S17-H26083 - Approve spending authority for the purchase of hardware and professional services for the Fannin Data Center in an amount not to exceed $726,239.01 through the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) for the Houston Information Technology Services.
Specific Explanation:
The Chief Information Officer and the Chief Procurement Officer recommend that City Council approve spending authority for the purchase of hardware and professional services for the Fannin Data Center in an amount not to exceed $726,239.01 through the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) for the Houston Information Technology Services. Additionally, it is also recommended that authorization be given to issue purchase orders, as necessary, to the DIR Go-Direct vendors Lumenate Technologies, LP ($403,176.63) and Datavox, Inc. ($323,062.38). The spending authority is estimated to sustain the department for 12 months.
Data storage capabilities are currently at capacity at the Fannin data center and require additional equipment to enable additional storage devices on the network. The additional storage capacity will allow the hosting of new virtual servers, which will be utilized for current and planned virtual server growth. Additional space will provide more efficient management of the movement of data between environments and give the City more flexibility to leverage capacity and performance of our storage resources. The need for additional data storage continues to increase as business continues to become less dependent upon paper processes.
To date the data center is populated with 2 rows of 35 server racks and various computer systems. This purchase will provide additional equipment to seed the third row worth of racks, power, cabling and network in support of migrating HHS, Library and other upcoming projects.
The risk of not purchasing this equipment is the delayed implementation and increase in cost to initiatives such as HHS & Library consolidation into the datacenter and other projects requiring hardware within the data center. This seed infrastructure makes the implementation of other projects easier whereby the power and space already exists and new initiatives become plug and play with a faster turnaround time to delivery.
The Data center project is the consolidation of seven computer facilities to become centrally managed backup and recovery sites for the City’s most critical server-based computer applications and databases. This consolidation project is meant to address significant shortcomings in the data centers that have serious implications to stability, efficiency (power & cooling), security and business continuation.
M/WBE Participation:
The vendors Lumenate Technologies, LP and Datavox, Inc. have designated the below-named companies as its certified M/WBE subcontractor: DIR-Vendor
M/WBE Vendor
Type of Work
Estimated Dollar Amount
Percentage
Lumenate Technologies, LP
Virtuo Group
NetApp Storage Solution & Training
$50,877.60
15%
Datavox, Inc
Exebridge
Network Equipment
$82,556.38
26%
Hire Houston First:
This procurement is exempt from the City’s Hire Houston First Ordinance. Bids/proposals were not solicited because the department is utilizing an interlocal agreement for this purchase.
Fiscal Note:
Capital Project Information
See attached Form A
Estimated Fiscal Operating Impact
Project
FY17
FY18
FY19
FY20
FY21
FY22
FY17-FY22 Total
X-680003-0003-3-01-01
$ 673,062.38
$ -
-
-
-
$ 673,062.38
Operational cost *
$ 53,176.63
$ 68,300.95
$68,300.95
$68,300.95
$68,300.95
$68,300.95
$ 341,504.75
TOTAL
$ 726,239.01
$ 1,014,567.13
* operational maintenace expenses will be covered in out years (FY18-22) by the hardware manufacturer on a separate agreement
____________________________________ ___________________________________
John J. Gillespie, Chief Procurement Officer Department Approval Authority Signature
Finance/Strategic Procurement Division