After the  Herald/Times disclosed that lawmakers were poised to shelve the program when the contract with the vendors expires at the end of the month, Gaetz scheduled a meeting with the Spider Data System developers on Thursday to ask them questions. He did not seek a demonstration of the program.

In a letter to the Senate on Friday, Gaetz said he learned then that the Senate does not own the software and must pay an additional $1 million a year to continue its contract with the vendor to keep the site current – information spelled out in the 2011 contract.  

He said he also demanded to know the names of the owners of the company and they told him “they will get back to me.”  

“I’d like to know whose doing business with us, who owns stock in the company, who stands to benefit from this extraordinarily expensive contract which, it turns out, the people of Florida don’t own,” Gaetz told the Herald/Times in an interview.

The developers of the software program and principal owners of Spider Data are Anna Mattson, who once worked for the House budget office a decade ago, and Sherri Taylor, an information technology expert. Mattson has told the Herald/Times that she also has a partnership with lobbyist Jim Eaton in another company that was formed to promote the software for use in local governments.

Gaetz also noted that the system appears to include incomplete budget data because it fails to include "fund transfers" between agencies. Under the contract Haridopolos agreed to, the Senate is allowed 600 licenses to access the site and has the authority to tell the vendors who can get them. No where in Gaetz's letter does he tell senators how to obtain access to the site.

Anna Mattson, president of Spider Data Systems, said in a statement that she is addressing Gaetz's concerns but added, "our contract ends December 31, 2012, and we are not seeking to renew our contract with the Senate."

Gaetz said in his letter that he concluded Transparency 2.0 “contains many valuable features, as do a variety of products and services brought before the legislature each year. The question we must answer is which product will provide the most value to the taxpayers of Florida.”

Gaetz has asked Ring to review the Transparency 2.0 web site and provide him with “information on costs and a potential timetable for improving existing public websites with more user-friendly features in order to do a cost and functional comparison with the Spider Data product.”

"There's a commitment to have a transparency web site, not just for the Senate, but for citizens to use,'' Ring told the Herald/Times. He conceded that the current law, which allows the Senate and House to sign no-bid, single source contracts without following the same rules as state agencies is "not fair" and his committee will consider changing that law.

Gaetz and Ring have both filed  financial disclosure forms indicating their financial interest in Mercurian, a Web-based healthcare company to help children and caregivers of autistic children.

Krassner said Gaetz’ letter raises more questions than it answers.

“Why would they want to waste the $5 million that has already been spent?” he asked. “There’s a product that’s available now. The public paid for it and we should be able to see it and use it.”

Krassner said that it is now appears that it’s up to the governor to preserve the $5 million spent by taxpayers.

“There’s a tremendous opportunity for Gov. Scott,’’ Krassner said. “He can become the transparency governor and leave a lasting legacy for Florida if he decides to launch this web site.’’

Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@MiamiHerald.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryEllenKlas