(Radio Iowa) – Zach Lahn — the Republican Party’s candidate for governor — says if elected he’d try to steer as much state business to Iowa companies as possible. During taping of the “Iowa Press” episode that airs tonight (Friday) on Iowa P-B-S, Lahn was asked about the long term computer services contract Governor Reynolds recently signed with two multinational corporations — Amazon and Cognizant. “I’m not in government right now, but from what I can see, I think I’d do things a bit differently” Lahn said.
Lahn says he believes the private sector is better than government at handling a lot of things — including computer system storage and I-T services. “However, my first goal would be to see (the following): Is there an Iowa company that can help provide these solutions for the State of Iowa?” Lahn asked. “Can we keep those dollars within the state? And, if there is not an Iowa company that can take on the entire contract right now, is there there a company that we can help to build by giving our own Iowa-based contracts to an Iowa company?”
Lahn says that approach would provide long term opportunities for Iowans to be employed, rather than outsourcing the work out of state or out of country. Lahn raised concerns about Cognizant right after Reynolds announced the deal, citing the company’s employment of H-one-B visa holders. “This program has been rife with abuse for a very long time and so if I’m looking at a contract like that it’s very simple: there will be measures in place and oversight in place to make sure that those jobs are not going to H1-b employees,” Lahn said, “and that Iowans do have first right at those jobs.”
In June, Reynolds announced she’d signed a decade-long contract to have Amazon and Cognizant manage the computers and digital data in state government. After Lahn and others raised questions about out-sourcing I-T services, Reynolds announced Cognizant has promised to offer jobs to the state employees who have been providing those services in state government. This week Trump Administration officials announced an investigation of alleged fraud linked to federal visa programs and a top Labor Department official has indicated India-based Cognizant is among the companies under scrutiny.
