RECOMMENDATION(S):

APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Purchasing Agent, or designee, on behalf of the Director of Child Support Services, to execute a purchase order with R-Computer, in an amount not to exceed $200,000, to lease/purchase network routing and switching hardware.

FISCAL IMPACT:

This lease/purchase will be fully funded by allocations from the Federal Government at 66% and the State of California at 34%. There is no cost to the County General Fund.

BACKGROUND:

The Department of Child Support Services requires upgrade to its network infrastructure to accommodate increasing bandwidth requirements. Its existing telephony system is 13 years old and ongoing support is considered unreliable as its manufacturer is undergoing debt reorganization. The DCSS intends to adopt a new telephony product recommended by the Department of Information Technology, effective implementation of which requires more robust switching than achievable with DCSS’ existing hardware. This infrastructure upgrade would allow implementation of the new telephony system.