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Cook County revenue director and procurement chief assure board LexisNexis payment contract prevents data resale
Summary
Commissioners questioned a contract with LexisNexis for payment processing. County revenue and procurement officials said the contract contains confidentiality and IT special-conditions provisions that preclude LexisNexis from using or selling payment data.
Commissioner Alma Anaya asked for clarification about safeguards in a contract with LexisNexis for credit- and debit-card payment processing and whether the vendor could sell or aggregate customer data.
Tina Consola, director of the Department of Revenue, told the board the company is contracted only to process debit and credit card transactions on behalf of the county and the agreement contains “language that protects the confidentiality and the usage of our data.” Consola said the vendor is “not allowed to use our data or sell our data for any other reason.”
Commissioner Anaya asked what data the vendor receives beyond card information and Consola said the department collects the “minimum amount of data that is needed to process the transaction” for verification purposes; she said that data is retained in the vendor’s transaction system for processing and is not shared with county systems or other county departments.
Rafi Sarajev, the county’s chief procurement officer, added that the contract includes the county’s standard confidentiality boilerplate plus an exhibit of “IT special conditions,” which impose “robust language that speaks to the sharing of data, the confidentiality of data,” and other guardrails.
Commissioner Anaya pressed whether the contract precludes the vendor from aggregating and retaining address data in its own systems for other uses; Sarajev said the contract’s confidentiality and IT conditions are intended to prevent such sharing, and Consola said the Department of Revenue only uses the vendor for transaction processing.
The items involving the Department of Revenue and the vendor contract were considered as part of the board’s package of finance and procurement items and proceeded during the meeting’s consent/motions process.
What happens next: County staff said the procurement and revenue offices will follow the contract language and can provide members with contract exhibits if commissioners request further review.
