Commission approves $79,004.22 purchase for 60 county workstations

The Merrimack County Board of Commissioners approved a vendor award for county IT equipment, accepting the lowest bidder that met the specifications. The purchase covers 60 workstations, 60 sound bars and 40 monitors; the county’s procurement staff told commissioners that 11 proposals were received and the vendor Connection submitted the lowest responsive bid at $79,004.22.

Why it matters: The equipment purchase is part of the county’s regular refresh cycle for desktops and monitors and will supply both nursing-home and non–nursing-home departments.

Purchasing staff described the technical specifications — Windows 11, NVMe SSD drive, multiple display ports and HDMI — and explained several lower bids failed to meet the required specifications. Staff said 40 of the devices will go to non–nursing-home departments and 20 to the nursing home. A commissioner asked whether many workstations now use dual monitors; staff said the county has moved from single-monitor to dual-monitor setups over recent years and that the dispatch center uses four displays.

The motion to award the contract to Connection was moved, seconded and carried on a voice vote.

Implementation notes: Staff said they can provide the detailed technical specifications on request; the purchase is within the budgeted refresh for the county.