Sen. Marc R. Pacheco

Boston Globe – March 19, 2015

ALTHOUGH I agree with Scot Lehigh on many issues, I disagree with his repeated take on the Taxpayer Protection Act, or the “Pacheco Law” (“State should seize control of T,” Op-ed, March 13).

Lehigh and others in the media say the law hinders privatization of state contracts or encumbers our ability to achieve cost savings. In reality, the Taxpayer Protection Act was enacted in 1993 to protect the taxpayer against unscrupulous procurement practices at the time. The law takes no sides in the debate over public vs. private management; rather, it allows privatization as long as private bidders can save taxpayers at least a penny when providing equal-quality services, compared to in-house work.

Readers can visit the state auditor’s website to see contracts privatized under the Pacheco Law. In February, Governor Baker’s transition team published an early-action plan including a proposal to “identify and pursue public-private projects that meet Pacheco standards for cost-savings.”

I disagree with those who would place a moratorium on the law, or dismantle it, and hand over millions in state contracts to private companies without standards or oversight.

It was the Globe Spotlight Team, after all, that documented the waste, fraud, and abuse that corrupted the system before this law passed.

Marc R. Pacheco
President pro tempore
Massachusetts State Senate

The writer is a Democrat from Taunton.