Title
AUTHORIZATION FOR A CONTRACT AMENDMENT WITH COPPER STATE COMMUNICATIONS, INC. FOR CITYWIDE TELEPHONE UPGRADE FOR CITY TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT, MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT
Staff Contact: Tom Duensing, Director, Finance and Technology
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Purpose and Recommended Action
Recommendation
This is a request for Council to approve an amendment increasing the contract amount with Copper State Communications Inc. (Copper State) by $217,000, bringing the total not to exceed amount to $372,060 annually for the two remaining years of the agreement. The original contract with Copper State Communications (C-8103) was approved by Council on 6/26/2012. This additional funding will be used for citywide telephone projects which include, but are not limited to, replacement of the citywide voicemail system, hardware and software upgrades, telephone replacements and maintenance fees.body
Background
Copper State Communications Inc. is the provider of telephone equipment, maintenance and services for the City of Glendale. On 6/26/2012, Council approved a multi-year agreement with Copper State (C-8103) establishing an annual not to exceed amount of $155,060.00 to cover planned equipment purchases, maintenance and services. The request is to increase this amount to $372,060.00 to accommodate the replacement of City telephone components and related services.
The City's enterprise phone system (EPS) is comprised of two primary Nortel phone systems and a collection of smaller interconnected phone systems which provide service throughout the city. Avaya acquired Nortel in 2009 and subsequently made the decision to phase out and discontinue support of Nortel's equipment beginning in 2014. The city needed to identify a path forward that would work within budgetary and technical constraints. The scope of work for this initial project will be the replacement of the City's voicemail system in addition to the replacement of end of life local communication systems.
After review and testing of available options, ShoreTel was selected as the preferred technology and the city will use Copper State Communications Inc. as the sourcing and implementation vendor.
Copper State Communications Inc. was selected as the city's provider of telephone service through the RFP process and was approved by council on June 26, 2012 for a period of 1 year with an option for the city manager to renew the contract for an additional four years.
Analysis
Implementation options included a complete EPS one time flash replacement, or an incremental approach that would replace the EPS over time. An incremental approach requires a replacement technology that will integrate with the existing Nortel equipment, but in time provide a stand-alone solution. That technology (ShoreTel) was identified and has been in operational testing within the city over the past two years.
Staff recommends the incremental approach as it spreads the cost and resource demand over a longer period of time, plus retains the full use of the existing supported hardware and focuses only on those components that are in end-of-life status. End of life means that the equipment will no longer be supported by the equipment manufacturer leaving the city at risk of having no phone systems if a problem occurs. The spending authorization requested in this report would facilitate the replacement of current end of life equipment and allow the City to move forward with a phased replacement of the EPS over the next five years.
Previous Related Council Action
On 06/26/2012, City Council awarded the RFP for the City's telephone system maintenance to Copper State Communication (C-8103). This agreement remains in effect until 07/01/2017.
Budget and Financial Impacts
Funding for the FY15 expenditures is available in the following departmental budgets:
Cost |
Fund-Department-Account |
$372,060 |
1100-11520-516400 - Telephone Fund |
Capital Expense? No
Budgeted? Yes
Requesting Budget or Appropriation Transfer? No
If yes, where will the transfer be taken from?