Approve purchase of replacement virtual server infrastructure hardware, and adopt a budget resolution in the amount of $607,000 to fund purchase. (No general fund impact) (4/5 vote required) (Gerney)

    A. Approve purchase of a Dell VxRAIL Virtual Server Infrastructure system; and
 
    B. Adopt a budget resolution in the amount of $607,000 to fund the replacement system; and 
 

    C. Approve amendment to the authorized equipment list

In the spring of 2014, Yolo County purchased its first enterprise-wide virtual server hardware system. Implementing the virtual system allowed the County to meet the demands for compute and storage across all departments in a more timely and efficient manner while also reducing overhead costs such as power, cooling and space needs. The standard hardware replacement lifecycle in the County is 5 years and with this system nearly 9 years old, it is starting to reach the end of its useful life.  This system currently hosts around 80% of the counties' server infrastructure.  If the current system suffers significant hardware failure, this would severely impact department operations across the county.  Replacing this system will reduce the risk of hardware failure and bring us up to date with the latest virtual server technology, known as Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI), which provides many benefits including simplified deployments, simplified management, enhanced scalability and reliability, improved performance, and increased agility to meet the needs of the county.

A Request For Information (RFI) was released in November 2021 to gather information on new technologies in the virtual hardware space. The Info-Tech Research Group was also contacted and assisted with providing information on these types of systems. With the information provided by the RFI and Info-Tech, along with additional research completed by ITS staff, a Request for Proposal (RFP) was developed and released by County Procurement. Four vendors submitted proposals, with one vendor being disqualified after review by Financial Services staff.

The Innovation & Technology Services Department is seeking approval from the Board of Supervisors to move forward with replacement of the current system using the funding plan outlined below.
 

 

General Services Department, Department of Financial Services, Innovation & Technology Department

Request for Proposals (RFP) Service Requested: Virtual Server Infrastructure, Bid Number FINARFPKK2214

Evaluation Criteria Included in RFP

*Original proposal was $564,700, which included 3 years of maintenance and support. After Intent to Award was provided to CDW-G, it was requested that maintenance and support be increased to 5 years, which accounts for the additional cost.

The RFP was reviewed by ITS staff.  Based on overall scoring, CDW-G was issued an intent to award.  CDW-G provided five customer references with their proposal. All five were cities and counties within California, and all but one were in northern California. Procurement contacted these references and received satisfactory responses from all.