Alpharetta approves $342K cloud deal after trouble checking bills

Alpharetta City Council approved $342,160 in Microsoft cloud services on Sept. 14, backing a change in how the Georgia city buys and manages its computing infrastructure. The vote was 7–0.⁠[1]

IT staff said costs billed through an outside cloud-service provider and SHI were difficult to verify, while adding features through the provider could be slow. The plan would put management of the city’s Azure government-cloud environments directly in city hands. Dell Marketing LP would remain the purchasing vendor.⁠[1]

The services support servers, storage, website hosting, networking and security. Staff credited the earlier arrangement, approved in fiscal 2020 through SHI International with Airnet as the cloud-service provider, as worth the investment. But it said the need for that help declined as the city’s own management capability grew.⁠[1]

The change is not a demonstrated cost saving. The approved quote is $22,160 higher than in fiscal 2025 and 2026, which staff attributed to greater Azure consumption and Microsoft price increases. It is also $2,160 over budget; finance staff believed that difference could be absorbed without using unallocated funds.⁠[1]

It also changes when the city pays. Instead of SHI billing monthly for the previous month’s usage, the enterprise-agreement approach calls for buying credits upfront at annual renewal. Staff said that approach offers pricing benefits. The quote divides the purchase into $225,680 for the GCC environment and $116,480 for GCC High.⁠[1]

The approval is established; completion of the migration is not. The minutes describe a plan to move to direct management, not a finished transition.⁠[1]