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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 02-16-2021; 8-e - Contract Approval for Fiber Backbone Connecting the West Campus to the New North Campus 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: February 16, 2021 Action Agenda Item No. 8-e SUBJECT: Contract Approval for Fiber Backbone Connecting the West Campus to the New North Campus DEPARTMENT: Information Technologies ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Northrup, Chief Information Officer, 919-245-2276 PURPOSE: To authorize the Manager to execute an Agreement with NetPlanner, Inc. in order to connect facilities with County owned fiber optic backbone, thereby distributing network and phone services to the following facilities: 1. West Campus 2. Whitted Building 3. North Campus a. Detention Facility b. Environment Agricultural Center c. Parks Operations Base BACKGROUND: In Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17), the County contracted with ECC Technologies, Inc. to provide "assessment, planning and consulting in support of the County's desire to develop fiber optic technologies linking County facilities and potentially creating a county-wide Open Access (OA) [fiber] system." The resulting plan identified three phases of fiber build out to County facilities. Also, in FY17, Phase One funding was approved by the Board via the Capital Investment Plan budgeting process. Phase One, while not specifically defined at the time of approval, was further developed to include partnering and cost sharing with the Town of Hillsborough. The intention was to build out fiber runs between County facilities located in Hillsborough and, for the Town of Hillsborough's part, to lay the groundwork for a town built fiber to the home project. Phase One in that form never happened. The contract approval currently before the Board seeks to build upon the original intention of the County to build a fiber network between the County facilities listed above and to create a fiber network that can be used with an eye toward economic development and internet expansion. The Town of Hillsborough is aware of this project and is looking to partner with the County at a future date and tie into the fiber proposed in this contract. 2 Finally, Information Technologies along with Finance and Asset Management Services, issued a request for proposal (RFP) in October and again in December soliciting competitive bids for this work. The review team used the standard County RFP Evaluation Template that considers the following factors: • Vendor experience as it relates to the scope of work • Total cost of each project • Project Timeline and Methodology • Project Organization Scoring when averaged resulted in NetPlanner, Inc. with the highest score. Additionally, NetPlanner, Inc. was the only bidder to propose a fully underground or buried fiber solution with scalability, i.e., one conduit for running the fiber and another spare conduit for future use. FINANCIAL IMPACT: Based on the Board Approved FY17 Capital Investment Plan, there are available funds for this contract. The contract cost is $302,532.14. Using raw numbers, the leased network service cost to connect these buildings is approximately $2,000 per month. Therefore, the County would start seeing savings after approximately thirteen years. Fiber infrastructure has an amortization rate of twenty-four years per section 168-c of the Federal IRS depreciation statute for fiber optics and has a life span well beyond this amortization rate. The County currently owns fiber that is greater than twenty-five years old, i.e., the downtown campus fiber optic network. This contract for$302,532.14 was reviewed by the County Attorney's Office and does not deviate from the standard requirements of the Attorney's Contract Template. The term of contract is from February 22, 2021 to June 18, 2021. SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: The following Orange County Social Justice Goals are applicable to this item: • GOAL: ENSURE ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY The creation and preservation of infrastructure, policies, programs and funding necessary for residents to provide shelter, food, clothing and medical care for themselves and their dependents. • GOAL: ENABLE FULL CIVIC PARTICIPATION Ensure that Orange County residents are able to engage government through voting and volunteering by eliminating disparities in participation and barriers to participation. This project and the larger project of which it is a part and as outlined in the Fiber Strategic Plan, will allow private parties, e.g., internet service providers or entities, to leverage unused fiber along this backbone. Additionally, while social justice is not intrinsic to fiber optic in and of itself, social justice is implicit to the missions of the departments served by this infrastructure. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There are no Orange County Environmental Responsibility Goal impacts associated with this item. This project will follow all applicable state and local laws regarding environmental impact. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends the Board authorize the County Manager to execute the Agreement and to execute any subsequent amendments for contingent and unforeseen requirements up to the approved budgeted amount on behalf of the Board and upon final County Attorney review.