TO:
Honorable Mayor Powell and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
David N. Carmany, City Manager
FROM:
Bruce Moe, Finance Director
Leilani Flores Emnace, Information Systems Manager
Gwen Eng, General Services Manager
SUBJECT: Title
Award of Three-Year Internet Services Provider Contract to Internap Network Services
(Estimated Annual Value of $44,000)
APPROVE
Body
____________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the City Council:
a) Waive formal bidding per Municipal Code Section 2.36.140 (waivers); and
b) Approve a three-year internet services provider (ISP) contract with Internap Network Services with an estimated annual value of $44,000.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Funds to upgrade the City's Internet service bandwidth are included in the fiscal year 2012-2013 Information Systems budget.
DISCUSSION:
Internet services are a necessary business tool for both staff and citizens. Over 300 laptops, desktops, servers, and citywide applications require Internet access. Over the past few years, demand has increased while the access speed has remained unchanged. Many City applications require high-speed Internet access to function properly. Among these applications are:
1. Granicus - video streaming and voting system for City Council and Planning Commission meetings
2. Vision Internet Content Management Tool - Data content for the City's website
3. GoReach - Service requests for repairs and maintenance on City facilities and infrastructure
4. Active - Parks & Recreation activity registration
5. Route Match - Dial-a-ride scheduling
6. Municode - access to the Municipal Code
7. US Bank - Purchasing card program and banking services
8. Infosend - Online utility bill payments
9. Turbodata - parking citation issuance and processing
10. Department of Motor Vehicles - access to vehicle and drivers records
11. Inmate Communications - jail phone service for inmates
Additionally, Internet access is increasingly used for department training purposes via webinars and online meetings. These forums often utilize large amounts of bandwidth for video, further degrading access speeds for other purposes.
Access to the Internet is currently provided by Internap Network Services (Internap) with a speed of 3 Mbps (megabits per second). This very slow data transfer rate results in frequent video buffering (pausing), slow response times to hosted applications (listed above), general sluggish connectivity, and decreased productivity. Consequently, staff recommends increasing the access speed to 45Mbps, which will accommodate the current applications and needs, with a margin for growth.
Staff is recommending that the City upgrade the current service with Internap as opposed to soliciting bids and potentially changing providers. Internap has been a consistent and reliable Internet Service Provider for the City for several years. Their network is reliable, has predictable performance, effective routing, fully redundant connectivity and robust network performance monitoring. Additionally, if the City were to change providers, over 60 City servers and routers would be assigned new Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, requiring reconfiguration, and resulting in disruption and downtime. Further, the TLS (Transport Layer Security) certificates, which allow applications to communicate securely across a network, would need to be repurchased, with vendor assistance required to install. A change in vendor would also result in a service outage of 24-48 hours to the City's website and all applications as well as outright costs in the amount of $8,000 - $10,000 and staff time. For these reasons, staff recommends that the existing Internap service be upgraded rather than commencing service with an entirely new provider.
To ensure that the upgrade is cost effective, staff performed a comparison with other providers for similar service. Estimated annual costs range from $40,000 to $50,000 and Internap's cost is within this range. Given the City's past experience with Internap, coupled with the service disruptions caused by a change, staff recommends that the City Council waive formal bidding and approve upgrading service with Internap. The difference in base cost from the current three (3) Mbps service to 45 Mbps is $1,818 per month which doesn't include taxes and other fees.
If approved, the upgrade will be completed by mid-December.
Attachment:
1. Internap sales order