Council to Consider $1.2 Million In Contracts For Computer Servers and An Oil Containment System On Its Agenda Consent Calendar

The City Council on Monday will consider just two items on the consent calendar of its shortened agenda.

One of those items is a proposed $550,000 contract to VCI Utility Services for the construction of an oil containment system at the city’s Villa Substation. 

The City Council will also vote to authorize the issuance of a contract for an amount not to exceed $662,421 with Impex Technologies for computer server and storage hardware equipment.

According to a city staff report, the construction of an oil containment system at the site is included in Pasadena Water and Power’s Electric Distribution System Master Plan to prevent environmental damage resulting from potential mineral oil spills originating from transformers or electrical equipment. 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires that regulated facilities, including electric facilities, have spill prevention, control, and countermeasure plans in place to ensure that potentially large oil spills be contained within the immediate area. 

The substation was built in 1980, prior to the EPA regulations. and it is currently not in compliance. 

The proposed construction project will bring the Villa Substation into compliance.

A large oil spill could be very costly to remediate, and has the potential to seep into the city’s groundwater. 

Regarding the Impex Technologies contract, the city Department of Information Technology (DoIT) is responsible for citywide information technology operations and support services of the computer server systems. 

The server and storage systems aid the city’s 16 departments in critical business applications such as financial, land and document management, and public safety systems. 

The current infrastructure hosting the systems was implemented more than eight years ago and is considered to be nearing obsolescence.

“As part of DolT’s standard hardware lifecycle replacement policy, new hardware is necessary to replace aging equipment to maintain optimum performance levels with the ability to expand for future systems and services,” according to a city staff report.

The City Council can approve both items with a sweep motion and a single vote or pull one or both for discussion.