Title
Telecommunications Staff Augmentation Services
History
The Network Engineer, Senior Systems Analyst, and IT Office Coordinator positions were vacated in December 2021. These staff positions represented three (3) of the previous six (6) within the Department of Information Technology (DoIT). Three positions were posted in December 2021: the Network Engineer position, which was upgraded to Assistant IT Director; the existing IT Senior Systems Analyst; and the new IT Systems Analyst position. Staff held and is currently conducting interviews to fill these positions. The Assistant IT Director position was filled and this person will start on February 14, 2022. It may take three (3) to six (6) months or longer to fill these remaining positions due to the extremely competitive IT job market.
The loss of these staffing resources created significant delays in completing implementations of current in-flight projects. The implementation of the Village's new Cisco Unified Communications (UC) telecommunications system was delayed two (2) months. Staff proposed and the Board of Trustees approved adding a temporary part time telecommunications analyst position to fill this gap. The person identified, who had the qualifications and experience to fill this position, backed out of the commitment January 10, 2022. Staff, therefore, solicited proposals from four (4) local IT services firms, ClientFirst, Mindsight, Insight Public Sector, and Preferred Communications Systems. ClientFirst and Preferred Communications Systems were the only firms to respond with proposals.
Staff is recommending the approval of the ClientFirst proposal (Attached) for the following reasons:
1) Experience: ClientFirst personnel have a proven track record and over 65 years of combined experience implementing telecommunications systems. They have performed similar system migrations to the Village's from Avaya to Cisco UC.
2) Familiarity: ClientFirst personnel are already familiar with the Village staff and departments having previously assisted the Village with developing the IT infrastructure Request For Proposals specifications.
3) Municipal Focus: ClientFirst is vendor agnostic and is focused on serving only municipalities. It understands the unique needs and requirements of the Village's departments.
4) Quick Start: ClientFirst can start within a week of contract signature and estimates it will be able to complete implementation by June 2022. Project completion would not be able to be delivered by this time frame using internal resources.
On February 2, 2022, this item was reviewed and approved by the Technology Commission and referred to the Board of Trustees for approval.
Financial Impact
This cost will be offset with funds approved in the FY 2022 DoIT Budget for consulting services.
Recommended Action/Motion
I move to approve a contract with ClientFirst Consulting Group, LLC through The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS) Purchasing Cooperative contract for Consulting and Other Related Services #200601 for the cost of $87,858 plus a $8,786 contingency, for a total not to exceed amount of $96,644;
AND
To authorize the Village Manager to execute all related contracts, subject to Village Attorney review.