Adopt Resolution #14-02-032 Authorizing Purchase of City Phone System With Integra

Purpose:  Enter into an agreement with Integra to replace city's current phone system

Background:  The city's existing phone system is 18-years old and is no longer eligible or covered by a maintenance contract.  The City moved into the new building in mid-2006 taking the existing Inter-Tel phone system from the old building, although, even at that time, the system had out-lived it’s projected life.  While that system is still functioning today, the cost to maintain/upgrade the system is going up with each year and our ability to do those upgrades in-house are diminishing with each year.   Due to how critical the system is to daily city operation, staff is recommending upgrading the phone system with a scalable, reliable, easy-to-manage, supportable system.
 
There are several reasons for a phone system replacement aside from the current system’s age. Our system is currently supported by Integra programmers, but that could cease at any time due to the archaic system software and scarceness of replacement parts; not to mention that support is getting very expensive. There is also the question of system reliability. In late 2011 the City’s phone system was down unexpectedly for four hours due to a hardware failure, which corrupted the system database. Residents couldn’t leave messages for city staff while the system was being repaired.
With a new system we’d be able to support and manage the hardware using internal staff – which will cut down on service calls, be able to protect the system using internal backups and reduce any potential downtime, city staff efficiency will also be increased with new features such as: wireless headsets, simultaneous ring to mobile, voicemail-to-email, on-screen softphone, internal instant messaging, and hot-desking.
 

 

The City Council was updated at a worksession earlier in the night on the various aspects that the phone system can provide and pricing.

Alternative Vendor Options:  Staff chose the MiTel system from Marco, and the Avaya system from Matrix Communications.
Marco & MiTel
While the MiTel system from Marco is very comparable to the one from Integra, the main difference being price point. The cash purchase bid from Marco came in $140,000 higher than Integra, making them the most expensive option we looked at.
Matrix & Avaya
While Matrix would be an excellent partner for the City, the systems they recommended seemed dated and were not as user-friendly as the MiTel systems. Also, certain features were only accessible by obtaining license “packages”. Managing these licenses would create hours of additional work for IT staff per year when compared to easier pricing structures offer by competitors.

Alternative Options:
  Option #1 - Accept Staff's recommendation of choosing vendor Integra - the city's current provider
  Option #2 - Select another vendor as outlined above, but at an additional cost
  Option #3 - Choose no vendor at this time and wait until the current phone system fails.  This option is not recommended as     not only would this be costly, due to down time and repair time, but the residents would also be denied timely service.



 

A phone replacement system was included in the 2014 General Fund Budget in an amount not to exceed of $105,000.

Staff recommends that the City purchase the MiTel Telephony System with Integra as the recommended vendor in the amount of $82,316.25 for the purchase of the phone system and 5-year maintenance contract (1st year cost of maintenance is zero).

 City staff has been researching phone systems since 2012 in order to find a reliable and advantageous system, as well as a vendor and support team with the longevity that we are looking for. Integra currently offers great support on our current system, but also comes highly recommended by other cities in the area as does the MiTel system. The MiTel system contains all of the existing features we currently utilize as well as many new ones that would be incredibly useful to city staff. The system is very intuitive, from staff use (phones) to system support (programming/management). Also note, the MiTel system is the newest generation of our existing Inter-Tel phone system, resulting in a smoother transition for users. It is also very reasonably priced.

Adopt Resolution #14-02-032 entering into agreements with Integra (contingent upon approval from City Attorney) for the purchase of a phone replacement system and related 5-year maintenance plan in the amount of $82,316.25.