The Naval Ordnance Station Louisville: A Case Study of Privatization-in-Place

Abstract

On the afternoon of March 7, 1996, Mike Seale, then Director of Public/Private Partnering for United Defense, waited anxiously while the Louisville/Jefferson County Redevelopment Authority (LJCRA) in Kentucky deliberated over the fate of the Naval Ordnance Station Louisville (NOSL). Seale and Tom Rabaut, the President/CEO of United Defense had just presented a proposal to the LJCRA for United Defense to privatize the Naval Ordnance Station in place. Privatization-in-place is a concept for privatizing military installations wherein the defense-related workload is retained at the privatized facility.1 But Seale knew that if the LJCRA was willing to take a chance on United Defense, privatization-in-place of NOSL could be a win-win-win situation for the company, the city of Louisville, and the Navy.