The East Providence City Council approved a series of purchases amounting to $536,212 during their meeting on Sept. 15 to make improvements to software and hardware at city hall, its DPW headquarters, and its public safety buildings.

The expenses were paid for via a previously-secured grant from the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA), which amounts to $625,000. City Informational Technology Director, Carlos Zambrano, said during the meeting that the upgrades would “improve security in the city overall.”

The council first approved a contract valued at $339,120 to Oshean Inc. to lay fiber optic cables and purchase supporting hardware for all public buildings that respond to emergency situations, including DPW, city hall, all four fire stations, and the police headquarters.

“In the past there has been some issues with the network, and this is going to be improving it and also making it more resilient in case it does go down,” Zambrano said.

The next contract — awarded to Starnet Solutions, Inc. in the amount of $197,092 — goes towards the purchase of a multitude of computer hardware and networking equipment that will support the overall cybersecurity infrastructure. Zambrano said that this purchase would be replacing older technology, which should be replaced every 7-8 years.

Asked how long the upgrades should last, Zambrano said that the computer hardware for general networking should last another 7-8 years as stated priorly, but that the fiber infrastructure should comfortably last 20-30 years.

“This large amount of grant funding is to help with cybersecurity, mostly in public safety areas and related areas,” Council President Bob Rodericks said. “It is especially important in this day and age of ransomware and AI inevitability and abuses that we’re getting.”

Council Vice President Frank Rego applauded Zambrano’s efforts.
“You’ve gone above and beyond to get these grants,” he said. “Your diligence in going out and getting these grants, I commend you on saving the taxpayers of the City of East Providence a boatload of money.”

Zambrano said he couldn’t take all the credit, as Fire Chief Michael Carey “helped a lot” with the grant application.

“It’s a team effort,” Zambrano said.