) - who hopefully will kill it just because of Warner cooties. But again, Kilgore is so mired in the corporate world he might not kill one of the good ole' boy deals.
Well, he's spoken on behalf of Warner's 'technology initiative' at a few occasions, and according to his website, advocates putting the VITA data backup center in Southwest Va, apparently to help boost the economy there. This would seem to be a continuation of Warner's efforts in SWVA. And it's an example of people saying he's running on Warner's record, the centerpiece of which is of course VITA. He also seems fond of the term "public-private partnership", which never used to have such a nasty ring to it until now. ("We'll make government work more like a business!" Oh yeah? Which one? Enron? Worldcom?)
I'm torn. Most of me wants to vote for Potts, because he's that rare animal; fiscally responsible, socially "mind your own business and let others mind theirs". Kilgore has really made a repellent a** of himself this campaign, and I think a lot of Republicans will appreciate having a second choice. It might be premature to assume that a vote for Potts will only help Kilgore.
As for Kaine... a Kaine phone pollster last month didn't even bother to ask why I, a mostly-Democrat voter (question 1), was planning to vote for Potts (question 2). I'm hoping Kaine cares more about the answer to that question than the pollster did.
Don't worry, anon2, vent all you need. We hose the place down nightly. That's what we're here for, after all...
And so the saga continues today when the IT Board meeting was cancelled. Could it be the board wasn't stacked the way they wanted?
Anyone who thinks that the VITA initiative is going to save money for the Commonwealth of Virginia is an idiot.
Virginia is a NON-profit entity and believe me when I tell you that the vendors who are bidding on these contracts are FOR-profit entities. They cannot afford to give more than they receive.
This attempt to marry the private sector to state government is going to be a fiasco. Do research on all the other attempts. Look at the REAL facts and don't believe the BS that the marketing department (VITA) is spewing.
If they established real, attainable goals, it might work.
These VITAites cannot even figure out which virus protection program the state should use, much less establish a consistent way to do business. Hell, I can buy computers all day long cheaper than the contracts they are developing.
VITA is a good idea gone horribly wrong. Consolidate the BIG STATE APPLICATIONS, control the contracts to get better pricing by establishing a baseline of what everyone should use. Be smart, not political.
Voting Kaine or Kilgore will not make a difference. They both have taken contributions from the tech sector.
It's unfortunate that major savings could have been had without the major costs of outsourcing. It will in no way save money. It was never meant to. It's all just a political sounding board for Warner’s career. He wants to be president in 08.
It's unfortunate that the majority of the public is to wrapped up in their own lives to take notice of the issues. It shouldn’t be a red or blue thing. It should be about the issues and who will make the right decisions for the state without involving $$$corporate$$$ money. Corporate America has taken over at the federal level and now they are gunning for the state level. Virginia is just the first.
It's unfortunate that the majority of the public is to wrapped up in their own lives to take notice of the issues.
About a month ago I overheard a woman at a local restaurant talking about what could only have been VITA -- "outsourcing mumble governor mumble public private partnership mumble contractors can do it MUCH more efficiently mumble neat idea! mumble". She had absorbed the advertisement whole. It was all I could do not to march over and slap the sandwich out of her hand and try to enlighten her a bit more on the topic. I probably wouldn't have made much sense though. In any case, everyone is buying into it because nothing but prepaid VITA ads (in the form of awards and reviews by highly interested parties) ever makes it to the public.
Having worked in both sectors, I'm amazed that everyone still assumes the private sector is a sparkling model of good sense and thrifty management. But again, this whole fiasco has only survived because of the conventional wisdom that state workers are useless and couldn't possibly have been doing anything right up to this point.
And VITA supporters have made good use of that prejudice, sometimes quite explicitly. I recall one Bacon's Rebellion piece in which the author dismissed all opposition to VITA as simple aversion to change (yes, IT workers know nothing about change) and a "good enough for government work" mentality. In fact, the place I've seen this latter sentiment the most is in the private sector itself; the reason they compete for state contracts is because they anticipate doing as little as possible for the state once they've got the ring on their finger, and the longer the contract the better (13 years?). From electricians sarcastically stuffing their cigarette butts behind receptacle plates when they're working on state buildings, to IT contractors deliberately producing parasitic solutions with inherent problems (ensuring dependence for years to come), the average citizen sees government as both a greedy hog (for collecting taxes) and a bottomless public trough (when they want to sell their services to agencies). I remember a visiting plasterer shaking his head at the poor mud job in a new state building I worked in years ago, but he assumed that it was some clueless state employee who'd done it, not a contractor just like him.
It's a lot like insurance fraud; no awareness that the institution exists for the common good, and you're ultimately screwing yourself over when you treat it like a jackpot.
Has anyone seen this article:
http://www.govtech.net/news/news.php?id=92551
How degrading for state IT workers:
"There just was not the expertise and knowledge in Virginia state government in cutting edge information technology service offerings to come -- you know, to bring to the table the types of service offerings that you would expect from providers like Amazon.com as one example".
No wonder the public thinks state IT employees are idiots!
Thanks Secretary Huang!
Thank God Amazon.com is also a nonprofit. Or at least it would seem... *wink*
What exactly does Amazon.com have that is so wonderful and the state would like to have? I love Amazon.com but I don't think I'll start buying vacuum cleaners from the state...
The real point is that the state was already making a lot of progress re: service automation and squeezing more out of the web, despite Gilmore's budget gouging. And even if it weren't, the simple truth is that consolidation was in no way necessary to acheive any of VITA's supposed objectives. They said they wanted to reduce our dependence on outside contractors, and here we are a couple of years later about to hand the keys to a big corporation. They suggested it made more sense to have one network administrator (or other specialized category) doing ONLY That Thing, but for multiple agencies; two years later we saw VITA job descriptions for one person to work for a single agency doing everything from Exchange and network administration to desktop support and hardware. They claimed to want to streamline state IT but have only succeeded in adding layer after layer of paperwork and have done nothing to date to rememdy the handful of actual problems, mostly the antiquated systems at some of the larger agencies. And at my agency, the VITA contracts have been consistently worse than the ones we'd negotiated ourselves.
I used to feel a bit sorry for Eugene, and for Lem Stewart, because they seemed like bright and decent guys put in the sad position of having to pimp a dungheap. But then, neither of them had to keep doing it.
It seems to me the state isn't even promising a cost savings so that's not the reason. If too many employees is the problem, it would be much easier to just stop hiring more and more. So that's not it either. If it's that the private company can get better deals on the equipment, then why not just rent/lease from them and not send the employees too?
The only thing I can imagine is that they promised to save all this money and couldn't pull it through as they advertised. Maybe this is the only way to get out of it and save face or get it through before Warner is out of office. They really didn't even give VITA a fair chance at bringing through what they said they could. You can't remodel a 40 year old dinosaur in a year and no one expected them to. And you also can't model a state government the same way you would Nextel or Amazon.com. Everyone knew there would be speed bumps. There are many brilliant minds at VITA and with the right planning I have no doubt they can do the job. I think they could do this with much less money and much more support.
The only other scenario I can imagine is that someone is pushing something for their own benefit.
Why doesn't someone (HELLO VITA) truthfully explain the whole picture... Maybe there's information that the regular Joes just aren't privy to that can explain all this? Sure would make it easier for them and the agencies/employees wouldn't be so suspect. Who knows, maybe private industry isn't the only one that can come up with a good idea. They probably have people right in VITA that can come up with a better alternative.
I can't belive Mr. Warner and Mr. Huang would want to put their future political/private careers on the line with something that appears so combustible. This is billion-dollar huge!
Of course if it all falls through, the management in the agencies as well as the "yes" guys at VITA are going to take the fall. They are already lining them up...
I read in a document on VITA's site (http://www.vita.virginia.gov/docs/presentations/528,21,Has Transformation Been Done Before?)
where Lem Stewart was presenting to JLARC about VITA having an image problem and he was explaining why. 80% of the agencies say they see no benefit from the creation of VITA. 78% said IT services were costing more than before VITA and projects were hindered by VITA. He says that VITA has saved the agencies $45 million and the agencies didn't see it. One of the bullets under the "WHY" was that the agencies spent the money on something else. PLEASE, if the agency heads are that slow, I think the problem is with the agencies not VITA. That's crazy! His plan to clean up the image is to hire another "independent" survey and to have meetings with the agency heads. I can see this now... "Mr. agency head, don't you remember spending that $2 million on paper last month? You just forgot about that, right? See how helpful VITA is?"
Our agency head is definitely NOT slow. He will know if a pitch is going on and he knows where every single penny is spent in our agency. Someone is going to have to be a fast talker if they come to his office.
The very next subject is how the VITA employees will be treated well... reduction in force attained through the usual attrition, retirements, retraining, etc. Flip through a few pages and you see how the private companies provide, you guessed it... Separation Plans... Would that be separation plans for those VITA employees that might be nearing that expensive retirement plan?
I really wish VITA would come clean and explain what's up...
What exactly does Amazon.com have that is so wonderful and the state would like to have? I love Amazon.com but I don't think I'll start buying vacuum cleaners from the state...
A merchant account..? ;)
Glad they explained that separation thing. (http://www.vita.virginia.gov/docs/presentations/SF05-10-20v5.ppt) If the company wants to terminate early... Whew, I almost thought the Commonwealth employees were going to get sacked!
Anyone wanting to get the first order in for that F-35 better move quickly... I guess Virginian's gets employee discounts, right? I wonder if they could give me the up-front capital to buy that hummer I don't need and can't afford... But I really want it! It's soooooo cool! It would be a cost savings of several billion dollars since I wouldn't be buying the F-35, right?
Don't worry, if anyone doesn't make it through the interviews, there are plenty of other positions available at Northrop... IRAQ anyone? Lots of Marines! and Hummers!!!
Left, Left, left, RiGht, LEFT...
8*)
Loved the presentation. Made me want to take a shower.
What's the poop on where Northrop Grumman wants to put their facility in southwestern VA?
Just a few questions for the next powerpoint presentation:
Does this leave any money for the overhaul of the big state systems? If not, we don't need the private partner or the state of the art data centers right?
What if it doesn't work out? Do they have to give back the tax incentives, cheap interest rate savings, revitalization funds, etc. or do they get to keep the buildings and equipment for the next big sell-out?
Will the number of management layers be reduced? Or does Northrop not need them either?
If the appropriations don't come through, say in 2009, are they going "make do" like IT employees have been for umpteen years?
How is this going to help "Job growth in economically distressed areas of Southwest Virginia"? Oh, wait.. is that the jobs of the current commonwealth employees that can't afford to pick up their families and move to SWVa?
What's the poop on where Northrop Grumman wants to put their facility in southwestern VA?
Maybe Wise County? Isn't that where Warner, Jr., Tim Kaine's, in-laws live? He sure has been stumping there a lot!
http://www.kaine2005.org/issues/economy_regional.php
Southwest Virginia
Support infrastructure improvements in transportation, communication, and technology to better link Southwest Virginia to the rest of the Commonwealth
Support the creation of public wireless internet access areas
Support the location of VITA’s backup data center in Southwest Virginia
Invest further resources in UVA-Wise
Support programs like Virginia’s Economic Bridge, which links workers in southwest Virginia with Northern Virginia employers through technology.
Promote natural and scenic assets, like Breaks Interstate Park and rails-to-trails projects to attract tourism
All of us who work (worked) in the IT field for the Commonwealth are NOT against consolidation, economies of scale and best business practices. BUT, we are against idiots who are politicians and appointed yes men doing great harm to the state as we move forward.
Instead of concentrating on REAL low hangin fruit, like updating the ancient mainframe systems and consolidating those systems that are used by every agency, CARS, PMIS, CIPPS, etc. The first thing they did was take the people and charge 5.5% extra for us to use them.
I cannot for the life of me, understand why the supposed bright people in office do not see this for what it is.
It's simply a RE-consolidation of power and processing. We go in cycles and every 8 to 10 years have to work to get back to where we were.
And I'll really be glad when I no longer have to read the marketing and propaganda spewing from the VITA CIO, Website, SOTech and others who care nothing about agencies as entities, but only what they gain.
I don't know about the rest of you, but my agency was doing just fine and had the latest technology and high productivity. Our problem was DIT, CARS, PMIS and those systems that would not and could not perform properly. And that HAS NOT CHANGED YET.
(Down off the stool and drooling at my desk like other state employees now.)
Absolutely, on the main systems. The only thing I would disagree with you on is about consolidation, if you meant that you approved of one central office dictating/owning everything that goes on in the agencies, and IT staff not reporting to he agencies they serve. Centralizing was a bad idea from the beginning, and had no other purpose than to make it easy for a small cabal to lord it over a vast range of resources with greater ease. They kept insisting consolidation was the only way to get anything accomplished, which holds no water. Just like the 'consolidation' going on in the federal government, it's resulted in nothing more than bigger, more expensive, less effective bureaucracy. Consolidation reduces the ability to respond adaptively, and only makes sense when a large workforce is all working the same way (say, at a large law firm with many offices spread out geographically--the needs and operations are the same).
My agency, too, was doing very well indeed, getting and doing a lot for our buck. We'd hoped that in this effort to revamp IT, they would check in with agencies that were getting it right and try to propagate the best ideas, but they couldn't have acknowledgements of existing success.
I think we would all have been happy for DIT to have become a true resource instead of a hindrance. If they'd gotten some truly fresh blood in, established a few flexible, sensible standards for agencies to work within, if they'd become eqipped (read: with competent staff) to make efficiency recommendations to agencies, ... in short, become competent enough to be worthy of more authority over the agencies, it would have been different. But even then, the authority should never have been this absolute. And as we see, it has (like the federal govt) more vulnerable to cronyism, which has never been a performance-enhancing factor.
They're as bad as DIT ever was, if not worse, and we now have no choice but to deal with them.
I just pray the General Assembly will take a good hard look before writing out the checks! Although from the letter that came from Lem Stewart, I'm wondering if even the General Assembly hasn't lost control over The VITA Gods... "I am authorized to blah, blah, blah..."
Does anyone know how much tax incentives, special fund amounts, etc. we will be giving Northrop? Seems like those amounts should be added up before VITA can say they will save taxpayers money. It is all coming from the same till! It's just like VITA saying they are saving money... Who is spending less since VITA took over? The only agency spending less money is VITA because they took our equipment and our IT people and now they're charging us more to use them than we were spending before they came along.
It seems to me like they are dipping into these special funds through Northrop when the incentives could go to real PRIVATELY FUNDED companies that can actually help out the distressed southwestern va area. I'm not from the area so I'm not really versed on the problems there but I have read where several companies have come in, taken the special monies, hired the quota required and then moved on. It really hurts the economy even more.
Is the new data center in this area going to be staffed by all new people from that area (the factory and mine workers that were layed off) or by the existing state IT employees? Either way, I don't see a big help for folks in the area. Do miners and factory workers usually also specialize in technology? From the looks of Northrop's proposal, they intend to hold interviews and hire only the best, most qualified employees. They already explain about how all existing employees may not be hired for their current jobs, some may not "fit"...
Since the politicians are always harping on getting broadband and jobs to the area, why not just give the $2 billion to Verizon or Comcast and let them do it?
If we give the money to Northrop, we still have the same equipment, the same management and the same (if not more) paperwork. The only thing we accomplish is getting rid of a lot of dedicated employees and filling the pocket of a private company. That's not progress in my eyes!
How interesting... isn't this the company they're looking at for the enterprise privatization?
CGI-AMS Inc.
Anyone know what's going on with that?
I have not seen one public statement where Secretary Huang has had anything good to say about state employees. What's up with this guy?
From Governing.com:
Making the case and building strong support is not always easy, particularly in an area where leadership changes can come rapidly, leading some employees to become what Eugene Huang, Virginia’s Secretary of Technology, described as ’We Be’s’ – “We be here when you come, we be here when you leave.” It is easier to build support from all levels — executive as well as these “legacy” employees — by achieving some quick wins, creating momentum and taking on projects small enough to be manageable and successful along the way.
I guess we're all "WeBe Legacy" employees? He always describes us in such nice ways. I hope everyone there got a good laugh at our expense. Who has been bringing Virginia the AAA ratings all these years? Oh yeah, VITA, right? I don't think so!!!
By the way, the legacy employees (those of us who are over 29 and know how to show simple respect to other humans) would say "We will be here when you come, we will do our best to serve you well while you are here and, God/VITA willing, we will be here when you leave beacuse we are decent hard-working humans."
Thanks again Secretary Huang!!!
It would appear that everything this idiot Governor wants will be pushed through regardless of it's eventual consequences.
Be prepared for a HUGH backlash in about 2 to 3 years when everyone affected realizes that the price is about twice what it costs now and every lie is revealed. I love the "Well you should have been paying more because you were doing too much with too little" arguement. What the hell do they think we are supposed to do....now they have declared half our hard work "out of scope"....let's charge more because it's out of scope.
Well, you reap what you sow. So let's all celebrate the marriage of private and public and be prepared to bend over and take it.
Is it just me, or did that "We be" comment have the distinct smell of racism about it?
I'm Northrup Grumman and I'm here to help you.
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