Philadelphia school district defends $1.1 million tracking system

    Less costly technology for tracking job applicants did not fit Philadelphia’s needs, district representative says.

    The school district of Philadelphia is defending its decision to purchase an expensive, high-tech system to track job applicants.

    The $1.1 million contract costs more than twice as much as proposals from other final bidders — and the winning system won’t be available as quickly.

    Fernando Gallard of the school district says the system is right for the district even though it costs more. He says a competing system currently used in New York City was not a good fit.

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    “You have to understand the difference between New York and Philadelphia, what is it that we have here currently, to be able to get them to the standard that we want to be.” said Gallard Monday. “Our standard may be different than New York City and where we are starting from is a different place.”

    Gallard said the other two finalists just didn’t have the right system, so the Philadelphia district decided to pass them over, even though they were considerably cheaper.

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