By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The Town of Berlin’s information technology management contract was awarded to incumbent TechMD after a third-party review.

TechMD was recommended by third-party vendor Bulletproof IT Security Services, which was selected to handle Berlin’s information technology audit last year. The recommendation comes after Bulletproof created a Request For Proposals (RFP). Bulletproof endorsed TechMD to be hired once again to handle the town’s IT services, which have a monthly cost of $4,734.

“Based on our evaluation of the responses, using price, services, and company stabilities as the primary factors, we feel that the risk and potential disruption of service resulting from switching vendors are not justified,” Bulletproof’s official suggestion reads. “We recommend continuing with the current provider, TechMD.”

Mike Steinsdoerfer, TechMD’s technical account manager, said the town’s agreement with the company includes a range of services including having “tools on your actual devices that are monitoring anomalous behavior,” he said.

However, Steinsdoerfer added that TechMD does not have these same tools within Berlin’s Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Instead, the town has an 1integer CORE contract to monitor suspicious behavior inside the Microsoft 365 environment. 1integer is a separate department of TechMD that offers optional services to clients.

 “1nteger specifically monitors for anomalous behavior [in Microsoft 365] because your Microsoft 365 environment can be accessed from anywhere in the world,” Steinsdoerfer said. “As long as someone has some sort of device, they get ahold of your credentials … they can get in. You guys have a very robust security posture by having both TechMD and 1nteger.”

At this week’s meeting of the Berlin Mayor and Council, where TechMD representatives were on site to answer questions, Councilmember Jay Knerr inquired about the company’s policy of recommending computer replacement every three years when the warranty expires.

“Computers have a warranty life and a useful life, and typically computers can go years beyond warranty life,” said Knerr, who owns The Kite Loft in Ocean City. “Why is it so important when you can replace a hard drive or a power supply? Why do we need to replace equipment every three years?”

Steinsdoerfer said the company’s proposal recommends every three years because when year four hits, the devices start to experience usage issues. He noted that since the late 2000s, the company has suggested a replacement every three years, will run through year four if need be, and at year five, lets their clients know that it’s time to upgrade.

“The primary reason is that after three years, warranty expires, and yes, the useful life goes beyond that, but we do start to see around year four there is some breakdown of equipment as far as hardware and whatnot,” Steinsdoerfer said.

He continued, emphasizing that the issues only continue to worsen.

“Around year five, manufacturers typically stop sending out driver updates, firmware updates, and you see security issues become prevalent,” Steinsdoerfer said. “It’s really about efficiency of the devices themselves and the security of the devices.”

Knerr noted that he “hates to see the town spend money unnecessarily.”

Steinsdoerfer added that if the town extended their devices beyond three years, they would still receive company support. The three-year deadline is simply a recommendation, albeit a strong one.

Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall said the town typically runs the devices through year three and tries to replace during the computer’s fourth fiscal year.

“The idea there is that there is a security element to that, but computers typically in that period of time start to slow down and start to lose efficiency, and you may not see it on your budget sheet, but you’re going to start to see those things slow down,” Steinsdoerfer said. “Manufacturers have it timed. Like cars, right around 100k miles, they start to break a lot; you start to see that with computers as well.”

Councilmember Steve Green asked the TechMD representatives about their role in the new Maryland laws that require municipalities to adopt security frameworks and standards. The company officials said that these guidelines, which relate to processes, documentation, people, and how they are assigned to certain responsibilities to avoid security breaches, are outside the scope of their agreement with the town.

“[The State of Maryland] is really looking for towns and municipalities to do it on their side,” Steinsdoerfer said.

However, TechMD recommends the Town of Berlin sign on with the 1nteger ONE Solution, a full Managed Security Service Provider that would create a team to help Berlin align with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework now required by Maryland.

Steinsdoerfer noted that the new guidelines are in place to protect municipalities from security risks. He said that his team is beginning to see a need for these protections to ensure that government groups are not at risk.

“This isn’t an arbitrary thing,” he said. “We are seeing government agencies targeted by the bad guys. I think what the state is doing is a good thing. It’s real and out there, and we see it.”

The council unanimously voted to retain TechMD as the local government’s IT service provider.