Report Prepared by: Jeff Bennyhoff, Director of Information Technology
Title
SUBJECT: Approval of a Cooperative Purchase Utilizing County of Merced 2026 AMS FOCUS Agreement No. 2026120 with AMS.NET in an Amount not to Exceed $160,000 for Fiscal Year 2026-2027
REPORT IN BRIEF
Approval of a Cooperative Purchase Utilizing County of Merced 2026 AMS FOCUS Agreement No. 2026120 with AMS.NET in an Amount Not to Exceed $160,000 for Fiscal Year 2026-2027.
RECOMMENDATION
City Council - Adopt a motion:
A. Authorizing the use of the County of Merced 2026 AMS FOCUS Agreement No. 2026120 for the procurement of goods in an amount not to exceed $160,000 for Fiscal Year 2026-2027; and,
B. Authorizing the City Manager to execute the necessary documents.
Body
ALTERNATIVES
1. Approve, as recommended by staff; or,
2. Approve, subject to conditions as specified by the City Council; or,
3. Deny the request; or,
4. Refer the matter back to staff for reconsideration of specific items as requested by the City Council.
AUTHORITY
Charter of the City of Merced, Section 200.
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES
As provided for in the FY 2026-2027 Adopted Budget.
DISCUSSION
The City's Information Technology Department procures a variety of technology-related goods and services each fiscal year to support Citywide operations. These purchases include networking infrastructure equipment such as wireless access points, firewalls, switches, servers, emergency notification hardware and software, hardware maintenance services, software licensing, and other technology products and services.
The Information Technology Department typically brings forward its annual procurement authorizations to the City Council at the beginning of each fiscal year to ensure purchasing authority is in place for anticipated technology acquisitions. While the majority of those annual authorizations were presented earlier this fiscal year, this cooperative purchasing agreement was not included because it was still pending approval by the Merced County Board of Supervisors. Now that the County has approved the agreement, staff is requesting authorization to continue utilizing the cooperative purchasing agreement for Fiscal Year 2026-2027.
To secure favorable pricing and maintain compliance with procurement regulations, the City utilizes competitively solicited cooperative purchasing agreements established by other public agencies. One such agreement is the County of Merced's AMS FOCUS Agreement No. 2026120, awarded through a competitive public solicitation process.
The City is not obligated to purchase exclusively from AMS.net under this agreement. Staff will continue to obtain competitive quotations whenever practical, and purchases will be made from the vendor offering the lowest responsive price while meeting the City's operational requirements. The cooperative agreement provides access to competitively established pricing for a broad range of technology products and services and often results in lower costs through public agency volume purchasing.
AMS.net has recently merged with MGT, and future purchases or invoices may be processed through either entity. To ensure uninterrupted procurement operations, staff requests authorization to execute purchase orders, contracts, and payments with either AMS.net or MGT as appropriate.
Utilization of this cooperative purchasing agreement is consistent with Section 3.04.210 of the Merced Municipal Code, which authorizes exemption from formal competitive bidding when utilizing contracts competitively awarded by another public agency. Approval of this request will provide the Information Technology Department with the procurement authority necessary to efficiently acquire technology products and services throughout the fiscal year while maintaining compliance with City purchasing requirements.
IMPACT ON CITY RESOURCES
Over the past two fiscal years, the City Council has authorized an average annual expenditure authority of approximately $387,000 under this cooperative purchasing agreement. Actual expenditures averaged approximately $312,000 per year, largely due to one-time capital technology acquisitions during those fiscal years.
For Fiscal Year 2026-2027, the Information Technology Department does not anticipate similar one-time capital purchases through this agreement. Accordingly, staff is requesting expenditure authority in an amount not to exceed $160,000, which is expected to adequately support the City's routine operational technology procurement needs.
This authorization establishes a maximum purchasing authority under the cooperative purchasing agreement and does not appropriate additional funding or obligate the City to expend the full authorized amount. Purchases will be made only as budgeted and as operationally necessary. Any purchases that would exceed the authorized amount will be brought back to the City Council for additional approval.
Funding for these purchases is included within the FY 2026-2027 Adopted Budget.
ATTACHMENTS
1. County of Merced 2026 AMS FOCUS Agreement No. 2026120