ORDINANCE approving and authorizing Derivative Agreement between City of Houston and NETSYNC NETWORK SOLUTIONS through Interlocal Agreement with TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION RESOURCES for purchase of Amazon Web Services Support and Professional Services for Houston Information Technology Services and Various Departments; providing a maximum contract amount - 3 Years with 2 one-year options - $16,298,389.70 - General, Enterprise and Other Funds

Specific Explanation:

The Chief Information Officer and the Chief Procurement Officer recommend that City Council approve an ordinance awarding a three (3) year derivative agreement with two (2) one-year renewal options to Netsync Network Solutions through the interlocal agreement with the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) in the amount not to exceed $16,298,389.70 for the purchase of Amazon Web Services (AWS) support and professional services for Houston Information Technology Services, Houston Public Works, Houston Airport System, and Houston Public Library departments. Although the Contractor is a Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) vendor, the City is expanding upon the DIR contract to include City of Houston specific terms and conditions.  This maximum contract amount request is intended to cover the initial term of the agreement and HITS plans to return to City Council for additional spending authority for the remaining agreement renewal terms.

This contract will allow the City to receive AWS support and professional services under a Citywide enterprise contract for all City AWS subscriptions. The services will facilitate centralizing production, quality assurance, and development of computing environments for various City departments.  AWS activities will include cloud infrastructure services, such as data storage and backup.  It also will provide platform and software enabled environments with service platforms for both infrastructure and application services. AWS also is used for various City services such as hosting some public facing citizen services portals and websites. This purchase aligns with the HITS strategy of choosing cloud first and accelerating cloud migration.

This recommendation is made pursuant to subsection 271.102(c) of the Texas Local Government Code, which provides that “a local government that purchases goods or services from a cooperative purchasing program or organization satisfies any state law requiring the local government to seek competitive bids for the purchase of goods or services.”

This item was presented to the Transportation, Technology & Infrastructure (TTI) Committee on September 7, 2023.

MWBE Participation:

This contract was awarded with an 8% MWBE participation level by the Office of Business Opportunity. Netsync Network Solutions has designated the below companies as their MWBE subcontractors.

Pay or Play Program:

This procurement is exempt from the City’s Pay or Play Program. Bids/proposals were not solicited because the department is utilizing an Interlocal purchasing agreement for this procurement.

Hire Houston First

This procurement is exempt from the City’s Hire Houston First Ordinance. Bids/proposals were not solicitated because the department is utilizing an Interlocal/Cooperative Purchasing Agreement for this purchase.

Fiscal Note:

Funding for this item is included in the FY2024 Adopted Budget. Therefore, no Fiscal Note is required as stated in the Financial Policies.

__________________________________                     __________________________________

Jedediah Greenfield, Chief Procurement Officer                 Lisa Kent, Chief Information Office

Finance/Strategic Procurement Division                            Houston Information Technology Services                                                            

$1,976,804.32 – Central Service Revolving Fund (1002)

$   950,200.00 – Project Cost Recovery (1001)

$1,300,000.00 – Building Inspection Fund (2301)

$1,010,000.00 – Stormwater Fund (2302)

$1,040,000.00 –  DDSRF-Metro ET AL (2312)   

$7,238,915.64 – Water & Sewer Operating Fund (8300)

$2,580,816.21 – HAS Revenue Fund (8001)

$   201,653.53 – General Fund (1000)

$16,298,389.70 - Total