Help with hiring a consultant to set up server

For my “real” job, I’ve long relied on a Windows server running PHP to host all of the internal-only websites (all of our external sites are hosted on a fully managed DreamHost VPS). The time has come for us to upgrade all internal servers to Windows 10, and as none of our networking or server guys have PHP or Linux experience, they’ve asked me to look into hiring an outside consultant to set up a new server. Their preference is Windows 10 but they might settle for a Linux. All that said, I have no idea what to ask for. My current server was set up years ago…and I’ve never had to touch it.

I’m thinking of telling the outside consultants that I want a server similar to what one might expect to get with a VPS hosting plan with DreamHost, HostGator, etc., (e.g., PHP 7.2, cPanel, .htaccess, MySQL with phpMyAdmin, etc.) and that it will need a backup plan as well. Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated.

UPDATE: for now, our networking guys are asking me to look into moving the sites to DreamHost and then restricting access based on IP address. That is, only people on the company’s network would be able to reach the sites.

Any thoughts, good or bad, on this method?

No idea mate, but @barchard would be a good person to ask I believe.

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Thanks, Aidy- I’d love to hear Greg weigh in on this. Thanks for the suggestion!