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MOTION AUTHORIZING A CONTRACT FOR LIBRARY SOFTWARE, EQUIPMENT, AND SUPPORT BY SIRSIDYNIX CORPORATION
recommended action
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt a motion approving findings that support an exception to the competitive bidding process and authorize the City Manager to execute a four-year agreement with SirsiDynix Corporation, for applications, hardware, installation, maintenance, and support for a total of $702,503. It is further recommended that this motion authorize the City Manager to take appropriate actions necessary to carry out the purpose and intent of this motion.
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Summary
SirsiDynix Corporation (Sirsi) provides the software, licensing, maintenance and support for the Library’s integrated system. This system is used to acquire, process and make library materials available to patrons, and to record the activity of every patron and the circulation of every item in the collection. Sirsi has also provided hardware and installation services to the Library primarily for production and backup servers that operate the applications and databases. The existing contract amendment, approved by the Stockton City Council in February, 2013, expires in July, 2016.
Sirsi is a library industry leader and has a proprietary product that no other vendor can sell, service, or maintain. Its customer base includes over 20,000 libraries and over 1.3 billion circulations per year. In addition to acquiring a contract for in integrated library system (ILS), ancillary products, and support, the library needs to replace one of the two servers used to operate the ILS, and process and store library information.
The Library also needs to change its database from Informix to Oracle in order to avail itself of the Sirsi updates as they are released and to utilize the functionality provided in the Sirsi products. Some functions and enhancements have been delayed, or in some cases are entirely unavailable because we are not operating on an Oracle database, such as “available now” which allows patrons to limit their search to items currently on the shelf, and the ability to catalog in non-Romanized languages.
The attached agreement (Attachment A) is a four-year contract for hardware, products, services, licensing, and support for a total cost of $702,553 to be paid over a four year contract period as defined in Schedule A (Attachment B). Over the course of the four year contract, these costs will be shared pursuant to contracts for services between the City of Stockton, San Joaquin County, City of Lodi, and Amador County Library. Costs attributed to Lodi and Amador, based on the select products used for their operations total $146,796 over the life of the agreement. The remaining $555,757 is shared by the City and County in accordance with a contract, is allocated based on circulation numbers, and is approximately 50% each. The first year ILS cost, including discounts, is $137,970 for licensing, maintenance and support and has been included in the FY 2016-17 Proposed Budget. The same products and services cost $139,999 in the final year of the current agreement.
The one-time cost of $75,250 for the server and Oracle migration is included in the FY 2015-16 operating budget of the Library in the 041-3530-580 Technical Services Division. Appropriations will be included in the Library operating budgets for the 2016-17 through 2019-20 fiscal years for the ILS and related products.
DISCUSSION
Background
The City of Stockton manages the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library System (Library) which is made up of five City and eight County branches. SirsiDynix Corporation (Sirsi) provides the software, licensing, maintenance and support for the Library’s integrated system. This system is used to catalog, circulate and acquire library materials, track magazine and newspaper holdings, accept patrons’ requests for materials, and is the interface for the library’s public catalog. Sirsi has also provided hardware and installation services to the Library primarily for production and backup servers that operate the applications and databases. Because of the sophisticated nature of the software, the Library is able to offer similar material management and patron account capabilities to outlying libraries and library systems. The Library currently offers these automation services to the City of Lodi and Amador County. The data for each system is kept separate from the others. Lodi and Amador annually reimburse the Library for the proportional share of their respective system expenses.
When the City of Stockton released a Request for Proposal (RFP) to automate with an advanced, library specific software, Sirsi Corporation was the prevailing RFP respondent. Subsequently, the City entered into an Automated Library Software License and Hardware Sales Agreement and a Software Support Services Agreement with Sirsi. Because the software is proprietary, Sirsi has been the sole source for maintenance and support since installation. Use of any other in-house or outside contractor for service would violate the contract provisions for support, maintenance, and licensing.
With thousands of patrons and thousands of materials, the volume of data within the Library system is large enough to require separate dedicated servers which are the hardware components and respective operating systems used to process information and run software. IT staff and the Deputy Director of Library Services contacted Sirsi to review current service levels and hardware pricing options and were successful in negotiating a significant discount for hardware, installation, data migration, and subscription services, contingent upon signing a four-year support agreement.
Present Situation
The Library wishes to continue with the Sirsi products. Sirsi is an industry leader, has many products and services for a system as large as the one the City manages, and its functionality allows us to assist neighboring communities by giving them a cost-effective option for their library database needs. The proprietary nature of its software and licensing makes SirsiDynix a sole source for the products and services the Library wishes to acquire.
The Library system is of a size that requires multiple servers for backup and testing. Being thirteen years old, the Library test server is no longer eligible for any maintenance and support plan and is at risk for failure. The existing Library database is Informix, an outdated product, which requires manual editing to produce regular monthly reports and prevents the Library from realizing the benefit of Sirsi’s full functionality, including limiting patron searches to items currently on the shelf and the ability to catalog items in non-Romanized languages.
Sirsi product updates are created in an Oracle database. Sirsi is an authorized dealer and installer of Oracle, and can provide the product, migration, and support at a competitive cost. Use of any other dealer for the data migration between the old and new databases could violate the contract provisions in the Sirsi agreement related to the proprietary nature of the software.
Findings
• The Stockton Municipal Code 3.68.070(A) 4, provides an exception to the bidding process for contracts over $75,000 for sole source vendors.
• Sirsi is a sole source vendor for its proprietary integrated library system products.
• Although servers and Oracle licensing are available from other vendors, purchasing non-proprietary items from any other vendor would require additional costs to be paid by the City in order to facilitate data migration and testing by Sirsi.
• The decision to contract with Sirsi is a long-term commitment because of the complexity of installing and maintaining integrated library systems and the significant fiscal impact of changing integrated library systems.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
The new four year agreement for existing products, licensing, maintenance and support totals $702,553. Sirsi is extending SSJCPL an annual discount of $20,000 for entering into a multi-year agreement. The one-time cost of $75,250 for the server and Oracle migration is included in the FY 2015-16 operating budget of the Library in the 041-3530-580 Technical Services Division. The first year ILS cost, including discounts, is $137,970 for licensing, maintenance and support, has been included in the FY 2016-17 Proposed Budget in the same Library account, and appropriations will be included in the Library operating budgets for the 2017-18 through 2019-20 fiscal years for the ILS and related products . The costs are illustrated below:
|
Sirsi Contract Information |
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
2019-20 |
TOTAL |
|
Products & services |
- |
157,970 |
166,172 |
170,991 |
175,950 |
671,083 |
|
Discount |
- |
(20,000) |
(20,000) |
(20,000) |
(20,000) |
(80,000) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Database management software, new test server, installation, support |
75,250 |
|
11,730 |
12,070 |
12,420 |
111,470 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contract Total |
75,250 |
137,970 |
157,902 |
163,061 |
168,370 |
702,553 |
No additional appropriation is requested or required.
Attachment A - Agreement with SirsiDynix
Attachment B - Schedule A