Department: Universal Services
Department Head: Sindhu Menon, Executive Director & CIO
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Investment Memo
Investment Memo Type: Final Investment Memo
Project Name: Network Repair-Replace
Project ID (if applicable): NI009
Vendor Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Achievement (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Managing Entity: Universal Services
Incremental Authorization Requested: $4,912,000
Total Estimated Project Cost: $8,979,000 (FY25 & FY26, 2-year total estimate)
Request Summary:
title
Request for approval of a Final Investment Memo for the Network Repair-Replace project for an FY2025 authorization of $4,912,000.
end
Project Description:
This project replaces and modernizes network equipment including routers, switches, firewalls, load-balancers, remote-access VPNs, wireless access points and controllers, IP Television, uninterruptible power supplies, and related solutions within the data centers and across 250+ county site locations. Network equipment is replaced on an approximate 7-year cycle, requiring the replacement of approximately 300 switches and 400 wireless access points per year. Data center network systems would continuously need to be expanded in capacity due to the constant increase of the County’s needs. This project also includes enhancements to the availability and redundancy of systems supported which would require additional expansion of these systems to better provide modern services as well as increased capacity when required.
Project Scope:
The scope of this project is to modernize County’s networking equipment and services in the data centers and across 250+ county site locations. The project scope does not include the addition of new locations or business-driven changes, which are funded by other projects.
For FY25, US will be replacing site switches (approximately 300), wireless access points (approximately 400), and uninterruptible power supplies (approximately 30). It will include enhancement of switches and wireless access points available at county sites such as the Criminal Justice Center and Civil Justice Building. In addition, the project will modernize data center-based network routers, switches, firewalls, load-balancers, remote-access VPNs, wireless controllers, IP Television, and related solutions within the data centers, such as the DNS-DHCP-IPAM appliances and console servers.
The network team is understaffed in general to take on these capital improvements and will supplement with contract resources to participate in the design, documentation, configuration, implementation, and transition into production of the new infrastructure, including switches, access-points, and data center equipment.
There might be changes in the County’s needs that result in minor operational changes for the project throughout the fiscal year, but the overall scope will remain the same and any additional authorization would go through Commissioners Court approval.
Justification:
Harris County has a significant amount of network equipment including but not limited to switches, wireless access points, and microwave infrastructure. These items need to be refreshed periodically to minimize equipment no longer supported by the vendor. Most of this equipment is located at county sites outside the data center, and some is already unsupported. Repair, replacements, and enhancements are required to support the constant increase of the County’s needs. Modernizing equipment further allows Harris County to support the evolving and dynamic needs of constituent agencies.
Having a lifecycle-based repair and replacement strategy will keep us from having unsupported equipment as well as ensure security and software updates continue to be provided as technology evolves. This in turn helps ensure scalability, reliability, and network security that supports access to all internal and external Harris County applications, the Internet, and connectivity to non-County agencies sharing data with the County.
Maintaining vendor supportability of the network equipment is essential for cybersecurity best practices, and Texas DPS compliance for law enforcement.
Alternatives and Engagement:
Failure to modernize the network equipment and services will lead to loss of compliance, increased mean time to recover from failures, degraded performance, and decreased availability of enterprise-wide systems including JWeb, CAD/RMS, STARS, etc.
Anticipated Project Expenditures and Timeline:
|
Scope of Work |
Estimated Cost |
Estimated Completion |
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Replace branch office switches (approx. 300) |
$2,900,000 |
09/2025 |
|
Replace branch office wireless access points (approx. 400) |
$386,000 |
09/2025 |
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Replace branch office uninterruptible power supplies (approx. 30) |
$50,000 |
09/2025 |
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Refresh DNS-DHCP-IPAM appliances |
$314,000 |
09/2025 |
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Refresh wireless controllers |
$156,000 |
09/2025 |
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Refresh console servers |
$30,000 |
09/2025 |
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Refresh IPTV |
$76,000 |
09/2025 |
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Refresh data center-based network routers, switches, firewalls, and load-balancers |
$375,000 |
09/2025 |
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Increase capacity of branch office switches and wireless access points |
$250,000 |
09/2025 |
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Professional services for network refresh (approx. 300 switches) |
$375,000 |
09/2025 |
|
Total |
$4,912,000 |
|
US is asking for authorization of $4,912,000 for FY25, CP allocation will be requested later when the PO is ready to be issued. Estimated costs were derived from past quotes and budgetary estimates from vendors.
Alignment with Goal(s):
_ Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
_ Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
X Governance and Customer Service
Previous Court Action:
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
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8/26/2014 |
3.b.5 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $1,140,000 |
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1/5/2016 |
2.e.2 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $2,532,000 |
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5/9/2017 |
4.e.2 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $2,100,000 |
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7/10/2018 |
6.b.4 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $2,100,000 |
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11/12/2019 |
4.g.5 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $3,285,000 |
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11/9/2021 |
21-6074 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $1,905,000 |
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2/22/2022 |
22-1280 |
Request for an additional incremental authorization of $2,720,000 for a SFY 2022 authorization of $3,700,000. |
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3/8/2022 |
22-1759 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $800,000 |
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6/14/2022 |
22-3513 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $1,920,000 |
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8/23/2022 |
22-4957 |
Request for an additional incremental authorization of $3,900,000, FY23 total authorization of $6,918,419 |
|
10/18/2022 |
22-6320 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $1,950,000 |
|
7/18/2023 |
23-3952 |
Request for an additional incremental authorization of $3,400,000 for FY24 |
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10/10/2023 |
23-5836 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding $500,000 for a total of $14,560,000 |
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2/27/2024 |
24-0862 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding $1,400,000 |
Address: Countywide
Precinct(s): Countywide
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Anticipated Court Date: 9/19/2024
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): 10/1/2024
Legal funding compliance confirmed by: Paige Abernathy, Assistant County Attorney, 8/15/2024
Department Approval by: Nam Tran, Manager of Enterprise Network & Security Engineering, 07/01/2024
OMB CIP Team Approval by: Amiel Chen, Manger - Capital Projects & Infrastructure, 8/16/24
Commercial Paper Request (For OMB use only):
Receiving Department: Choose an item.
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OMB Financial Management contact: