"And seeking bids on the contract won't be cheap; a request for proposals alone will cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars, and could result in a renewal with Unisys." ----- Can somebody explain why it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to put a contract out for bid?

I guess it pays to take the right people out to an expensive dinner, and donate to the right campaigns.

Unisys provides Dell field services for their servers. We get the platinum service contract just to avoid Unisys. Minneapolis would be better off with Haliburton....oh wait.

Wow, that was a weak case presented. Really there was no case presented. I see the smoke but there is no beef here.

UNISYS is even still in business? I guess I can see how...

No-bid contracts are wrong, but requiring government to take the low bid is a huge problem. You get what you pay for. Our roads are a perfect example.

A request for proposal is like drawing up the blueprints for a skyscraper. You can't ask someone to tell you how much it will cost until you provide the specifications. Outsourcing IT services is usually cost effective, but periodic bidding is essential.

$143 million. It would be very interesting to know where all that money went.

Hey folks, you can get out of the contract if they are not following the terms as was stated in the article. I would first move all the people off the city payroll that were related to this company then take bids on services. IT folks are a dime a dozen now days. You don't need to pay 70k for an IT support person. Stop the bleeding now.

Unisys is a complete joke. They have been given way too much authority and make one terrible decision after the next... The City is in the dark ages technology wise because of the Unisys contract. An RFP for bid would only cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if you contract someone outside the city to draft the RFP - for hundreds of thousands of dollars. There's no reason why a City IT specialist with the help of a City Attorney can't draft an RFP. None.