By Sunana Batra

A state lawmaker is seeking a second opinion on a decision by the Governor’s Office of Information Technology to use the services of Internet search giant Google under a multi-year, multimillion-dollar contract—signed two years ago.

In a written request to the state auditor to look into the matter, Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R- Loveland, raised several concerns about the deal, under which Google is to provide email and calendar services for 26,000 state executive branch employees. His request got the tentative approval of the Legislative Audit Committee at a hearing at the Capitol this week.

“This is a significant IT procurement from a private vendor, and it raises a number of concerns and questions that should be addressed.” DelGrosso said.

DelGrosso said he requested the audit after the information technology office failed to adequately address several concerns lawmakers raised at a Joint Budget Committee hearing last March. At the time, the office announced it intended to use Google’s services by piggy-backing onto a contract entered into two years earlier between the Statewide Internet Portal Authority and a Google reseller. The portal authority, an independent political subdivision, was created by the Legislature in 2004 to provide e-government services for eligible governmental entities, including the information technology office, within Colorado.

Under a separate contract with the portal authority to obtain Google’s services, the state will pay $3.6 million in 2013 and $2.3 million a year for up to three more years.

“As we know, technology changes on a dime,” said DelGrosso. In his request, DelGrosso asked, “In this era of rapidly changing technologies, is it in the best interest of Colorado taxpayers, to make a major IT acquisition based on a two-year-old contract?”

A spokeswoman for the information technology office, Dara Hessee, said in an email the office followed the state procurement code to ensure full and open competition.  She added that her office did not make a sole-source award of the project to Google but rather contracted with the portal authority to obtain the service.  The authority subsequently completed an agreement to secure Google’s services for up to four years.

“In addition, OIT completed its own due diligence including features available and price comparisons, related to email solutions,” added Hessee.

In his audit request, DelGrosso also referenced problems the City of Los Angeles encountered in its attempt to contract with Google to provide services to that city’s public-safety agencies.  Los Angeles abandoned plans to use Google after determining it could not meet the unique and ever-evolving security needs of law enforcement and judicial divisions.

“I’m not saying Google is a bad company,” DelGrosso said. ”Everybody preaches they want open and transparent government, but when they dole out contracts worth millions of dollars…I want to know we are spending taxpayer money, especially on something this big, properly.”

Once the Office of the State Auditor completes eight hours of preliminary research on DelGrosso’s inquiry, it will present its findings to the audit committee and make a recommendation on whether its findings  merit conducting a full audit.  The Legislative Audit Committee will then vote to determine whether to approve conducting an official audit of the arrangement.

Read original story here.

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