Think your business software is expensive? San Luis Obispo County will spend more than a million dollars over three years to update its software programs and user licenses, picking a resale company from among bidders for similar services in Riverside County.
Supervisors agreed to a 3-year contract with Dell Marketing, LP for $1.34 million over 3 years “to renew the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement for all Microsoft software and subscription services used by the County from Fiscal Year 2021-22 through FY 2023-24,” reads a staff report from the County’s head of IT, Daniel Milei.
The agreement with Microsoft sets prices and user entitlements for the various software used by all County departments including the Social Services Department, Health Agency, and the Assessor’s Office, which used to have their own agreements until last summer, when they were all brought under one.
Milei said that led to “reducing overhead by having a single countywide contract to renew and manage, eliminating unnecessary duplication of licenses, and enabling immediate access into the total investment in Microsoft products and services.”
The County picked Dell Marketing from 10 companies that answered a request for bidders process in Riverside County and was able to do so through an authorized, Licensing Solution Provider (LSP). The bids were based on a percentage mark-up or mark down from resellers of the software.
“Out of the rates offered by the resellers,” Milei said, “Dell Marketing, LP was the lowest and most competitively priced. Use of the Riverside County contract for the County’s Enterprise Agreement renewal has and will provide a much larger volume discount and lower overall cost to the County for Microsoft products over the level that could be achieved negotiating the County’s own Enterprise Agreement.”
The County dealt with a bombshell from Microsoft. “Once Microsoft announced that it would discontinue support for Windows 7 desktop operating systems, “ Milei said, “over 90 percent of all desktop machines at the County became obsolete.”
That led to a shift to a new program, Microsoft 365 from Office 365, he explained, which came bundled with Windows 10 and enhanced security features.
“Licensing the required Windows 10 operating system as part of a bundle provided savings of over $57,000 annually as opposed to purchasing the licenses separately.”
Milei added that the new contract with Dell Marketing would save some $72,500 over the 3-years compared with its former agreement with CDW Government, LLC.
