Deltona commissioners press AI auditing vendor on cost, security and references

Deltona commissioners on Sept. 15 heard a demonstration of Echelon OS, an artificial-intelligence platform that its developer, Echelon Technologies, said can analyze contracts, spending and operations to identify cost savings — but commissioners and city staff raised questions about price, vendor experience and data security.

The presentation, given by an Echelon representative, covered the product’s features and implementation model. The representative said Echelon’s software “builds a 3-D map of your organization” and can deploy agents that run on a municipality’s systems to pull and analyze contracts, human-resources records and other data. The representative also told the commission that the platform “can do all of this in a single day,” and described a proposed pricing structure that included an initial infrastructure fee and performance-based compensation.

Why it matters: The city manager and commissioners framed the discussion around potential budget savings and the costs and risks of allowing an outside company deep access to municipal systems. The vendor described sizeable potential savings in contracts and subscriptions, but city officials sought proof points — other…