L.A. City council (opens in new tab)is wrestling with a proposal to shift the city’s 30,000 email users (opens in new tab) and other computer applications to a system provided by Google. (opens in new tab) Anytime a deal like this is under consideration, it’s worth checking the money trail.
I examined records kept by the Los Angeles Ethics Commission (opens in new tab) to see who paid what to whom.
The actual contract under discussion would be with Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) (opens in new tab), which will be moving the city on to Google’s servers in a so-called "cloud computing" (opens in new tab) system. Google’s Terms of Service (TOS) show up as an appendix to the main contract. It’s as if you bought a new house and signed the contract with the moving company, not the home’s seller, but I digress.
To help deal with City Hall, CSC hired the lobbying firm Arnie Berghoff & Associates (opens in new tab)on Jan. 1. Through June 30, the Falls Church, VA, company has paid $8,500 to the lobbyists. According to official filings (opens in new tab), Berghoff was hired to:
"Help CSC to navigate and understand the Los Angeles procurement processes; aid in developing and implementing a local marketig and visibility plan; aid in proposal development and in negotiating contract terms and conditions with the City of L.A."
On July 1, Google hired (opens in new tab)the lobbying firm of Ek & Ek (opens in new tab)to represent its interests. Expenditures for the third quarter haven’t been posted yet.
The proposal was considered on Aug. 11 by Council’s Information Technology and General Services Committee, chaired by Tony Cardenas. (opens in new tab) Cardenas received a $500 campaign contribution from Ek & Ek (opens in new tab) on Nov. 16, 2005. Berghoff contributed (opens in new tab)$500 on Nov. 28, 2005.
The proposal heads next to the Budget and Finance Committee chaired by Bernard Parks (opens in new tab). Parks received a $500 contribution from Arnie Berghoff’s wife, Linda (opens in new tab), on Feb. 26, 2007.
Of course it’s not only Google and its team that throw cash around. Arch-rival Microsoft also wanted to provide the city’s new email solution and representatives have been turing up at the ITGS meetings. Microsoft’s reports they’ve spent (opens in new tab) $121,800 with Guerra & Associates (opens in new tab) since 2003 for help on "procurement issues." The company reports spending $6,725 in each of the first two quarters of 2009.
Whatever happened to submitting a bid and having it simply judged on the merits?
