Broward school officials continue to maintain that IBM owes the district more than $718,000. Superintendent Frank Till sent a letter Wednesday asking to settle the dispute -- with a payment.

School officials and the computer maker have been locked in a financial disagreement since May, when a district audit found IBM hadn't fulfilled its obligation to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in rebates, trade-in credits and incentives.

''We looked at our agreement and wanted to see if we got all the rebates and incentives,'' said Patrick Reilly, the district's audit chief. ``Some we got, some we didn't.''

IBM executives disputed the district's audit findings in a July 15 letter.

''We've done the research and our position now is the same as detailed in the letter,'' said William Burke, senior vice president of Mainline Information Systems, a Tallahassee-based company that teamed with IBM on the 1999 deal with the school district.

Broward's school technology department has been in the hot seat for several months; the May audit described it as being in a ''state of flux.'' The auditors noted the effort of the current tech leaders to seek refunds from IBM and Apple Computers for more than $500,000.

The ongoing quarrel with IBM is over the 1999 purchase of AS400 computer servers from IBM for $26 million. The servers were bought to help back up computer files and data in case of a Y2K disaster.

District officials say IBM agreed to several conditions, including:

• Paying $405,750 in rebates to the district;

• Bidding $590,200 for some of the district's older servers that were not Y2K compliant;

• Paying a $500,000 closing incentive to the district for expediting the deal.

Reilly said IBM has paid some of that. For example, the district can account for $203,550 in rebates, not $405,750.

''If they really feel they paid that amount, then show us a canceled check,'' Reilly said. ``They can't do that.''

IBM executives have also argued they don't owe the district $500,000 for a closing incentive. They say their partner, Mainline Information Systems, absorbed the cost of the closing incentive by discounting the AS/400 units. School officials dispute that.

The last bone of contention between the district and IBM is $15,000 from the sale of the district's older, non-Y2K compliant servers.

IBM has paid the district $575,200 for taking back the equipment, but has refused to pay $15,000 in shipping costs.

''The ball's in their court now,'' Reilly said. ``I don't know how they'll respond to Dr. Till's letter, but we know where we stand.''

Miami.com

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2002