A proposed contract to replace city government's crash-prone e-mail system with a Google-based application will be considered on Monday by the City Council's Budget and Finance committee.

While switching to Google is expected to save the city money in equipment and personnel costs, some have expressed security concerns because city government data would be stored on Google servers instead of city computers and would be accessible via the Internet.

Critics fear that such a system -- known as "cloud computing" -- would be more vulnerable to hackers.

The Los Angeles Police Department and the state Department of Justice have expressed reservations, particularly about whether they could securely send hundreds of thousands of electronic subpoenas a year, a city official says .

But the plan has already been approved by the City Council's Information Technology and General Services committee, and if the Budget and Finance committee concurs, the full City Council could vote on the contract within weeks.

Under the proposed contract, the city would hire Computer Science Corp. to implement by June 30 a Google-based system that would provide e-mail, document archiving, spreadsheets, presentations, virus detection, disaster recovery and larger storage.

The Google-based system would cost the city $24.5 million over five years -- $1.5 million more than retaining the current system, called GroupWise.

Despite the added cost, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana

recommended the Google-based system in a recent report to the Budget and Finance committee, saying "the benefits that will be gained by this additional capacity justify the costs of implementing the new system."

Santana said Google addressed security concerns by creating a "Gov Cloud" through which sensitive data would be stored in "dedicated facilities within the continental United States and managed by individuals who would be subject to high-level security clearances, including FBI fingerprint checks."

"The Police Department is satisfied that these measures will adequately address its security concerns," Santana said.

As for the state Department of Justice, it cannot give formal approval until examining the system's performance during a 2-3 month pilot period. Still, Santana said "it appears likely that the Gov Cloud will also address (the Department's) security concerns."

In a previous hearing, Randi Levin, general manager of the city's Information Technology Agency, estimated the Google-based system would end up saving $8 million to $30 million of taxpayer money.

She said that unlike the GroupWise system, it doesn't require 16 city employees to operate more than 60 servers. She also criticized GroupWise for being slow, limited in memory, and prone to crashing.

"The ability to get whatever information the city needs, when they need it, on whatever device they need it on, and to collaborate on all sorts of documents would fundamentally change the way the city works and enhance productivity greatly," Levin said.