Recommend approval to procure VMware support and subscription (SnS) production technical support for 2019 from Insight Public Sector in the amount of $34,681.81.  The Department of Information Technology (DoIT) will use this to provide maintenance and support for the virtual infrastructure that backs various City services, including email, Lawson, and Govern.  By continuing the VMware SnS, the City will have access to technical support, the most current bug fixes, and updates.  DoIT has maintained SnS on the VMware infrastructure since 2010.  Over that time, the City has taken advantage of technical support as well as implemented numerous upgrades to the original deployment of VMWare 3.5.  Most recently, the system was upgraded to VMWare 6.5 in November of 2018.  The benefits of virtualization with VMware are in hardware cost avoidance and time-saving.  Additionally, it simplifies the work and makes the City more nimble and responsive to stakeholders.  While no unintended consequences with maintaining the VMWare SnS is foreseen, if the SnS is allowed to lapse on the virtual infrastructure, the lack of bug fixes and updates will put the City’s VMware environment at risk.  VMware is the more established and feature-rich virtualization platform on the market and with the huge investment the City has made in its VMware infrastructure over the years, there are not any alternatives that should be considered at this time.

The method of procurement used for this purchase was a request for proposal issued by Fairfax County, VA as part of the Insight Public Sector's U.S. Communities contract.  U.S. Communities is a purchasing cooperative that provides procurement resources and solutions to local and state government agencies, K-12 school districts, higher education institutions, and non-profit organizations at the contractor’s lowest available government pricing.  Third party audits are performed on all contracts and benchmarking analyses conducted to ensure ongoing value.  U.S. Communities adheres to a stringent competitive selection process for all contracts offered through the program.  Lead governmental agencies issue the competitive solicitations and oversee the evaluation, award, and contractual process. Cooperative purchasing is authorized as an appropriate procurement method in Division 10 Section 4-4152 of the City of Savannah’s purchasing ordinance.

Proposals were received on March 16, 2017.  An evaluation selection team comprised of representatives from Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, Fairfax County VA schools, Davis, CA United schools, and the city of Los Angeles, CA reviewed and scored the proposals.  A contract was awarded by Charlotte-Mecklenburg County and a master agreement with U.S. Communities was signed for a five-year period with two two-year renewal options on May 8, 2017.  Pricing is based on a 24% discount from list for equipment with an additional 10% discounted for volumes over $75,000.00.

Approval