September 20, 2018 at 6:15 PM - Board of Education Resource Management & Business Operations Committee Meeting

Presenters: Suzanne Rodgers, Accounting Supervisor & Dave Arre, IT Supervisor

Prepared by: Theresa D. Yonsky, Director of Fiscal Services

Topic: Copier/Managed Print RFQ/RFP and Recommendation

Importance of this topic to the Board: Operations and fiscal prudence

Key Points of the Briefing:

1. An RFQ/RFP was issued with three parts: First to submit pricing for 28 copiers on a 5 year lease agreement with annual lease cost and service quoted at cents per print, second was to submit pricing on managed print services quoted at cents per print, and third was to present an executive summary of vendors’ approach to our Bethel Public Schools account.
2. 7 professional and comprehensive responses to the RFQ/RFP were received.
3. A committee of three: Lauren Cunningham (Town Purchasing Agent), Dave Arre and Teri Yonsky reviewed and analyzed each of the responses independently and then met to compare results.The list was narrowed to three.T. Yonsky called/emailed with follow-up questions and called references.D. Arre did technical research on the products proposed.This feedback was shared with the committee.
4. The committee members completed their ranking of the vendors based on 40% price, 20% service, 20% experience & 20% executive summary.

We are pleased to recommend Base Technologies as our vendor of choice.  Base was the number one choice of each member on the committee.  Base submitted the second lowest price by $1,770/year and it was $9,582 less per year than our current agreement with them.  Total annual cost proposed is $114,450.  Base is a local Bethel company, only 2.3 miles from our schools and has delivered on their promises of good response time and excellent service.  The last five years have been a successful partnership with all machines in the fleet still running well.  The software to manage printing on a networked basis is included in the price.  With this savings we will continue to standardize our printer fleet and continue to move toward more centralized printing.