Agenda Item   

AGENDA STAFF REPORT

 

                                                                                                                        ASR Control  25-000597

 

MEETING DATE:

09/09/25

legal entity taking action:

Board of Supervisors

board of supervisors district(s):

All Districts

SUBMITTING Agency/Department:

County Executive Office   (Approved)

Department contact person(s):

KC Roestenberg (714) 567-5075 

 

 

Ed Althof (714) 834-3069

 

 

Subject:  Approve Contract for Microsoft Unified Support Services

 

     ceo CONCUR

County Counsel Review

Clerk of the Board

          Concur

Approved Agreement to Form

Discussion

 

 

3 Votes Board Majority

 

 

 

    Budgeted: Yes

Current Year Cost:  $437,591

Annual Cost: FY 2026-27 $468,274
FY 2027-28 $500,275

 

 

 

    Staffing Impact:

No

# of Positions:           

Sole Source:   No

    Current Fiscal Year Revenue: N/A

   Funding Source:    Fund 289: 100% (OCIT Countywide Services)

County Audit in last 3 years: No

   Levine Act Review Completed: Yes

 

    Prior Board Action:         7/23/2024 #43, 9/13/2022 #27

 

RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):

 

 

1.

Authorize the County Procurement Officer or Deputized designee to execute contract with Dell Marketing L.P. for Microsoft Unified Support Services, effective October 20, 2025, through October 19, 2028, in an amount not to exceed $1,406,140.

 

2.

Pursuant to Contract Policy Manual Section 3.3-113, authorize the County Procurement Officer or Deputized designee to exercise a contingency contract cost increase, not to exceed a total of 10 percent of the contract amount for the first year of the contract, for the entire term of the contract, including renewals, and within the scope of work set forth in the contract. The use of this contingency contract cost increase is subject to approval requirements established by the County Procurement Office.

 

 

 

 

SUMMARY:

 

Approval of the contract with Dell Marketing L.P. will provide critical, proactive and reactive technical support to help ensure ongoing availability of the County’s investment in Microsoft products.

 

 

 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

 

Since 2015, Orange County Information Technology (OCIT) procured Microsoft Premier Support Services (MPSS) to provide extended support for existing Microsoft-based products. MPSS provides critical proactive and reactive technical support with a dedicated technical account manager to help ensure ongoing availability of the County’s investment in Microsoft products, including, but not limited to, the County’s enterprise intranet (IntraOC/SharePoint Online), cloud computing environment (Azure) and ongoing assistance with Office 365 deployments. MPSS is purchased in allotments of hours for problem resolution, support assistance, support account management and on-site visits.

 

In 2019, Microsoft introduced the Microsoft Unified Support Services (MUSS) model and announced that they would retire the MPSS model but would allow the County to continue with MPSS to assess the funds needed to support the unified model. Under MUSS, the base support cost includes the MPSS services on an as-needed basis and eliminates the need to calculate a specific number of hours for issues that the County may not be able to foresee.  In 2021, OCIT moved to MUSS on a one (1)-year contract term which allows the department to engage Microsoft on an as-needed basis for any 24/7 problem resolution support, critical issue escalation management, advisory support, assessments and technical training. On September 13, 2022, the County Board of Supervisors (Board) authorized OCIT to execute a contract with Dell Marketing L.P. (Dell) for MUSS, effective October 20, 2022, through October 19, 2025. On July 23, 2024, the Board authorized OCIT to execute an amendment to the contract with Dell to add pre-paid support hours required as a retainer for Microsoft’s Detection and Response Team (DART) to be able to quickly receive cybersecurity incident response services.

 

Over the past nine (9) years, OCIT has utilized the County of Riverside Cooperative Agreement to procure MPSS and MUSS through Microsoft’s Value-Added Resellers (VARs). The VARs act as a pass-through provider and markup the cost for the services passed down from Microsoft. OCIT requested quotes from several VARs and received two (2) quotes back from Dell and Insight Public Sector. Dell submitted the lowest quote with no markup. Provided in the table below is pricing that was obtained from Microsoft as well as the two (2) VARs for cost comparison. In addition, the contract includes negotiated cost savings of $194,336.76 over the three (3) year term of the contract compared to the original Microsoft proposed renewal cost.

 

 

 

Microsoft

Dell

Insight

Year 1

 $437,591

 $437,591

 $437,591

Year 2

 $468,274

 $468,274

 $468,274

Year 3

 $500,275

 $500,275

 $500,275

Subtotal

 $1,406,140

 $1,406,140

 $1,406,140

Additional Pass-Through Cost

 $0

$0

 $28,587

Grand Total

$1,406,140

$1,406,140

$1,434,727

 

This contract contains pass-through limitation of liability and indemnification provisions from Microsoft that deviate from the County's standard terms and conditions. County Executive Office of Risk Management has reviewed these provisions and has determined the risk to be acceptable for these services.  Risk Assessment or Modification of Insurance Terms form is attached as Attachment C.

 

The Contractor’s performance has been confirmed as satisfactory. Department has verified there are no concerns that must be addressed with respect to Contractor’s ownership/name, litigation status or conflicts with County interests.

 

This contract, due to the nature of services, could require the addition of subcontractors. In order to add subcontractor(s) to the contract, the provider/contractor must seek express consent from the department. Should the addition of a subcontractor affect the scope of work and/or contract amount, the department will bring the item back to the Board of Supervisors for approval. In the past, subcontractor(s) have not been used for this contract. See Attachment B for Contract Summary Form.

 

 

The proposed contract includes provisions that the contract is contingent upon the availability of funds and inclusion of sufficient funds in the budget approved by the Board for each fiscal year the contract remains in effect or operation. In the event such funding is terminated or reduced, the County may terminate the contract, reduce the County’s maximum obligation or modify the contract, without penalty.This contract is being awarded based on a cooperative agreement. The Orange County Preference Policy is not applicable to this contract award.

 

 

 

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

 

Appropriations for this contract are included in the FY 2025-26 Budget for Fund 289, OCIT Countywide Services, and will be included in the budgeting process for future years.

 

FY 2025-26: $437,591

FY 2026-27: $468,274

FY 2027-28: $500,275

 

 

 

STAFFING IMPACT:

 

N/A

 

 

 

ATTACHMENT(S):

 

Attachment A – Contract MA-017-26010090 with Dell Marketing L.P.
Attachment B – Contract Summary Form
Attachment C – Risk Assessment Form