November 17, 2010
PRAGUE, RYAN RAP UCONN FOR HIRING OUT-OF-STATE FIRM
by Mike Savino, Staff Writer, Mansfield Today
Two local state legislators Tuesday joined others across the state to criticize the University of Connecticut’s decision last week to hire an outside consultant to look at ways to generate money and find cost savings.
State Sen. Edith Prague, D- Columbia, and state Rep. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville, said Tuesday they have sent a letter to UConn Board of Trustees Chairman Lawrence McHugh about the decision to hire an out-of-state consultant firm.
The board approved hiring McKinsey & Co., a Washington, D.C., consulting firm, for $3.9 million during its Nov. 9 meeting.
Other state lawmakers have also been critical of the hire for various reasons, but Prague and Ryan said the board should have hired a company from Connecticut.
“As co- chairs of the legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee, we are dismayed by the board’s decision to send jobs out of state,” the two legislators wrote in their letter. “In this economic climate, we need to pursue all paths to create jobs in Connecticut.”
McHugh, who could not be reached for comment this morning, said last week McKinsey & Co. will be charged with helping find revenue and savings opportunities that can be implemented as soon as the 2011-12 fiscal year.
Prague and Ryan said they believed a Connecticut- based firm would have been better suited for the task because it would “know the ins and outs of our public institutions.”
UConn said last week it received proposals from 10 firms for the study and spokesman Michael Kirk said the university chose McKinsey, which has worked with Fortune 500 companies, after a ” competitive bid” process.
“The university and the board set out to hire the firm that best meets our needs and has the most broad-based, extensive experience,” Kirk said this morning.
Prague and Ryan also questioned the need to hire an outside consultant and said “the goal of achieving a leaner, cost-effective university operations can be done internally,” echoing concerns from other state legislators.
But Kirk said UConn already received input from a team of administrators, students, staff and faculty in 2008.
UConn officials said last week the team’s recommendations have saved $7 million a year. “Input from our employees played a major role in the work of the CORE group and will continue to be important during the McKinsey engagement,” Kirk said.
UConn officials have said McKinsey’s focus will be to expand on the recommendations of the Cost Operations and Revenue Efficiencies (CORE) group.
State Rep. Pam Sawyer, R-Bolton, has agreed with the decision, saying McKinsey will bring “outside eyes” to help look at UConn’s practices and operations.
“Sometimes, it’s necessary to spend money to save money,” she said, noting McHugh has stated the goal of the study is to find as much as $50 million in additional revenue and cost savings. Sawyer also said UConn needed to focus on a firm that could “hit the ground running” because of the timeline, and could not necessarily focus where the consultant is located.