San Diego County Has New Outsourcing Honcho

San Diego County's chief administrative officer, Larry Prior, this week announced plans to leave government to become president of a local high-tech firm. Moving into Prior's slot is former deputy CAO Walt Ekard, who will serve as "source-selection authority" for the county's huge outsourcing endeavor.

In the running for the $500 million to $1 billion plan to privatize all county computing operations are IBM Corp., Computer Sciences Corp. and Electronic Data Systems Corp. The three companies submitted bids on the deal April 30.

By September, the county's source-selection committee will name an apparent winner of the contract. The committee is shooting for Oct. 19 as a date to go before the Board of Supervisors to finalize the award, according to a county source.

In other government outsourcing news, Connecticut also is closing in on an award. Still in final negotiations with EDS, state officials are targeting June 15 to seal that deal.

Meanwhile, sources say the next site to watch for big outsourcing action may be Sarasota, Fla.