It seems that last week (October 30, 2012) Council decided to buy a new phone system.
They did this without bidding. Evidently that would be inconvenient.
6B. Discussion and action on the award of Solicitation No. 2012-252 (VOIP Telephony and Network Infrastructure) to Sigma Technology Solutions, Inc., for an initial term award of $6,898,523.
www.elpasotexas.gov/muni_clerk/city_council.asp?agenda=10-30-12&addition=false
It seems to me that for almost 7 million dollars the City should have considered competitive offers, but they are evidently so smart that they can pick the right solution without input from the market.
elpasospeak 
By way of clarification, the city did issue a Request for Proposals on this item, but the product had to be a specific brand. That is not competitive bidding.
Many potential vendors probably looked at the specifications and declined to bid since they would offer a different brand.
The backup item even shows that one vendor proposed a different brand and was not evaluated.
City staff will probably raise the compatibility issue–we know how they do that make certain that staff gets to pick their favorite supplier.
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