HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/19/2002, C5 - WIDE AREA NETWORK IMPROVEMENTS council M. D.� 11.19-02
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CITY O F SAN LU I S O B I S P O
FROM: Bill Statler, Director of Finance
Teri Maa, Information Systems Manager
SUBJECT: WIDE AREA NETWORK IMPROVEMENTS
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Approve a request for proposals (RFP) for wide area network improvements and authorize the
CAO to award the contract if is within the project cost estimate of$300,000.
DISCUSSION
Overview
As a result of the recently approved fiber optic infrastructure partnership with Cal Poly, the City
will have an extensive fiber system in place connecting all of our major sites by March 2003.
However, as noted in the October 15, 2002 report to the Council recommending that we enter
into this cooperative agreement, in order to capitalize on this asset we need to improve our wide
area network by installing higher-performance network switches to better manage data traffic
and make full use of the greater bandwidth provided by the fiber"backbone."
Making these improvements is the purpose of this project. The selected contractor will be
responsible for purchasing and installing all of the needed equipment, which we estimate will
cost $300,000. In addition to installation, the RFP also provides for ongoing maintenance and
support. Including contingencies, this project is within already-budgeted resources.
Background
Improving our wide area network is one of the highest priority initiatives in the Information
Technology Strategic Plan adopted by the Council in March 2001. On October 15, 2002, the
Council took a major step forward in achieving this goal by entering into a cooperative
agreement with Cal Poly that will result in a comprehensive fiber optic infrastructure for the
City, connecting all of the following sites with 24-strand fiber:
2003City Facilities Connected Via the Enhanced Fiber Network: March
City Hall Fire Station No.4
Computer Training Room Corporation Yard
City/County Library Community Room Water Reclamation Facility
Public Works Administration and Parks and Recreation Administrative Offices
Engineering Offices (955 Morro) Swim Center
Utilities Administration Offices(879 Morro) Parking Administrative Offices
Police Station and Annex Palm Street Parking Garage
Headquarters Fire Station Marsh Street Parking Garage
Fire Station No. 2 Golf Course
Fire Station No. 3 Stenner Canyon Water Treatment Plant
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Wide Area Network Improvements Page 2
Under this cooperative agreement, Cal Poly will use the extensive system of conduit that the City
has installed over the past several years by closely coordinating with water, sewer, traffic signal
interconnect and private telecommunication projects. In almost all cases, this conduit was
installed at no (or very low) additional cost to the City, either as a minor addition as part of
another City "below-ground" project, or as a negotiated condition for in-street work by private
telecommunication companies. And in one case, in-lieu of conduit, we successfully negotiated
for eight miles of 24-strand fiber optic cable, which is currently in storage at the Corporation
Yard.
However, except in a few instances, no fiber optic cable had been installed in this conduit.
Under this cooperative agreement, in exchange for the use of conduit, Cal Poly will install 24-
strand fiber at all City sites that are along their planned route at no cost to the City (about 9
miles); and for those sites that are not along Cal Poly's planned route (about Trailes), they will
install City-owned fiber at a very modest cost of$40,000.
Proposed Project
While the cooperative project with Cal Poly will result in fiber connections to twenty City
locations, there needs to be "end-electronics" that transfer and send data to and from each of
these facilities. While we have this in place at most of our sites, it needs to be upgraded in order
to take full advantage of the"fiber backbone"that will be in place by March 2003.
Specifically, the project will install high-speed switches at each site that will better manage data
traffic by "segmenting" it into logical paths to and from each site, as well as increasing speeds
ten-fold at most of our sites, from 100 megabits per second (mbps) to 1,000 mbps ("Gigabit").
As we move into greater use of the geographic information system (GIS) and electronic
document management, the improved speed and reliability provided by these improvements will
be essential for effective system performance.
For system back-up, the switches will have the capability of concurrently managing both the new
24-strand fiber system as well as the current single-strand fiber system we are currently using via
our franchise agreement with Charter Cable. In the event that one segment of the system should
go down (such as when we re-constructed Santa Rosa bridge), this will allow us to seamlessly
restore service.
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A schematic of how the City's network will look after completion of this project and fiber
improvements by March 2003 is provided in Exhibit A. It shows each City site, which servers
they are connected to, and how they will be connected to the City's network (via 100 mbps fiber,
Gigabit Ethernet or, for remote users, the Internet using a "virtual private network" for reliable
and secure connectivity).
Selection Process
Along with our standard advertising for proposals, we Twill send RFP's to a number of"system
integration" vendors who represent a wide range of reputable switch manufacturers (such as
Cisco and Extreme Networks). As noted in the RFP, the selection of the successful vendor will
not be based on cost alone,but on a number of factors m well, including;
Wide Area Network Improvements Page 3
Evaluation Criteria
1. Understanding of the work required by 13. Known or intended changes to hardware
the City. and/or software over the next year.
2. Technical merit and capability of the 14. Next generation devices that are
proposed system. commercially shipping within six
3. Scalability. months from date of presentation.
4. System management and maintenance 15. Quality, clarity and responsiveness of
features. the proposal.
5. Bandwidth availability to end-users and 16. Demonstrated competence and
customers. professional qualifications necessary for
6. Provisioning and billing flexibility. successfully performing the work
7. User-interfaces and ease of use. required by the City.
17. Recent experience in successfully
8. Total cost of ownership over afive-year performing similar services.
life cycle.
9. Maintenance packages and alternatives. 18. Proposed approach in completing thework.
10. Equipment migration strategies. 19. References.
11. Equipment upgrade strategies and cost. 20. Background and related experience of
12. Training. the specific individuals to be assigned to
this project.
Selection and Contract Award Schedule
Task Date
1. Issue RFP November 20, 2002
2. Conduct pre-proposal conference December 4, 2002
3. , Receive proposals December 12, 2002
4. Complete proposal evaluation January 13, 2003
5. Conduct finalist interviews January 15, 2003
6. Finalize staff recommendation January 24, 2003
7. Award contract January 31, 2003
8. Execute contract February 7, 2003
9. Start work February 10, 2003
CONCURRENCES
The Information Technology Steering Committee concurs with this recommendation.
FISCAL IMPACT
After adjusting for the payment of$40,000 to Cal Poly under our cooperative agreement with
them, there is $327,300 remaining in our budget for wide area network improvements. Based on
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Wide Area Network Improvements Page 4
an estimated contract cost of$300,000 and the balance ($27,300) for contingencies (about 9%),
this will be adequate to fund the proposed improvements.
ATTACHMENT
Exhibit A: Schematic of the City's Wide Area Network After Completion of the Project
ON FILE IN THE COUNCIL OFFICE
Request for Proposals for Wide Area Network Improvements
G:Information Systems/WAN RFP/Council Agenda Report
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