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Feds Halt Privatization of Mine Safety LibraryThe Bush administration has halted plans to privatize the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Mine Safety Library near Beckley, West Virginia. A December 17 announcement on the Labor Department’s website explained that a cost-effectiveness study of the library’s operations revealed that management by government employees would be $170,000 less expensive over the next five years than contracting out the services.The administration had been moving forward with privatization per Circular A76 of the Office of Management and Budget, which calls for the identification “of all activities performed by government personnel as either commercial or inherently governmental” and then the use of “a streamlined or standard competition to determine if government personnel should perform a commercial activity.” However, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) inserted language in mid-November into omnibus spending legislation requiring that any cost comparisons of mine safety library operations “result in significant savings and the improvement in the quality of services to taxpayers.” In a November 23 statement, Sen. Byrd characterized as “foolish” the library’s privatization “just to meet some arbitrary outsourcing goal.” Established in 1976, the National Mine Safety Library contains some 50,000 books, 1,000 historical photos, hundreds of films and videos about the mining industry, and a database of mining fatality investigation reports. The library employs five people. Posted December 23, 2004. |
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