DeKalb County commissioners voted March 11 to approve a broad package of procurement actions that included assigning a security-guard contract to Allied Universal, extending a term with voting-equipment vendor Dominion Voting Systems and increasing cloud service credits for Microsoft Azure.

The approved items were presented as committee recommendations and included change orders, contract term extensions, and assignment requests across multiple departments. Commissioners said the approvals were intended to maintain continuity of services — from armed and unarmed security at county facilities to information-technology maintenance and airport engineering support.

Why it matters: The votes keep critical county operations running while preserving existing vendor relationships. Several of the contracts involve multi‑year IT and infrastructure services and, combined, represent millions of dollars of county spending that will affect staffing, system availability and service delivery.

Key approvals and details
- Security services: The board approved change order No. 1 to contract 2000048 to assign Pinnacle Security Inc. (doing business as Paradigm Security Services) to Universal Protection Service (doing business as Allied Universal). County staff said there would be no change in contract terms or employee salaries; Commissioner Ted Terry asked specifically whether minimum-wage or salary terms for guards would change, and staff replied they would not.
- Voting equipment: The board ratified a contract-term increase and extension for electronic voting hardware and software with Dominion Voting Systems Inc., extending the contract through Dec. 31, 2025.
- Airport engineering: A change order amended on-demand architectural/engineering services at DeKalb Peachtree Airport (PDK), with renegotiated fees for 2025 awarded to Michael Baker International.
- Network maintenance and cybersecurity: Annual maintenance and support agreements were approved for Juniper network equipment and Palo Alto Networks devices; associated vendor and contract-care arrangements were authorized in line with information-technology needs.
- Cloud services: A change order to the Microsoft Azure credits contract (originally awarded to Dell Marketing LP) was approved and a substitute changed the contract term to April 30, 2026, with funds added for cloud service credits.

How the board decided: The procurement items were presented through the county’s committee process and taken up during the March 11 business meeting. Motions to approve were made on the floor, seconded and carried by machine vote; the record shows routine approvals with no roll‑call tallies printed in the minutes for these items.

What commissioners asked: Commissioner Ted Terry asked whether the security-contract assignment would affect guard pay; staff answered that salary terms remain unchanged. Commissioners also noted the large-dollar IT items and acknowledged that procurement and audit staff had reviewed high-value items.

Next steps: Staff will finalize contract documents and implement the approved assignments, renewals and extensions. Several items approved on March 11 required follow-up contract administration and, in some cases, reporting to committees.

Ending: The approvals concluded a stretch of procurement business on the agenda; several unrelated items and select contracts were deferred for subsequent meetings.