Memorandum
City of Lawrence
Information Technology Department
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To: |
Dave Corliss , City Manager |
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From: |
James Wisdom, Information Technology Department |
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cc: |
Alan Landis, Purchasing Specialist Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager Cynthia Wagner, Assistant City Manager Jonathan Douglass, Assistant to the City Manager |
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Date: |
February 21, 2013 |
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Re: |
Recommendation for RFP R1217 for Internet Services |
History
For the last few years the City of Lawrence has used a 20Mb bi-directional Internet connection supplied by AT&T to conduct business for the City employees and provide services to the citizens of Lawrence. Our current contract has been costing about $2,099 per month, but was expiring and up for renewal consideration. The bandwidth needs of the City of Lawrence had continued to grow and our department’s recommendation was to increase the bandwidth to a minimum of a 100Mb bi-directional connection. The increased bandwidth would allow us to improve our service capabilities and our staff was fairly confident that we could obtain increased bandwidth for about the same we were currently paying for 20Mb.
Request for Proposal Vendors
On January 4th, RFP R1217 was sent via email to representatives of AT&T, CenturyLink, Community Wireless, KanREN, Knology, and Verizon Wireless, and also advertised on DemandStar.com. Before the submittal deadline we also received visits from Kansas Fiber Network and Mercury Wireless inquiring about the RFP. The RFP response deadline was Friday, January 25th. The City received responses from six vendors; AT&T, KanREN, Knology, Mercury Wireless, MiTel, and Wicked Broadband. KanREN, AT&T, and Knology quoted prices significantly less than the other three.
Proposed Costs
Below is a cost breakdown of the six proposals:
|
Vendor Name |
Year #1 Costs |
Year #2 Costs |
Year #3 Costs |
Total 3-Yr Costs |
Optional IP’s |
Total w/Option |
|
KanREN |
$22,800.00 |
$21,800.00 |
$21,800.00 |
$66,400.00 |
No Costs |
$66,400.00 |
|
AT&T |
$25,526.40 |
$25,526.40 |
$25,526.40 |
$76,579.20 |
No Costs |
$76,579.20 |
|
Knology |
$24,000.00 |
$24,000.00 |
$24,000.00 |
$72,000.00 |
$18,000.00 |
$90,000.00 |
|
Mercury Wirel. |
$41,026.08 |
$41,026.08 |
$41,026.08 |
$123,078.24 |
$1,440.00 |
$124,518.24 |
|
Wicked Broadb. |
$47,988.00 |
$47,988.00 |
$47,988.00 |
$143,964.00 |
$11,520.00 |
$155,484.00 |
|
MiTel |
$58,839.00 |
$58,839.00 |
$58,839.00 |
$176,517.00 |
No Costs |
$176,517.00 |
AT&T currently provides the City of Lawrence 32 Public IP Internet Addresses for servers and services accessible directly from the Internet. The City requested the vendors to provide optional costs for an additional 32 IP addresses, for a total of 64 IP addresses. The additional addresses would allow for the future expansion of the City’s network and also to provide future addresses in case the Police Department would use the same service provider in the future. KanREN offered the City of Lawrence up to 512 IP addresses at no additional charge.
RFP Committee
The RFP proposals were reviewed by a committee of five; James Wisdom, I.T. Director, John Williams, Network & Technical Services Manager, Ed Mullins, Finance Director, Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager, and Jeff Perry, KU’s Deputy Technical Services Manager. KU currently deals with four of the six vendors submitting proposals. The committee’s recommendation was to award the RFP for Internet services to KanREN, Inc.
KanREN Information
KanREN is a non-profit Internet service provider that specializes in government and education services. KanRen.net provides ISP services for KU, K-State, KU Medical, Johnson County Community College and many other organizations. KanRen’s offices are located here in Lawrence on Wakarusa Drive. KanREN is a founding member of Internet2, which is an advanced not-for-profit United States networking consortium led by members from the research and education communities, industry, and government.
KanREN Website: http://www.kanren.net
KanREN Network: http://www.kanren.net/images/KanREN%20Backbone%20L2%20v4-6.pdf
Although KanREN has focused on educational institutions their charter allows for dealing with City and County governments and community anchor institutions. In fact, KanREN had begun efforts to work with local governments and had already obtained approval from their board of directors before this RFP opportunity was available. KanREN’s personnel believe that with KanREN’s headquarters being here in Lawrence that the City of Lawrence and Douglas County would be the most logical organizations to start with.
To complete a connection with KanRen the City would need to connect our fiber to KU’s Ellsworth Hall building. The City and KU staffs had already begun agreement discussions to allow the City and KU to connect networks, which will provide a great number of opportunities beyond the KanREN connection. The City fiber pull-box and the fiber conduit entry for KU are only a little over 100 feet apart. The City and County both want to connect to KU, and plan to pay $5,531 each for the expense to complete the connection. KU would be allowing us to use approximately 2,000 feet of their existing conduit.
Project Funding
Funds for Internet services are part of the Information Technology Department’s annual budget.
Action Requested
Staff requests that City Commission authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with KanREN, Inc. for a one-year contract for $22,800.00, with optional annual renewals to provide Internet services for the City of Lawrence, pending approval of an agreement between the City and KU that is currently being developed.