Cook County technology committee approves legal-services RFQ, Microsoft support and IBM amendment

The Cook County Technology and Innovation Committee approved three vendor-related items and deferred two reports during a meeting that followed public comment.

Matt Hiltebaran, senior legal counsel at the Cook County Bureau of Technology, asked the committee to authorize the chief procurement officer to enter into contracts with two law firms selected under a 2025 RFQ to provide technology-related legal services. Hiltebaran said the requested total program spend authority was "$907,000.731" and described four service categories: data-breach management and resolution, technology contract drafting and negotiation, tech-related regulatory compliance, and privacy and data-protection compliance. The committee approved the item after no questions were raised.

The committee also approved a new contract with Microsoft Corporation. Hema Sundaram (Bureau of Technology) said the contract will provide 24/7 technical support for Microsoft software, servers and cloud products used by county staff and the offices under the president.

Derek Thomas, deputy CIO at the Bureau of Technology, described an amendment to a contract that was originally held by vendor AST (acquired by IBM). He said the amendment covers the final two optional years and cited an amendment amount of "2,131,004.4000000" over two years. Thomas said the contractor will continue to manage the county's enterprise service bus, which transmits data across criminal-justice partners including the Chicago Police Department and IDOR, and that the bureau plans a competitive procurement in roughly the next 18 months.

All three items were moved and seconded by commissioners as listed in the meeting record and were declared passed by the chair. The committee also voted to defer the Chief Information Security Officer 2025 report and the Major Information Technologies Report. The meeting adjourned after those agenda items were handled.

The committee did not record any detailed line-item debate on the contracts beyond staff presentations; next steps stated on the record included renewal-option exercise for the IBM amendment and a future competitive procurement for the enterprise service bus contract.