Oakland County committee appoints new procurement chief, approves five-year IT contract extensions amid public concern

The Oakland County Finance Committee voted to appoint Alicia Williams as chief procurement officer and approved five-year extensions for four mainframe support agreements that county staff said are needed while courts and the state coordinate a migration off the legacy system.

Deputy CFO Cheryl Johnson introduced Williams, saying she had been serving under the previous procurement officer. Commissioner Poe praised the appointment, saying, "Well deserved," and the committee approved the appointment by voice vote.

The committee then considered an exception to purchasing policy to extend hosting, operating-system licensing (Broadcom), fault-analysis tools and dataset-management contracts with vendors including Unicon Systems, Computer Technologies USA, Precisely Software and Insight Public Sector. Vontae Logan, the county's director of infrastructure services, told commissioners the extensions are requested because the county's mainframe supports applications the courts run and the courts are coordinating with the state on a migration timetable. Logan said the four agreements are currently bundled to "keep the mainframe up" and that the county does not yet have a firm schedule for moving to a new case management system.

Commissioners pressed why a five-year term was necessary and whether the agreements are effectively sole-source. Logan said the county could look at other providers, but moving services between vendors would be significant work while the courts and state finalize migration plans; he said the five-year term provides "some leeway" during an uncertain transition. One commissioner noted a recent mainframe outage and called for continued modernization efforts.

Public commenter Margaret Gupta urged the board to "have a thorough and deliberate evaluation process of the contracts" and raised allegations that Zoom hearings had been used to alter court transcripts, asking the county to explain security and safeguards for court records. Gupta said the courts and court administration had not provided case numbers for her complaints and asked the board to investigate.

The committee approved the contract exceptions after discussion and a roll call. Staff said if a replacement system becomes available sooner the county would have opportunities to terminate earlier.

The committee advanced the procurement appointments and contract exceptions; administration said further modernization work will continue as the state and courts align on a new case-management approach.