Mayor R.T. Rybak's budget proposal includes funding to begin rebidding work on the city's largest contract: a $143 million agreement outsourcing IT services to Unisys Corp.
The decade-old contract came under fire recently for being out of date and re-approved without competitive bids. It is slated to expire at the end of 2015, and Rybak has proposed setting aside $200,000 to begin the rebidding process in 2013. His budget is subject to City Council approval.
Rebidding the contract can be a complicated process, since it touches nearly every corner of city government. The city currently uses 3,300 PCs owned by Unisys and stores data on 198 of their servers.
While a rebidding could result in renewal with Unisys, the budget proposal indicates that the city might be looking to switch vendors entirely. That would end a relationship between the city and Unisys that dates back to 2002.
"A new vendor needs to be selected, and migration of all information and services complete by [Dec. 31, 2015]," the budget says. "The City requires the assistance of an experienced managed services consultants to assist with outsourcing requirements, negotiations, new vendor selection and transition activities.
