Port of Olympia renews contract with information technology service provider 

The Port of Olympia Commission authorized Executive Director Alex Smith to renew its contract with the port’s information technology (IT) service provider. 

The commission made the decision at a meeting on Monday, Feb. 24.

The contract is with Firefly Technologies, whose current contract ends at the end of the month, for an amount not to exceed $990,000. 

The agreement runs for three years and before it ends, the port has the option of renewing it for one additional year twice. 

Under the contract, the company would assist the port in designing and implementing its infrastructure and network, as well as provide software support and technical management, said James Sommer, the port’s capital assets program manager, in a previous briefing. 

Port staff opened the contract to other bidders from October 2024 to February. Twelve firms responded and six were invited to review the port’s systems, before staff chose to recommend Firefly Technologies. 

Level of service 

Before the commission approved the contract, Commissioner Jasmine Vasavada acknowledged concerns that staff were not satisfied with the company’s level of service. 

“My understanding is we weren't very happy with how IT was being conducted under the current contract,” said Vasavada before asking Sommer how the new contract would be different. 

Sommer said he talked with the IT team to identify what the issues were and was assured that Fireflies Technologies addressed those problems during the interview process.  

Sommer also explained the problem has to do with Fireflies Technologies being based in Wenatchee. According to Sommer, there was a time that an employee from the company was at the port five days a week. When this was no longer the case, some staff members started feeling that they were not getting the level of service they needed.  

Sommer said the company is soliciting an employee from the local area to address this issue. 

Commissioner Sarah Tonge suggested limiting the company’s contract to one year.

The port is currently looking for a new enterprise service director and its own in-house IT professional.

Once they get hired, Tonge suggested that they could review the port’s entire IT system and see where they could save costs. 

Sommer responded that they are not locked into a three-year contract, as they have the ability to cancel it at any time with a 60 days notice. 

In contrast, commissioners Amy Evans Harding and Bob Iyall said their experience with the company has been positive. 

“Some of the issues were early on in their tenure with the port. Recently, the experiences I've had, they've been very responsive,” Iyall said.