Anchorage -- The 11-member Commission on Privatization and Delivery of Government Services, heard Monday from representatives of the nation's military, which has had an ongoing and successful privatization program in operation for several years. The Commission was established by the Legislature to examine the possibilities of turning some state functions over to private industry.

"Last week's vote against using Permanent Fund Dividend money to support State government means that the Privatization Commission's work is taking on added importance," said Commission Co-Chair Rep. John Cowdery (R-Anchorage). "Before, we were just talking about contracting out some services. Now, we have to look more at eliminating some services," Cowdery said.

"It is clear that we must place more emphasis on management issues, said Sen. Jerry Ward (R-Anchorage/Kenai), Commission Co-Chair, responding to a staff report that was partially critical of the Administration's participation. "We need managers who know what is important and what is not important," Ward said.

Calling the Privatization Commission's mission, "serendipitously fortunate," Commission member Kathryn Thomas of Kenai said: "We're just lucky that we are training ourselves about methods to reduce government costs and increase production at a time when the voters are saying that's what they want done. When we took on this job, the commission was only supposed to have a 6 month life span," Thomas said. "It's beginning to look like we're going to live longer than we bargained for."

Commission members spent the morning listening to a polished presentation from the US Army, Alaska about privatization practices in the military. "The Army literally wrote the book on privatization," said Marco Pignalberi, the Commission's Director, who arranged the briefing. "There is a substantial body of literature on this subject and it all points to seminal work done by the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of the Army," said Pignalberi.

The public can contact the Commission anonymously with suggestions for privatizing or eliminating State government services by calling toll-free 1-888-562-7474 or, in Anchorage, 269-0226. In addition, the Commission has established a website, "www.privatizealaska.org." The site has photos and contact information for commission members, along with links to resource material about privatization, meeting schedules, and news items from the Commission. The website is designed to allow the public to keep abreast of Commission activities.

The commission will submit a written report to the governor and the legislature by January 1, 2000.