The Village of Deerfield Board of Trustees on Sept. 2 approved a resolution waiving competitive bidding and authorized the purchase of networking equipment and related implementation services from Heartland Business Systems LLC of Little Chute, Wisconsin, at a total cost of $80,072.44.

Matthew, the staff member who presented the request, told the board the existing switching equipment is more than a decade old and has reached end-of-life status with the manufacturer, creating a need for replacement to restore vendor support, security patches and capacity. He said the village solicited quotes from three resellers and recommended Heartland based on pricing and industry practice. "Probably 7 or 8 years if I had to guess," Matthew said when asked about the anticipated lifespan of the replacement equipment.

The purchase includes a line-item for implementation assistance of $11,002.77. Matthew told trustees the funds are available: "The money has been accumulated in the FERF account over years so that it is available to make the upfront purchase now." He also said the proposed switches serve the police department and public works sites and facilitate communication back to the primary data center; the servers and switching equipment are separate elements of the village's overall IT infrastructure.

Trustees moved, seconded and approved the resolution to waive competitive bidding and authorize the contract. Roll-call votes recorded by the clerk show affirmative votes by the trustees polled during the roll call; the motion passed.

Trustees asked about coordination and integration with previously purchased servers, equipment lifespan and whether leasing had been considered. Matthew said leasing options exist but have not proved financially worthwhile in past purchases because interest and lease terms often reduce upfront discounts available to the village. He also offered to follow up after the meeting on a separate matter about tablet updates that a trustee had raised.

The resolution authorizes the village to proceed with the Heartland purchase and implementation services and notes the procurement was budgeted for the current year. The village indicated the equipment purchase is funded from capital replacement reserves in the FERF account.

Next steps: staff will finalize contract documents with Heartland Business Systems and schedule implementation work; trustees did not place additional conditions on the award during the meeting.