Sumter County commissioners Monday revisited a controversial decision a month ago to award an information technology (IT) contract to a Villages-related firm.

The Villages Technology Services Group (TSG) was awarded the three-year contract with a  possible three-year extension even though the firm did not respond to a request for qualifications last spring. Mission Critical Partners (MSP), the only firm that responded, was bypassed.

Commissioners voted in June not to offer the contract to MCP and in August authorized county staff to open negotiations with TSG, which has provided IT services to Sumter County since 2010.

TSG will be paid $2.1 million during the first year of the contract beginning Jan. 1 with increases each year tied to the consumer price index. Hourly rates range from $99 for technical training to $160 for security, network engineering and project management.

During the public forum at Monday’s workshop meeting, villager Gilbert Windsor said commissioners violated county policy in bypassing one firm and awarding it to another firm that did not apply.

“There’s no violation of our policy,” said County Administrator Bradley Arnold. “The board has a right to review a policy. We followed the process.”

Commissioner Jeffery Bogue, who voted against the TSG contract, said commissioners were under the gun to approve it before the existing IT contract expired.

The decision was correct, said Commissioner Don Wiley.

“There is a vendetta by certain individuals (who don’t want) the Developer to make a nickel,” he said.

Commissioner Roberta Ulrich also supported the TSG contract.

“You have to look at the complexity of the service,” she said.

County Chairman Craig Estep said county processes should be transparent for citizens.

“It is important to our citizens to see consistency,” he said.

Estep said once a decision is made, all commissioners should support it, even those who voted against it.

Sumter County’s history with TSG goes back more than a decade and commissioners approved a $5.8-million no-bid contract with the firm in September 2020. The company is owned by Charles Dale Borrowman, who lives at Glen Hollow Farms on the Morse family compound along County Road 466.

The county first entered into an agreement with TSG for general IT services in 2010 and those services were later expanded.