by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - It was late last month when the Attorney General's Office disagreed over a proposed settlement agreement between the Government of Guam and Data Management Resources for the government's point of sale system RFP. And both parties are now asking the superior court to step in and help provide an appropriate remedy.

The procurement protest challenge continues over GovGuam's point of sale system as a further proceedings hearing was held this morning at the Office of public Accountability. According to Data Management Resources' attorney Jacqueline Terlaje, the hearings officer has put a stay on the appeal for the government's RFP for the POS contract. "What we did today was we went in and asked the OPA to stay these procurement appeals proceedings to allow us to go to the superior court of Guam and to allow the Superior Court of Guam to make a determination on the enforceability of the contract, so the Government of Guam intends to file a writ of mandamus against the Office of Attorney General in this matter," she explained.

DMR and the Governor's Office are further asking the court to validate a global settlement agreement reached between DMR and GovGuam. The point of sale system is what runs the government's accounting system along with a host of other functions like the posting of tax payments and tax refunds and even Rev & Tax's online services. However, the AG's Office does not agree on the settlement and refuses to sign off.

The AG's Office did not like terms of the proposed settlement due to allegations that DMR was responsible for the intentional disruption of government data services earlier this year along with issues over a fiber optic cable line that was connected and installed giving DMR unrestricted and uncontrolled access to classified data. Terlaje said, "That fiber optic access was authorized by Government of Guam and GovGuam consents to the use of that line for services they receive from DMR. So for DMR, it's simply a non-issue."

During today's proceedings, hearing officer Phil Torres granted DMR's attorney and Governor Eddie Calvo's legal counsel Sandra Miller's request to allow more time for the court to determine the validity of the agreement. However if the court does not make a ruling by next week's meeting, Torres plans to continue with the appeal process. The matter was continued until December 27. Terlaje ultimately says that DMR employees are tired of the litigation and want it to be over.

"Data Management Resources wants this matter to end simply because its workers want to go back to work to do the business the do," she stated.

The RFP has been tied up in the appeals process for almost a year now.