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CITY OF VANCOUVER
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Date: |
April 16, 2004 | |
Author: |
Martin Crocker | |
Phone No.: |
873-7647 | |
RTS No.: |
04132 | |
CC File No.: |
1805 | |
Meeting Date: |
May 20, 2004 |
TO: |
Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets |
FROM: |
General Manager of Corporate Services |
SUBJECT: |
Award of the Supply of a Consolidated Information / Data Storage System: RFP PS04001 |
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council award the contract arising out of RFP PS04001, for the acquisition, installation and future upgrade of two enterprise data storage systems, to Mainland Information Systems Ltd., at a total estimated cost of $450,000 plus applicable taxes, subject to a contract satisfactory to the Director of Legal Services and the Manager of Materials Management;B. source of funding to be the Information Technology Long Term Financing Plan.
C. THAT all legal documentation is to be in a form which is satisfactory to the Director of Legal Services and the Manager of Materials Managements;
D. THAT upon approval of the legal documentation by the Director of Legal Services and the Manager of Materials Management, that the Director of Legal Services be authorized to execute and deliver the necessary agreement on behalf of City Council, and
E. THAT no legal rights or obligations shall arise hereby and none shall arise or be granted hereafter unless and until all contemplated legal documentation has been executed and delivered by all parties.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council's policy is to enter into contracts for the purchase of equipment, supplies and services that will give the best value based on quality, service and price.
Contracts with a value over $300,000 are referred to Council for approval.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to recommend that Council award the contract for the supply and installation of data storage systems that will serve a large part of the City's consolidated data storage needs for the next several years. This recommendation is based on the evaluation of responses to a public process through Request for Proposal PS04001: The Supply of a Consolidated Information / Data Storage Environment.
BACKGROUND
In November 2003, Council approved the Information Technology Infrastructure - 2003 Expansion and Replacement Program, which identified a need, amongst other things, to "refresh the City's data storage infrastructure to replace obsolete file servers, accommodate data growth and improve data security". The approach described included acquisition of a Storage Area Network (SAN) to be located at the City's primary data centre at E-Comm, secondary data storage to be located at the City's backup data centre at the Chess Street Fire Training Centre, and replication of data between the two sites to ensure business continuity in the event of a loss of service from either data centre. Estimated costs of the whole project were $2,150,000, of which this component represented around $450,000. Because of the specialized nature and high cost of the equipment, it was decided to issue an RFP. The other hardware and software acquisition components of the project are being sourced through existing contracts and one other RFP for specialized equipment.
RFP PS04001 for "The Supply of a Consolidated Information / Data Storage Environment" was prepared by the Information Technology Department, issued in January 2004 and closed on Feb 4 2004.
Standard proposal call and evaluation procedures were followed:
· The RFP and associated form of contract was approved by Legal Services;
· The process was managed by the Materials Management department of Corporate Services;
· An evaluation committee, consisting of three members of the IT department, was formed;
· An evaluation process was established, including the following criteria:
o Proponent qualifications;
o Equipment functionality;
o Configuration, Deployment and Training Services;
o Warranty and Maintenance Services;
o Value-Added Services, and
o Financial Offering.
· Proposals were evaluated and scored by the evaluation committee;
· Proponents were short-listed and the short-listed proponents were interviewed to confirm the evaluation team's understanding of their proposals;
· The evaluation committee developed the recommendation for the successful proponent contained within this report.
The RFP requested proponents to respond to the following requirements:
· A primary disk storage array with a capacity of 5TB (1 TerraByte is roughly 1,000,000,000,000 characters of data), associated network switching infrastructure, and related installation, training and warranty (repair) services;
· A secondary backup disk storage array, also with a capacity of 5TB, software to replicate data between the primary and secondary array, and related services, and
· A future upgrade of each array to 10TB capacity to accommodate longer-term growth.
DISCUSSION
Proposals were received from five proponents. Costs are listed in the following table:
Proponent |
Total Cost of Primary Proposal |
Dell Canada Inc. |
$381,920 |
Mainland Information Systems Ltd. |
$436,123 |
Microserve |
$460,201 |
Seven Group Inc. |
$665,091 |
Zentra Computer technologies |
$661,561 |
All of the proposals met the basic requirements.
Two of the proposals, from Mainland and Microserve, offered a base model with the option of a newer-technology model at an additional cost of around $17,000.
The proposal from Mainland is recommended as representing best value to the City, for the following reasons:
· While the Dell proposal is low bid, Mainland and Microserve offer configurations that can be expected to offer better performance (i.e. faster response at the desktop and a greater ability to sustain periodic high workloads) and better headroom for future expansion;
· Mainland and Microserve both propose the same models of IBM-manufactured storage servers. Either of these proposals offers good value. Both proponents have a positive track record with the City, extending over a number of years. IBM is recognized as a leader in the technology marketplace and offers high stability. Finally, both IBM and the proponent have knowledgeable local support. The Mainland proposal is recommended because:
o The cost is marginally lower, and
o Mainland offered a deployment and training plan that best matches the City's needs.
· The other proposals do not offer additional benefits that justify the additional cost.
The model-upgrade option is recommended, while a software option that was proposed will not be exercised in the initial acquisition.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Based on the recommendations included in this report, the value of the contract arising from this RFP is expected to be approximately $450,000, which includes the initial equipment acquisition, deployment and training services, and 3 years of extended warranty and software licensing.
As described earlier, the budget for the centralized storage systems that were the subject of this RFP was approximately $450,000, one component of a larger "Data Storage Refresh" program with a total estimated cost of $2,150,000. Funding of $915,000 for this project was approved from the 2002 and 2003 Capital Budgets. The balance of the funding ($1,235,000) was allocated to the Information Technology Long Term Financing Plan as part of the 2004 Capital Budget.
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Stage 1, the deployment of a primary disk storage array and associated switching infrastructure in the E-Comm data centre at a cost of approximately $190,000, is scheduled for June, 2004.
Stage 2, the deployment of a secondary disk storage array and associated switching infrastructure in the Chess Street data centre at a cost of approximately $130,000, and the replication of data between the primary and secondary arrays, is scheduled for Q3, 2004.
Stage 3, a subsequent upgrade of storage at both sites at a cost estimated at $130,000 based on current pricing, is not anticipated to be required until 2005.
CONCLUSION
Based on an evaluation of the proposals submitted in response to RFP PS04001, the proposal from Mainland Information Systems Ltd is recommended as representing best value to the City. The systems proposed are expected to accommodate the bulk of the City's projected consolidated data storage requirements for the next 3 - 5 years, extending information availability, enabling managed growth, and providing an improvement in the City's ability to maintain uninterrupted services to the public.
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