Council is once again considering a sole-sourced contract that would be worth more than $100,000.

The recommendation to sole-source a data storage contract to CDW Canada comes just three weeks after council voted in favour of sole-sourcing a $1.7-million contract to Nova Bus for the supply of two new 12-metre low-floor city buses.

At Monday’s council meeting, Michael Reyes, of the city’s Department of Business and Technology Systems, proposed the contract award.

Two councillors, however, quickly voiced their concerns over sole-sourcing a contract.

“I’m definitely concerned,” said Coun. Samson Hartland after noting, as Coun. Jocelyn Curteanu had as well, that he’s not a fan of sole-sourced contracts.

He noted he would rather see more opportunities for local procurement. Reyes, however, said he’s not sure it could be provided locally.

In his report to council, Reyes said it was in 2012 that CDW was awarded the first contract – through a request for proposals process - for Enterprise Data Storage.

Two storage units that were purchased under that contract hold 34 Terabytes of data, which he described as about 60 times larger than a typical computer hard drive.

The city also has a unit purchased in 2013 which holds 24 Terabytes of data.

“These are critical because they store the city’s financial data, GIS mapping data, data for the (Canada Games Centre), emails and others,” Reyes said.

“Aside from nearing end of life for the two Nimble units from 2012, the 2013 unit is also projected to be at 73 per cent to 89 per cent capacity around the second or third quarter of 2017.”

The department is now looking to purchase a Nimble storage unit that would have a capacity of more than 100 Terabytes of data with faster network speed.

The purchase would have three benefits for the city:

• replacing aging equipment with a newer unit that will ensure the integrity of the data;

• allow for capacity planning for future data storage needs; and

• helping to lessen administrative overhead.

“Due to the very specific nature of this technology investment and the desire to ensure compatibility and prevent corruption of critical data, (business and technology systems) prefers to continue utilizing Nimble as the city’s Enterprise Data Storage platform,” Reyes noted in his report.

“Having mixed storage platforms is not ideal.”

While the standard cost for the 100-plus Terabyte unit is $245,000, with negotiated discounts, applied credits and government funding, the cost to the city through Nimble is down to $108,000.

Any sole-sourced contract of more than $100,000 has to go through council approval.

Under questioning by Coun. Roslyn Woodcock, Reyes said once data are transferred from the older units to the newer one (a task that would be done by city staff), the old units would be used for running tests.

After they’re no longer usable for testing, the parts would likely be recycled or provided to a program like Computers for Schools.

Council will vote on the contract next week.