Northampton County Council voted unanimously Sept. 20 for a new, $33.7 million contract for managed IT services. It’s with a new vendor, too. Conduent, a spin-off of Xerox, is being replaced by Vision Technologies, located in Glen Burnie, Md.

A managed IT service is an information technology (IT) task provided by a third-party contractor and delivered to a customer.

The $33.7 million contract assumes a contract that will last 13 years. It represents the total payments the county will make for one three-year base term, followed by two renewal options for five years. The actual annual payment is $2.59 million. As council member Bob Werner observed, the contract also includes a 30-day termination clause, enabling the county to drop this new vendor if performance is unsatisfactory.

Vision Technologies will retain all Conduent employees currently working for the county.

Vision Technologies was selected as a result of a competitive bidding process in which 116 firms reviewed the county’s request for proposals. The following two firms submitted proposals: Vision Technologies, and Razor Technology. There may have been a third proposal, but it is missing from the procurement notice.

Northampton County relies on its managed IT services provider to acquire both hardware and, in some cases, software, at reduced rates. There has been some grumbling that Conduent’s mark-up was too high.

Administrator Charles Dertinger noted that Vision Technologies agreed to limit its mark-up to 4 percent. He also told council member Tara Zrinski that Vision’s proposal was both the best and the cheapest.

In other business, Northampton County Council voted unanimously to confirm three important appointments made by Executive Lamont McClure.

Corporate banker Ronald Donchez and Capital BlueCross Senior Exec Anne Baum are named to the General Purpose Authority (GPA).

Donchez is Mayor Bob Donchez’ younger brother and was once chided as a “boy scout” when he served on the Bethlehem Authority.

McClure also named Marvin Boyer, an activist with Easton’s NAACP, to the jail’s advisory board. Boyer is interested in scheduling forums for inmates on bail, incarceration and re-entry. He said he is extremely impressed by the county’s policy of nominal bail for nonviolent offenders who are screened by Pretrial Services.