DeKalb County approves annual IT maintenance contracts, ratifies cloud‑service term extension
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Summary
The Operations Committee approved annual maintenance and support renewals for Juniper and Palo Alto network equipment and ratified a previously provided short‑term extension and a substitute to extend Microsoft Azure service credits through April 30, 2026, at an amount not to exceed $2,001,600.
DeKalb County’s Operations Committee approved several information‑technology procurement items covering network hardware maintenance and a ratified extension of Microsoft Azure service credits.
The committee approved an annual maintenance and support agreement for Juniper network equipment, awarded through a statewide contract to “Juniper” (via MGT Impact Solutions LLC) for an amount not to exceed $510,833. A county IT staff member described the purchase as the annual support and maintenance of the county’s enterprise networking equipment and said the request also covers purchases to replace obsolete gear or outfit new locations.
Separately, the committee approved a statewide contract for Palo Alto firewall equipment maintenance and related services, awarded to Palo Alto Networks Inc. (via MGT Impact Solutions LLC), for an amount not to exceed $705,000. An IT staff member explained the Palo Alto equipment provides firewall filtering in the county’s data center and in its Microsoft Azure tenant; Juniper equipment, by contrast, provides the physical networking layer.
The committee also authorized a substitute change to a previously discussed Azure contract term increase. Staff said the request ratifies an already‑provided 40‑day term extension effective February 2025 and extends the contract term through April 30, 2026, with a contract funds and term increase not to exceed $2,001,600. An IT staff member said the county runs “over 80% of our server infrastructure in this Microsoft Azure government tenant,” which provides government‑specific certifications such as CJIS and other federal and state certifications. Staff estimated the typical Azure run rate at about $140,000–$150,000 per month and said the annual total varies with compute and storage consumption.
Committee members discussed a clerical error in the originally posted term date and instructed staff to submit a substitute agenda item reflecting the April 30, 2026 end date; the committee approved the substitute on the assumption the date correction would be submitted.
The items were approved by voice votes. After the votes, the committee heard a brief personnel announcement: Barry Puckett, deputy director of IT, said he is leaving DeKalb County for a position in Jackson County, Georgia; commissioners thanked him for his service.
