SR 04-10-2018 3H
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: April 10, 2018
Agenda Item: 3.H
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Joseph Cevetello, Chief Information Officer, Information Services
Department, Infrastructure and Cloud Services
Subject: Agreement for Purchase of Ruckus Network Equipment and Site Assessment
and Installation Services
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Award Bid#4310 to SmartWAVE Technologies LLC (SmartWAVE), a Georgia -
based company, for the purchase of Ruckus network equipment and site
assessment and installation services; and
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with
SmartWAVE for the purchase of Ruckus network equipment, site assessment
and installation services in an amount not to exceed $868,000, including a
$87,000 contingency, over a five-year period, with future year funding contingent
on Council budget approval.
Executive Summary
City Wi-Fi connects over 13,000 members of the public to the internet daily at speeds of
8 megabits per second upload and download. The existing equipment is now over 10
years old, is beginning to fail, and does not meet current industry standards. It is
necessary to replace the aging equipment and expand Wi-Fi coverage. Staff seeks to
engage the services of SmartWAVE, a wireless systems integrator, to conduct wireless
site surveys and analysis to determine the areas and locations where equipment is
installed, but coverage is deficient or absent altogether, as well as to design a strategic
deployment plan to optimize City Wi-Fi coverage. At this time, staff seeks approval to
enter into a five-year contractual services agreement with SmarWAVE for
site assessment and installation services in amount not to exceed $299,000 and issue a
Purchase Order for the purchase of Ruckus wireless equipment, as needed, for a period
of five years in an amount not to exceed $569,000.
Background
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The City first launched City Wi-Fi service in 2005 at Virginia Avenue Park, 3rd St
Promenade and the Main Library. There are now over 350 wireless access points that
provide free Wi-Fi service to the City parks, open spaces, facilities, entertainment
venues and 19 commercial and transit arterials.
The number of users and devices connecting to City Wi-Fi has increased substantially
in the last five years and continues to grow, primarily due to the proliferation of smart
phones and other wireless devices, and the shift to mobile -centric computing.
As part of the FY 2016-17 Capital Improvement Program Budget adoption, Council
appropriated funding to establish an ongoing replacement program. That year, as part
of the initial rollout of the project, staff replaced critical network infrastructure to improve
system reliability and increase capacity. This year, staff will begin replacing wireless
equipment installed at various City locations, as well as install new equipment to expand
Wi-Fi capacity and coverage.
Discussion
To move forward with this project, staff seeks to engage the services of SmartWAVE, a
wireless systems integrator, to conduct comprehensive wireless site surveys and
analysis to determine the areas and locations where equipment is installed but
coverage is deficient or absent altogether. Through this analysis, SmartWAVE will also
design a strategic deployment plan to optimize City Wi-Fi coverage by replacing
equipment in existing locations throughout the City, as well new public locations where
coverage has never existed. This project will be paid for by approved CIP funding from
the City Wi-Fi Replacement Program.
Vendor/Consultant Selection
After completing technical evaluation of wireless network equipment from various
manufacturers, including Cisco, HP Aruba, Ruckus and others, staff selected Ruckus
equipment as the Standard for City Wi-Fi due to the technology which performed better
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in high density environments such as 3rd Street Promenade and the Pier, esthetics and
the small form-factor of the equipment that blends in nicely with the street lights and
traffic poles, and the price point which was approximately 50% of the cost of
competitors. On December 12, 2017, the City published a Notice Inviting Bids for the
purchase of Ruckus network equipment and site assessment and installation services in
accordance with City specifications. The bid was posted on the City’s on-line bidding
site, and notices were advertised in the Santa Monica Daily Press, in accordance with
City Charter and Municipal Code provisions. 27 vendors downloaded the bid and one
bid was received before the bid close date of January 3, 2018. The bid was evaluated
based on the criteria in SMMC 2.24.072, including price, p revious experience, capacity
and skill, ability to deliver, quality of product, and compliance with City specifications
and scope of work. Because only one bid was received, Procurement conducted
additional outreach to vendors who downloaded the bid to fi nd out why they did not
submit a bid; 10 no bidders responded providing various reasons, including not being a
reseller of Ruckus products, not being able to meet the reseller certification/partnership
level specified in the bid, and not being able to offer competitive pricing due to the
discounted pricing that was extended to them by the equipment manufacturer. The bid
submitted by SmartWAVE addressed all requirements of the bid. SmartWAVE has the
highest-level services certification from the equipment manufacturer,
Ruckus. SmartWAVE has experience with similar projects for other public agencies,
including City of San Jose, City of Mountain View, City of West Hollywood, and various
other municipalities. The references provided by SmartWAVE for City of San Jose and
City of Mountain View indicated it provided outstanding service. SmartWAVE has also
provided outstanding service on previous City of Santa Monica projects. SmartWAVE
has committed to extending the City of Santa Monica fixed pricing on all Ruckus
equipment purchased for the next five years. In sum, SmartWAVE met all the
requirements defined in the bid. Based on these criteria, staff
recommends SmartWAVE as the best bidder to provide network equipment and site
assessment and installation services.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
The contract and purchase order to be awarded to SmartWAVE Technologies LLC is for
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a total not to exceed is $868,000. Funds in the amount of $218,000 are included in the
FY 2017-18 Capital Improvement Program budget in account C019158.589000. Future
year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Sarkis Metspakyan, Systems & Network Manager
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Oaks Initiative Disclosure Form-SmartWave
REFERENCE:
Agreement No. 10655
(CCS)