ORDINANCE approving and authorizing Agreements between the City of Houston and (1) BAHWAN CYBERTEK INC., (2) COMMSYS TECHNOLOGY CORP., and (3) NETSYNC NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC., to provide IT Professional and Consulting Services for Houston Information Technology Services; providing a maximum contract amount - $30,558,327.50 - Central Service Revolving Fund, General, Enterprise, Grant and Other Funds

Proposals received on May 11, 2023, for P11-T32597 - Approve an ordinance awarding contracts to (1) Bahwan Cybertek, Inc., (2) CST Corporation, and (3) Netsync Network Solutions, Inc. in the maximum contracts amount of $30,558,327.50 to provide IT professional and consulting services for a three (3) year contracts term, with two (2) one-year renewal options for Houston Information Technology Services Department and various other City departments. 

Specific Explanation:

The Chief Information Officer and the Chief Procurement Officer recommend that City Council approve an ordinance awarding a three (3) year contract, with two (2) one-year renewal options, for a maximum five (5) year contract term  to (1) Bahwan Cybertek, Inc., (2) CST Corporation (CST), and (3) Netsync Network Solutions, Inc. (Netsync) in the maximum contract amount of $30,558,327.50 to provide IT professional and consulting services to Houston Information Technology Services, Houston Public Works, Houston Airport System, Mayor's Office, Houston Health, and Housing and Community Development departments.  The Housing and Community Development Department will come back to Council at a later date for the appropriation of funds as needed out of the TIRZ Affordable Housing Fund.

HITS provides enterprise solutions that include, without limitation, network, network security, voice, compute, storage, and data center services to City departments. This multi-vendor award for IT Professional and Consulting Services will allow the City to utilize on-demand service models, implement and improve resiliency, manage risks, improve response times for IT support to the end users, and continually monitor and maintain operational systems and services. These services will support on-call services to support projects in support of the City's stabilization and strategic efforts. The City will also be able to access extended support for desktop, endpoint application, patch management, and end user device management. 

The scope of work includes professional services and staff augmentation which may include but is not limited to the following areas:

1. Server

2. Storage

3. Data Center

4. Network & Telephony

5. End User Support

6. Active Director (AD) and Identity Management

7. IP Management

8. Office 365

9. Management and Monitoring Tools

 10. Help Desk Services

The Request for Proposals (RFP) was advertised in accordance with the State of Texas bid laws, and proposals were received from AOM, Apex Systems, Bahwan Cybertek, Inc., Capgemini, CCS Global Tech, CDWG, CST, Compunnel, Inc., Compu-Vision Consulting, Inc., DatamanUSA, Dell Technologies, LLC, EConsortium Group, Glitra, Inc., Meticuli5, LLC, Mitstrike, LLC, Mshana Group, LLC, Netsync, PGA Engineers, Inc., Premier Employment Agency, LLC, Recruiting Source International, SDI Presence, LLC, V3Main Technologies, Inc., and VC5 Consulting. The Evaluation Committee consisted of employees from Houston Police Department, Houston Public Works, and HITS.

The proposals were evaluated based upon the following criteria:

•  Responsiveness of Proposal
•  Technical Competence
•  Price Proposal

Bahwan Cybertek, Inc., CST, and Netsync received the highest overall scores and were deemed the best qualified to perform the requirements as outlined in the RFP.

This item was presented to the Government Operations Committee on November 6, 2024.

M/WBE Participation:

This RFP was advertised with an 18.64% M/WBE participation goal. Below is a breakdown of participation by each vendor.

Bahwan Cybertek, Inc. submitted a M/WBE participation plan calculating to 20% M/WBE participation.

CST submitted a M/WBE participation plan calculating to 18.64% M/WBE participation.

Netsync submitted a M/WBE participation plan calculating to 18.64% M/WBE participation.

Pay or Play:

The proposed contract requires compliance with the City’s “Pay or Play” Ordinance regarding health benefits for employees of City Contractors.

In this case, Netsync has chosen to play by providing health benefits to each covered employee.  Bahwan Cybertek, Inc. and CST have elected to do both, to pay into the Contractor Responsibility Fund and to provide health benefits to eligible employees in compliance with City policy.  

Hire Houston First:

Hire Houston First does not apply to this expenditure, because it may involve the use of federal funds and is subject to specific procurement rules of the federal government.

Fiscal Note:

• Funding for this item is included in the FY2025 Adopted Budget. Therefore, no Fiscal Note is required as stated in the Financial Policies. 

• No significant Fiscal Operating impact is anticipated as a result of this project.

• No Fiscal Note is required on grant items.
  
  

_________________________________         _____________________________________

Jedediah Greenfield                                         Lisa Kent

Chief Procurement Officer                              Chief Information Officer

Finance/Strategic Procurement Division       Houston Information Technology Services

$19,439,327.50 - Central Service Revolving Fund (1002)

$     850,000.00 - General Fund (1000)

$  3,860,000.00 - HAS Revenue Fund (8001)

$     508,850.00 - TIRZ Affordable Housing Fund (2409)

$  5,750,000.00 - Water & Sewer Operating Fund (8300)

$     150,150.00 - Fed/State/Local Pass-Through Fund (5030)

$30,558,327.50 - Total