AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS AND TO ENTER INTO A LINKING AGREEMENT WITH CUSTOM STORAGE INC., DOING BUSINESS AS CSTOR, FOR TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND SERVICES
Staff Contact: Chuck Murphy, Chief Information Officer, Innovation and Technology
end
Purpose and Recommended Action
Recommendation
This is a request for City Council to authorize the City Manager to enter into a Linking Agreement with Custom Storage Inc., d/b/a cStor using a state cooperative purchasing agreement, for a term commencing upon approval of the agreement and ending on June 30, 2017, and to authorize the City Manager, at their discretion, to renew the agreement for four additional one-year periods until June 30, 2021. Under the terms of the agreement, cStor will provide hardware, software and services to the city using the state agreement. This request also includes approval of expenditure authority in an amount not to exceed $1,360,000 over the life of the agreement.
.body
Background
cStor is a large state contract vendor having a substantial product and services portfolio with the ability to provide significant pricing discounts due to the volume of product they sell. The city maintains purchasing contracts with multiple vendors, however not all vendors provide the same product discounts. Therefore, it is prudent to maintain contracts with several vendors to obtain the best possible pricing over the widest array of products and services. The city is limited in its technology spending by the budgets reviewed and approved by Council on an annual basis. The spending authority requested allows departments the flexibility to request quotes and evaluate services from multiple vendors.
Cooperative purchasing allows counties, municipalities, schools, colleges, and universities in Arizona to use a contract that was competitively procured by another governmental entity or purchasing cooperative. Such purchasing helps reduce the cost of procurement, allows access to a multitude of competitively bid contracts, and provides the opportunity to take advantage of volume pricing. The Glendale City Code authorizes cooperative purchases when the solicitation process utilized complies with the intent of Glendale’s procurement processes. This cooperative purchase is compliant with Chapter 2, Article V, Division 2, Section 2-149 of the Glendale City Code, per review by Purchasing.
Analysis
Information Technology establishes relationships with several state contract vendors and regularly compares pricing among those vendors to ensure the city is getting the best possible value. cStor will provide an alternate and competing source of products and services at aggressive pricing through the state agreement.
Community Benefit/Public Involvement
The ability to obtain competitive pricing from multiple vendors provides a higher level of cost saving potential when acquiring products and services.
Budget and Financial Impacts
The amount budgeted in the Technology Replacement Fund will fluctuate based on annual budget capacity and replacement needs. It is estimated to be $340,000 per year.
|
Cost |
Fund-Department-Account |
|
$340,000 |
2591-18401-521000, Technology Replacement Fund |
Capital Expense? No
Budgeted? Yes
Requesting Budget or Appropriation Transfer? No
If yes, where will the transfer be taken from?