SR 12-13-2022 5F
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: December 13, 2022
Agenda Item: 5.F
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Joseph Cevetello, Chief Information Officer, Information Services
Department, Infrastructure and Cloud Services
Subject: Award Request for Proposal to Impex Technologies, Inc. for Modernization of
the City's Data Center
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of Exemption pursuant to 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense
Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
2. Award RFP #316 to Impex Technologies, Inc, a California-based corporation,
for Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) and Cloud-hosted Disaster
Recovery solution to provide on-premises Nutanix server equipment,
installation, and integration services to replace the existing Hewlett Packard
Enterprise servers and storage systems; and
3. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with
Impex Technologies, Inc., in an amount of $933,273 for three (3) years, with
two additional one-year renewal options of $311,091 per year for a total
amount not to exceed $1,555,455. (including a 10% contingency), with future
year funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Summary
The server and data storage equipment in the City’s data center are outdated, out of
warranty, and must be replaced and modernized to meet the current demand for
business software applications. The replacement of obsolete server and data storage
equipment is essential to ensure business continuity and reliable services for the
public. The Information Services Department replaces server and data storage
equipment on a seven-year cycle; the last replacement was in 2016. Following a
competitive Request for Proposal process, staff recommends Impex Technologies,
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Inc. as the best bidder to provide replacement server and data storage equipment
and associated services for the City’s Data Center modernization initiative.
Discussion
The City maintains a centralized data center facility located in City Hall. The data
center hosts the City’s business software applications and data, including servers
supporting public safety systems, library systems, permitting, water-utility billing,
financials and many other systems used by City staff in support of City services.
There are approximately three hundred servers and data storage systems housed in
the data center that support all City operations. The City also maintains server
equipment at an alternate data center location in Las Vegas, Nevada. The backup
data center location serves as the City’s disaster recovery site to ensure business
continuity in the event of a total loss of the City’s primary data center in City Hall.
In 2016, the City replaced server and data storage systems in the City’s main data
center and backup data center locations by deploying Hewlett-Packard storage and
server equipment. The Hewlett-Packard server and storage equipment is nearly
seven years old and is no longer supported by the manufacturer. Further, this critical
data center equipment is currently at capacity and cannot be upgraded to meet
increasing computing and data storage capacity demands.
Since 2016, data center and storage technologies have evolved and there are more
modern and efficient technologies available that are hosted in “the cloud.” These
technologies have high availability, reliability, and integrated disaster recovery. As
part of this data center modernization project, the City will leverage modern cloud-
based technologies to implement a hybrid cloud infrastructure (HCI) based upon the
Nutanix HCI solution. The Nutanix HCI solution unifies data center systems,
including computing, storage, networking, virtualization, and replaces proprietary,
expensive legacy infrastructure with a private/public cloud platform. The solution will
help save data center maintenance costs and free up staff time from lower value
activities like configuration and patching to focusing on innovation and digital
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transformation. The Nutanix HCI solution is a comprehensive solution that will
replace both the City’s main data center and the secondary disaster recovery data
center.
The Information Services Department estimates a cost savings of $112,409.44
annually by modernizing the City’s data center infrastructure. In 2019, the City’s
annual cost to maintain the current legacy data center infrastructure was over
$385,000. 2019 was the last full year in data center expenses since all systems fell
out of maintenance in the last two years. The cost of maintenance for the City’s
legacy data center infrastructure has increased since 2019 and has become cost
prohibitive because the equipment is no longer supported by the manufacturer. The
data center modernization initiative will lead to indirect cost savings in staff time
because there will be less hardware to maintain in the City Hall data center.
Environmental Finding
Staff recommends the Council adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect
pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
Vendor Selection
Bidder Recommendation
Best Qualified Person/Firm Impex Technologies, Inc.
Evaluation Criteria
Design & technical capabilities and ability to meet requirements, price,
stability and references, firm’s experience with projects of similar
complexity and nature, and value-added services.
Municipal Code SMMC 2.24.190
RFPs Received
DataOn, Inc.
Impex
Technologies,
Inc.
Nth Generation
Computing, Inc
Kyndryl, Inc.
Zones, Inc
RFP Data
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Posted On Posted On
Advertised In
(City Charter & SMMC)
Vendors
Downloaded
Date Publicly
Opened
5/5/2022 City's Online
Bidding Site Santa Monica Daily Press 44 6/24/2022
Justification to Award
Impex Technologies, Inc. is deemed the best bidder due to their industry expertise and
thorough responses submitted under each evaluation criteria. Impex Technologies, Inc.
demonstrated a clear understanding of the scope of services and have successfully
completed similar projects for the City of Pasadena, Los Angeles County Department of
Health Services, California State University, Long Beach, and Dominguez Hills.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve available funding from the Information Technology
Replacement and Services Fund to award a contract with Impex Technologies, Inc. to
provide Hyperconverged Infrastructure and Cloud-hosted Disaster Recovery
solutions. The requested amount of $311,091 is the first annual payment under the
proposed three-year contract. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget
approval.
FY 2022-23
Budget
Request
Amount
Future Years’
Request Amount
CIP Account # Total Contract
Amount
$311,091 $1,244,364 C7100030.689000 $1,555,455
Prepared By: Sarkis Metspakyan, Systems & Network Manager
Approved
Forwarded to Council
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Attachments:
A. Oaks_Data Center
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CITY OF SANTA MONICA
OAKS INITIATIVE NOTICE
NOTICE TO APPLICANTS, BIDDERS, PROPOSERS
AND OTHERS SEEKING DISCRETIONARY PERMITS, CONTRACTS,
OR OTHER BENEFITS FROM THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
Santa Monica’s voters adopted a City Charter amendment commonly known as
the Oaks Initiative. The Oaks Initiative requires the City to provide this notice and
information about the Initiative’s requirements. You may obtain a full copy of the Initiative’s
text from the City Clerk.
This information is required by City Charter Article XXII—Taxpayer Protection. It
prohibits a public official from receiving, and a person or entity from conferring, specified
personal benefits or campaign advantages from a person or entity after the official votes,
or otherwise takes official action, to award a “public benefit” to that person or entity. The
prohibition applies within and outside of the geographical boundaries of Santa Monica.
All persons or entities applying or receiving public benefits from the City of Santa
Monica shall provide the names of trustees, directors, partners, and officers, and names
of persons with more than a 10% equity, participation or revenue interest. An exception
exists for persons serving in those capacities as volunteers, without compensation, for
organizations exempt from income taxes under Section 501(c)(3), (4), or (6), of the
Internal Revenue Code. However, this exception does not apply if the organization is a
political committee or controls political committees. Examples of a “public benefit” include
public contracts to provide goods or services worth more than $25,000 or a land use
approval worth more than $25,000 over a 12-month period.
In order to facilitate compliance with the requirements of the Oaks Initiative, the City
compiles and maintains certain information. That information includes the name of any
person or persons who is seeking a “public benefit.” If the “public benefit” is sought by an
entity, rather than an individual person, the information includes the name of every person
who is: (a) trustee, (b) director, (c) partner, (d) officer, or has (e) more than a ten percent
interest in the entity. Therefore, if you are seeking a “public benefit” covered by the Oaks
Initiative, you must supply that information on the Oaks Initiative Disclosure Form. This
information must be updated and supplied every 12 months.
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Packet Pg. 93 Attachment: Oaks_Data Center [Revision 1] (5396 : Data Center Modernization Contract Award)
CITY OF SANTA MONICA
OAKS INITIATIVE DISCLOSURE FORM
In order to facilitate compliance with the requirements of the Oaks Initiative, the City
compiles and maintains certain information. That information includes the name of any
person or persons who is seeking a “public benefit.” If the “public benefit” is sought by
an entity, rather than an individual person, the information includes the name of every
person who is: (a) trustee, (b) director, (c) partner, (d) officer, or has (e) more than a ten
percent interest in the entity.
Public benefits include:
1.Personal services contracts in excess of $25,000 over any 12-month period;
2.Sale of material, equipment or supplies to the City in excess of $25,000 over a 12-
month period;
3.Purchase, sale or lease of real property to or from the City in excess of $25,000
over a 12- month period;
4.Non-competitive franchise awards with gross revenue of $50,000 or more in any
12-month period;
5.Land use variance, special use permit, or other exception to an established land
use plan, where the decision has a value in excess of $25,000;
6.Tax “abatement, exception, or benefit” of a value in excess of $5,000 in any 12-
month period; or
7.Payment of “cash or specie” of a net value to the recipient of $10,000 in any 12-
month period.
Name(s) of persons or entities receiving public benefit:
Name(s) of trustees, directors, partners, and officers:
Name(s) of persons with more than a 10% equity, participation, or revenue interest:
Prepared by: ____________________________Title: __________________________
Signature: ______________________________________ Date: ________________
Email: ____________________________________ Phone: ____________________
FOR CITY USE ONLY:
Bid/PO/Contract # ____________________________ Permit # ___________________________
5.F.a
Packet Pg. 94 Attachment: Oaks_Data Center [Revision 1] (5396 : Data Center Modernization Contract Award)