Northampton County Council voted unanimously on August 20 to approve a new, $33.7 million contract for managed IT services. It's with a new vendor, too. Conduent, a spin off of Xerox, is being replaced by Vision Technologies, located in Glen Burnie, Md.
The $33.7 million contract is for the total payments the county will make for one three-year base term, followed by two renewal options for five years. As council member BobWerner observed, the contract also includes a 30-day termination clause, enabling the County to drop this new vendor if performance is unsatisfactory.
Vision Technologies will retain all Conduent employees currently working for the county.
Vision Technologies was selected as a result of a competitive bidding process in which 116 firms reviewed the county's Request for Proposals. The following three firms submitted proposals: Vision Technologies, and Razor Technology. There may have been a fourth proposal, but it is missing from the procurement notice.
Northampton County relies on its managed IT services provider to acquire both hardware and, in some cases, software, at reduced rates. There has been some grumbling that Conduent's mark-up was too high.
Administrator Charles Dertinger noted that Vision Technologies agreed to limit its mark-up to four per cent. He also told Council member Tara Zrinski that Vision's proposal was both the best and the cheapest.
22 comments:
Sounds like this council for the most part is doing whatever McClure wants so you must be happy. When Brown was in you hated the rubber stamp council, now you love them. Hell to anyone who dares question anything he does, right O'Hare? Just shut up and vote yes for everything.
1:14. It was the lowest bid price of all proposals for IT. You would rather they accept the high bid and not follow the recommendation?
1:14. It was the lowest bid price of all proposals for IT. You would rather they accept the high bid and not follow the recommendation?
What happened to Al Jordan?
"1:14. It was the lowest bid price of all proposals for IT. You would rather they accept the high bid and not follow the recommendation?"
This R agrees because Rs were guilty of doing exactly that with the Naz ambulance contract. Doing stuff like that while increasing taxes is why we're not in charge anymore. With sleepy spendthrift Ferraro carrying the party banner, Rs will be out of power for a long time. There will be lots of things to criticize with this team of rubber stamps. But this isn't one of them.
How does it compare to the previous contract? I wasn't able to find it looking through the budgets posted on the county executive's site, but that's likely because I'm not looking in the right places or just not recognizing it.
Thanks in advance if you can provide the information for a comparison.
"Sounds like this council for the most part is doing whatever McClure wants so you must be happy. When Brown was in you hated the rubber stamp council, now you love them. Hell to anyone who dares question anything he does, right O'Hare? Just shut up and vote yes for everything."
The Council vote as unanimous, meaning that everyone, including three Rs, voted for this contract. I missed the finance committee meeting the previous day bc I was at a baseball game, and have yet to watch the video, but am told it was discussed thoroughly there. Bob Werner had some reservations at first. At last night's meeting, Zrinski asked a lot of questions, too. Also, I am not sure I would say this is what anyone wanted. I can say I would prefer to be with Al Jordan's company. So would most of the admin. But a committee that reviewed the four bids rated Vision Technologies best and cheapest. If wrong, we can terminate.
The difference between Brown and McClure is that McClure had ten years of experience on Council and really knows what he can do and what he can't do. It has been night and day. That's just the way it is.
8:18, the last deal I found was was with ACS (Xerox), in 2008, and was $13 million over six years. That's $2.16 million/yr. This is $2.59 million/yr.
Spend, spend and spend....
10:02, Manage IT costs money. Perhaps you'd prefer the county to stop using computers. Your comment does not add to this conversation.
"What happened to Al Jordan?"
Al went to work for another IT company.
We're talking about proposals and awards: why haven't we heard anything about the LEHIGH VALLEY economic development corporation awarding a branding campaign to a company from HARRISBURG?!? Unbelievable.
You could hav added that to yesterday’s post. Here it is completely off topic, despite your lame justification.
A little late to the party... Always a bridesmaid... never a bride :-(
Bernie, I wish the County, my team (former), Vision Technologies and you well. Take care, Al
Al, What a classy thing to say! I wish the numbers were different.
yawn!!!!
An old pol told me at the beginning of the year that McClure, Dertinger and Kraft would be ring the county over naïve democrats on council. They were right!
Man Crush Friday for Bernie with his love for Lamont !
What difference does it make! They kept the same employees. LOL!
It's Conduent. Not Condulent.
I have worked for the county for a number of years. I am actually glad they kept the same people.
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