Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Director's Name: George Tablack
Department: Finance and Administrative Services Division: Purchasing
Information
Requested Action
title
MOTION TO APPROVE sole brand standardization of SolarWinds North America, Inc. DBA SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC, for software, and support and maintenance services using only authorized resellers, for the Enterprise Technology Services Division.
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Why Action is Necessary
In accordance with the Broward County Procurement Code, Section 21.54.c, the Board must approve standardizations greater than the award authority of the Director of Purchasing.
What Action Accomplishes
Provides for standardization for future purchases of software licenses, upgrades, and continued support and maintenance services used for the communication infrastructure points used throughout the County.
Is this Action Goal Related
No
Previous Action Taken
None.
Summary Explanation/Background
THE PURCHASING DIVISION AND THE FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DEPARTMENT/ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES DIVISION RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTION.
The Office of Economic and Small Business Development (OESBD) has not established a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) goal for this project. This project is funded in whole or in part by the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration. Since the Transit Division, one of the using agencies, is utilizing the software and Federal funds apply, this project is subject to the requirements of title 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part 26. Even though OESBD has not established a DBE Goal for this project, the County has established an overall triennial DBE program goal of 13.29% for any Federally funded Transit projects (Exhibit 1).
The purpose of the software is for the monitoring of Broward County using agency communication infrastructure points where all computers and phones are connected. The software provides alerts when communication failures occur and provides analysis reports to assist with troubleshooting performance and connectivity issues. The software is also used for the status of the communications infrastructure during the post recovery stage after weather events such as hurricanes.
The Aviation Department, the Port Everglades Department, the Enterprise Technology Services Division, the Water and Wastewater Services Division, the Transit Division, the Regional Emergency Services and Communications Department, and the Traffic Engineering Division are currently using the SolarWinds software and support and maintenance services.
In order to utilize an alternate brand of software, the County would need to redesign the current communications infrastructure, which would expend a great amount of funds and staff time and is not recommended to be in the best interest of the County.
The software has been in use since 2005, and expenditures for the software, and support and maintenance services are approximately $554,070 since 2014.
Estimated annual expenditures for software, and support and maintenance services are $190,000.
On August 19, 2020, the Assistant Director of Purchasing approved a Sole Source/Sole Brand Request Memo for SolarWinds brand software, and support and maintenance services utilizing SolarWinds authorized resellers as according to the General Services Administration (GSA), the State of Florida, or other government cooperative contracts (Exhibit 2).
Source of Additional Information
Brenda J. Billingsley, Director, Purchasing Division, (954) 357-6070
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact/Cost Summary
There is no fiscal impact for this standardization. Each requirement will be funded by the appropriate source at the time of release. Future expenditures are estimated at $190,000 per year.