Title
Information Technologies Department recommending the Board:
1) Waive formal bid requirements in accordance with Purchasing Policy C-17, Exemptions from the Competitive Bidding, Section 3.4(4), due to there being a competitively bid contract with another public agency available;
2) Authorize the Purchasing Agent to utilize competitively-bid OMNIA Partners Agreement 23-6692-03 between Insight Public Sector, Inc. and Cobb County Georgia, as the lead agency, for the purchase of Amazon cloud storage solutions; and
3) Authorize the Purchasing Agent to execute a Change Order to Agreement 7808 with Insight Public Sector, Inc. for the continued purchase of Amazon Cloud Storage solutions, extending the term two years to April 30, 2028, and increasing the not-to-exceed amount from $165,000 to $500,000, with no change to contract rates.
FUNDING: General Fund with partial recovery from the Countywide Cost Allocation Plan.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
On October 17, 2023, the Board approved the use of competitively bid agreement 23-6692-03 between Insight Public Sector, Inc. and Cobb County Georgia, as the Lead Agency, for the purchase of Amazon cloud storage solutions, for an initial period ending April 30, 2026. The agreement has been extended for an additional two-year period, through April 30, 2028. Consequently, the County needs to amend Agreement 7808 with Insight Public Sector, Inc. for an additional two-year period to maintain cloud-based storage needs. Pricing details are specified in the contract and are based on usage, which may vary based on the County's needs.
OMNIA Partners is a recognized government purchasing alliance that assists participating public agencies to reduce the cost of purchased goods and services through strategic sourcing that combines the volumes and the purchasing power of public agencies nationwide. This is accomplished through an award of competitively solicited contracts for high quality products and services, for use by participating agencies. Board Policy C-17, section 3.4 (4), Exemptions from Competitive Process, which allows for exemption from competitive bidding requirements if the contract was awarded utilizing a competitive bidding process substantially the same as that utilized by the County.
Cloud storage for data backup gives the County two main advantages over on-site storage. First of all, it is instantly, and for all practical purposes, infinitely expandable. The County can consume as much storage space as needed, with no prior requests or other arrangements necessary. Also, if the County reduces its storage footprint, costs will go down instantly. The County does not pay for storage space it is not using.
Secondly, cloud storage raises Disaster Recovery posture significantly. Cloud backups are equivalent or better than off-site tape backups in every aspect. The County’s data is safe in the cloud if our data center is ever impacted by a disaster. With cloud backup, the County will be able to restore its data much faster than restoring from off-site tapes. The time required for retrieval, shipping, and restoring many terabytes of data from a tape drive can run many days or even weeks. With cloud backup, our data can begin restoring almost immediately; only an Internet connection is required.
The County's continued increase in usage of cloud storage can be attributed to a few factors, including new County systems being brought into the environment, in addition to maintaining existing systems. The migration from the legacy backup solution to the Rubrik data protection and backup services has resulted in more efficient and comprehensive data backup/restore processes that protect County data in the cloud. Ongoing costs are expected to gradually increase as the County's data backup needs naturally increase. The increase in the contract not-to-exceed (NTE) amount to $500,000 is anticipated to cover the County's Amazon Cloud Storage needs through April 30, 2028, based on current and projected utilization.
ALTERNATIVES
There are no feasible short-term alternatives to continuing to utilize Amazon cloud storage services. If this renewal agreement is not approved, the County may need to return to an on-site disk and off-site tape storage option, incurring costs for hardware, software, support services, tapes, and shipping services. This option also exposes the County to the risk of data loss in the event of a disaster.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
Legistar file 16-0874 - September 20, 2016 - Authorized the County to utilize U.S. Communities Agreement 4400006644 for Amazon cloud storage.
Legistar file 19-0624 - April 30, 2019 - Increased the Contract NTE for Agreement 2191 to $60,000 and approved the amendment extending the term to April 30, 2021.
Legistar file 20-0825 - July 14, 2020 - Increased the Contract NTE for Agreement 2191 to $135,000.
Legistar file 21-0339 - March 23, 2021 - Increased the Contract NTE for Agreement 2191 to $370,000 and approved the amendment extending the term to April 30, 2023.
Legistar file 23-0390 - April 11, 2023 - Extended the term of Agreement 2191 to October 31, 2023.
Legistar file 23-1250 - October 17, 2023 - Authorized the County to approve Contract 7808 utilizing OMNIA Partners Agreement 23-6692-03 between Insight Public Sector and Cobb County for the use of Amazon cloud storage.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Procurement & Contracts
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Funding is available in the Information Technologies Department budget for Fiscal Year 2024-25 and will be available in future years for cloud storage costs.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
N/A
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
N/A
CONTACT
Amanda Earnshaw, Interim Director of Information Technologies