TITLE
title
APPROVE CONTRACT WITH EVERBRIDGE FOR A SHARED COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION SYSTEM
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SPONSOR
sponsor
Jim Albright
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BACKGROUND
background
In 2010, Guilford County, the City of Greensboro, and the City of High Point utilized Homeland Security Grant funding to create the GEANI (Guilford Emergency Notification and Information) system to provide seamless notifications to residents within Guilford County for public safety alerts. From 2010 to 2014, Homeland Security Grant funds were used to maintain and support the system. In 2014, Guilford County, the City of Greensboro, and City of High Point entered into an inter-local agreement to share the ongoing maintenance costs of the system (Contract 36460-04/14-064).
The current system infrastructure is now outdated and no longer supported by the vendor requiring a substantial upgrade of hardware and ongoing maintenance costs. Based on the communities’ expectations for emergency notifications, and the need for non-emergency notifications to residents and businesses, the partnership between Guilford County, Greensboro and High Point elected to go out for bids to solicit replacement systems to enhance the current GEANI system and ensure continued community notifications.
The notification system was competitively bid under event #533 for a software as a service. Based on the procurement process, the Everbridge Unified Critical Communications Suite was chosen as the most responsive vendor that met the requirements set forth by the participating agencies. This proposed system will provide emergency and non emergency notifications to residents, businesses, and employees in a coordinated manner without the need for local hardware costs.
Additionally, non-public safety agencies can use the system to communicate with customers on issues such as water outages, changes in garbage collection days, interruptions in service, press release distribution, and employee notifications. The system includes the ability for agencies to upload customer databases, employee databases, and a portal for individuals to opt-in for notifications on cell phones, text message, e-mails, or voice calls.
The system will be funded through an inter-local agreement with the City of Greensboro, City of High Point, and Guilford County splitting the costs with a 1/3 share.
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BUDGET IMPACT
budget impact
NO ADDITIONAL COUNTY FUNDS REQUIRED
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REQUESTED ACTION
requested action
Approve the contract with Everbridge, in substantial form, for the provision of a community notification system, in the amount of $133,000 for an initial term of one (1) year, with four (4) one-year renewal options.
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