Finance committee reviews technology pool, Fortinet renewal and several software contracts

Tony Rack, the district's director of business administration, presented several technology items the committee will ask the full board to approve at its May 21 meeting: a one‑year technology pool agreement with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit (IU) (not to exceed $880), a three‑year Fortinet contract for network and phone infrastructure at $278,980.67 per year ($836,942 total), and renewals for a package of instructional software including BrainPOP, Newsela, Kami, Screencastify, Edpuzzle and Book Creator.

On the technology pool, Rack said the IU‑hired pool counsel issues legislative updates and responds to questions that are shared among member districts; the fee is a flat not‑to‑exceed amount intended to keep costs down. On the Fortinet renewal, Rack said the district negotiated a discount by contracting for three years and noted the district has implemented additional backup systems after a recent outage that affected phones; Joe Terraria, director of EIS, described UPS/generator backups and configuration changes taken after the Pico outage.

Rack also reviewed software license costs and usage: the district reported having consolidated to 247 paid software applications, with large usage counts for some platforms (for example, BrainPOP and Canvas usage figures were reported). Committee members asked about grade‑band coverage and whether the renewals reflected instructional needs; administrators said the renewals align to curriculum needs and that purchases route through the integration specialist, curriculum coordinators and purchasing to ensure data‑privacy checks and avoid duplication.

All contracts were presented for board approval; no votes were recorded in the finance committee meeting.