City renews IT support contract

NEW LONDON – The New London Common Council approved a three-contract renewal with PC and Cell Solutions to handle the city’s IT support.
The council approved the contract renewal when it met, Aug. 18. The city has contracted with PC and Cell Solutions since 2014 for IT support. The contract will run from Sept. 1 of this year through Aug. 31, 2029. The city would remain at the current $33,000 budget through the contract period.
The proposed contract was discussed at the Aug. 5 New London Finance & Personnel Committee meeting. At the meeting, Missy Kempen, mapping and media specialist for the city of New London, told the committee that the city of New London’s IT support contract with PC and Cell Solutions would be expiring soon.
“We need to determine if we need a contact again or go out for an RFP (request for proposal),” Kempen said. “We have not done an RFP with them since 2014. Part of that is because PC and Cell Solutions is local and the last time we did an RFP we had just a handful of companies (submit an RFP) and PC and Cell came in quite a bit under (the other proposals).”
Kempen said having a local vendor handle the city’s IT support is beneficial because it reduces the amount of time the city’s computers are “down.” She said the city also rarely pays for travel time by PC and Cell Solutions.

“Having a local contractor, they can be here almost every day,” Kempen said. “We’ve had them here on the weekend and overnight if we need it.”
The company that the city of New London previously contracted with for IT support traveled to New London only once a week, if it fit their schedule, Kempen said.
Prior to 2014, the city paid $37,500 per year for its IT support contract, Kempen said. Even if the company didn’t work the number of hours specified in the contract, the city was still required to pay the full amount of the contract.
“We did not have a choice of paying per hour,” Kempen said.
Last year, the city had $33,000 in its budget for IT support with PC and Cell Solutions.
Kempen said PC and Cell Solutions is willing to sign a three-year contract with the city instead of a two-contract. The proposed contract would include a 15% discount off of the normal pricing. The pricing would be $94 per hour for a normal service fee, which is a $6 per hour increase; the remote service fee would be $77 per hour, which is a $9 per hour increase; and after hours support would remain at $110 per hour.
The second year of the proposed contract would include a 10% increase in the hourly amounts.
In 2025, Kempen said the city used 137 onsite service hours and 121 remote service hours. She said if the city used the same number of hours the first year of the proposed IT support contract, the city would pay $26,200. The city would pay an estimated $27,600 the second year of the contract and $29,100 the third year of the contract.
“We’re still under that $33,000 budget that we have in the budget right now,” Kempen said.
New London City Administrator Chad Hoerth told the committee that as long as the pricing doesn’t increase too much each year, the city should not switch IT support companies too often.
“Because trying to get a new provider to come in changing passwords, changing access, that’s a lot of work,” Hoerth said. “Having somebody local. Having somebody keeping prices very reasonable is a good thing.”