Company protesting contract awarded by DuPage election agency

A San Diego-based company wants the DuPage County Election Commission to rebid a contract for electronic poll books after claiming the agency didn't give it a fair opportunity to compete for the work.

Votec Corp. filed a protest with the county's procurement office after the election commission decided in November to award Hart InterCivic a nearly $500,000 contract to supply the commission with computerized logs to check in voters at the polls.

In its protest, Votec claims the election commission "violated and/or failed to adhere to" its procurement ordinance.

"They (Votec) feel that the process was not a truly full and open competition," said Jim Rome, an attorney representing the company.

But Robert Saar, executive director of the election commission, issued a written statement on Wednesday where he said the commission "stands by its selection of a vendor" for the electronic poll books.

"The books were purchased in late 2014 and some will be piloted for use in the April municipal elections," Saar said.

As part of its $499,000 deal with Hart InterCivic, the commission will receive services that include software installation and maintenance over a four-year period.

According to Rome, Votec believes its proposal for the work was "equal to or better than" the proposals submitted by seven other companies that participated in the bidding process. Votec already has a contract to provide electronic poll books to Cook County, Rome said.

In its protest document, Votec says its sales representative had to give "a highly abbreviated demonstration" of the company's product to commission staff members. And when the company did a presentation for election commissioners, it was given 10 minutes to do a demonstration that normally takes several hours.

"They believe there may have been some favoritism or a prejudgement as to who was going to get the contract," Rome said.

But after reviewing Votec's protest, the county's chief procurement officer, John Meneghini, rejected it.

"It is the decision of this chief procurement officer that Votec has not established, through its amended protest, any procedural error in connection with (the contract)," Meneghini said in his written denial. "Therefore, Votec is not entitled to any of the relief requested."

The company is now appealing that decision.

Normally, that appeal would be heard by the chairman of the election commission. However, Votec's attorney has asked commission Chairwoman Cathy Ficker Terrill to recuse herself from the administrative hearing.

Rome said Terrill shouldn't be involved in deciding the appeal because of "an appearance of bias." He said Terrill attended at least one meeting where Votec's proposal was reviewed.

"While she did not vote at the board meeting at which a recommendation to give the award to the other company was made," Rome said, "I have no idea how much communication she had with her fellow board members."

Votec is seeking to have the election commission terminate its contract with Hart InterCivic and start the bid process all over again.

However, county officials confirmed on Wednesday that the election commission already has paid Hart InterCivic for the service in full.

In addition to testing the electronic poll books during the April 7 election, there are plans to start using the new equipment on a countywide basis during the 2016 election.

Rome says the election commission could get back its $499,000 because the services haven't yet been performed. He also said rebidding the project wouldn't disrupt the implementation.

"Setting this up is not a lengthy process," said Rome, adding that poll workers and election officials can learn to use the equipment in a matter of days. "So it's not as if the engine has left the station on this."

If its appeal is rejected, Votec can ask a DuPage County judge to decide the matter. "I believe we have a good case," Rome said.