ITEM: CONSENT CALENDAR

2. CONSIDER PURCHASE OF A MULTI-FUNCTION PHOTOCOPIER FOR WATER DEMAND DIVISION

Meeting Date: March 15, 2004 Budgeted: Yes

Program/Line Item No.: Program 4-1-4,

Staff Contact: Rick Dickhaut Revisions to the Water Permit Process

Cost Estimate: $7,950

General Counsel Approval: N/A

Committee Recommendation: The Administrative Committee reviewed this item at its March 10, 2004 meeting and recommended approval.

CEQA Compliance: N/A

SUMMARY: In response to a Call for Bids, the District has received bids for a minimum 20 page-per-minute photocopy machine for the Water Demand Division. The bids for the copier are summarized in Table 1:

Table 1

Bidder	Brand	Bid Amount
Monterey Bay Office Products	RICOH Aficio 2022/2027	$7,948.80
Newcal Industries	Canon ImageRunner2220 Series	$8,742.20
The Document Solutions Company	Xerox Document Centre 420/426	$9,903.95
IKON Office Solutions	Canon ImageRunner2220 Series	$10,250.42

Monterey Bay Office Products has been identified by District staff as the low bidder and meets all minimum specifications as stated in the Call for Bids as well as the District’s desire for network connectivity, which would allow the copier to be used as a printer from the Division’s computers. During field visits to view the proposed copiers, staff determined that three of the copiers proposed shared similarities in standard performance. Staff was not able to view the RICOH Aficio 2022/2027 copier but has determined that it has similar capabilities. Scanning capabilities would allow documents to be scanned and saved directly to the copier for future use and saved directly to the computer hard disk. Scanned documents could also be sent as e-mail attachments in TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) or PDF (Portable Document Format. Table 2 lists the features that were considered in the selection of the Copier:

Table 2 -- Features Included
1.	Digital Photocopying
2.	Digital Printing
3.	Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)
4.	Scanning documents to copier
5.	Send and Receive Facsimiles
6.	Document Finisher for Stapling and Collation
7.	Copy Job Storage
Additional Features
1.	Send scanned documents as e-mail attachments
2.	Send scanned documents as a fax transmission
3.	Store scanned documents in a file server/centralized directory
4.	Send scanned documents to mail boxes on the copier

RECOMMENDATION: District staff recommends that the Board authorize expenditure of funds to purchase the RICOH Aficio photocopy machine for a cost of $7,378.80 and a renewable annual service contract of $570 per year (based on 5,000 copies per month/.0095 cents per copy) for a grand total of $7,948.80. The Administrative Committee considered this matter on March 10, 2004 and recommend approval by a vote of 3 to 0. This item will be approved if adopted along with the Consent Calendar.

BACKGROUND: The proposed multi-function copier is essential for daily functions of copying, printing and faxing in the Water Demand Division. Additionally, the scanning capabilities will be used to scan and store documents electronically. It will replace and/or supplement the existing office machines in the division (copier, printer, facsimile) and provide scanning capabilities for electronic filing. The scanning function facilitates customer service by allowing staff to store and make accessible all inspection reports, Water Conservation Certification Forms, deed restrictions, letters, enforcement actions, etc. The new database is being designed to enable electronic filing capabilities, which will require additional disk space and a server.

With the purchase of the multi-function copier, it should be noted that the Water Demand Division will be able to efficiently and quickly generate a great deal of correspondence, both internally for staff and externally for the public. The most recent copier used in the Division has broken down due to the high volume of copies needed, and the District is renting for a monthly cost of $134. The fax machine has also been replaced every few years at a cost of $300-$500 due to excess use. The proposed multi-function copier will be used to receive and send faxes, and with its network capability, the faxes can be saved and transmitted electronically.

The proposed multi-function copier will also be used as a printer for large jobs, deed restrictions, enforcement letters and water permits. Using the new copier to print water permits will eventually eliminate the necessity (and cost) for printing special four-part NCR forms which are currently printed on a dot matrix printer. The multi-function copier has four trays to facilitate multiple-page permit printing with the new database that is being developed. The print speed of the machine will eliminate the impact on the other office users that is caused when large printing projects are undertaken or individual form letter printing is underway. Any large print job impacts the entire division, causing a reduction in work productivity.

The Fiscal Year 2003-2004 Budget includes $1,200 for the purchase of this copier in Account No. 99-9120 and additional funds are available under Program No. 4-1-4, Revisions to the Water Permit Process, which includes the design and development of the new database for the Water Demand Division.

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