San Diego is asking private companies to bid on a $45 million city contract for the first time in 30 years. The city is soliciting competition for its technology service.
Mayor Jerry Sanders has pushed for outsourcing as a way to save the city money since he’s been in office. The nonprofit Data Processing Corporation was created in 1979 as a quasi-city agency to manage San Diego’s technology needs. But Sanders says outsourcing this service will be easier because it doesn’t involve city employees.
“We don’t have the same rules of engagement that we do on the managed competition with labor and the council which has been a sticking point. This is another agency that is outside of the city which means we can go ahead and go out for bids on this one,” he says.
Sanders will bid out three different contracts. They’re tech support, telephone service and the operation of the city’s Web site and data center.
