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TO: |
Mayor
and Members of Council |
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FROM: |
Andy
Taylor, Commissioner Corporate Services James
Allen, Chief Information Officer |
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PREPARED
BY: |
James
Allen, Chief Information Officer Brian
Ha, Manager Client Delivery, ITS |
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DATE
OF MEETING: |
2004-January-19 |
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SUBJECT: |
Information Technology Strategic Plan |
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RECOMMENDATION:
THAT the report dated January 19th
2004 entitled “Information Technology Strategic Plan” be received;
AND that the Chief Information Officer (CIO) be authorized to request IBM Canada Limited (IBM) to submit
a proposal for developing an Information Technology Strategic Plan (Plan) for
the Town. The Strategic Plan shall identify the Town’s information technology
needs, setting priorities and deploying corporate-wide standards such that the
Town can continue to strengthen its position as a technology leader in the
public sector and as the High-Tech Capital of Canada;
AND that based on the assessment of the proposal, a staff report will
be submitted to Council for approval and to determine if IBM shall be awarded
the contract to develop the Strategic Plan.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this report
is to obtain approval from Council for the CIO to request IBM to submit a
proposal for developing an Information Technology Strategic Plan for the Town.
BACKGROUND:
To enable the Town to continue to ensure the
effective use of IT resources, hardware and applications, a regular review of
the Town’s Information Technology Strategy is required to be performed every 3
to 4 years. The last review was conducted in 1999 and a review is deemed
necessary again in 2004 in order to re-set measurable objectives and a
deployment strategy for IT solutions that are clearly aligned to, and driven
by, the business needs of the Corporation. The end product of the review is
known as the Information Technology Strategic Plan.
The Strategic Plan will enable the Town to
validate its past achievements and also set a course for upcoming years to
ensure leading edge technologies are utilized and best business practices are
adopted to ensure that quality services to the public are delivered in the most
efficient way.
Industry standards suggest that a Strategic Plan
should be developed by an external independent Consultant who has experience in
developing such a document, as well as knowledge of the emerging Information
Technology trends and best practices in the industry such that objective,
unbiased and neutral recommendations can be obtained.
OPTIONS/DISCUSSION:
The Town has the option of attracting a
consultant through the traditional Request for Proposal (RFP) process as
outlined in Markham’s Purchasing By-Law 143-2000. The benefits of this are such that the Town
has a greater exposure to various Strategic Plans and prices to choose
from. The disadvantage is that the
process of issuing the RFP and reviewing the proposals is very time consuming. A modified approach where the Town would
pre-qualify the proponents may reduce the length of the process.
However, extrapolating the pre-qualification
approach further, the Town of Markham’s Purchasing By-Law 143-2000 states that
“where the Chief Administration Officer and the appropriate Commissioner deem
it necessary or in the best interested of the Town to acquire non-standard
items, or Consulting and Professional Services from a preferred supplier or
from a supplier who has a proven track record with the Town in terms of
pricing, quality and service, Finance Committee and Council approval must be
obtained in order to acquire the services from the preferred supplier rather
that to seek proposals.”
Leveraging this clause in the Purchasing
By-law, staff began to explore this option with respect to the Town’s
relationship with IBM. In June of 2003,
the Town awarded a contract to IBM to
replace the Town’s
desktop/laptop computers over the next three (3) years. In the RFP issued by the Town for those
services, a section for Value Added Services outlined the following
requirement…“The Town is looking for a Provider that will have a long-term
interest or stake in the Town. It wants
an organization that will treat the Town as a partner and ally, that is willing
to link their own image and reputation with our own, and that will help guide
the Town through the challenges of a rapidly changing world of
technology.”
IBM’s submission was received very favourably
by the Town because of the vast array of “value added” services that were to be
made available to the Town as well as a full commitment to a partnership
approach. This contract also included a
Value Added Services Offer (Conditional), which provides an opportunity to
obtain quality Information Technology Professional Consulting Services with a
credit of $25,000 for any contract over $75,000.
Additional benefits of offering IBM the first
opportunity to develop a Strategic Plan are that:
A)
IBM
is a proven quality and experienced organization
B)
It
would enable fast tracking of the acquisition of reputable and reliable
services
C) The strategic
relationship between the Town and IBM would be further strengthened
D) High profile working relationships with area businesses will help to promote economic development in Markham Centre.
In light of the recent contract awarded to IBM for desktop/laptop
replacement, it is recommended that the Town of Markham provide IBM with the
opportunity to submit a proposal for an IT Strategic Plan for the Town. Upon submission, Town staff will review the
Strategic Plan and a staff report will be brought forward to Council to
determine if IBM should develop the Strategic Plan. If the proposal submitted by IBM does not
meet the Town’s requirements, the Town will proceed with the traditional RPF
process to acquire an external Consultant.
Therefore, the only drawback of this approach is that if IBM’s proposal
does not meet the Town’s needs, a delay of two to three months time on the
delivery of the Strategic Plan will result. However, this delay would not be
considered critical.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
There will be no financial
investment required by or revenue gained with this recommendation. However a
credit of $25,000 for any IBM consulting service contract over $75,000 is
available.
ATTACHMENTS:
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James
Allen Chief
Information Officer |
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Andy
Taylor Commissioner
of Corporate Services |
