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Supervisors press Department of Technology as COIT pushes citywide IT consolidation; Avaya contract continued
Summary
After months of COIT work to centralize IT purchasing and data centers, the committee considered an ordinance to create a chief information officer and strengthen citywide ICT planning. Heated questioning centered on an Avaya PBX amendment the department asked the committee to approve; supervisors continued the Avaya item to allow further review.
The Budget & Finance Committee took up a package of IT items that included a proposed ordinance to strengthen the Committee on Information Technology (COIT), create a formal chief information officer role, and require a five-year information-and-communications-technology (ICT) capital-and-operating plan. Committee members heard COIT and Department of Technology (DT) staff describe months of work toward consolidation of data centers, a shared email platform and vendor contract consolidation.
COIT director John Walton described a centers-of-excellence approach intended to move dozens of departmental server rooms into a smaller set of secure data centers, consolidate e-mail platforms and leverage enterprise contracts to cut maintenance and vendor costs over time. "We want to reduce the total number of facilities where we keep servers... and go to a shared facilities model," Walton told the committee.
The hearing turned contentious over a proposed fourth amendment to an Avaya PBX maintenance agreement. Budget analysts recommended trimming the requested amendment by roughly $855,565 after finding that the department's "not-to-exceed" request exceeded projected expenditures and included a contingency larger than expected. DT staff described a lengthy procurement history: the prior Avaya agreement expired, Avaya continued to provide service while DT pursued alternatives, an RFP process was rebid after a protest and a local reseller emerged with a materially lower proposed price. DT asked the committee to approve a retroactive amendment to pay invoices for service delivered while the city transitioned to the new contract.
Supervisor David Campos said the facts raised "extortion"-style concerns: that a manufacturer might insist the city pay the higher retroactive invoice before transferring a maintenance relationship to a lower-cost reseller. "This really stinks," Campos said, and asked the committee to continue the Avaya item to allow more time for legal and procurement review; other supervisors echoed the need for more diligence.
Outcome: Committee members accepted technical amendments to the ICT ordinance for further consideration but continued the Avaya contract item for at least one week to allow the department and analysts to reconcile the figures and procurement history. DT was instructed to return with a consolidation plan and more detailed timeline for delivery and expected savings.
