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Agenda Item 18.

City Council Meeting

Meeting Date:	08/15/2017
FROM:	Bill Gallardo

Subject:

Software/Hardware Maintenance Support and Online Subscription Service Agreements

RECOMMENDATION

Affirm the City's practice of the Purchasing Agent approving renewal agreements with various support services providers for the life of the computer software or hardware and for online subscription services as approved in the annual budget.

BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION

To help ensure the functionality of Brea’s network infrastructure, servers, and personal computers, the City uses computer hardware/software maintenance and support agreements as well as online vendor-hosted software services for required updates, technical support, and software customizations. Additionally, the City has online vendor-hosted software services for certain programs which are under an annual subscription service.

These hardware/software maintenance and support agreements are typically proprietary to the companies that provide the particular software application or hardware device. Some of these support and online subscription services may be available through cooperative agreements while very few are obtained through solicitation of competitive offers. For those support providers obtained through competitive bidding, it is common to continue to stay with the same vendor for the duration of the City's use of the program.

The total of these agreements is approximately $735,000 annually which is included in the City's adopted budget each year. The majority of these agreements are within the Purchasing Agent's authority to approve on an annual basis. However, currently there are five such agreements that are over the Purchasing Agent's authority to approve of $25,000; they include the following:

ActiveNet, an online vendor-hosted software subscription for Community Services registrations and activities;
Hexagon/Spillman for the CAD/RMS software for the police dispatch and record management system;
County of Orange for the 800 Mhz public safety radio backbone system;
ROI Networks for the telephone system; and
Superion for the City's financial software.

The proprietary agreements and subscription services are typically based on a fixed annual increase from the vendor and are not subject to negotiation. For those agreements that may be acquired through cooperative agreement and/or competitive bidding, from time to time, the Purchasing Agent in conjunction with the Information Technology division and/or user department, seek whichever means offers the best available pricing solution for Brea. Therefore, it is recommended that the Purchasing Agent be authorized to approve the annual renewal agreements without having to return to the City Council for approval on each of the agreements that exceed $25,000.

Any award recommendations of new software systems and the initial software support agreements that exceed the formal procurement threshold, will continue to be presented to the City Council for review and consideration. This authorization request is only for renewal of existing software/hardware maintenance support and online service agreements; affirms the City's practice of the Purchasing Agent authorizing such renewals on an annual basis; and provides a summarized list of those agreements requiring such action.

COMMISSION/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

The Finance Committee reviewed staff's recommendation at their August 8, 2017 meeting and it was recommended for City Council approval.

FISCAL IMPACT/SUMMARY

The City Council adopted Fiscal Year 2017-18 Budget includes sufficient funding available for these purchases. There is no additional fiscal impact based on this action. Amounts for these purchases are subject to available budget appropriations for the fiscal year in which they occur.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

William Gallardo, City Manager
Prepared by: Neil Groom, Procurement and Contracts Administrator
Concurrence: Cindy Russell, Administrative Services Director; Randy Hornsby, IT Manager