Houston Council Reboots
“Virtual Desktop” Contract
In an 8–7 vote, the Houston city council affirmed December 11 a controversial, $9.5-million contract with SimDesk Technologies to continue providing word-processing, spreadsheet, and e-mail software on all public-access library workstations as well as at other municipal locations. The decision came some two months after council member Bruce Tatro first alleged that the contract was negotiated in violation of Texas bid law and recommended it be cancelled.
The Houston Office of the Inspector General has since issued a report exonerating former city technology chief J. Dennis Piper from any impropriety in the matter; however, on the day of the council vote Piper was indicted by the Harris County district attorney’s office for allegedly stealing more than $200,000 from his previous employer, Reliant Energy.
Two days before the vote, some 40 people rallied outside City Hall and Houston Public Library in support of retaining SimDesk software, carrying signs that read “Keep Hope Alive, Close the Digital Divide.” That same day, Mayor Lee Brown met with Councilman Carroll Robinson—an avowed opponent to the contract. Robinson ultimately backed the city’s deal with SimDesk.
The contract’s defenders “set aside all the mounting evidence and made their decision on politics,” Tatro declared after the vote. In turn, Houston Director of Technology Richard Lewis, who succeeded Piper, accused Tatro of using the SimDesk deal to further his 2003 election bid for city comptroller.
Posted December 16, 2002.
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