Primary Department: Universal Services
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Sindhu Menon, Executive Director and CIO
Managing Department: Universal Services
Managing Department Head/Elected Official: Sindhu Menon, Executive Director and CIO
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Investment Memo
Investment Memo Type: Final Investment Memo
Project Name: Infrastructure Enhancement & Replacements
Project ID (if applicable): NI008
Vendor Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Current Achievement (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Not a grant item
Incremental Authorization Requested: $1,827,000
Total Estimated Project Cost: $4,000,000 (FY26 & FY27)
Request Summary:
title
Request for approval of a Final Investment Memo for the Infrastructure Enhancements & Replacements project, for an incremental authorization of $1,827,000 for a total authorization of $1,927,000 for FY2026 and commercial paper funding in the amount of $1,000,000.
end
Project Description:
The project is for the ongoing replacement, and expansion of Harris County’s (HC) compute (virtualization), storage, monitoring, and backup infrastructure that supports all of our enterprise services. These services include but are not limited to the following systems: PeopleSoft, Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), JWeb, Email, Active Directory Services, etc. This project also includes enhancements to the redundancy and availability of systems supported which would require additional expansion of these systems to better provide modern services as well as increased capacity when required.
Anticipated Project Expenditures and Timeline:
|
Project Scope Breakdown |
Estimated Cost |
Estimated Completion |
|
Disaster Recovery Site Build Out |
$1,701,000 |
09/30/2026 |
|
UCS2 Chassis Replacement (3) - For Compliance |
$50,100 |
04/30/2026 |
|
Contingency |
$175,900 |
09/30/2026 |
|
FY 2026 Total Authorization |
$1,927,000 |
|
|
Unencumbered existing project balance to carry into FY26 |
($100,000) |
|
|
Total |
$1,827,000 |
|
Justification & Alternatives:
Compute and Storage infrastructure services require ongoing replacement and enhancement to ensure these systems are supported in the event an issue arises. These systems provide server resources that cover a wide breadth of services from Law Enforcement and Justice, Financials and Human Resources, to general purpose applications. To maintain a healthy environment, we need to replace aging hardware to ensure the related infrastructure is refreshed as well as addressing increased demand through adding capacity where needed.
The anticipated projects and scope of work above are required to maintain both support and maintenance for production systems and services. Failure to realize these expenditures would prevent the County from being able to patch, maintain, and replace core infrastructure services leaving those systems vulnerable to security issues and unable to accommodate the growing demand for IT resources.
Anticipated Impact on Other Funds (If Applicable):
|
Fund Code |
Description |
Estimated Cost |
Funding Method (Existing or Future Budget Request Required) |
Estimated Date of Needs |
|
|
|
$- |
|
- |
|
|
|
$- |
|
- |
|
Total |
|
$- |
|
- |
County Strategic Plan Goal: 2. Connect our community with safe, reliable, equitably distributed, and well-maintained infrastructure.
County Strategic Plan Objective: R: Enhance disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and resiliency.
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): N/A
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): H4: Consistently embed sustainability considerations in the project planning and design process.
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): L2: Further expand and enforce contractor worker safety policy/standards.
Health Initiative (Goal 4): O1: Coordinate health organizations to improve access and care.
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): R3: Strengthen the County’s emergency response function.
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): W1: Use data to increase homelessness diversion.
Decision Analysis Matrix Score (rubric on last page): 11
Previous Court Action:
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
7/10/2018 |
6.b.1 |
Request for approval of funding for project cost $870,000 |
|
7/31/2018 |
4.j.2 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $870,000 |
|
11/12/2019 |
4.g.4 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $3,775,000 |
|
10/27/2020 |
5.b.2 |
Request for approval of funding for project cost $3,800,000 |
|
11/10/2020 |
4.g.3 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $3,800,000 |
|
8/24/2021 |
21-4291 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $4,000,000 |
|
1/25/2022 |
22-0644 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $1,940,000 |
|
3/8/2022 |
22-1699 |
Request for SFY22 authorization of $1,398,000 |
|
9/13/2022 |
22-5423 |
Request for an additional incremental authorization of $440,000, FY23 total authorization of $1,344,000 |
|
10/18/2022 |
22-6592 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $440,000 |
|
8/8/2023 |
23-4371 |
Request for approval of the Final Investment Memo for the Infrastructure Enhancements & Replacements project for an additional incremental authorization of $645,000 for FY 2024. |
|
|
|
|
Address: Multiple
Precinct(s): Countywide
|
Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
|
Service Name |
|
|
|
|
Current Fiscal Year Cost |
Annual Fiscal Cost |
|
|
Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
Recurring Expenses |
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Funding Sources |
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Existing Budget |
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|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Current Budget |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Additional Budget Request |
|
|
Commercial Paper |
$ |
$1,000,000 |
$1,000,000 |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Additional Budget Request |
$ |
$1,000,000 |
$1,000,000 |
$ |
|
Total Funding Request |
$ |
$1,000,000 |
$1,000,000 |
$ |
|
Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
|
|
Current Position Count for Service |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Additional Positions Request |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Total Personnel |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Anticipated Court Date: 8/26/2025
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): 10/1/2025
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or ARPA related item
Legal funding compliance confirmed by: Paige Abernathy, Special Assistant County Attorney, 7/22/2025
Department Approval by: Heather Merkel, Director of Budget, Universal Services 8/8/2025
OMB CIP Team Approval by: William McGuinness, Director-Capital Projects & Infrastructure, 8/7/2025
________________________________________
Commercial Paper Request (For OMB use only):
Receiving Department: Universal Services
Project PeopleSoft ID: NI008
CP Series Description: Commercial Paper Series D can be used for (1) construction of public works, (2) the purchase of automobiles, equipment and machinery, including computers, materials and supplies for the operation of the County’s precincts and departments (3) Professional services, including services provided by engineers, architects, attorneys, auditors, financial advisors, and fiscal agents, in connection with the contractual obligations described in (1) and (2).
Commercial Paper is being requested for the Infrastructure Enhancement & Replacements project and is expected to be repaid within the next three fiscal years either through bonds, budgetary means or pay-as-you-go sources.
OMB Financial Management contact: Amy Perez, Deputy Executive Director, Office of Management and Budget
Decision Analysis Matrix scoring tool - Commissioners Court has approved the rubric below for scoring capital projects. Please complete the last two rows for OMB review.
|
Scoring option |
|
Strategic Plan alignment (3x weighting) |
Evidence base |
Impact on outcomes |
Cost effectiveness |
Ease of implementation |
Collaboration / partnerships |
Environmental sustainability |
Equity |
Total |
|
-1 |
|
Antithetical to one or more aspects of the Strategic Plan |
Evidence shows net negative impact on the intended goal |
Impact is clearly negative |
Costs expected (or shown) to outweigh benefits |
County has no/limited existing capabilities and dependencies are likely to impede |
Could negatively impact relationships with partners |
Negatively impacts environment and/or climate change mitigation efforts |
Inequitable |
n/a |
|
0 |
|
Does not align to a Strategic Objective |
Evidence base is not well defined or measurable |
Size of impact on one or more strategic outcomes is negligible or unclear |
Net comparison is unclear |
County has no/limited existing capabilities or dependencies are likely to impede |
Does not involve collaboration with partners |
Net neutral impact on environment and/or climate change mitigation efforts |
Does not consider equity to a meaningful degree |
n/a |
|
1 |
|
Aligns to a Strategic Objective but not to a Strategic Initiative |
Limited evidence-based research on outcomes; may have qualitative/theoretical support |
Outcomes are defined but without target levels and/or expected impact is moderate |
Moderate direct/indirect benefit relative to costs |
County has existing capability to implement, or dependencies are unlikely to impede |
Moderately expands County leverage through collaboration with partner(s) |
Marginally positive impact on environment and/or climate change mitigation efforts |
Considers equity to a meaningful degree, but not comprehensively |
n/a |
|
2 |
|
Aligns to a Strategic Objective and a Strategic Initiative |
Outcomes are directly supported by evidence base or credible research supports anticipated outcomes |
Outcomes are clearly defined and include target levels; expected impact on outcomes is high |
Significant direct/indirect benefit relative to costs |
County has existing capability to implement, and dependencies are unlikely to impede |
Significantly expands County leverage through collaboration with partner(s) |
Positively impacts environment and/or climate change mitigation efforts |
Considers equity meaningfully and comprehensively |
n/a |
|
Score Weighted (-1,0,1,2) |
|
6 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
|
Rationale |
|
Objective R and Initiative R3 |
Based on Historical System Growth |
Without system expansions, County computer systems will fail to operate |
Inability to purchase multi- year contract affects the discount provided by vendors |
Due to dependencies across County agencies, implementations are expected to experience impediments |
These systems provide server resources that cover a wide breadth of services from Law Enforcement and Justice, Financials, and Human Resources. |
Environmental impact expected to stay the same due to data center design |
Neutral Impact |
n/a |