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: Telephone System Repair/Replace
Project ID (if applicable): NI026
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: $865,000
Total Estimated Project Cost: $1,700,000 (FY27 & FY28)
Request Summary:
Request for approval of the Final Investment Memo for the Telephone System Repair/Replace project for an incremental authorization of $865,000 for a total authorization of $865,000 for FY2027.
Project Description:
This project replaces end-of-life voice equipment including phones, media gateways, session border controllers, and related solutions within the data centers and across 200+ locations.
Voice equipment is replaced on an approximately 15-year cycle, requiring the replacement of handsets and related peripheral equipment.
Data center infrastructure would continuously need to be expanded in capacity due to the constant increase in the county’s needs.
Anticipated Project Expenditures and Timeline:
|
Scope of Work |
Estimated Cost |
Estimated Completion |
|
1,500 Phone replacement |
$405,000 |
August 2027 |
|
CISCO Add on Modules |
$150,000 |
July 2027 |
|
FISK-Swapping out phones |
$72,000 |
August 2027 |
|
Project Manager Contractor |
$144,000 |
|
|
15% Contingency |
$94,000 |
|
|
Total |
$865,000 |
- |
Justification & Alternatives:
Harris County has a significant amount of voice equipment, including but not limited to handsets, media gateways, session border controllers, virtual machines, physical hardware, and various licenses.
These items need to be refreshed periodically to minimize equipment the vendors no longer support. Most of this equipment is on sites outside the data center and some is already unsupported.
Some refresh and capacity increases are required in the data centers to support the branch office refresh as described.
Having a lifecycle-based repair and replacement strategy will keep us from having unsupported equipment as well as ensure security and software updates continue to be provided as technology evolves.
This in turn helps ensure scalability, reliability, and security that supports our voice connectivity for internal entities, external customers, and remote devices.
If not funded, there is the potential risk that an out-of-support telephone system could fail, and we would not be able to return the telephone system to operational status without replacing it completely.
The affected department(s) would be down or with limited capabilities until funds for cabling, network hardware, and VoIP telephones are secured and the work is implemented.
Many departments rely heavily on voice communications for business operations.
Some of these include the District Attorney’s intake division, multiple public safety offices (Constable and Sheriff), Office of Emergency Management, IT helpdesk, and the EDC; just to name a few.
Anticipated Impact on Other Funds (If Applicable):
|
Fund Code |
Description |
Estimated Cost |
Funding Method (Existing or Future Budget Request Required) |
Estimated Date of Needs |
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$- |
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- |
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$- |
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- |
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Total |
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$- |
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- |
County Strategic Plan Goal: 2. Connect our community with safe, reliable, equitably distributed, and well-maintained infrastructure.
County Strategic Plan Objective: N/A
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): E1: Modernize data and technology architecture across the legal system.
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): F1: Strengthen the County’s commitment to Vision Zero principles and goals.
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): M1: Develop a County economic development strategy that advances effective and equitable economic growth.
Health Initiative (Goal 4): N/A
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): T2: Make County buildings more energy efficient.
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): N/A
Previous Court Action:
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
7/10/2018 |
6.b.5 |
Request for approval of funding for project cost $2,540,000 |
|
7/31/2018 |
4.j.6 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $2,540,000 |
|
11/12/2019 |
4.g.2 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $1,040,000 |
|
7/20/2021 |
21-3590 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for $1,510,000 |
|
3/22/2022 |
22-2029 |
Request for SFY22 authorization of $900,000 |
|
8/23/2022 |
22-4958 |
Request for an FY23 total authorization of $814,830 |
|
8/8/2023 |
23-4369 |
Request for an FY24 incremental authorization of $1,210,000 |
|
10/10/2023 |
23-5838 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding $605,000 for a total of $5,695,000 |
|
12/5/2023 |
23-7153 |
Request for approval of decrease commercial paper funding $800,000 for a net CP funding $4,895,000 |
|
2/27/2024 |
24-0931 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding $250,000 |
|
6/4/2024 |
24-3367 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding $500,000 |
Address: Multiple
Precinct(s): Countywide
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Total Current Budget |
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Additional Budget Request |
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Total Funding Request |
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Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
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Current Position Count for Service |
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Additional Positions Request |
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Total Personnel |
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Anticipated Court Date: 10/15/2026
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): Click or tap to enter a date.
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or ARPA related item
Legal funding compliance confirmed by: Paige Abernathy, First Assistant County Attorney-Legal Operations, 7/22/2025
Department Approval by: Meg Philip, Chief Financial Officer - Harris County Universal Services, 10/1/2026
OMB CIP Team Approval by: William McGuinness, Director-Capital Projects & Infrastructure, 9/30/2026
________________________________________
Commercial Paper Request (For OMB use only):
Receiving Department: N/A
Project PeopleSoft ID: N/A
CP Series Description: N/A
OMB Financial Management contact: N/A