Here is the response I received from David Cantelme, Deer Valley school board member. He is the one who has arizonalawinstitute@yahoo.com as his email address. It sounds to me that all the school districts and the state itself should be starting debarment proceedings against MS. We need to start contacting the legislators, Attorney General's office and your local school superintendents. ----- Original Message ----- From: "david cantelme" To: "Tom Achtenberg" Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 6:08 AM Subject: Re: Computer Purchasing Guidelines Dear Mr. Actenburg: They do not, but similar rules found in the state school district procurement rules do apply. Both sets of rules have their origen in the state procurement code. You can find the school district procurement rules by going to the secretary of state web site. Click on administrative rules. Go to title seven. Then scroll down to R7-2-1001. That's where the rules begin. They continue to about R7-2-1175. Debarment procedures do exist in the school district procurement rules. You would need to address your comments on debarment to the adminsitration. That's who would initiate the procedure. If the administration initiates a debarment procedure, the board determines whether to appoint a hearing officer. It goes from there to the officer with appropriate due process to the contractor. The board itself has no involvement in the hearing process. The officer must be independent to ensure a fair hearing under our constitutional system. --- Tom Achtenberg wrote: > I was wondering if the Maricopa County purchasing > policies listed below apply > to DVUSD purchasing pprocedures? > > Maricopa County policies. Interesting references: > > MC1-101 DEFINITIONS > 25."CONTRACTOR" means any Person who has a Contract > with a County > Governmental unit. For purposes of Article 5, > Contractor may also mean > Respondent as defined in this Article. > 36."DEBARMENT" means an action taken by the County > Administrative > Officer under MC1-902 to prohibit a Person from > Participating in > Maricopa County Procurements. > 80."PERSON" means any corporation, Business, > individual, union, > committee, club, other organization or group of > individuals. > 113."SUSPENSION" means an action taken by the County > Administrative > Officer under MC1-902 temporarily disqualifying a > Person from > participating in Maricopa County Procurements. > http://maricopa.gov/materials/p-code/HTML_code/Code-01.htm > > [Microsoft is considered a Contractor and a Person. > This is important > below.] > > > MC1-407 MAXIMUM PRACTICABLE COMPETITION > All Specifications shall seek to promote overall > economy for the purpose > intended and encourage competition in satisfying > Maricopa County's needs > and shall not be unduly restrictive. > http://maricopa.gov/materials/p-code/HTML_code/Code-04.htm#MC1-401 > > [Is there any technology that is Microsoft > exclusive? I believe there > are sites that explain how to replace Exchange > Server completely using > Linux/OSS with Qmail; and SQL Server is replaceable > with mySQL or PostgreSQL; > IIS & ASP is replaceable with Apache & PHP, The MS > Office suite is > replaceable with the very comparable Open Office > suite.] > > > MC1-902 DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION OF CONTRACTORS > B. The causes for Debarment or Suspension shall > include, but are not > limited to, the following: > 2. Conviction of any Person or any subsidiary or > affiliate of any Person > under any statute of the Federal government, this > State or its political > subdivision or any other State for: > k. Any other offense indicating a lack of business > integrity or business > honesty which affects responsibility as a > Contractor. > 3. Conviction or civil judgment finding a violation > by any Person or any > subsidiary or affiliate of any Person under State or > Federal Antitrust > Statutes. > > http://maricopa.gov/materials/p-code/HTML_code/Code-09.htm#MC1-901 > > As I read MC1-902.B.3, Microsoft (a Person), having > been convicted of a > violation of Federal Antitrust Statues, cannot be a > County Contractor. > > There are many alternatives to Microsofts products. > Alternatives that have > broken no laws, Federal or Local, are well supported > and used by many large > governments (Germany, Taiwan, et al). As a > concerned voter in the DVUSD, I > must point out that I cannot support criminal > behavior and would hope that my > Governing Board would see fit to do the same and > ONLY consider alternatives > as Microsoft is clearly unqualified to meet District > requirements. > > Thank You, > > Tom Achtenberg > > PS this message was written ans sent to you using a > computer that is 100% > Microsoft free. It uses the Red Hat Linux 7.3 > operating system, KDE windows > like desktop and the K-mail email client. All if > these programs come under > the "General Public License" which means they are > 100% free to the public for > personal and commercial use. > -- > Visit the Mountain Ridge Band Site at http://www.mrhsband.org __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.371 / Virus Database: 206 - Release Date: 6/13/2002