Local 1000 Files Legal Challenges Against 17 IT Contracts in DHCS

Legal challenges against 17 information technology contracts valued at more than $2.2 million were filed last month by Local 1000.  The contracts were identified by a task force of Local 1000 IT professionals who are currently reviewing contracts from the Department of Health Care Services and the Department of Public Health.

“We’re not going to just stand by while the state forks over millions of dollars of work that can be done at lower cost by our members,” said Margarita Maldonado, an associate information systems analyst at the Department of Justice, and chair of Bargaining Unit 1.

Local 1000 members from a number of departments have volunteered to support the effort.  Led by Local 1000’s legal and contracts departments, their search for illegal outsourcing has expanded to all major departments.  In DPH and DHCS alone, Local 1000 estimates that IT contracts in 2006-07 totaled $114 million.

“It’s an insult to all IT professionals when departments claim that state employees don’t have the skills to do the work,” said Marie Harder, a senior information systems analyst at DHCS.  “These challenges are straight out of our job descriptions.”