COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Information Services Department

DATE:

08/25/2003

BOARD MEETING DATE:

09/09/2003

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Chris Flatmoe, CIO\Director of Information Services Department

SUBJECT:

Execution of an amendment with Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc. for the acquisition of lab system hardware and software.

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a resolution:

1)

Executing an amendment with Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc. "Siemens" for the NOVIUS Lab hardware, software, and services in an amount not to exceed $178,127; and

2)

Execute an IBM Business Partner Maintenance and Services agreement.

BACKGROUND:

San Mateo Medical Center currently uses Siemens OPENLab software for processing laboratory orders. The results are then interfaced to the Medical Center CORE System and are available to care providers as part of the Lifetime Clinical Record. OPENLab was installed at San Mateo Medical Center in 1999. OPENLab software requires legacy operating system support (OS/2) to function. OPENLab is now at the end of its service life and is no longer vendor supported.

DISCUSSION:

Beginning in FY 02/03 ISD and San Mateo Medical Center staff began researching lab replacement software. This research included site visits, peer review, and vendor demonstrations. The results of this research was a consensus that the Siemens NOVIUS Lab system would be the best Lab system choice. The next generation of Siemens Laboratory software, NOVIUS Lab, is functionally richer than OPENLab and will require a new hardware platform. Additionally, Siemens NOVIUS Lab software would be a plug-in replacement to OPENLab, ensuring interoperability for this critical system. Working in collaboration with the Purchasing Division within E.P.S., we learned it would be in the best interest of the County to acquire the required new hardware, software and services through Siemens, leveraging the Siemens \ IBM Strategic Partnership. The IBM services provide for ongoing hardware replacement and coverage of additional hardware that might be added to the NOVIUS platform, in addition to any IBM software patches and minor release upgrades including the Operating System. By purchasing through Siemens as an IBM Business Parnter, it would provide us a single point of contact for implementing changes and troubleshooting problems with the NOVIUS Lab system. Therefore, we feel it would be in the best interest of the County to execute these agreements to acquire hardware, software, and services through Siemens.

VISION ALIGNMENT:

The contract with Siemen's keeps the commitment to responsive, effective, and collaborative government, specifically goal number 22: County and local governments effectively communicate and collaborate in order to develop strategic approaches on issues affecting the entire County. This contract contributes to this goal because it helps the department provide better service to the community.

FISCAL IMPACT:

Funding for these agreements are not to exceed $178,127 and are included in the ISD proposed 2003-2004 budgets.