The Superintendent recommends awarding the contract for consulting services for Exchange email upgrade to CDW of Vernon Hills, IL, for the estimated amount of $32,980, with a not-to-exceed amount of $39,576.

The school district is running an email environment under Exchange 2010 software, which is now several revisions old. New features and the availability of support and security patches dictate the necessity to upgrade to the current version of Exchange (2016). 

This upgrade is a complex task with high stakes, so we determined that engaging an experienced consultant would be in the district's best interests.

An RFP was posted with a 6-week response window. One response was received. CDW of Vernon Hills, IL, responded with an estimate of $32,980, with a not-to-exceed amount of $39,576. 

We have successfully done similar business with CDW before (they were the consultants who performed our last Exchange infrastructure upgrade in the summer of 2013), they have good references as well, and are not adversely listed in the SAM.GOV database.

In addition to the consulting services to perform the work, we will need to purchase new servers for our Exchange email environment. The current servers are 5 years old and are at end of life. The new servers would be necessary even without the upgrade due to their age. The servers are not part of the scope of this RFP, and are mentioned here solely for clarity.

$32,980 (with a not-to-exceed amount of $39,576) out of the ITS budget.