City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: August 27, 2024
Agenda Item: 5.L
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Ramon Batista, Police Chief, Police Department
Subject: Approval of Purchase of Video Storage System for the Police Department's Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) system.
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council
1. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
2. Authorize the Procurement Manager to issue a purchase order with Convergint Technologies LLC. for a video storage system for the Police Department. This recommended award is made as an exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to Section 2.24.25(c) and is for the total amount not to exceed $762,045 (including a $69,277 contingency).
Summary
The City’s current video storage system for the Police Department’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) system was purchased in 2019 and is no longer compatible with the newer video management systems and higher resolution videos. Staff seeks City Council approval to authorize the Procurement Manager to issue a purchase order with Convergint Technologies LLC (Convergint) for a video storage system, which comes with five years of maintenance, in an amount not to exceed $762,045, which includes a 10% contingency.
Discussion
The City’s current video storage system archives video from over 825 cameras on Santa Monica City’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) system, which includes cameras 2 of 5
from the 3rd St. Promenade, the Pier, Big Blue Bus, parks, Santa Monica Public Library, Santa Monica Airport, traffic intersection cameras, and other City facilities such as City Hall, the Public Safety Facility (PSF), and parking structures.
The Video Management System (VMS) is the software and hardware system which allows video access for the user and sets the parameters regarding the storage of recorded video from cameras it manages. The current Santa Monica City VMS (Teledyne FLIR) is in the process of being replaced using Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) Organized Retail Theft (ORT) Prevention grant funds as part of the Santa Monica Analytical Real Time (SMART) Center project.
The quality and number of CCTV cameras is increasing across the city, due to the SMART Center project and new cameras being acquired by the various departments across the City. These new, modern cameras require ever more storage capacity and processing capabilities. The coming modern VMS also requires a high-capacity, highperformance storage system for rapid and reliable recall of stored video.
The current Isilon video storage system was purchased in 2019, is beyond its service life, and is no longer able to support the City’s new VMS and the new camera network’s higher resolution videos and processing demands. Moreover, the current storage system and VMS have been fraught with repeated failures to capture video and retrieve video for important investigations.
The grant-funded purchase of the new VMS, coupled with the prospect of having to add video storage capacity to the aging and underperforming current storage system, prompted staff to seek options for replacing and modernizing the video storage system.
To procure this new video storage system, the initial plan was to use existing Information Services Department (ISD) vendor contracts through which the video storage unit and servers could be purchased. After the selection of Genetec as the City’s new VMS platform provider through the SMART Center grant project, Genetec informed the City that they could provide a video storage solution using Genetec’s proprietary video compression algorithms. This proprietary solution would reduce the amount of data storage required, as compared to the standard storage solutions being proposed through the ISD vendors. Police and ISD staff decided to use the Genetec solution as it was more cost effective when compared to other standard offerings. The new storage solution would be physically located on City property and managed locally 3 of 5
by ISD staff. Convergint offers competitive pricing for the purchase of the Genetec solution as a result of an existing contract with OMNIA, a governmental and private cooperative purchasing agency that serves state, local, and education entities as they acquire goods or services.
The upgraded video storage system would serve as a key tool to increase safety in Santa Monica by providing reliable and rapid video recall to support post-incident criminal investigations, real-time operations for the coming SMART Center, secure and safe facilities across the City, as well as efficient management of City operations such as traffic flow.
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Vendor Selection
Exception to Competitive Bidding
Staff recommends Convergint Technologies LLC. to furnish and deliver a Video Storage system as an exception to competitive bidding per Muni Code 2.24.250 (c).
OMNIA is a governmental and private cooperative purchasing agency that serves state, local, and education entities. As a cooperative purchasing agency, they acquire goods or services by aggregating the demand of two or more entities in an effort to obtain more economical pricing. Staff would utilize OMNIA contract #R220702 that was established on April 1, 2022 and expires on March 31, 2025, with two additional one-year renewal options. The cooperative contract provides competitive leveraged pricing for Facility Technology Integration & Security System Services. c. competitive procedures were followed by a governmental agency, federal, state, county, city, joint powers agency, special district, or cooperative purchasing agency and the goods or services are supplied to the City at the same or better price;
Environmental Review
The purchase order for a new video storage system is exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines. The agreement is covered by the common sense exemption which states that CEQA does not apply, “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The purchase order will provide for a video storage system. Therefore, it can be seen with certainty that actions would not result in adverse physical impacts on the environment, and as such, is exempt from CEQA.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve funding from the General Fund resulting from resources generated by Measure CS to award a purchase order with Convergint Technologies LLC. for a video storage system.
Purchase Order Request
FY 2024-25
Request Amount
Department Account # Total Contract
Amount
$762,045 01180003.550010.98979 $762,045
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Prepared By: Jose Arroyo, Senior Administrative Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Convergint - OAKS INITIATIVE FORM
B. Convergint - Levine Act Disclosure Form