Title
a. Approve and authorize the Director of Information Technology to execute a non-standard agreement with American Registry for Internet Numbers, LTD. (ARIN), enabling the County of Monterey to obtain a unique network Autonomous System (AS) number and unique County Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, in an amount not to exceed $1,500 annually for the period of February 1, 2015 through June 30, 2018;
b. Accept the non-standard language in the Agreement provided by ARIN as recommended by the Director of Information Technology; and
c. Authorize the Director of Information Technology to sign renewals to the ARIN agreement and to issue purchase orders on an as-needed basis, incorporating the same non-standard contract provisions, in an amount not to exceed $1,500 per year for up to an additional two (2) years.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Approve and authorize the Director of Information Technology to execute a non-standard agreement with American Registry for Internet Numbers, LTD. (ARIN), enabling the County of Monterey to obtain a unique network Autonomous System (AS) number and unique County IP addresses, in the amount not to exceed $1,500 annually for the period of February 1, 2015 through June 30, 2018;
b. Accept the non-standard language in the agreement provided by ARIN as recommended by the Director of Information Technology; and
c. Authorize the Director of Information Technology to sign renewals to the ARIN Agreement and to issue purchase orders on an as-needed basis, incorporating the same non-standard contract provisions, in an amount not to exceed $1,500 per year for up to an additional two (2) years.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
ARIN, a nonprofit member-based organization, supports the operation of the Internet through the management of Internet number resources throughout its service region, including the United States. ARIN is solely responsible for registration, allocation and assignment of Internet resources, i.e., allocating a unique "address" identifying individual networks on the Internet. As a practical matter, in the United States, Internet identifiers such as an AS number and blocks of Internet addresses are only available from ARIN.
Currently, the County does not possess its own, unique Internet addresses; to date, it has been using the Internet addresses of its Internet service provider. One of the Information Technology Department's major capital improvement projects this year is to increase the County's Internet "pipe," i.e., its connection to the Internet, in order to enhance the scope and speed of its Internet access, both internally and to the public. To accomplish this and to obtain the best price, the County needs to change its Internet carrier. Thus, the County must migrate all of its existing Internet addresses from its current Internet carrier, a laborious process. To avoid repetition of this resource-intensive effort in the future, the County would be well-served by obtaining its own AS number and block of IP addresses from ARIN. A unique County AS number and unique County IP addresses block provide the additional benefit of enhancing network redundancy, i.e., ensuring back-up Internet services in the event of disruption of its primary network.
The proposed agreement is non-standard for the County, but is based upon a standard agreement that ARIN uses throughout the United States and Canada, including with other governmental bodies. The Director of Information Technology is recommending approval of this agreement.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The agreement was not approved by County Counsel due to the presence of the following non-standard and unacceptable terms/conditions required by the vendor: provision for automatic renewals; vendor discretion to change fees and policy; County indemnification of ARIN; ARIN disclaimer of warranty for as-is service; limitation of ARIN liability to six (6) months of fees or $100; required binding arbitration of most disputes, venued in Washington D.C.; and venue for lawsuits seeking injunctive relief in Virginia. The agreement was not approved by Risk Management because of non-standard indemnification, disclaimers, exclusions and limitations of liability as stated in the registration services agreement.
This agreement is on file with the Clerk of the Board.
FINANCING:
The funds for payment of this agreement have been included in the FY 14-15 Recommended Budget for the Information Technology Department, ITD 1930, Unit 8435, Appropriation unit INF002. Transactions relating to future fiscal years will be included in each respective Recommended Budget.
Prepared by: Alex Zheng, Division Manager, Information Technology, 759-6991
Approved by:
Dianah Neff, Director of Information Technology, 759-6923
Attachments:
A. American Registry for Internet Numbers Registration Service Agreement
B. Quote from ARIN