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Approve a two-year contract amendment with Avenu Insights & Analytics for $15,829,539 to provide managed Information Technology services for the term of January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2025; Authorize the County Administrator to execute the amendment; and Delegate authority to the County Administrator, with County Counsel concurrence, to execute any subsequent amendments up to an aggregate of $74,999 per fiscal year
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Department of Information Technology (DoIT) recommends that the Board of Supervisors to:
1. Approve a two-year contract amendment with Avenu Insights & Analytics for $15,829,539 to provide managed Information Technology (IT) services from January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2025;
2. Authorize the County Administrator to execute the amendment; and
3. Delegate authority to the County Administrator, with County Counsel concurrence, to execute any subsequent amendments up to an aggregate of $74,999 per fiscal year.
SUMMARY:
The services provided by Avenu Insights & Analytics (Avenu) are critical to the ongoing successful operations of DoIT. Strategic direction for IT continues the utilization of Avenue for IT operations and maintenance activities while full-time County staff maintain Solano County IT intellectual property, engineering new solutions, and improving business relationships with County staff.
The current contract with Avenu for IT managed services expires on December 31, 2023. The updated contract amendment seeks to standardize staffing rates, continue the practice of measuring performance with service level agreements, and incentivizes Avenu to grow and develop their existing staff.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The total cost of the 24-month contract extension is $15,829,539. The contract costs by fiscal year are as follows:
FY2023/24 - $3,957,385 - 6 months are included in the current DoIT budget appropriation
FY2024/25 - $7,914,770 - 12 months will be included in the requested budget
FY2025/26 - $3,957,385 - 6 months will be included in the requested budget
These amounts include base services and any current, active work orders that were previously approved. These amounts are consistent with previous contract amendments and change orders.
DISCUSSION:
The contract amendment has been informed by labor rates in our local market to ensure Avenu can provide qualified and talented team members that bring value to Solano County. Rate adjustments for staffing positions have been shifted to match market rates where Avenu competes to find qualified staff (this includes both rates that were elevated and rates that were lowered to match the market). This work to standardize rates and bench to local market conditions is intended to bring staffing stability and hiring power for key skill sets.
The previous contract extension included terms which required re-negotiation of Service Level Requirements (SLRs) which has been successfully completed. Avenu is currently expected to perform at negotiated performance levels and is measured on a regular cadence.
A key part of successfully meeting SLRs is founded on the ongoing transformation work occurring in DoIT as previously reported. DoIT management teams, in close partnership with Avenu, is diligently and deliberately aligning the measurable and repeatable work of Operations and Maintenance to Avenu (i.e., password resets, laptop deployments, helpdesk requests, server maintenance), while shifting and retaining the work of Solano County intellectual property, engineering, and business relationships with County staff (i.e., project requirements gathering, solution design, project management). Structuring the work in this way allows Solano County to easily scale up and scale down IT capacity and it allows both the vendor and Solano County to develop clear growth plans to make targeted and wise investments in staff growth and development.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board may choose not to approve this contract, however, that is not recommended. The current contract for IT managed services expires on December 31, 2023, and not renewing the contract could cause disruption to IT service delivery. The current contract does permit for 1 year of month-to-month contract extensions, but it is not recommended to deploy this contract term as the County has successfully negotiated a new amendment.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel and the County Administrator’s Office have been involved in the contract review.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION