The Española School District approved a contract for networking, surveillance installation and phone and security systems at the March 23 School Board meeting.
As of April 20, the District has also entered into a vigilant maintenance plan with a Cooperative Educational Services vetted vendor, which has raised questions from the District’s Information Technology Department about the terms of the agreement and the scope of work to be provided.
An item for approval from Albuquerque-based Harmonix Technologies for camera, voice and technology upgrades at Española Public Schools initially surfaced as an agenda item at the Board’s March 3 meeting, but was not approved until March 23. Information made public by District officials outlines networking for a new security system at Española Valley High School, Española Middle School and Los Niños Kindergarten Center, as well as installation of a new phone system districtwide.
Questions still linger about the contract terms approved by the Board at their March 23 meeting because the terms of the agreement were never made public.
A Rio Grande SUN reporter requested the contract and a detailed scope of work to be performed, but District staff responded via email April 19, that the request was closed because information technology staff could not find a contract on file.
Interim finance director Myrna Garcia confirmed the District was finalizing the contract with the technology vendor. She said the work could cost up to $75,000 and would be funded through Technology Bond notes, but District staff still need to sign the agreement before a purchase order can be issued.
Garcia said she would meet with District Technology Director Andrew Trujillo, but at press time, the latter said he had not been approached by Garcia or anyone else regarding the contract.
Cooperative Educational Services is a purchasing cooperative composed of 89 school districts in the state, united by a Joint Powers Agreement to assist public schools with purchasing and hiring, by providing a directory of professional service providers.
Pam Reed, member services representative for all the state’s district schools, said she did not have a purchase order from the District for Harmonix Technologies, but that it’s possible the District could have issued a purchase order directly to the vendor.
Garcia did not return calls regarding the status of the contract, or whether the District had already issued a purchase order.
Trujillo said information technology staff were confused about the service agreement passed by the Board at their April 20 meeting. The agreement spells out a $6,493 monthly fee for services and a total maintenance fee of $77,625 per year.
“If you read through it, it’s basically what we do on a daily basis,” Trujillo said. “It’s a real concern on our end. Are we working for this individual? Is their company doing all the networking? We are confused about that contract.”
Some members of the District’s Information technology staff also expressed concern about whether District officials were following the state’s procurement process.
Trujillo said the Information Technology Department always goes out for bid on their projects, but it is not clear if District officials went out for bid on the Harmonix Technologies contract. No documentation has been made publicly available.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer Jack Vigil did not return calls or emails in reference to the agreement, and staff at his Albuquerque office said he was out of town when initially contacted in early March.
Trujillo referred questions about the status of the project to the District’s Facilities Manager Adán Cordova, but the latter did not return calls detailing the project’s progress.
District Procurement Officer Gilbert Sanchez also failed to return multiple calls regarding the approved contracts.
Though Martinez did not return calls in reference to the Harmonix Technologies contract, former superintendent Bobbie Gutierrez provided some feedback on the March 23 agreement prior to her April 6 resignation.
Gutierrez said Los Niños Kindergarten Center was included in the plan to replace the security systems in order to address requirements imposed by the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department.
“Harmonix seems to be a highly reputable company and we’ve been very impressed with all that they have to offer,” she said.
According to the schools maintenance agreement drafted by Vigil and signed by Gutierrez, the objective is to provide outsourced chief information officer-style management for the District’s network.
The agreement details services to be provided by the third-party vendor including providing the discovery and documentation of the network and server infrastructure for the District, which includes analysis and documentation of network switches, routers, firewalls, content filters, Internet Protocol services and email spam filters, among other services.
Most of these services overlap with duties already performed by District staff.
The document also details project requirements including team efforts in working with all partners to receive administrative access to all systems involved.
In order to ensure the success of the project, Harmonix recommended that the District issue a letter of agency granting the company authority to act on its behalf when communicating with third-party vendors and service providers as it relates to infrastructure.
Other services outlined and proposed by the contract include providing best practice methods to existing and new hired staff, revisions of the District’s technology plan and augmented management of the existing network.
The vigilant maintenance agreement with Harmonix, Inc., was approved by the Board at the April 20 meeting.