To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Philip Savino, Director, Department of Technology
Prepared By:
prepared
Philip Savino, Director, Department of Technology
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presenter
Presenter: Philip Savino, Director, Department of Technology
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Subject:
Title
12:15 PM *Select Source Bid Waiver Request for Pure IP
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The purpose of this drop-in session is to seek approval from the BOCC for a waiver per the Purchasing Policies for a select source bid waiver for Pure IP, a phone carrier used for Microsoft Teams telephone network connectivity.
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Background and Discussion: To support IT's modernization efforts, a project is planned for 2025 to migrate from the Cisco phone system to the Microsoft Teams phone system. The Cisco system, installed in 2008, is nearing the end of its life cycle. It relies heavily on on-premises equipment that is increasingly expensive to maintain and requires significant technical expertise to support. Additionally, the Cisco system lacks integration capabilities with modern communication platforms, such as Microsoft Teams and contact center solutions.
The Microsoft Teams phone system is being implemented due to its widespread adoption across the County, its reliance on cloud-based infrastructure rather than hardware IT needs to maintain, and its enhanced communication features that better serve a mobile workforce. Teams also provides interoperability with other platforms, such as the upcoming Webex Contact Center upgrade. To enable Teams to make and receive external phone calls, the County must select a telecommunications carrier certified by Microsoft to provide public phone network connectivity.
IT researched Microsoft-approved carriers used by other Colorado jurisdictions (City of Boulder, County of Boulder, City of Brighton, and Town of Windsor) and identified Pure IP as a carrier with a successful track record. After obtaining quotes from Microsoft-certified carriers Granite, Lumen, and Pure IP, IT found that Pure IP offered the lowest cost, saving the County $65,253 annually compared to the next lowest quote. Additionally, selecting Pure IP would save the County $60,321 per year versus what we pay for our current service. Due to the complexity of managing coexistence between the Cisco and Teams systems during the migration, and with our Cisco license agreement expiring in April 2025, IT is requesting a Select Source waiver for Pure IP. The waiver is requested due to the time-sensitive nature of the Cisco license expiration, the proven success of Pure IP in peer local governments, its status as a Microsoft-certified carrier, and their unique connectivity solution to avoid dual carrier costs and maximize budget savings in 2025.
Fiscal Impact: There is no fiscal impact because the telecommunications budget line item in the 2025 IT budget is sufficient to cover the Pure IP monthly recurring costs.
Alternatives: Selecting a different Microsoft-certified carrier will incur a higher monthly cost for the needed phone network connection and result in higher migration costs due to having concurrent phone network connections.
Alignment with Strategic Plan:
☒Be fiscally sustainable
☒Provide essential and mandated service
☐Be community focused
Staff Recommendation: No staff recommendation
Concurrence: N/A