Vendor suing DuPage's election commission

A DuPage County judge is being asked to decide whether the county's election commission failed to give a San Diego-based company a fair opportunity to compete for a contract.

Votec Corp. initially filed a protest with the county's procurement office after the DuPage County Election Commission in November awarded Hart InterCivic a nearly $500,000 deal to supply the commission with electronic poll books, which are computerized logs to check in voters at the polls.

Votec claimed in its protest that the election commission "violated and/or failed to adhere to" its procurement ordinance when it awarded the contract.

But after reviewing Votec's protest, the county's chief procurement officer, John Meneghini, rejected it. Then an appeal of Meneghini's decision was denied by commission Chairwoman Cathy Ficker Terrill.

So this week, Votec filed a lawsuit against the election commission and several individuals, including Terrill and Meneghini.

"We don't feel we have gotten an appropriate response or consideration or a decision of our protest," said Jim Rome, an attorney representing the company.

Still, the commission has stood by its selection of a vendor for the electronic poll books.

On Friday, commission attorney Pat Bond said the lawsuit is "wholly without merit."

"There's absolutely no legal basis that would allow them to pursue an action against the election commission on these facts," Bond said.

The commission approved the contract for the electronic poll books late last year with plans to start using the new equipment on a countywide basis during the 2016 election.

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.

However, Votec has claimed its proposal for the work was equal to or better than the proposals submitted by the seven other companies that participated in the bidding process.

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.

"We're looking for a decision on the merits that will agree with us that the process was flawed," Rome said.

Bond, however, said the commission prides itself on being transparent and going through "an extensive and exhaustive" bidding process. That procedure was followed in this instance, he said.

In its lawsuit, Votec is seeking to have the judge order the commission to terminate the contract with Hart InterCivic and re-evaluate the proposals or start the bid process all over again.

Meanwhile, Bond said the commission going to seek to have the lawsuit dismissed.

"Unfortunately, this appears to be a case of sour grapes," said Bond, adding that Votec simply was an unsuccessful bidder.