Agenda - 05-15-2001-8f - Laserfiche WebLink

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f" = ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: May 15, 2001 Action Agen a Item No. ~` SUBJECT: Bid Award: Count Buildin Fiber O tic Cable Installation DEPARTMENT: Purchasing and PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No Information Systems ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: _ Pam Jones, 245-2652 Bid Tabulation Dick Taylor, 245-2276 _ IT Committee Recommendation TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 9fi8-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To consider awarding a bid for underground installation of fiber optic cable between a number of County buildings in downtown Hillsborough. BACKGROUND: With the impending relocation of the County's Purchasing and Central Services Department from leased space to a recently purchased building at 129 East King Street, an opportunity has arisen that would improve the speed and security of the County's information technology (IT) infrastructure at a substantial cost savings. The report from the Space Needs Task Force includes a recommendation that the County's computer center (equipment, not IS staff) be relocated from the Government Services Annex to space at 129 East King Street. With a monthly savings of $1,400 ($16,800 annually) achieved by the elimination of leased telephone lines, the $32,500 installation of fiber optic cable between various buildings in the downtown Hillsborough campus would achieve payback in less than two years. Under the County IT Plan, staff has deployed a wide area network connecting all County facilities. The network provides access for users of the County mainframe computer, a-mail, the Internet and Intranet, State computer applications, and document management systems. For connecting County buildings, the telecommunications services required for this network, called "Frame Relay" services, are purchased from BellSouth at the rate of about $7,600 per month in operating costs. Some smaller facilities in downtown Hillsborough are connected using leased lines from Sprint. A portion of the existing network would be replaced using fiber optic cable to provide connections between 129 East King Street and offices of the Purchasing and Central Services, Elections, Economic Development, Arts Commission, Human Rights and Relations, and Child Support Enforcement Departments. The County-owned fiber would eliminate about $1,400 of the $7,600 monthly data network telecommunications cost. The Information Technology Committee reviewed and endorsed the fiber optic installation at its April 24 meeting (see the accompanying recommendation from IT Committee Chair Joel Dunn).