Austin Approves About $198M in Technology Contracts

The Austin City Council approved about $198 million in technology contracts and contract amendments on Thursday, covering telecommunications, enterprise software, IT staffing, cybersecurity and public safety systems.

A large share of the spending will flow through Texas Department of Information Resources cooperative contracts. Austin authorized up to $42.5 million for IT staff augmentation across city departments, up to $16 million for telecommunications services and up to $5 million for technology hardware, software and related services. The staffing agreements have an initial one-year term with as many as two one-year extensions, while the telecommunications agreement can run for as long as five years with extensions.

Separately, the city approved a package of seven telecommunications, broadband and cellular contracts worth up to approximately $62.1 million combined. Those agreements will support services including computer-aided dispatch, wireless metering and remote system access.

Two agreements with Clariti Cloud account for another about $59.3 million. One provides up to about $28.1 million for Clariti Enterprise Permitting Software licenses and support for permitting, licensing and land management operations. The other provides up to about $31.2 million for enterprise case management systems covering licensing, permitting, inspections and enforcement, including implementation and maintenance services.

Cybersecurity spending includes a contract worth up to about $1.3 million for Proofpoint software and support. Austin Technology Services will use the software to help reduce phishing risk.

The City Council also increased an existing agreement with FreeIt Data Solutions by $2.4 million for networking platform licenses, maintenance and support. And it added another $500,000 to an agreement with Axim Geospatial for geographic information system support and consulting services.

Other software approvals include up to $1.7 million for the Miro visual collaboration platform and about $4.2 million for EnvisionWare equipment maintenance, support and management technology used by Austin Public Library for printing, reservations, payments and self-service functions.

Public safety technology was also part of the package. The City Council increased Austin Police’s Tyler Technologies electronic citation and crash software agreement by about $276,000, bringing its total authorized value to about $1.2 million. A separate Tyler Technologies contract provides up to $575,000 for cloud-based electronic warrant software.

Austin Energy also received approval for a fiber network services contract worth up to $600,000 and a $550,000 increase to an agreement for technical emissions-monitoring software support.