TEAM : Beginning at the beginning

2007 June 8

by racymind

My earlier posts on this are here, here and here.

The early heavy lifting on the Texas Elections Administration Management System (TEAM) project was best done by the Texas Civil Rights Review back in 2005. They followed this issue from way back, before IBM-Hart InterCivic even won the contract. I have put alot of time in reviewing this work, and I can only say ‘wow!’. An issue as important as this received minimal attention from the rest of the world, so I can only say that anybody who cares about the Texas democratic process should thank Greg Moses for what must have been a massive amount of work. A long list of links to this work is below. The vendor selection process as outlined by the Texas SOS is here.

The Helping America Vote Act (HAVA) was signed into law in October 2002 and requires states to have one central database of registered voters. Texas puts out the work order and asks for bids and awards a contract to IBM and Hart Intercivic on October 22, 2004.

We have an announcement from March 2005 saying: Texas Selects IBM to Develop Nation’s Most Advanced Statewide Voter Registration Management System. This is from the Hart Intercivic list of press releases. Unmistakably, this is characterized as an IBM deal with Hart as a “key subcontractor”. Be happy, IBM is in control… nobody ever got fired for hiring IBM, as they say.

On the Hart InterCivic website is also a copy of a Dallas Morning News article from the same period. It says:

IBM will subcontract some of the work to Austin-based Hart InterCivic.

and it quotes Ann McGeehan, Texas’ director of elections as saying:

federal funds cover 95 percent of the cost of the IBM contract.

So the Texas SOS office is calling this an IBM project in March 2005. In 2007, much of what I am seeing puts Hart InterCivic as the lead actor.

Why that is?

A crucial feature of the contract – Texas is paying for a product that hasn’t been developed yet by Hart InterCivic. I have seen little material dealing with exactly how far along the Hart InterCivic eRegistry project was when they won the bid with IBM in the first place. But you can’t help but get the feeling that is why they need a heavyweight like IBM on the project to even stand a chance of winning the Texas voter registration contract

The IBM project manager is replaced early in the project. The project is continually behind schedule and deadlines are pushed back. There is a tremendous amount of pressure on Texas state employees who have the voter registration expertise to impart that expertise to Hart InterCivic so the State can later pay for the Hart product that the State helped develop. What a mess…

Texas Civil Rights Review links from 2005:

Done Deal: No Public Access to Review of Voting Vendors

Guarding against Voter Registration Purges in Texas

Big Story, No Coverage: The Ideological Puzzle of Statewide Voter Registration