The OpenGov extension advances without a committee recommendation

The committee met for three hours. Then it voted 3 to 0 to send the OpenGov extension to the full board without saying whether the city should sign it.

Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Danny Sauter and Chyanne Chen advanced the five-year deal, which would keep the permit software in place through 2031. The full board votes September 15. The current one-year contract, worth $5.9 million, expires September 30.

The price did not shrink. Mission Local put the extension at $33 million; The San Francisco Standard reported the deal at up to $38.9 million. City staff raised an option to cut the extension to $12 million. Liz Watty, who runs PermitSF, told the committee the city should not be forced to map out its milestones up front. "We will not see progress if we try to map that out at the beginning," she said. "When you buy in bulk, you usually get a better price."

What changed since the morning brief is the exit. The version that advanced includes a last-minute clause that would let the city walk away after one more year of substandard results. Dorsey said the absence of such a clause had been pushing him to vote no. "In my own conversations with the mayor's office, I made clear the absence of that provision was causing me to look at the contract unfavorably," he said.

The committee heard the analyst's verdict again. Fred Brousseau of the Budget and Legislative Analyst's office said the original award, made last October without competitive bidding, ran about eight times the size of other no-bid software contracts the city has signed. Transparency and fairness were "lacking" in the selection, he said, though the award did not violate city requirements.

The doubts were on the record. "There is not enough data that demonstrates OpenGov works as intended," Chen said before voting to advance it. Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who pushed for the hearing on the no-bid award, put it this way: "I can't say for sure the contract deserves more than one year without clear deliverables." Even Dorsey acknowledged that for some permit types, processing times are longer today than under the legacy system. He called the problems growing pains.

The city's fraud watchdog is already looking. The inspector general, a new role in the controller's office, told the committee in a letter that it is examining OpenGov's role in permitting integrity and its ability to "prevent improper activities." The report is expected in the fall. The inquiry was announced Monday, a day before the vote.

What to watch: the September 15 board agenda at sf.gov. The meeting stream and agenda post there, and the contract question is the same one the committee could not answer. If you checked a permit this year, you are the customer the debate is about.