The City Council has prioritized the maintenance and enhancements of information technology systems that serve the city. In the fall of 2013, Council requested the Finance Director work with staff to inventory the city’s technology equipment and devise a plan to keep that equipment current.  In February 2014, a report on the “IT WIG” was presented to Council with a recommended plan to catch up on and provide for future funding.  In 2015, IT completed part two of the “IT WIG” to inventory major software systems.  A rolling 20-year plan to keep major systems enhanced, upgraded and updated tracks and measures progress toward this goal.

City staff has several projects planned for FY2020 including scheduled refresh of end-of-life servers, PCs, notebooks and tablets, as well as adding additional disk space to our storage array, and other networking equipment. The City Council included funding for these matters in the FY20 IT CIP Technology Refresh Budget.

City staff has been working with Summit Partners, LLC. for nine (9) years on a number of major IT projects including: the city’s main data center networking update/upgrade, citywide network redesign, server replacements and virtualization of servers and desktops. Summit Partners’ knowledge of our systems, network and programs allows city staff to use their expertise to keep our systems operating at peak performance.  City staff has been working on plans for this year’s upgrades including: replacement of a 10 year old blade chassis at the Police Department, network switches, adding additional storage network capacity, developing a secure off site disaster recovery solution and continuing to enhance the city’s “mobile work place environment” for employees at the City Maintenance Yard, Recreation Administration and Fire Department headquarters buildings.

Summit Partners, LLC., has been a Value-Added Reseller for Hewlett-Packard for many years and now works with HP, Inc. for personal computers (PC) and printers, Hewlett Packard Enterprise for servers, storage and networking, and other vendors on the NASPO contract price list. City staff is seeking approval to purchase the majority of items through Summit Partners as a purchasing agent. These items include PC’s, notebooks, servers, networking equipment, storage and support contracts with HP, Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise and VMware.

City staff has worked with CDW-G for a number of years to purchase the equipment for public safety vehicles, including Panasonic Toughbooks, and also to manage several software license contracts covering Microsoft software applications including: email systems and Microsoft Office licensing.  Last year city staff worked with CDW-G to renew the city’s Microsoft Licensing contract, which secured a savings in excess of $30,000.  City staff will also work with other vendors for other projects as needed to accomplish the IT CIP projects.

NRS Chapter 332.115(h) exempts computer hardware and software items from competitive bid. However, these purchases utilize the joinder provision allowed under NRS 332.195 and NASPO ValuePoint Contract (formerly known as the Western States Contracting Alliance or WSCA). The City Council included funding for these projects in the FY20 IT CIP Technology Refresh Budget.

Summit Partners, LLC. and CDW-G have provided excellent service and support over the past nine (9) years.  Staff recommends Council authorize purchasing FY20 IT CIP Technology Refresh items from Summit Partners, LLC., CDW-G and other vendors as needed through the end of the fiscal year.  

The City Council may choose to not approve purchasing from Summit Partners, LLC. and CDW-G and provide further direction to the City Manager.

I move to approve the purchase of technology refresh equipment from Summit Partners, LLC., CDW-G or other vendors as needed, from the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) ValuePoint contract, in an approximate amount of $471,800, for Fiscal Year 2020.