NOTE: Below is from the TN Democratic Party. It was sent to media in Tennessee as a press release.

Tuesday, Governor Haslam completed his long standing project to outsourcing thousands of Tennessee state employees jobs, putting them and their families into an uncertain future. The company awarded the unprecedented contract, Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), is an out of state company with which the Governor himself was previously invested.

As many as 10,000 working families across Tennessee are now at risk of losing their health benefits and retirement security. There is no guarantee that they will keep their jobs, or that their pay and benefits will be the same as they are now.

Chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party, Mary Mancini had this to say, "If Governor Haslam had put as much effort into expanding Medicaid as he did into outsourcing state jobs, over 200,000 more people in the state would have health insurance. Instead, thousands more are at risk of losing coverage and potentially their jobs. He has been fighting tooth and nail for a plan nobody voted for and has shown no evidence will save taxpayer money or improve services."

In 2013, JLL was awarded a $330 million contract. As a candidate, Haslam declared JLL as a major investment of his. It is not clear whether or not he still holds those investments, and today's contract is expected to be much larger.

Mancini continues, "The first contract to JLL didn't even have a bidding process. It is not surprising that they 'won' this contract. The Governor seems to be rewarding this company and Tennesseans deserve to know why. We agree with Rep. Clemmons that anyone involved in this process should immediately disclose any and all financial interest in JLL."

The outsourcing process has been unnecessarily secretive from the start raising questions about its motives. What is clear is that Jones Lang Lasalle has now received two large contacts while many state employees are wondering about the security of their jobs.