Max Cleland: “I ask the Senator, isn't it true that if the action follows, that is, the privatization-in-place policy, that we have…”

“I ask the Senator, isn't it true that if the action follows, that is, the privatization-in-place policy, that we have heard testimony--you and I were in the subcommittee listening to the testimony from the Air Force--that if you followed the privatization-in-place policy, rather than just sheer privatization, it begins to thwart not only the BRAC decision, but it begins to obscure the whole concept of privatizing to begin with, and that when the Air Force talks about competition, say, competing for the C-5-A workload, they put qualifications on it in order to adjust to the privatization-in-place requirement and require that work to be done for the C-5-A workload at Kelly, and that absolutely compromises, I think, the whole sense of competition between an air base, say, like in Warner Robins--it is going after that workload--and a private contractor? Isn't it your opinion that if we do not get rid of this privatization-in-place policy, we will end up with five air logistics centers, which is not the desire of the BRAC Commission, but three will be publicly run by the Air Force and two will be private, costing the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars? Is that not right?”