Sometimes it does not pay to privatize

Walter Reed Hospital could be one of those 'sometimes'. In 2004 the Army decided that it would not pay to outsource some of the maintenance work. After a protest by IAP Worldwide Services, which is wired into the administration, the Army's auditors ruled that the Army's calculations vis-a-vis outsourcing were flawed. The Army's 'corrected' decision resulted in IAP getting a $120,000,000 contract in January 2006.

For some unknown reason, IAP did not begin the work until this January, during which time, the existing maintenance workers began to leave and, naturally, finding replacements was not easy. The brouhaha that has ensued is partly the result of IAP's tardiness in starting the job it worked so hard to get.