Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Information Systems Department

To:	Dave Corliss City Manager
From:	Ron Hall Information Systems Director
cc:	Jonathan Douglass; Cynthia Boecker, Diane Stoddard
Date:	April 23, 2008
Re:	AT&T long distance agreement renewal

Overview

In 2003 the City of Lawrence and Douglas County entered into a three year cooperative agreement with optional renewals for long distance service with SBC Global Services, inc. (now AT&T). By combining long distance minutes used for both the City and County a very attractive long distance rate of $0.03/minute for interstate and $0.068/minute for intrastate calls was obtained. This agreement is due to expire this summer.

Usage

The table below indicates long distance usage for City and County interstate and intrastate usage for the period of March 2007 to March 2008.

	Minutes Used	Rate	Total Cost
City interstate	69,015	$0.03	$ 2,070.45
City intrastate	132,458	$0.068	$ 9,007.15
		City total	$ 11,077.60
County interstate	64,127	$0.03	$ 1,923.82
County intrastate	203,265	$0.068	$ 13,822.08
		County total	$ 15,745.90

Options for consideration

Option 1 – Renew existing agreement

AT&T would lock in the existing long distance rates and renew the cooperative city/county agreement for 36 months.

Option 2 – Issue new RFP

Receive new proposals from vendors for a new city/county agreement. If AT&T were selected, AT&T’s rate on a submitted RFP would increase from $0.03 to $0.04/minute interstate and the intrastate rate would remain at $0.068.

Option 3 – City and County do separate contracts

City would stay with AT&T with no RFP issued. The AT&T rate would increase from $0.03 to $0.0405 for interstate and remain the same for intrastate at $0.068.

Option 4 – Purchase off state contract

State contract pricing on a three year term is a rate of $0.04/minute for interstate calls and $0.07/minute for intrastate calls. These rates are higher than our existing agreement rates.

Recommendation

It is highly recommended that the existing city/county cooperative agreement be renewed to lock in the favorable current rates, especially since these rates are even lower than state contract long distance rates. Douglas County officials have discussed the various options and, per Pam Madl, wish to renew the existing cooperative agreement for another 36-month term. Since the City’s annual long distance charges amount to less than $15,000 perhaps this item would not need to be placed on the consent agenda.

Action Requested

Obtain City Manager approval to enter into a renewed 36-month city/county cooperative agreement with AT&T for long distance service.