HomeMy WebLinkAboutFIN-10-059 - T10-007 - Desktop Computers
REPORT
REPORT TO:
Mayor Carl Zehr & Members of Council
DATE OF MEETING:
2010-04-19
SUBMITTED BY:
Larry Gordon, Director of Supply Services
PREPARED BY:
Michelle Palmer, Buyer (2216)
WARD(S) INVOLVED:
Not Applicable
DATE OF REPORT:
2010-04-12
REPORT NO:
FIN 10-059
SUBJECT:
T10-007 – Desktop Computers
RECOMMENDATION:
That tender T10-007, Desktop Computers, be awarded to Amsdell Inc., Richmond Hill, Ontario
at their tendered price of $74,750. plus G.S.T. of $3,737.50 and P.S.T. of $5,980., for a total of
$84,467.50, plus optional hardware upgrades of $6,000., plus G.S.T. of $300. and P.S.T. of
$480. for a total of $6,780., and further, that Council authorize a contingency purchase of up to
eighty (80) additional computers including options at the tendered unit price, if required. This
contract has the option to renew for three additional one-year periods, subject to mutual
agreement.
BACKGROUND:
The annual estimated spend per year, over the previous three years, was $154,484.00
Desktop Renewal Strategy
Desktop computers are upgraded on a five-year renewal cycle. We currently have
approximately 750 computers used as a daily business tool for City of Kitchener employees.
This year we plan to renew 125 computers during the 2010 PC rollout project which represents
th
17% of the PC Fleet. The reason for upgrading fewer than 1/5 of computers this year is that a
larger than normal number of computers were upgraded in the past two years in order to
support the needs of the SAP and CityWorks implementations. The contingency amount has
been doubled this year to 80 as we expect that there will be PCs required at the CMF for
common areas and to outfit training rooms, but those specific numbers are still being
determined.
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In a 2009 survey of other municipalities, only 10% of the municipalities (including Kitchener) had
a five year renewal cycle. 57% upgraded their PCs on a four year cycle and 30% upgraded
their PCs on a three year cycle. This survey included 30 respondent municipalities, of which the
vast majority were from Ontario. The City of Kitchener has been able to make a five year
renewal cycle work by carefully specifying system components that will last the required lifetime.
We recognize that in the current economic situation, we need to be looking for possible
reductions in costs wherever possible through deferred purchases or outright avoidance of
costs. However, there are considerable impacts that are likely outcomes should we deviate
from the five year renewal cycle. Examples of these are listed below.
Customer Service Impacts: Many of the PCs in use at the City are used for front line service
delivery either over the phone or in person. Keeping these computer systems operating at an
acceptable level is critical for providing expedient customer service and ensuring that staff can
handle the requests quickly, preventing long lines and wait times.
Staff Efficiency Impacts: Any time a City staff member is waiting for the PC to respond, it
impacts their work efficiency. While this may be not be a major impact for those performing low
intensity tasks such as word processing, many of the applications in use at the City such as
Amanda, SAP, Cityworks, AutoCAD, CIS and GIS applications are very demanding of the PC
hardware and there are significant gains in staff efficiency when tasks can be completed
quicker. It is difficult to quantify these impacts as they would vary widely in each division as well
as for each specific staff position.
IT Support Impacts: The failure of an older PC causes considerable impact both to the City staff
member using it and the Client Services staff team that has to resolve the problem. With PCs
spread across over 50 sites throughout the City, there is a significant time investment to replace
a failed PC and the down time for the staff member often impacts their ability to deliver service
to their customers. It can take as much as a full work day for IT staff to replace a failed PC and
because it is not planned or scheduled, there are often follow-up visits required to resolve
issues. This type of PC failure requires reactive action to resolve which then increases our
workload making it more difficult to maintain customer service levels and ensuring that City staff
are able to use technology effectively.
Desktop Contingency Plan
The intent of the contingency amount is to ensure that we have a standard platform of PCs for a
specific period of time should the need arise to purchase more PCs due to projects, new hires
or unanticipated upgrade requirements. This contingency helps to reduce support costs (staff
familiarity with hardware, dealing with one vendor for repairs, spare parts inventories, etc.). The
contingency PCs may be funded from various departmental or project budgets or from the
Computer Reserve Fund.
Optional Hardware Upgrades
We have included the purchase of 125 Logitech Optical Mice at a cost of $25. each. We have
also included the purchase of 125 Logitech Keyboards at $23. each. Optional hardware
upgrades amount to $6,780.00, including P.S.T. & G.S.T., and have been incorporated into the
financial information.
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REPORT:
Tenders were advertised publicly in The Record, on the City of Kitchener website and the
Internet through the Ontario Public Buyers Electronic Tendering Information System. Thirteen
st
(13) potential bidders picked up tender documents, and by the closing date of Thursday April 1,
2010, two (2) tenders had been received.
The following tenders were received:
Corrected Bid
Amsdell Inc. Richmond, ON $84,467.50*
MDG Computers Canada Inc. Oakville, ON $90,258.75 $88,265.43
The tenders were reviewed by D. Murray, Manager of Client Services, who concurs with the
above recommendation.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
Funding will be provided from 6022006– 700035
Financial Report is attached.
The balance of the Computer Reserve Fund will be used to fund the upgrade and replacement
of many other components that make up the computing infrastructure at the City. In 2010/2011,
this will include the equipment required to provision the network and computer systems for the
CMF. The fund will also be used to purchase network devices such as switches/routers and
file/application/database servers as required to keep the City’s information systems operating
reliably and securely.
The base price of a desktop CPU has decreased by approximately eight percent (8%) from the
previous tender.
ACKNOWLEDGED BY:
Dan Chapman, General Manager of Financial Services and City
Treasurer
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Purchasing Tender - Desktop Computers
Funded from Cost Centre 6022006 - Computer Reserve Fund
$
Funding Sources
Current Balance 6022006, as at Apr 8, 2010 658,000.35
Additional Revenue Projected 757,956.00
Total Revenue Projected 1,415,956.35
Projected Expenditures
Tender (T10-007) 87,210.00
Existing Encumbrances 317,446.42
Projected Expenses (Unencumbered) 800,042.58
Total Expenditures Projected 1,204,699.00
Projected Reserve Balance211,257.35
Note: Amounts include taxes net of any applicable rebates.
*Any balance in this account will be used to fund future expenses related to computers.
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