Title
a. Approve and authorize the Director of Information Technology or his designee to execute a non-standard Agreement with Cenergy International Services, Inc. for support and maintenance of the County’s Solar Winds network monitoring software for the term of September 1, 2019 through August 31, 2020, in the amount of $15,164;
b. Accept non-standard provisions as recommended by the Director of Information Technology; and
c. Authorize the Director of Information Technology or his designee to sign up to four (4) amendments, extending the Agreement by one (1) additional year each, subject to County Counsel review, provided the maximum increase in total cost is no more than ten percent (10%) of the agreement price ($1,516.40 total maximum increase), and provided the amendments do not significantly alter the terms of the Agreement.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Approve and authorize the Director of Information Technology or his designee to execute a non-standard Agreement with Cenergy International Services, Inc. for support and maintenance of the County’s Solar Winds network monitoring software for the term of September 1, 2019 through August 31, 2020, in the amount of $15,164;
b. Accept non-standard provisions as recommended by the Director of Information Technology; and
c. Authorize the Director of Information Technology or his designee to sign up to four (4) amendments, extending the Agreement by one (1) additional year each, subject to County Counsel review, provided the maximum increase in total cost is no more than ten percent (10%) of the agreement price ($1,516.40 total maximum increase), and provided the amendments do not significantly alter the terms of the Agreement.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
On September 20, 2016, the Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with Cenergy International Services Inc. (Cenergy) to provide support and maintenance for the County’s SolarWinds network monitoring software. Cenergy maintains the Solar Winds software to manage and monitor the County network and track configuration changes to allow for quick system recovery in the event of a hardware failure and to guard against unauthorized changes to the network, to provide warnings when the network experiences congestion which could cause slowness on the network and impact users’ computing; to monitor network traffic response times to ensure optimal network performance, and to perform other critical County network tasks.
The monitoring performed allows for early detection of any issues with the County network. Through Cenergy, SolarWinds is the only system that provides “State of the System” information to Information technology (IT) staff. Should the system detect an issue, it will send an automated e-mail alert to IT personnel who can provide a quick resolution. The proposed agreement provides for software upgrades, bug fixing, unlimited product technical training for ITD staff, and access to 24/7 technical support.
Cenergy proposes agreement terms that are non-standard to the County. Based upon the County’s past experience with this vendor, and because the proposed provisions are common in the information technology industry, the Director of IT is recommending approval of this agreement.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel has reviewed the agreement and cannot approve the following, non-standard provisions: 15 days’ notice required for termination of the Agreement for cause; tax exemption certificate requirement; non-standard provisions for terminations based on lack of funding; and requirement of County notice to trigger vendor’s obligation to defend and indemnify the County.
FINANCING:
The cost for this agreement is included in the 2019-20 Adopted Budget, ITD 1930, Budget Unit 8436, Appropriation Unit INF002.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS STRATEGIC INITIATIVES:
SolarWinds network monitoring provides real time information and alerting required to provide a highly available data network. These network services provide the foundation for all County applications used by County staff. SolarWinds network monitoring also provides mission-critical connectivity to public safety applications used in law enforcement and prevention of crime.
__Economic Development
__Administration
__Health and Human Services
X Infrastructure
X Public Safety
Prepared by: Lynnette Beardsall, Management Analyst II, 759-6938
Approved by:
_______________________________________Date:_________
Eric A. Chatham, Director of Information Technology, 759-6920
Attachments: Cenergy International Services, Inc. Agreement
Attachments on file with the Clerk of the Board