Fremont City Council Meeting: 04/15/25 07:00 PM
3300 Capitol Avenue Div/Dept: Information Technology Services Fremont, CA 94538 Category: Agreements and Contracts
SCHEDULED
Sponsors:
COUNCIL STAFF REPORT (ID # 5408) DOC ID: 5408
Updated: 4/9/2025 6:14 PM by Dina Lewis Page 1
MICROSOFT ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT - Authorize the City Manager, or Designee, to Enter into a Three-Year Microsoft Enterprise Agreement with Dell Marketing, L.P., in the amount of $2,619,526.89, Payable in Annual Payments, and to Execute Any Implementing Documents and Take Any Implementing Actions as Necessary
Contact Persons:
Name: Jeremy Huynh Sanford Taylor
Title: Management Analyst II IT Director
Div/Dept: Information Technology Services Information Technology Services Phone: (510) 494-4847 510-494-4802
E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected]
Executive Summary: The City entered into a three-year Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) in 2022, which expires on April 30, 2025. The Microsoft EA is an annual program that covers the licensing and automatic updates and upgrades of Microsoft products, including Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint), Exchange/Outlook e-mail, Windows operating system, Windows Datacenter, and Bing Maps (for GIS). The new EA will allow the City to continue using the Microsoft software products and will provide access to Advanced Threat Protection, Power BI reporting and other analytical tool, Dynamics 365 to create and provide application solutions, and Microsoft Azure for secure cloud storage. Database licensing (SQL Server Enterprise) and Windows licensing (Windows Server and Desktops) are included in the new Microsoft EA.
SQL Enterprise provides unlimited SQL Virtual Machines (VMs) on a host when all cores are licensed in a host and paired with Windows Datacenter.
The City solicited competitive bids for the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement renewal and received multiple bids. Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager, or her designee, to (1) enter into a three-year Microsoft Enterprise Agreement with Dell Marketing L.P., in the amount of $2,619,526.89, payable in annual payments of $873,175.63; and (2) execute any implementing documents and take any implementing actions as necessary.
BACKGROUND: One of the priorities of the Information Technology Services (ITS) Department is to continue to provide the productivity tools required for all City departments to deliver their services efficiently and for employees to perform their daily work activities.
These systems include e-mail, calendar, office productivity software, online document management, and collaboration tools. The ITS Department also aims to deliver software solutions to all City departments using a standard programming platform as well as reporting and analytical tools.
The ITS Department has migrated City users to the Microsoft Exchange/Outlook cloud-based e-mail system, the most current Windows 11 operating system, and the Office 365 cloud-based productivity suite. In addition, the City uses data analytics tools such as Power BI for reporting and Dynamics 365 to create and provide application solutions.
Council Staff Report (ID # 5408) Meeting of April 15, 2025 Updated: 4/9/2025 6:14 PM by Dina Lewis Page 2
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: The City has standardized on Microsoft products for its desktop and server operating systems and Office products, including e-mail and calendaring for over twelve years. These applications are the primary productivity tools used by City employees for managing day-to-day business functions and communication. Microsoft products are the industry standard used by most cities and companies. There are limited alternatives for other e-mail and office productivity tools, and significant staff time has been invested in learning and maximizing the capabilities of the tools available through the Microsoft Office suite. Transitioning to other tools would require substantial resources in implementing and training employees, thus impacting employees’ efficiency and productivity.
The Microsoft EA includes Power BI reporting capabilities along with the latest versions of Office 365, e-mail and calendaring, file storage/sharing (OneDrive), collaboration tools (Teams), and encryption tools. The Microsoft Azure cloud services are also licensed under the EA.
Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA): While evaluating the renewal of the EA, it was essential to continue to review the requirements of the City with regard to savings, flexibility to adapt to rapidly changing technology, and ensure streamlined license management. The EA continues to allow the deployment of a typical IT platform across the City and allows a mix of Microsoft cloud services and on-premise software by subscribing to the needed software and services at a set price for the term of the agreement. The EA includes Software Assurance (SA) benefits that allow the City to continue to receive the latest software versions without paying additional fees during the three-year period, 24x7 incident support, trainings, and deployment assistance services for specific products.
The annual EA true-up process simplifies licensing management. It provides a flexible and effective way to account for any change in licensed products over the course of each year and ensures that the software licensing is current, legal, and consistent.
The City solicited competitive bids for the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement renewal and received five bids on March 18, 2025, as follows:
Supplier Total Bid
Dell Marketing, L.P. $2,619,526.89
Saitech Inc $2,635,759.98
Crayon Software Experts LLC $2,638,927.62
Softchoice Corporation $2,728,886.58
Malor & Company Inc Non-Responsive
Staff recommends entering into a new Microsoft Enterprise Agreement with the lowest responsible bidder, Dell Marketing, L.P. The EA is composed of licenses for Windows Server operating systems, Exchange server (for a hybrid cloud and on-premise architecture), Microsoft 365 user licenses (1,350 user licenses for Microsoft 365, eDiscovery and Defender), Azure cloud storage, Dynamics 365 user licenses (100 user licenses to support applications such as a citizen relationship management (CRM) system), Bing Maps (for GIS mapping), SQL Server Enterprise core licenses and Windows Server core licenses.
FISCAL IMPACT: Funding for the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement renewal is appropriated in the Information Technology Services Department Operating Fund (Fund 620) in the Council Staff Report (ID # 5408) Meeting of April 15, 2025 Updated: 4/9/2025 6:14 PM by Dina Lewis Page 3
FY 2024/25 adopted operating budget. Funding for subsequent years will be requested as part of the City’s annual budget process.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: The renewal of computer software licenses is exempt from and not subject to review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because, without limitation, it is not a “project” as defined in CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(2) and/or 15378(b)(5) and as it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity may have a significant effect on the environment per CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), each as a separate and independent basis for CEQA compliance.
ATTACHMENTS: None.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Authorize the City Manager, or her designee, to enter into a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement with Dell Marketing L.P., in the amount of $2,619,526.89, payable in annual payments of $873,175.63.
2. Authorize the City Manager, or her designee, to execute any implementing documents and take any implementing actions as necessary.