An internal D.C. audit of the contract with Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services, which has managed the District’s parking meters since the 1990s, found that privatization has cost about $2.2 million more than it would have if government employees had done the work themselves. Even lone D.C. Council Republican Carol Schwartz (R – At-Large) admitted to the Examiner that privatization hasn’t actually maximized the District’s economic efficiency. Quel libertarian nightmare!

More from the Examiner’s story:

DDOT managers could not find 670 of the 1,906 meters that the auditors asked to sample.

Six meters had the same identification number and collected revenue, although the auditor couldn’t determine whether the money ever reached the District’s coffers.

ACS repeatedly failed to repair parking meters in time, but the District continued to issue tickets on the broken meters, undermining the credibility of the District and “unfairly shift[ing] the cost, impact and liability for poor contractor performance and inept contract administration … to parking patrons,” the report said.

Of course the reality is that the District contracted out these services in the 1990s because at that time, it was having trouble tying its own shoes — this audit doesn’t necessarily mean it was a terrible idea to initially go with ACS. Still, perhaps it’s time to look seriously at managing our own parking meters again. Or at least make sure our contracts with private companies are being enforced (surely 670 missing meters aren’t part of the deal).

Got any good/frustrating stories about the state of parking meters in the District? You know what to do.

Photo by epmd