APPROVE spending authority in an amount not to exceed $1,299,658.50 for Purchase of Virtualization Product Licenses and Support through the Texas Department of Information Resources for Houston Information Technology Services and the Houston Health Department from CDW GOVERNMENT LLC - General and Central Service Revolving Funds

WS1297275484 - Approve spending authority in an amount of not to exceed $1,299,658.50 for the purchase of Virtualization product licenses and support from CDW Government LLC through the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) for a period of three (3) years for Houston Information Technology Services (HITS) and the Houston Health Department (HHD).

Specific Explanation:

The Chief Information Officer and the Chief Procurement Officer recommend that City Council approve spending authority in an amount not to exceed $1,299,658.50 for the purchase of Virtualization product licenses and support from CDW Government LLC through DIR for HITS and HHD.  The requested spending authority is expected to sustain the departments for a period of three (3) years and includes projected growth.

This purchase is for Virtualization product licenses and support, enabling CDW Government LLC to provide HITS and HHD with essential software, support, and maintenance of the City’s virtualized server infrastructure.  Virtualized servers are software-based simulations of physical servers that run multiple operating systems and applications on a single physical machine.  HITS utilizes these servers to host a wide range of essential systems and applications, including vendor-supported software, database management solutions, advanced security tools, enterprise resource planning, the Houston Municipal Court’s Court System Management and Resources Technology (CSMART) system, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).  This purchase will provide the City with enhanced service delivery to meet its increased and growing technological demands.

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 the goods or services.”

M/WBE Participation:

M/WBE Zero Percentage Goal document approved by the Office of Business Opportunity.

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.

$970,830.00 – Central Service Revolving Fund (Fund 1002)

$328,828.50 – General Fund (Fund 1000)

$1,299,658.50 - Total