The Lake County Council has recommended extending a no-bid contract for data processing services to Cenifax Management Services.

The fact that this is a no-bid contract should be a gigantic red flag. Data processing is hardly an occasion for an emergency contract that would escape the normal bid process.

Making matters worse is that Cenifax has held this exclusive arrangement with Lake County since 1992. Computer technology has changed dramatically since then -- and so have expectations for the county government's online presence.

For one thing, the Internet didn't really exist for commercial use in 1992. E-commerce hadn't begun in earnest. But now people expect to find all kinds of public documents online, including online forms for conducting business with the government.

Lake County is Cenifax's only customer. Mark Pearman, the company's executive director, says, "We have survived because we are professional and do a good job." But Cenifax's performance isn't the issue. The real question is whether Cenifax should be given an automatic extension of its contract. That answer is no.

The council's contract extension is worth $1.9 million for the next four years. The good news is that the county commissioners can -- and they should -- reject this no-bid contract.

The Good Government Initiative recommendations released last year urged the county to "seek new proposals for a contract service provider to test both the price competition as well as service delivery capacity of the open market."

Or, as county Councilman Larry Blanchard, R-Crown Point, put it, "I have nothing against Cenifax. But if we put it up for competitive bidding, we could save some money. It gives everyone a chance to resharpen their pencils."

Lake County needs to put the data processing contract up for bid instead of continuing to automatically renew the contract for that service.

No-bid contracts don't allow the county to see who might provide better service at the best price. If it's Cenifax, so be it.

But put it up for bid to see what other companies might offer. The answers might be illuminating.