Title
Information Technologies Department recommending the Board:
1) Make findings in accordance with Procurement Policy C-17, Section 3.4 (4), Exemptions from Competitive Bidding due to a competitively bid agreement being utilized;
2) Authorize the use of Agreement US-NCPA 01-86 between Carahsoft Technology Corp. and Region 14 Education Service Center as the lead public agency for the competitively bid services;
3) Approve and authorize the Purchasing Agent to issue a Purchase Order to ePlus Technology Inc. in the amount of $109,430.90 for the purchase of Mimecast Security Software and support services for a three-year period from March 31, 2023, through March 30, 2026; and
4) Approve and authorize the Director of Information Technologies or Assistant Director of Information Technologies to sign Quote 22918704 and subsequent purchase documents that do not extend the term of the services or exceed the amount of the purchase order.
FUNDING: General Fund.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
The Information Technologies Department is looking to contract with ePlus Technology Inc. to provide Mimecast Security Software and support services for increased email security, data governance, and collaboration security. Mimecast uses their Alliance and Application Programming Interface (API) Ecosystem to deliver a layer of protection that defends against highly sophisticated attacks while also providing email continuity to keep work flowing. The Mimecast platform integrates with the County’s current security platforms, including Palo Alto Networks and Crowdstrike.
Mimecast provides targeted threat protection to help establish a foundation for enterprise-wide resilience, which helps to deter everything from ransomware to impersonation. They also provide archiving solutions for governance, risk, and compliance to bring resilience to data management to keep the County’s data, people, and communications protected. Mimecast further protects the County in the face of increases in email usage, email-based threats, and the increased sophistication of cyberattacks.
The requested approval will authorize the Purchasing Agent to issue a Purchase Order to ePlus Technology Inc. to provide Mimecast Security Software and support services to the County for a three-year period from March 31, 2023, through March 30, 2026, in the amount of $109,430.90.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board could decide not to approve this purchase.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
N/A
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Procurement & Contracts
County Counsel
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Appropriations are available in Fiscal Year (FY) 22022-23 Budget for the purchase of this solution and have been included in the FY 2023-24 budget. Appropriations will be included for future year budgets as needed.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
N/A
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Good Governance
CONTACT
Tonya Digiorno, Director of Information Technologies