Purchase of Cisco Hardware and Software Products for Chatham County

Chatham County, Georgia issued solicitation BID 23-0120-6 for the purchase of Cisco hardware and software products to support enterprise collaboration and unified communications solutions on a five-year agreement basis. The procurement includes both software and hardware components: the software component encompasses 1,200 units of Webex Suite Enterprise Agreement licenses providing cloud meetings, calling, and events capabilities, along with 1,500 units of outbound calling plans with associated entitlements including messaging, file storage, webinars, and events management. The hardware procurement consists of one-time purchases totaling approximately 1,769 units of equipment, including 22 analog telephone adapters, 47 Cisco VG400 voice gateways, 1,000 IP 7841 model phones, 350 IP 8841 model phones, 150 IP 8845 model phones, 50 conference phones, 50 wireless headsets, and 100 wired headsets. The solicitation required vendors to submit bids by September 15, 2023 at 2:00 PM through Chatham County's purchasing portal at https://chathamcountyga.bonfirehub.com/portal. Responsive bidders were required to acknowledge receipt of Addendums 1-3 and utilize the revised bid form for submission, with evaluation based on total pricing across all line items and adherence to solicitation requirements.

Eight vendors submitted bids for consideration, with award values ranging significantly from $743,434.18 to $1,467,873.94 among responsive bidders. AiOS Group of Macon, Georgia submitted the lowest responsive bid at $743,434.18, while SHI International Corp of Somerset, New Jersey submitted a bid of $784,106.83, and iTech Devices, Inc. of Fremont, California submitted $967,119.96. Four bidders were deemed non-responsive: TechKnow of Snellville, Georgia was noted as non-responsive due to variables, while Sunflower Lab, LLC of Hilliard, Ohio and DISYS Solutions, Inc. of Ashburn, Virginia were marked non-responsive for failing to use the revised bid form. Verinext of Duluth, Georgia and Huel Technology of Navarre, Florida submitted responsive bids of $1,370,377.91 and $1,467,873.94 respectively. Unit pricing for core software components varied substantially among vendors, with Webex Suite license costs ranging from $14.63 to $648.48 per unit, reflecting different vendor discount structures and pricing models. The procurement documents do not indicate specific set-aside designations or restrictions limiting response by disadvantaged enterprises or organizational type.