Supervisors approve eighth amendment to Owens contract after debate over competitive bidding and Justice Project delays

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Dec. 8 voted 10-1 to adopt a resolution authorizing the Department of Technology to enter the eighth amendment to its Owens Information Systems agreement, extending the contract to continue support of a decades-old criminal justice mainframe system while the city completes a replacement project.

The amendment, described by staff as necessary to maintain a legacy court-management system that Owens wrote and continues to support, passed after supervisors pressed department staff and mayor's office representatives for details about procurement, project governance and whether the city had explored alternatives.

Supervisor Campos questioned why the contract had been amended so many times and said he found it "pretty disturbing" to amend a contract an eighth time without competitive bidding. "When you're talking about amending a contract an eighth time, where the contract was awarded without any kind of competitive bidding process, I think it's pretty disturbing to see something like that happen," Campos said.

John Walton of the Department of Technology said the system was originally developed in the 1970s and that Owens is the company that owns the underlying software and intellectual property. "The software and the system is really only known to this one company. It was specifically designed and written by that company, and they own the intellectual rights and properties to it," Walton said. He and department staff described the extension as needed to maintain operations until the Justice Project replacement is complete.

A department technical project manager explained the city's approach: because the Justice Project has been delayed repeatedly, the city has renewed Owens' support to keep the legacy system running while transferring business knowledge to city staff who will operate the new system. "We've continued to renew the contract for the people who can keep the older system afloat," the project manager said.

Supervisor Campos and others pressed whether the city had actually tested the market. Walton repeated that Owens owned the source code and, "to the best of our knowledge, they are the only company that can support that software." Mayor's office representatives said they were working on leadership continuity for project oversight. Megan Wallace of the mayor's office said the office was "working on a plan for who's gonna play that executive leadership role" and would coordinate with the Department of Technology.

The board recorded a 10-1 vote to adopt the resolution authorizing the eighth amendment. The transcript shows ongoing concern among supervisors about centralized project management and whether governance changes will prevent further contract extensions.

The item was introduced as "Item 21" on the agenda as an amendment to an existing Owens agreement. The Department of Technology and the mayor's office representatives told supervisors they would provide written reports and make quarterly governance materials available to the board on request.

The board did not direct immediate competitive procurement; the resolution as adopted authorizes the amendment as presented by department staff. Officials said the extension is intended to keep the legacy system operational and financially viable until replacement components are in place.