DATE: December 16, 2024
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Stefan Chatwin, City Manager
FROM: Diane Pitman, Administrative Services Director
Rob Lasky, IT Manager
DEPARTMENT: Administrative Services
SUBJECT: REPLACEMENT OF CITYWIDE PHONE SYSTEM
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute a three-year agreement with Packet Fusion, Inc. to purchase hardware and Zoom Phone subscriptions in an amount not to exceed $110,000.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City’s current Shoretel phone system was purchased in 2013 and is due for replacement. Zoom Phone will provide a reliable communications platform to support the City’s operations. The necessary funding is available within the Information Technology (IT) Internal Services Fund budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.
BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS
Foster City purchased its current Shoretel phone system in 2013 and Shoretel was subsequently acquired by Mitel in 2017. In 2022, Mitel announced the planned end-of- life for all Shoretel hardware and software by 2029.
A Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Phone System Replacement was released on May 7, 2024. Proposals for both on-premise and cloud-based systems were accepted.
Twenty-One proposals were received, and a multi-department evaluation team was assembled to evaluate scripted demos from a shortlist of vendors. The group agreed
that the demo for Zoom Phone from Packet Fusion had the best functionality. The Zoom Phone proposal also had the lowest annual cost for a cloud-based proposal.
Zoom Phone will provide the City with the stability of long-term support and enhanced functionality. It will also offer better integration with smartphones. Zoom Phone is cloud-based, which will make the system more resilient than our current premise-based phone system.
Staff also analyzed the use of physical telephone handsets in the City’s workflows.
Working with the departments, locations that required physical telephone handsets based on business needs were identified. All other users will transition to using software-based telephone features, using an application on their desktop PC or smartphone, which will reduce upfront hardware expenses. Many staff members expressed that they are now accustomed to using software-based communications due to the proliferation of Zoom/Teams meetings during the pandemic.
California Environmental Quality Act
Not Applicable
FISCAL IMPACT
This project was originally budgeted in FY 2023-2024 for $275,000 in the IT Equipment Replacement Fund (504-0160-419-4388) and funds were carried over to FY 2024- 2025. The first year of Zoom Phone subscriptions, hardware, and migration services will be paid out of the IT Equipment Replacement Fund. Future year subscription costs will be budgeted in the IT Maintenance Fund (504-0160-419-4246) which is the same fund used for other software subscriptions. The following table reflects a breakdown of the payments over 3 years:
Hardware/Services Software Subscription
+ Estimated Tax
Total
Year 1 – 2024-25 $38,397.06 $20,650.89 $59,047.95
Year 2 – 2025-26 $0.00 $20,650.89 $20,650.89
Year 3 – 2026-27 $0.00 $20,650.89 $20,650.89
TOTAL $100,349.73
Since the tax amounts are estimates, and could change during the term of the agreement, staff is requesting the not-to-exceed amount for the 3-year agreement to be set at $110,000.
CITY COUNCIL VISION, MISSION, AND VALUE/PRIORITY AREA
Innovation
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 - Resolution
Attachment 2 - Zoom Services Reseller Customer Agreement Attachment 3 - Pricing Summary
Attachment 4 - Professional Services Pricing Detail
Attachment 5 - Statement of Work
Attachment 6 - Packet Fusion RFP Response