Outside company hired for two-year contract for IT services in North Smithfield

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NORTH SMITHFIELD – Staff at North Smithfield town offices won’t include an IT manager following a decision by the Town Council this month to sign a two-year contract with an outside company.

Vertikal 6 has been hired at a cost of $26,760 annually, with the option to extend the agreement for one additional year.

The Warwick-based company will be responsible for work previously performed in-house. The decision comes following the departure of the town’s full-time IT manager, who left the town for another opportunity on Friday, July 31.

“We are forced to move quickly to a circumstance of engaging an outside resource,” said Town Administrator Gary Ezovski.

Ezovski noted that staff from Verikal 6 recently helped to move town offices into the new location on Greene Street, and got equipment up and operating at the building in the course of one weekend.

Town Council President Paul Vadenais said he was impressed with their work.

“These guys were there at 7 o’clock in the morning,” said Vadenais. “They did a complete switchover of all of the IT services.”

According to the terms of the contract, approved unanimously on Monday, Aug. 3, Vertikal will provide services both on-site and remotely, with regular hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The cost breaks down to $110 per month per user for the town’s 20 users. plus $1.50 per month per user for the “Cisco Umbrella.” For services that fall outside the contract, Vertikal technicians receive $125/hour and engineers receive $150.

The agreement provides guaranteed times to address problems depending on the urgency.

In 2019, the town paid $39,947 for IT services.

“The technical talent is there,” said Ezovski. “I think it is both of interest to the town in from a performance standpoint and in the interest of the town from a financial standpoint. This actually could be a savings over our current circumstance.”

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