Ottawa suspends Mitel phone service bid on $2M donation

Ottawa has suspended a multi-million dollar procurement process after Mitel - one of the bidders - offered to donate (CDN) $2 million of technology to the municipal government in exchange for Mitel and its partners being named the city's "sole communications partner."  The contract for VoIP equipment and services is worth between $4 million and $7 million.

Ottawa has received at least two bids for the contract. Mitel didn't have the highest scores under the ranking system used to rate bids, but no negotiations had started with the unidentified "preferred" bidder.

Mitel chairman Terry Matthews sent a letter over to Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brian on April 1, outlining a donation of 10,000 Mitel phones to replace the 7,000 phones the city already has and 3,000 more bought from other companies. In exchange, Matthews asked the city to commit to Mitel and its partners as the sole communications partner for a period of two years.

Ottawa's economic affairs committee met in closed session for 45 minutes on Tuesday to figure out what to do with the offer. City officials want to make sure the offer meets the city's needs and determine what, if any, legal problems could result from accepting the offer and terminating the current procurement process. Members of the committee want to also make sure Mitel is engaging in bid repair in order to win the contract.

 For more:
- Ottawa Citizen covers the city suspending Mitel's bid.  Article.

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