Oxnard CIO asks committee to recommend $1.5 million Microsoft license agreement, outlines move from Google Workspace

Rob Rubin, chief information officer for Oxnard City, told the Finance and Governance Committee that the city should enter a three-year Microsoft Enterprise Agreement with CDW Corporation to license desktop and server software and cloud services, recommending the committee ask City Council to authorize the mayor to execute the contract.

"The recommendation is that the finance and governance committee recommend that city council approve and authorize the mayor to execute an agreement with CDW Corporation, agreement number 32600479, for an amount not to exceed $1.5 million for the purchase of Microsoft licenses for the three-year agreement term of May 1st, 2026 through April 30, 2029," Rubin said. He identified the base annual licensing cost at about $311,000 and explained the estimate includes a 10% contingency to cover unexpected expenditures.

Rubin said Oxnard City has maintained a Microsoft enterprise agreement since 2011 to license software, cloud services and infrastructure across city departments, listing products such as the Windows operating system, the Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), SQL Server, Windows Server and System Center. He said the city typically "piggybacks" on the County of Riverside’s competitively bid Microsoft EA master purchase agreement — a contract used by more than 900 public agencies — to obtain discounted pricing that would otherwise be available only to larger public entities.

Rubin described three key benefits of the proposed enterprise agreement: locking in favorable pricing, providing equal annual installments for predictable budgeting (the current base is about $311,000 per year), and granting full access to products and software assurance that delivers continuous patches, security updates and version upgrades. "It provides access to software assurance that ensures continuous patches and security updates and version upgrades that keep our systems up to date and reduce vulnerabilities for cyber exposure and support costs," Rubin said.

He said the city performs an annual reconciliation of product and licensing changes — a "true up" of actual license use versus predicted license use — to keep the agreement right-sized and scalable. Rubin also outlined plans to migrate from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365: the first year will serve as a pilot and foundation to test integration, train IT staff and set up data migration systems; later years will broaden rollout, archive legacy Google data and optimize the city's productivity systems.

On fiscal details, Rubin presented a projected cost path that starts with the base EA amount (about $311,000 in year one) and adds incremental migration-related costs as Microsoft utilization rises (estimates shown as $0 the first year, then $145,000 and $285,000 in subsequent years), plus a 10% contingency. He summarized the total at approximately $1.36 million before contingency and a total not to exceed $1.5 million.

Rubin concluded by asking for questions; the provided transcript records his recommendation and presentation but does not show committee questions, a committee vote, or final approval by City Council.

The Finance and Governance Committee will need to refer the recommendation to the full City Council for any formal authorization or contract execution.