If you want to find out all of the parties that have an ownership interest in the companies that are awarded lucrative Cook County contracts, you probably would have to make several requests to different offices and organizations.

But within six months, that information will be freely available on a searchable Internet database.

County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, an outspoken advocate for government reform and transparency, sponsored the measure.

The county spends $120 million on service contracts each year, and Claypool said the online database will be a tool for the public and media to monitor the process by which those contracts are awarded.

Some county officials and commissioners complained it would be too time-consuming to develop a searchable online database and said it could cost the county up to $2.5 million.

Claypool dismissed the officials' claims as absurd and said the project would require only basic technology, such as a document scanner.

"The (concerns about) costs are a red herring here, and it can be dealt with," said Commissioner Mike Quigley, D-Chicago, who also supported implementing a searchable database. "Let's not allow our desire to be watchdogs for five minutes get in the way of doing the right thing."

After county Chief Information Officer Tony Hylton confirmed that a database could be built in four to six months and would not require a significant financial investment, most commissioners voted in favor of the measure.