Earlier this month the Franchise Tax Board authorized four IT contracts exceeding $1 million. Three are software renewals, and the fourth is a new project -- an expansion of its server virtualization.
On Dec. 8, the board approved the organization to enter into a $9.9 million, five-year Enterprise License Agreement for VMWare software.
VMware is software utilized to virtualize 1,000 of FTB’s servers and all of FTB’s external facing services, electronic and paper filing, bank deposits, email, and authentication systems rely on the this software," an FTB memo said. "Almost every computer driven service provided by FTB relies on VMware server virtualization. This proposed ELA increases our level of critical support with immediate problem escalation, root cause analysis, expansion of current licensing, as well as highly desired administrative tools. The proposed agreement also includes products that will allow FTB to migrate multiple existing applications into a single product, which will be more efficient for the department while providing additional services and greater flexibility."
FTB officials said internal efficiencies gained through the new capabilities will offset the cost of agreement. The borad will purchase the solution through the Department of General Services' Doftware Licensing Prorgram.
Also on Dec. 8 the board approved a $1 million, one-year renewal of its software subscription and support of IBM passport advantage, through June 2018.
FTB also approved a three-year, $1.6 million renewal of Genesys software maintenance, which the board uses to manage call and chat volumes at its customer contact center.
Similarly, the board approved a three-year, $1.5 million contract for renewal of Sybase software maintenance, which it uses for administrative tasks related to collection and audit modeling systems.
