HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Waiving the City's Purchasing Policies and Procedure Requirement for Formal Bidding for the SCADA System for Electric Services RESOLUTION NO. 22-148
RESOLUTION WAIVING THE CITY'S PURCHASING POLICIES AND PROCEDURE
REQUIREMENT FOR FORMAL BIDDING FOR THE
SCADA SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC SERVICES
FOR THE CITY OF AMES,IOWA
WHEREAS, Electric Services uses a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition(SCADA)
System to monitor status and to control power flows, electric generations, interconnections to
neighboring utilities, distribution, and transmission; and,
WHEREAS, data from the SCADA is also used as the basis for billing energy transactions;
and,
WHEREAS,the existing SCADA system was installed in 2000 and has had routine software
updates about every two years; and,
WHEREAS, the SCADA system was supplied and is supported by Open Systems
International,Inc., (OSI)from Medina, Minnesota, and the software is based on Microsoft".NET"
technology; and,
WHEREAS, advancements have continued to be made to the software to meet changing
industry standards and regulations, and the City has historically entered into a Support Services
Agreement with OSI to keep pace with those changes and to provide maintenance services at a
reasonable price; and,
WHEREAS, the last three years, the Power Plan has been operating under a contract with
OSI that provided the required software upgrades and a Support Service Plan consisting of the top
level of reliability and maintainability support that OSI offers; and,
WHEREAS, before the most recent Contract, the Power Plant would continually have the
top plan OSI offered, (the Diamond Support Plan); and,
WHEREAS, staff have looked at downgrading to the Gold Support Plan,which provides all
the same benefits as the Diamond Support Plan except the annual software upgrade; and,
WHEREAS, staffed believes a software upgrade is only needed every other year;therefore,
options were explored with OSI to switch between the Gold Support Plan and the Diamond Support
Plan every other year in order to take advantage of the reduced cost for the software upgrade; and,
WHEREAS,because the support of the SCADA system can only be provided by OSI, staff
is requesting that the City Council waive the City's Purchasing Policies requiring formal competitive
bids.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Ames, Iowa,
that the waiver of the City's Purchasing Policies and Procedure requirement for formal bidding for
the SCADA System for Electric Services is hereby approved.
ADOPTED THIS 22nd day of March, 2022.
Diane R. Voss, City Clerk John A. Haila, Mayor
Introduced by: Beatty-Hansen
Seconded by: Junck
Voting aye: Beatty-Hansen, Betcher, Corrieri, Gartin, Junck, Rollins
Voting nay: None Absent: None
Resolution declared adopted and signed by the Mayor this 22nd day of March, 2022.