REPORT TO SHASTA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

BOARD MEETING DATE:  March  28, 2023
CATEGORY:  Consent - Other Agencies-13.

SUBJECT:

Designate authority and approve the purchase of new hardware to replace the end-of-life Exagrid backup appliance system.

Supervisorial District No. :  All

DEPARTMENT CONTACT:  Thomas Schreiber, CIO (530) 225-5273

STAFF REPORT APPROVED BY:  Thomas Schreiber, Chief Information Officer

RECOMMENDATION

Designate authority and approve the purchase of a new Exagrid Data Backup Appliance, including installation, and 1 year of warranty support, utilizing the General Services Administration contract #GS-35F-303DA and authorize the Chief Information Officer to purchase the Appliance through the vendor Quest Media & Supplies, Inc., an authorized reseller for the Exagrid system in an amount not to exceed $89,351.70.

DISCUSSION

The County’s current Exagrid Data Backup Appliance ("Appliance") will reach its end of life and support at the beginning of fiscal year (FY) 2023-24.  This unit is a critical part of the overall data backup environment.  The Appliance is a disk-to-disk backup system which replicates the County backup data across different devices for resiliency.  The new Exagrid Disk to Disk Appliance system is faster with the backup process. Speed is important so the process completes within the allowed maintenance windows to ensure backups do not impact County production systems and services during business hours.

The new purchase will also increase backup capacity. With the increase in data usage across the departments, expanding the Exagrid backup system will ensure we have enough space to perform required backups into the future.

General Services Administration contracts are cooperative agreements that are based on and comply with bidding and purchasing policies required by law. Procurements through these contracts are permissible under Shasta County Code 3.04.060 and Administrative Policy 6-101, Shasta County Contracts Manual.

ALTERNATIVES

The Board can choose not to approve the purchase; County IT would continue to review alternatives to replace the end-of-life equipment.  This is not recommended. The current environment is configured to utilize the Exagrid appliance structure.  Making a change in the hardware would cause a major reconfiguration of the backup environment and any require additional tools/ software to manage any new hardware, further resulting in additional, unexpected expenses.   

OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT

The Purchasing Department supports the recommendation. Risk has approved the terms. County Counsel has approved the terms as to form.  The County Administrative Office has reviewed the recommendation.

FISCAL IMPACT

The Information Technology (IT) Department FY2022-23 Adopted Budget includes the allocation for this expense. The purchase would be made under IT’s Network Storage Capital Asset account 065053 and Maintenance account 033500.