Nov. 27, 2000, 11:32PM

Radack wants supplier sued, but news angers county auditor By STEVE BREWER Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle

Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack wants the county to consider suing a California company over continuing problems with a $12 million computer bought in 1998.

In the wake of new complaints about the system, called IFAS, Radack asked County Attorney Michael P. Fleming on Monday to determine whether the county has a case against Sungard Bi-Tech Systems.

"I think if the county wasn't a victim of some kind of fictitious advertising, we've certainly been the victim of a faulty system," Radack said. "I think we should be able to attempt to recover not only the money we put into it but the money for thousands of man-hours we've spent to input data and take it out."

The county bought IFAS to help get its computers ready for 2000 and to merge three older systems -- purchasing, payroll and accounting. The system has been an almost constant source of complaints, many of which have reached court members, including Radack and Commissioner El Franco Lee.

After talking to Radack, Fleming said he told his staff to look for any legal remedies the county might have.

A spokesman for Bi-Tech declined to comment Monday, saying the company does not answer questions about its dealings with clients.

Radack's request was the second time he has suggested a potential suit. The issue came up in January, and the county opted to give Bi-Tech more time to fix the glitches.

News of Radack's latest move caught County Auditor Tommy Tompkins, who manages IFAS, by surprise.

Tompkins bristled when he heard of the request. He attributed some of the controversy to a resistance to change among county employees.

"(Radack) and Mr. Fleming need to talk first to the people that have been involved in the bowels of this to thoroughly understand their options before anybody goes and publicly starts talking about this," Tompkins said. "We're in intense negotiations with this vendor and their counsel, and they (Radack and Fleming) don't even pick up the phone and call me about this? ... My God, I can't believe (Radack) is doing this now."

Tompkins said many of the problems with IFAS have been solved and that, in an effort to get the remainder fixed, he has withheld $2.4 million still owed to Bi-Tech. He said legal action could undermine that.

"In the negotiations we've had with their legal counsel, the county attorney's office has been involved," Tompkins said. "They need to talk to their own damn people. They're the ones that advised us on what to do and what not to do."

Fleming said his office has advised Tompkins on legal matters but not on technical aspects of the contract.

Problems with IFAS left some county employees underpaid last year and resulted in hundreds of contractors going without payment for months. The system also lost 1,600 billing invoices in the summer of 1999.

And while acknowledging some improvements in the system, some county employees have complained that IFAS is not "user-friendly" and sometimes overpays vendors -- a problem Tompkins said was fixed.

Jack McCown, the county's purchasing agent, said purchase orders processed by IFAS take five steps, three more than they took without it. He also said there are questions about the accuracy of the IFAS data on payments to vendors.

Problems with IFAS also have delayed the transfer of equipment among county offices, McCown said, making it difficult to keep an accurate inventory of county property.

McCown said Tompkins' office is slow to respond to requests for help.

"There are things we have major problems with, and when they're brought to their attention, it's always, `You're not trying to be modern,' " McCown said. "That's not a solution. We've bent over backward to make this thing go, and it's still not going. ... The old system was 20 years old, but it worked. The new system is brand new, and we can't rely on it."

McCown suggested that it might be better for another office to manage IFAS, a point Tompkins said is being considered.

Tompkins concedes that IFAS could be more user-friendly, but he said his office has been responsive to questions and complaints by other county departments.

"Hell, if we hadn't stepped up and gotten this system installed we wouldn't have even been 2000-compliant," Tompkins said. "This is a situation where some people see somebody down and they've started to pile on."

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/757582

-- Doris (nocents@bellsouth.net), November 28, 2000