Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the It And Cybersecurity topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cabarrus Board approves Microsoft and Barracuda renewals; district secures lower-than-budgeted pricing
Summary
The board approved annual renewals for Microsoft 365 licensing and Barracuda cybersecurity/backup services after staff solicited competitive quotes and reported costs below budgeted levels.
Cabarrus County Schools on Monday approved two information-technology purchases: a Microsoft 365 licensing renewal and a Barracuda cybersecurity and backup contract renewal.
Carl Sain presented the Microsoft purchase, which he said supports roughly 35,000 students and 4,000 staff. The total district cost for Microsoft licensing this year was reported as $269,007.25, compared with $169,767.25 the prior year and a budgeted figure that left room for market adjustments. Sain said students and staff will have access to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and OneDrive; server licensing in the agreement also supports SQL Server and Windows Server back-end systems.
On cybersecurity, staff presented a Barracuda renewal through an authorized reseller (CDW-G) for $225,873.45. The service covers email filtering, archiving, cloud backup, virus protection and related support across roughly 41,000 student accounts and 6,000 staff e-mail accounts. Presenters said Barracuda mitigates phishing, spam and malware and supports legal compliance for archiving and e-discovery.
Procurement notes: IT leaders said they solicited multiple quotes for both renewals. The Barracuda vendor and Microsoft resellers were selected after a competitive quote process; staff noted year-to-year differences in resellers and pricing but said services remain unchanged.
Board action: The board approved both purchases by voice vote; board members asked how student Chromebook users interact with Microsoft and Google products and were told students continue to use Google Docs and drive heavily while also having access to Microsoft tools.
Why it matters: These renewals underpin classroom productivity tools and cyber defenses. Staff told the board the Barracuda and Microsoft renewals were below originally budgeted amounts and will be paid from the district's technology budget.
