Maximus Inc

Three years after privatizing the service, the Board of Supervisors will decide today whether to transfer responsibility for a job-training program to county employees who submitted a lower bid than the private sector. In 1993, the county selected a private contractor, Maximus Inc., to handle case management services for the General Avenues of Independence program, which provides job training and placement help to welfare recipients.

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday disregarded a strong recommendation to award a multimillion-dollar welfare-to-work contract to a new firm, instead ordering the bidding process to begin anew, giving a reprieve to a poorly rated company that spent $200,000 lobbying the county this year alone.

In one of its final acts, the Reagan Administration approved a controversial Los Angeles County contract with a private firm to run California's largest work-for-welfare program, state officials said Friday. Although it had been anticipated, the federal action drew immediate criticism from Sen. Bill Greene (D-Los Angeles), an author of the state Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) work plan for welfare parents.

At the request of union leaders, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed action for two weeks on a controversial proposal to contract with a private company to handle welfare-to-work cases at eight offices in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys. Leaders and members of the Service Employees International Union, Local 660, strongly opposed the proposal to contract with Maximus Inc., rather than continuing to use county workers to help welfare recipients find jobs.

Los Angeles County Supervisors provoked a showdown Tuesday with the state, insisting that an inexperienced private corporation run a new $7.9-million workfare program, despite opposition from the Deukmejian Administration. Attorneys for both sides are scheduled to meet Thursday. Already delinquent in meeting a Sept. 26 deadline, the county risks losing millions of dollars in federal welfare funds if no program is in place by Nov. 1.

At the request of union leaders, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed action for two weeks on a controversial proposal to contract with a private company to handle welfare-to-work cases at eight offices in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys. Leaders and members of the Service Employees International Union, Local 660, strongly opposed the proposal to contract with Maximus Inc., rather than continuing to use county workers to help welfare recipients find jobs.

The Deukmejian Administration, which for months had balked at allowing a private company to run the huge new Los Angeles County workfare system, Monday announced a compromise permitting the $7.9-million welfare experiment to begin. Dennis Boyle, deputy director of the state Department of Social Services, said the key to the compromise was agreement on how to handle the discretionary portions of the private contractor's job.

When Los Angeles County set out to comply with new state and federal requirements to move people off welfare, it alarmed the social services bureaucracy in Sacramento by taking a most unusual step. In a move unique among local governments, county officials turned over supervision of its massive workfare program to a private company.

After 18 months of talking about scaling back the size of government and handing over some of its functions to the private sector, the Board of Supervisors weighed a proposal Tuesday that amounted to "privatization" in reverse. The county staff had recommended that the supervisors award a $1.6-million contract for a job training program to a group of county employees who submitted a lower bid than an outside firm.

An ambitious workfare program that in theory could help 80,000 Los Angeles County residents get off welfare and obtain permanent jobs was clouded Thursday by a dispute between state and county officials over a county plan to "privatize" elements of the program. The problem, state officials asserted, is that the county's plan, while novel, may also be illegal.

Los Angeles County today becomes ground zero in a growing battle over privatizing social services, as the Board of Supervisors prepares to sign a $23-million welfare-to-work deal with a corporation whose tactics in acquiring government contracts have come under scrutiny. The scheduled awarding of the contract to Maximus Inc. of McLean, Va.

After 18 months of talking about scaling back the size of government and handing over some of its functions to the private sector, the Board of Supervisors weighed a proposal Tuesday that amounted to "privatization" in reverse. The county staff had recommended that the supervisors award a $1.6-million contract for a job training program to a group of county employees who submitted a lower bid than an outside firm.

Three years after privatizing the service, the Board of Supervisors will decide today whether to transfer responsibility for a job-training program to county employees who submitted a lower bid than the private sector. In 1993, the county selected a private contractor, Maximus Inc., to handle case management services for the General Avenues of Independence program, which provides job training and placement help to welfare recipients.

In one of its final acts, the Reagan Administration approved a controversial Los Angeles County contract with a private firm to run California's largest work-for-welfare program, state officials said Friday. Although it had been anticipated, the federal action drew immediate criticism from Sen. Bill Greene (D-Los Angeles), an author of the state Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) work plan for welfare parents.

When Los Angeles County set out to comply with new state and federal requirements to move people off welfare, it alarmed the social services bureaucracy in Sacramento by taking a most unusual step. In a move unique among local governments, county officials turned over supervision of its massive workfare program to a private company.

The Deukmejian Administration, which for months had balked at allowing a private company to run the huge new Los Angeles County workfare system, Monday announced a compromise permitting the $7.9-million welfare experiment to begin. Dennis Boyle, deputy director of the state Department of Social Services, said the key to the compromise was agreement on how to handle the discretionary portions of the private contractor's job.

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday disregarded a strong recommendation to award a multimillion-dollar welfare-to-work contract to a new firm, instead ordering the bidding process to begin anew, giving a reprieve to a poorly rated company that spent $200,000 lobbying the county this year alone.

Los Angeles County today becomes ground zero in a growing battle over privatizing social services, as the Board of Supervisors prepares to sign a $23-million welfare-to-work deal with a corporation whose tactics in acquiring government contracts have come under scrutiny. The scheduled awarding of the contract to Maximus Inc. of McLean, Va.

Los Angeles County Supervisors provoked a showdown Tuesday with the state, insisting that an inexperienced private corporation run a new $7.9-million workfare program, despite opposition from the Deukmejian Administration. Attorneys for both sides are scheduled to meet Thursday. Already delinquent in meeting a Sept. 26 deadline, the county risks losing millions of dollars in federal welfare funds if no program is in place by Nov. 1.

Los Angeles County's plan to pay $7.8 million a year for an inexperienced Virginia firm to run the new state-mandated workfare program was called illegal Friday by the Deukmejian Administration and ridiculed by Democratic lawmakers. Los Angeles, like all other counties in the state, was supposed to have begun the Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) workfare program by Sept. 26.