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a. Approve and authorize the Contracts/Purchasing Officer to execute Amendment No. 2 to Agreement No. A-12700 with Granicus, Inc., increasing the amount of the Agreement from $349,919 to $359,303.80, for the period of July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2019, in order to replace the Stream Replicator product with the Virtual Performance Accelerator product;
b. Approve non-standard terms and conditions based on the recommendation of the Director of Information Technology Department and Clerk of the Board;
c. Authorize the Contracts/Purchasing Officer to sign two future amendments to this Agreement with the same Agreement terms; and
d. Authorize the Auditor-Controller to transfer funds from Fund 020-2883 PEG Funds upon request from the Information Technology Department as expended.
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RECOMMENDATIONS:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Approve and authorize the Contracts/Purchasing Officer to execute Amendment No. 2 to Agreement No. A-12700 with Granicus, Inc., increasing the amount of the Agreement from $349,919 to $359,303.80, for the period of July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2019, in order to replace the Stream Replicator product with the Virtual Performance Accelerator product;
b. Approve non-standard terms and conditions based on the recommendation of the Director of Information Technology Department and Clerk of the Board;
c. Authorize the Contracts/Purchasing Officer to sign two future amendments to this Agreement with the same Agreement terms; and
d. Authorize the Auditor-Controller to transfer funds from Fund 020-2883 PEG Funds upon request from the Information Technology Department as expended.
SUMMARY
This Amendment will replace the Stream Replicator product with the Virtual Performance Accelerator (VPA) product. The VPA has additional features that will support the high definition video feature and will keep bandwidth use to a minimum eliminating system slowdown during high use periods.
DISCUSSION:
Granicus, Inc., is a vendor that has provided a software and hardware solution for the Clerk of the Board (COB) since June 2008. This solution streamlined the processes associated with uploading the audio, video, and electronic files of public meeting agendas and enabled online, public access to these materials on the County of Monterey webpage. Prior to 2008, the County was using Granicus, Inc, to record the audio portion only of live meetings. In addition, Granicus, Inc., manages the Government Channel webpage. This webpage provides information to the public regarding the Government Channel program schedule as well as access to previously broadcast programming. The implementation of this comprehensive software solution and webpage support has furthered the Board's goal of providing greater public access to public meetings for the citizens of the County of Monterey. The original, cumulative amount authorized by the Board for this agreement was $278,033.
In August 2014, the Board approved Amendment No.1 to the Granicus Agreement, adding the Boards and Commissions module to the existing software subscription and hosting. Amendment No. 2 to the Agreement with Granicus, Inc., will allow for replacement of the Stream Replicator module with the Virtual Performance Accelerator (VPA) module. These items enable County staff to view live meetings broadcast from the board chambers without using the Internet. This replacement is critical because the current operating system for the Stream Replicator will no longer be supported after July 2015. Also the current system is housed on an aging physical server which has no backup should technical issues occur. The VPA module will provide cost savings because it can be housed on a virtualized server, saving the cost of a new physical server. Better redundancy will result from using a virtualized server rather than a physical server. The VPA also offers new features and enhancements not currently offered by the Stream Replicator for example, with the VPA the Clerk of the Board will not have to use a software program called "Live Manager" which has had problematic performance. The VPA will allow the Clerk of the Board to access the controls and functions of "Live Manager" from a web page which will provide a more trouble free process. The additional cost included in Amendment No 2 is $9,384 and the cumulative amount of the Agreement proposed by Amendment No. 2 is $359,303.80.
It is the recommended by the Director of Information Technology that the Board approve the non-standard terms. The approval of this action will ensure that the managed services provided by Granicus, Inc., which includes software licensing, data hosting, storage, web page support and video/audio streaming services, continue and that the residents of the County of Monterey maintain accessibility to public meetings held in the Board chambers.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
This Amendment No. 2 was not approved by County Counsel due to its incorporation of the non-standard, unacceptable terms set forth in the original Agreement with Granicus, Inc.; these terms were accepted by the Board when it approved the original Agreement on June 17, 2014 and remain unchanged. Risk Management has reviewed Amendment No. 2 and concurs with County Counsel's comments.
FINANCING:
The $9,384 for this Amendment has been included in the FY 2014-2015 Adopted Budget for the Information Technology Department, ITD 1930, Unit 8436, INF002 and reimbursed by the Clerk of the Board's Department 1300-8020-6603 (COB001). Transactions relating to each fiscal year will be included in each Department's respective Recommended Budget.
Prepared by: Elizabeth Crooke, Management Analyst III, 755-5108
Approved by:
Dianah Neff, Director of Information Technology, 759-6923
Attachments:
1. Executed Agreement No. A-12700 with Granicus, Inc.
2. Executed Amendment No. 1, to Granicus, Inc Agreement
3. Proposed Granicus Amendment No. 2
4. Exhibit A-2