In tomorrow night’s City Council meeting, a contract for IT services will be discussed and a decision made whether to pass it out of committee with a “Do Pass” or “Do Not Pass” recommendation. The contract is for a five year period and totals $11,866,900.50. What makes this contract controversial is that it’s with a company headquartered in France – ATOS Origin IT Services Inc. You can read more about the controversy this has stirred up on other websites, in particular, Fort Wayne Politics. The Journal Gazette has published no less than three articles over the past week in their Op-Ed pages. One of these, surprisingly, is from former City Councilman Dr. John Crawford weighing in on the issue. I am listing links to these articles as well as the last paragraph from each which pretty much sums up each thinker’s position.
From the Journal Gazette’s Op-Ed page in today’s edition:
[…] While Goldner’s desire for a local company to get the city’s business is understandable, local government officials must also get the best service for the best price – even if that means going out of town, out of state or even out of the country.
Former City Councilman Dr. John Crawford writes in the same edition of the Journal Gazette:
[…] City Council should vote to approve the proposed information technology contract as the County Council has already done unanimously. We should always encourage local companies to compete for city business, but there is no way that you can get the best service for the best price unless one allows the marketplace to function.
And from the August 11th Journal Gazette, Ms. Goldner writes in part:
[…] This contract is on a fast track, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be stopped and reconsidered by the city and county councils. We can come up with a creative solution that will help our economy at the same time it provides IT services. We owe that much to our taxpayers.
[poll id=”5″]
Also of interest:
ATOS Origin Global Homepage
AFW Calendar Post
Related Images:
