Utility privatization plodding along.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.
• Position: Washington Pulse - Brief Article

The privatization of military utility plants has been in the headlines recently because of the controversy surrounding Enron and the company's interest in bidding for Army outsourcing contracts.

But Enron is the least of the problems confronting the Defense Energy Support Center, responsible for managing the utility privatization contracts.

Jeffrey Jones, director of DESC, said the process of privatizing utilities is so complex that it is taking years just to draft the solicitations. "We have an organization working full time with the Army and the Air Force, helping them outsource utility systems at base level," he said during a conference of the Association of the U.S. Army. DESC was granted contracting authority for 161...