cover
TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Shanita Thompson, Director IT Operations
Kenneth Nelson, IT Operations Manager
DATE: November 9, 2018
SUBJECT:
Resolution to accept proposal for the purchase of a Storage Area Network (SAN) from CDW-G of Vernon Hills and additional consulting services from CDW-G and Sentinel Technologies of Downers Grove in the amount not to exceed $260,000.00 for the Information Technology Division.
PURPOSE:
This resolution is requested to accept the winning response for the purchase of a Storage Area Network (SAN) from CDW-G in a not to exceed amount of $260,000. The not to exceed amount includes an amount for additional consulting services from either CDW-G and/or Sentinel Technologies, to be used if deemed necessary to complete installation. Also included in the amount is a 15% contingency. The original Capital Improvement Plan (CIP C117) was estimated at $525,000.
The project entails replacing the primary and backup SAN that was previously located at City Hall to house the Public Admin data, such as, city financials, permits, and development plans and drawings. This SAN will now be used to store a wide variety of application data (both public admin and public safety) across the city as the two networks (APD & City) merge, but more importantly it is the data storage backbone for the majority of the City of Aurora’s critical data.
BACKGROUND:
One half of the SAN infrastructure will be installed in the IT’s primary data closet now located at the Aurora Police Department while the second half will be installed at the City's disaster recovery facility. This SAN provides real-time data geo-replication which means that critical operations and data will be stored in two physical locations at all times. In the event a disaster disables one data center, the second data center will be available to maintain business continuity.
The City of Aurora’s current SAN is currently 9 years old and at end of life. Given the importance of the data stored in the SAN, a fully supported replacement SAN was required and subsequently a CIP was approved for it. In the past few months, the SAN has started to experience a much higher rate of drive and component failure due to age and wear on the disk drives and other hardware.
A Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued by the City to elicit vendor responses for a replacement system. In response to this RFP, the City received eight proposals. Proposals were required to be submitted with separate technical and cost proposals so that technical merit could be evaluated independently from cost. Value Added Resellers (VARs) were allowed to submit more than one proposal if they carried more than one SAN manufacturer's products.
Of the eight submitting VARs, one VAR was found to be non-responsive based on two factors. First, the VAR did not separate their cost proposal from their technical response. Second, the VAR did not complete major sections of the RFP as directed.
This proposal also turned out to be the most expensive proposal. The other seven VARs' responses were subsequently reviewed and scored. The proposal from CDW-G (Value Added Reseller) of a NetApp (SAN manufacturer) solution ultimately received the highest combined technical and cost score.
Included in this purchase is a block of approximately 60 consulting hours to be used with either Sentinel Technologies or the incoming SAN provider (CDW-G or its chosen consultant). This block of consulting hours will be purchased on a time and materials basis to facilitate the configuration of the new system and to migrate data from one system to the other. Basic configuration and training services have been estimated in the VAR's proposal, however, additional hours required to complete the project are billed on a time and materials cost.
DISCUSSION:
All vendors were asked to provide information to help us understand any additional cost that the City may incur related to the purchase of a proposed SAN (Storage Area Network), this was to aid in determining total cost of the purchase, and give an indication to the City what upgrading said proposal would look like. Some vendors chose to use this portion of the RFP to demonstrate different configurations that may be employed. In the case of 2 or more solutions being presented, City Staff graded pricing for only the solutions deem to be the best fit-for-purpose/fit-for-use against City operational desires. Functionality, as a priority, was evaluated first and separate from pricing to gain an understanding of which solutions were best fit prior to assigning scores.
An additional 15% contingency is included in the overall project cost to cover unanticipated hardware, software and service expenses. These expenses may be needed in part due to the complexity of switching from one SAN manufacturer's product to an entirely new manufacturer's product line. In this case, a RFP process was utilized in order to elicit responses from a variety of manufacturers with varying methods of meeting the same technical requirements. A RFP was chosen as the purchasing vehicle specifically in an effort to open the door for new technologies, new vendors, and new product lines.
Funding for this purchase comes from the budgeted Capital Improvement Fund (C117) in the IT account 340-1380-419.74-11 that has a budgeted amount of $525,000. A 2018 to 2019 Budget Carryover was done to secure funding for this project to be completed in the first quarter of 2019.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
Not approving this resolution poses the risk of SAN failure, network outages and downtime if the current system is not replaced.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Recommend a resolution authorizing the purchase of a Storage Area Network (SAN) from CDW-G of Vernon Hills and additional consulting services from CDW-G and Sentinel Technologies of Downers Grove in the amount not to exceed $260,000.00 for the Information Technology Division.
cc: Finance Committee
CITY OF AURORA, ILLINOIS
RESOLUTION NO. _________
DATE OF PASSAGE ________________
title
A Resolution to accept proposal for the purchase of a Storage Area Network (SAN) from CDW-G of Vernon Hills and additional consulting services from CDW-G and Sentinel Technologies of Downers Grove in the amount not to exceed $260,000.00 for the Information Technology Division.
body
WHEREAS, the City of Aurora has a population of more than 25,000 persons and is, therefore, a home rule unit under subsection (a) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution of 1970; and
WHEREAS, subject to said Section, a home rule unit may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, the Information Technology Division has a need to purchase a Storage Area Network (SAN) solution; and,
WHEREAS, a Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued by the City to elicit vendor responses for a replacement system; and,
WHEREAS, the proposal from CDW-G (Value Added Reseller) received the highest combined technical and cost score; and,
WHEREAS, the Storage Area Network equipment is covered under the National Intergovernmental Purchasing Alliance Company (National IPA) through CDW-G; and,
WHEREAS, the National IPA serves as a government cooperative purchasing organization for agencies nationwide and their agreements are made available to eligible agencies including City and Local Governments; and,
WHEREAS, funding for this purchase comes from the budgeted Capital Improvement Fund (C117) in the IT account 340-1380-419.74-11 that has a budgeted amount of $525,000; and,
WHEREAS, pursuant to Aurora Code Sections 2-335(a)(3) and 2-355(a)(5) the desired product is provided by only one source and is part of an agreement entered into by another governmental entity.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Aurora, Illinois, as follows: a resolution to accept proposal for the purchase of a Storage Area Network (SAN) from CDW-G of Vernon Hills and additional consulting services from CDW-G and Sentinel Technologies of Downers Grove in the amount not to exceed $260,000.00 for the Information Technology Division.