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Desktop and Laptop Purchasing Waiver # 3
Presented to Technology Governance Board (TGB) Date Prepared: November 29, 2007
(In reference to State of Iowa Enterprise Desktop and Laptop Purchasing Standard, dated June 7, 2007)
Agency:
Agency name: Iowa Department of Public Safety, Fire Marshal Division Agency CFO or contact name: Leon Frederick (515-725-6202) or Jim Kenkel (515/725-6025) Projected purchasing date: Immediate upon approval
Cost:
Name of item: Toughbook 30 Cost of item: $28156.02 (six ruggedized units) Manufacturer: Panasonic Number of items with projected purchase: 6 Comparable cost of similar items purchased through the WSCA amendment: $6954.00 (six units, non-ruggedized)
Business need for purchasing outside the WSCA amendment:
Five (5) ruggedized laptops, Panasonic Toughbook 30’s, were purchased for the Fire Marshal Arson Investigators during FY07. DPS is requesting a waiver to purchase six (6) more of the same model for the rest of the Arson Investigators. These will be the only computers the investigators will use. Each investigator is required to serve as a bomb technician. Since the old Polaroid X-ray processors are being phased out at the end of the year, new portable, digital X-ray equipment was recently purchased to have the ability to develop X-rays of IED’s (improvised explosive devices) and other suspicious packages. A computer is required for the X-ray processor to function. Both devices will be carried with the investigators at all times in the event they encounter, or are called to investigate, an IED. It is required that the equipment be used on-scene. This could result in the equipment being used in any type of weather or adverse conditions—rain, snow, extreme heat, extreme cold, etc. Potential locations for the use of this equipment range from the tailgate of the investigator’s response vehicle to anywhere on the ground (mud, snow, hills, rocks, etc.). Transportation of the device and computer via a cart over any terrain is also possible. Both the manufacturer of the digital X-ray processor and the FBI’s Hazardous Device School located in Huntsville, Alabama (where the investigators are trained) highly recommend the use of ruggedized
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laptop computers for this application. All other accredited bomb squads in Iowa and throughout the United States are using ruggedized laptops computers.
Other items pertinent for the board’s discussion:
Bids are attached for: Tough Solutions (Panasonic) Quotation # SW112807A Vital Support Systems (HP) Quotation # 1478457
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