The city will be spending over $85,000 to upgrade its staff computer systems and put paper on the endangered species list for councillors.
Trail city council passed a motion last Thursday to spend $85,237 on 44 work stations for city staff, 22 tablets for city councillors and senior city staff, and 25 monitors.
City chief administrative officer David Perehudoof said there was a need to replace the desktop and laptops systems throughout the city, as well as give councillors access to new technology.
The laptop devices for council are expected to replace hundreds of pages of photocopied and printed material produced for each council meeting (two per month).
It was found council needed “some sort of device whereby we would cease producing paper copies of the agenda and move into more of a digital world,” said Perehudoff at a July 5 general government and finance committee meeting.
The overall purchase price will come in under budget by $42,000.
The City of Trail had identified the need to replace an aging fleet of corporate computer systems. The need was approved as a capital project for 2012 in the amount of $126,500. In addition, a capital project in the amount of $14,700 was approved to acquire equipment for council. A review of council requirements identified a tablet as the appropriate choice for them.
Quotes were received from eight vendors (Lang Business Systems, DHC Communications, CDW Canada, Dell Canada, Lenovo Canada, Insight Canada, Value Office Supplies, Selkirk Computers).
The quote provided by Lang Business Systems from Nelson, for the desktop and tablet selections was approved for $58,272, even though it was not the lowest quote.
“As such preference has been given to the vendor that would be considered more local in the context of the purchase as well as making it somewhat more convenient for ongoing support,” read a report from Duane Birnie, city information systems coordinator.
The quote provided by Trail’s Selkirk Computer for the monitorswas approved for $183.25 per monitor.
“This quote was not the lowest quote but Selkirk Computers is a local business and the product fully meets or exceeds the city’s requirements,” said Birnie.
In all cases, bids were evaluated first by their ability to meet the minimum corporate standards and then additional factors were considered including warranty, support and quality.