A Superior Court judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Trenton City Council from moving ahead with a vote on the new IT contract
TRENTON -- A state Superior Court judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Trenton City Council from moving ahead with a vote on the new IT contract.
File photo of Mercer County Assignment Judge Mary Jacobson The decision came an hour before the meeting, where council was scheduled to vote on whether to award a three-year, $2.4 million contract to FCC Consulting Services.
The city's longtime IT provider ADPC Inc., whose contract expired Saturday, had requested the temporary restraint.
Meanwhile, FCC started work on Monday under an emergent basis and would continue to do.
Earlier in the hearing, Elyse Crawford, an attorney representing the city, said the injunction would create a situation that jeopardizes the city's ability to perform its daily services.
"You could have extended the contract," Judge Mary Jacobson replied. "It was done before. They created this situation themselves by not extending the contract to cover any gap."
Jacobson said she did not know the legality of whether FCC could provide services to the city without a contract, but that the issue was not before her.
"All I'm saying is they can't award the contract tonight because the plaintiff has presented sufficient questions to merit the temporary restraint pending the opportunity of the city to oppose it," she said.
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The judge said she was most concerned with the evaluation process, more so than the other technical issues and connections that ADPC had raised.
"It's clear that there was bad blood between the city and this entity," she said. "Did that mean they weren't given a fair share? I don't know, but I'm not convinced on the basis of the materials that I have seen that the evaluation process was on an even playing field."
Jacobson said the two-and-a-half-page evaluation report was conclusory and gave neither the council members nor the public an accurate representation of the proposals.
"If the council is getting what I reviewed, I don't have a good understanding," she said. "Those little bullet points of advantages, disadvantages really didn't tell me much and there's a whole sense of 'Is there bias against ADPC that has run through this process?'" she said.
Jacobson said the questions raised by ADPC need to be addressed.
"If I'm not satisfied, how is it in the public interest to allow the process to go forward and be ratified when there's questions?" she said. "The citizens of Trenton are entitled to have a clear, transparent record of what's in that evaluation.
"Were people working on an even playing field? Was the deck stacked against this company or not?" she continued. "To me, that's the biggest thing for the public interest."
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.