DEPARTMENT: Development Services
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Roderick J. Sanchez
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City Wide
SUBJECT:
Permit Inspection Management System Consulting Services
SUMMARY:
This ordinance authorizes a contract with Gartner, Inc. to provide professional services to assist in requirements definition, strategy development, RFCSP solicitation and RFCSP response analysis for a comprehensive land and building development management system software solution. Gartner will assist in developing a strategy, provide project planning, perform requirements gathering, develop a Request for Competitive Sealed Proposal (RFCSP) as well as assist with the evaluation of the proposed solution(s). This ordinance also appropriates $595,000.00 from Development Services Funds's fund balance, which has dedicated fund reserves for software replacement.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Submitted for City Council consideration is the contract with Gartner, Inc. to assist Development Services in developing a replacement strategy for its current permitting, land development, inspection, and code enforcement systems. A Request for Proposal (RFP) for "Permit and Inspection Management System Consulting Services" (RFP 6100003120) was issued on July 19, 2013 with a submission deadline of September 16, 2013. Six proposals were received and reviewed by an evaluation committee comprised of members from Development Services and the Information Technology Services Department. The Finance Department, Purchasing Division assisted by ensuring compliance with City procurement policies and procedures.
After initial committee review and discussions, individual technical scores were submitted and based on the results, three firms were shortlisted. Interviews were held on November 4, 2013 and the evaluation committee selected Gartner, Inc. to provide these services based on the City's standard RFP process. The proposals were evaluated based on several weighted factors, to include experience, background, and qualifications, proposed plan and price. Other factors included SBE Prime Contract Program, M/WBE Prime Contract and the Local Preference Program. The Local Preference Program was applied in the evaluation of responses received for this contract; however, the highest ranked firm is not a local business.
Development Services uses two principal systems to support its business operations: Hansen and ECCO. This initiative will ultimately allow the convergence of all the Development Services Department's core business operations into a "one-address, one-system" solution and will significantly enhance customer service delivery and leverage new technology to greatly improve our ability to support the citizens of San Antonio, the development community and our customers
The current permitting system, Hansen, was deployed in April 2003 and does not provide a web-based solution the department seeks and does not integrate with other business fucntions such as electronic plan review and is extremely limited in the web presence our customers demand. ECCO is an antiquated, legacy mainframe system that has been in operation for 20 years and is very limited in capability, analytics and reporting. The department uses several integrated systems for managing land development processes, issuing permits via the web, scheduling inspections via the web and mobile devices, accountability of inspectors, notification to customers concerning permit activity, plat management, electronic plan review, and zoning and land use management and neither Hansen or ECCO are integrated with these systems.
ISSUE:
This contract will provide the Development Services Department assistance with project initiation, strategy development, project planning, requirements gathering, developing an RFCSP, and system selection. Gartner, Inc. will help verify existing business requirements, model a desired "to-be" state, identify gaps between the "as-is/to-be" and finalize a comprehensive requirements document. They will assist in prioritizing needs and developing a strategy for replacing two core business applications (Hansen and ECCO) while maintaining the integration with and/or replacement of the other dependent systems.
This contract will be awarded in compliance with the Small Business Economic Development Advocacy (SBEDA) Program, which requires contracts be reviewed by a Goal Setting Committee to establish a requirement and/or incentive unique to the particular contract in an effort to maximize the amount of small, minority, and women-owned business participation on the contract. The Goal Setting Committee applied the Small and Minority/ Women-Owned Business Enterprise Prime Contract Program to this solicitation, Gartner did not receive the ten (10) SBE/MWBE evaluation preference points awarded as they are not certified as a SBE/MWBE.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should this contract not be approved, the Development Services Department and ITSD will need to devote numerous resources to this project without the experience and expertise of a consultant that has helped many other cities identify, procure and deploy an enterprise system of this magnitude. Not approving this contract for Gartner Inc's services will likely cause the City to not gather all the requirements and deploy a software solution that does not support an enterprise vision and would require the City to continue to use outdated systems. Continued use of either system limits the department's ability to provide increased service levels to the development community and enforce, monitor and report code violations.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Funds in the amount of $595,000.00 for this contract have been allocated in the Development Services Fund's reserve for software replacement.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the approval of this contract with Gartner, Inc. to provide the Development Services Department professional services in the amount of $595,000.00. This contract is procured by means of Request for Proposal and a Discretionary Contract Disclosure Form is required.