Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Information Systems

To:	Dave Corliss, City Manager
From:	James Wisdom, Interim Information Systems Director
Date:	October 29, 2008
Re:	AT&T Plexar Custom renewal

Background:

In addition to City Hall the City of Lawrence maintains telephone service to approximately 35 other employee-staffed facilities within the city limits.  These facilities include a number of recreation and aquatic centers, two Police facilities, five Fire and Medical stations, Public Works street, sanitation and garage facilities, and water treatment plants.  In 1995 the City worked with AT&T (then Southwestern Bell) to create a cost-effective way of providing enhanced telephone service to these outlying locations as well as unifying all of the City’s telephone lines into a common pool.  The result was known as Plexar Custom and provided the ability for all locations to dial each other with four digit dialing as well as reducing costs for standard phone line service.  The initial agreement with AT&T for Plexar Custom was signed in 1995 for a 60-month term and subsequently renewed.  The current Plexar Custom agreement expires on December 1^st, 2008.  

Current Status:

The AT&T Plexar service has been extremely reliable throughout the years.  In addition to Plexar telco lines to employee-staffed facilities, the Utilities Department has also used Plexar ISDN service for emergency monitoring of many of its 40 lift stations.  The combined Plexar service for city facilities and lift stations results in a total of 389 Plexar numbers currently in use at a cost of $11.00 per month per number.  The City now has the option to renew for another 60-month term while locking in the same $11.00 per number monthly charge or opt for a shorter 36-month term at $11.92 per number monthly charge.

Considerations:

By committing to a 60-month term the City would annually pay $51,348 versus $55,642 for a 36-month term.  The terms of the AT&T Plexar agreement indicate that at least 65% of the 389 Plexar numbers must remain active during the term of the agreement.   Several of our locations are under consideration for upgrading their connections to technologies offering more bandwidth in lieu of Plexar ISDN in the coming years resulting in a lowering of Plexar numbers.  Additionally, newer technology such as Voice-over-IP (VoIP) will likely be phased in for City telecommunications projects that would further reduce the amount of Plexar service.  Therefore, Information Systems is recommending that the City lock in rates for the shorter term of 36-months rather than commit to another 60-month agreement. 

Funding:

Funding for telecommunication costs comes from all departments existing operational budgets.

Action Request:

The Information Systems department requests approval to renew the AT&T Plexar Custom agreement for a term of 36-months at a cost of $4,636.88 per month.