CC SR 20250603 I - IT Disaster Recovery Services
CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: 06/03/2025
AGENDA REPORT AGENDA HEADING: Consent Calendar
AGENDA TITLE:
Consideration to authorize purchasing Information Technology cloud backup and disaster
recovery services.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
(1) Authorize the City Manager to issue a purchase order for Information Technology
cloud backup and disaster recovery services for $35,100 for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 -
25, and $33,600 each in FY 2025-26 and FY 2026-27.
FISCAL IMPACT: The cost for backup and disaster recovery services in the first year
is $35,100. Sufficient funds are available in the FY 2024-25
Information Technology Division repairs and maintenance budget.
The cost for services in years two and three is $33,600 annually and
will be budgeted accordingly in future years’ budgets. VR
Amount Budgeted: $533,000 (IT - Citywide)
($30,000 for this service)
Additional Appropriation: N/A
Account Number(s): 101-400-1470-5201
(General Fund – IT - Repair and Maintenance Services) VR
ORIGINATED BY: Lukasz Buchwald, IT Manager
REVIEWED BY: Catherine Jun, Deputy City Manager CJ
APPROVED BY: Ara Mihranian, AICP, City Manager
ATTACHED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS: None
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION:
The Information Technology (IT) infrastructure of Rancho Palos Verdes employs a
combination of cloud-hosted applications and self-hosted systems, which are presently
situated in a physical server room. Various layers of cybersecurity and backup solutions
are also in place to protect the City from cyberattacks, data loss, or hardware failures.
However, in a scenario of a major disaster affecting the physical IT assets (e.g. the
permitting system and file servers) currently housed inside the server room, the process
to re-establish the affected services would require securing an alternate location,
procuring the necessary services, licensing and hardware and then restoring the data
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from backups. This process could potentially take as long as 2 -3 weeks to complete,
during which some of the City’s critical IT systems would not be accessible, thus
negatively affecting the ability to serve residents and businesses especially after a major
disaster.
To address the challenges listed above and to minimize the impact on the City services
in case of a major disaster, it is recommended that the City obtain a modern backup
solution that combines local backup and cloud-based replication and disaster recovery
services. The proposed solution would replace some of the current local backup services
with a cloud-based solution that is not dependent on physical assets that can be
destroyed in a disaster. Doing so will enable the full restoration of services and access
to the City data as soon as approximately four hours after a catastrophic event affecting
City Hall.
The details of the services provided, and vendor information are not included in this staff
report as it contains security information that should remain confidential to reduce risks
to the City. According to the following California Government Code § 7929.210
information security records are exempt from disclosure requirements:
(a) Nothing in this division requires the disclosure of an information security
record of a public agency, if, on the facts of the particular case, disclosure
of that record would reveal vulnerabilities to, or otherwise increase the
potential for an attack on, an information technology system of a public
agency.
However, the details of the services have been provided separately to the City Council
via a confidential memo to ensure they have sufficient information to make an informed
decision on this item.
RECOMMENDATION:
Authorize the City Manager to issue a purchase order for the Information Technology
infrastructure's cloud backup and disaster recovery services over three years.
ALTERNATIVES:
In addition to the Staff recommendation, the following alternative actions are available for
the City Council’s consideration:
1. Do not authorize the purchase order and provide direction to Staff.
2. Take other action, as deemed appropriate.
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