Government Technology

This week, Brad Sanders, the head of the state’s Procurement Bureau, sent a letter to ACS saying Montana wanted a different kind of system than the one for which the state first advertised. Consequently, he wrote, Montana is canceling this bid-seeking process and will roll out another one when the state knows more about what kind of computer system it seeks.

"switching the state from current systems to Google Apps could generate as much as $1.9 million in recurring savings."

The state of Michigan just rolled out an ambitious human-services computer system built by the same company that wants to do similar work for Montana, but outsource some of the work to foreign countries.

But in Michigan, the state required the company, Deloitte, to do all of the work in-state.

State officials are forbidden by law from considering whether tax-funded work will be done by foreign employees overseas when they divvy out state contracts, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Wednesday.

A company that intends to send some Montana state government work to foreign workers overseas bid almost $6 million more than a company that proposed to do the same work entirely with Montana employees.

"It’s unclear if this is cutting edge, or the edge of a cliff and we’re about to step off," said Councilman Paul Koretz.

This is another way that the city is stimulating economic development and the success of businesses located in San Carlos.

One of the companies that lost out on the bid — a "Made In Montana" certified firm which would not have outsourced the work to foreign employees — announced Monday it was putting eight Helena workers on indefinite, unpaid furloughs.

The online-savvy administration on Saturday switched to open-source code for http://www.whitehouse.gov — meaning the programming language is written in public view, available for public use and able for people to edit.

As governments turn to Facebook and its ilk, they aren’t paying enough attention to the needs of the visually or hearing-impaired.