Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Houston continues with citywide e-mail plan

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 21:02:02 -0500

Houston continues with citywide e-mail plan, despite controversy
01/13/03 
By Trudy Walsh,
GCN Staff 

Houston officials have decided to push ahead with the contentious SimHouston 
project. 

Through the project, the city intends to provide free software, e-mail and 
Internet access to all Houston residents who have a public library card. 

Last month, the city council voted narrowly to continue the $9.5 million 
project with SimDesk Technologies Inc. of Houston, formerly known as Internet 
Access Technologies Inc. The contract has gone through several fits and starts. 

The project erupted in controversy this summer when Houston councilman Bruce 
Tatro released documents he said showed that the SimHouston contract had been 
prearranged rather than fairly competed. 

J. Dennis Piper, the former Houston CIO who guided the contract through 
approval, resigned in May and took a job as chief technology officer of San 
Diego County. Piper, who has denied that there were any shenanigans in the 
SimHouston contract process, left the San Diego job to return to Houston in 
October to face unrelated theft charges. 

A Harris County grand jury last month indicted Piper for allegedly stealing 
$296,475 from Reliant Energy Inc. of Houston, where he worked before becoming 
Houston’s CIO. Piper is currently free on $252,000 bond, Harris County 
assistant district attorney Lester Blizzard said. 

All above-board 

The city decided in October to defer payment to SimDesk while the inspector 
general investigated. 

But a report last month found no wrongdoing in the SimDesk bidding process, and 
the city paid the company for the work it had done. 

Houston’s new CIO, Richard Lewis, described SimHouston as successful in the 
first phase of its three-phase deployment. The next phase will put the software 
on about 1,000 city agency desks, reducing costs for software licensing, 
hardware replacement and support, he said. 

The third phase, a broader public deployment beginning next month, will let 
Houstonians download SimHouston from a Web site or pick up a CD at 50 to 100 
city locations, Lewis said. 

Tatro has drawn legal fire for his comments about SimHouston. In late November, 
attorneys Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP of Austin, Texas, asked the 
councilman to “cease and desist from making any further disparaging or 
defamatory statements about SimDesk’s products.” 

The law firm, representing SimDesk, said Tatro has “repeatedly made false and 
slanderous statements to cities, counties, states and media outlets” by calling 
SimHouston a sham. The firm threatened to seek damages in excess of $100 
million. 

Tatro said he does not believe the controversy “will simply go away, since the 
administration still plans to put [the software] on city computers and save 
millions by converting city employees to this new software. That ought to be a 
hoot.”

http://www.gcn.com/22_1/sandl/20839-1.html

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/