Title
Consider recommendation from EAA staff to approve the expenditure of funds to Doublehorn Communications for cloud computing brokerage services in an amount not to exceed $80,000.
Body
RECOMMENDED MOTION:
Move the board approve the expenditure of funds to Doublehorn Communications for cloud computing brokerage services in an amount not to exceed $80,000.
SUMMARY:
The purpose of this agenda item is for the board to consider an EAA staff recommendation to approve an expenditure of funds to Doublehorn Communications for cloud brokerage services in an amount not to exceed $80,000. The State of Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) negotiates agreements with vendors for technology services that include preferred pricing and services. Government entities within the state have the opportunity to purchase goods and services from these agreements and take advantage of these pre-negotiated prices and services. Doublehorn Communications is currently a vendor listed on the State of Texas DIR contract and as such, the EAA may purchase services from Doublehorn through the DIR contract, without the need to conduct a formal procurement process.
Since 2014, the EAA has been utilizing Doublehorn Communications cloud brokerage services for hosting software applications in a cloud environment. The current agreement with Doublehorn through the State of Texas DIR contract is not to exceed $50,000 per year based primarily on the amount of storage space required and the amount of access activity. These services allow the EAA to host several database applications in the cloud. By hosting applications in a cloud environment, the EAA forgoes the expenses associated with purchasing and maintaining application servers in-house and instead pays a pro-rata share of server space for hosting applications in a cloud environment.
In July 2016, the EAA contracted with Web-Hed Technologies, Inc., for the development of a new enterprise database to replace the current EAGIS database. To provide the additional cloud services anticipated to be required to host this database project, staff anticipates the cost to be approximately $30,000, above the current contract.
If approved, this would bring total estimated expenditures for cloud brokerage and hosting services through Doublehorn Communications to an amount not to exceed $80,000 annually.
As a quorum of the Finance/Administrative Committee was not present at the September 27 meeting, this item is coming to the board as a staff recommendation. Staff recommends the board approve the expenditure of funds to Doublehorn Communications for cloud computing brokerage services in an amount not to exceed $80,000.
M/WBE PARTICIPATION:
Doublehorn Communications is not an M/WBE vendor.
STRATEGIC PLAN REFERENCE:
This agenda item supports the EAA's policy direction as set forth in the EAA 2016-20 Strategic Plan: Goal B. Ensure Effective Management of the Edwards Aquifer.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Funding is available in the 2016 operating budget and is included in the 2017 proposed operating budget to meet the EAA’s cloud storage needs.