CITY OF SAN ANTONIO
Development Services Department
INTERDEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE
TO: Sheryl Sculley, City Manager
FROM: Michael P. Shannon, PE, CBO, Director, Development Services
COPY: Audit and Accountability Committee; Ben Gorzell, Jr., CPA, Chief Financial
Officer; Kevin Barthold, City Auditor; Troy Elliott, CPA, Deputy Chief Financial
Officer; Roderick J. Sanchez, Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT: Pre-Solicitation Briefing for BuildSA - Phase 2 Implementation
DATE: March 20, 2018
The Development Services Department will present a pre-solicitation briefing for the procurement of services for an implementation vendor to complete the final phase (Phase 2) of the BuildSA project, which was presented in the Annual High Profile Report. This briefing will allow an opportunity for input and direction from Committee members.
The pre-solicitation briefing will cover estimated contract value, projected timeline, high profile designation, scope of the project, terms of the contract, proposed scoring criteria, evaluation committee members, project considerations, local preference program applicability, veteran owned small business preference program applicability, and SBEDA program requirements.
The scope of this solicitation includes implementation of the final phase of the BuildSA project, which replaces two key software systems used by Development Services: Hansen for building permits and ECCO for code enforcement cases. This expands on the Phase 1 implementation currently in progress that included the selection of the Accela software and the replacement of all systems for transactions related to platting and zoning. With this replacement project, the City will provide greater customer service, increase operational efficiencies across all lines of business, maintain system and data security, and enable greater transparency into Development Services’ operations.
The core component of the BuildSA project is the Accela software. In June 2015, City Council awarded a contract to Accela that included (1) software licenses, (2) maintenance and support and (3) implementation services for Phases 1 and 2. In Spring 2016, delivery problems and quality control issues surfaced and the City, along with Gartner Consulting, the Independent Verification and Validation partner, attempted to work with Accela to overcome these challenges. These efforts resulted in a project suspension in December 2016 and ultimately a Mutual Termination Agreement with Accela implementation services in April 2017.
The City determined that the Accela software is the best solution for the City and to continue the implementation effort. In June 2017, City Council approved an implementation services contract with GCOM, an Accela Certified Partner, to finish Phase 1 of BuildSA. Phase 1 is on track to be completed by October 2018.
In order to complete the final phase, Development Services and ITSD expect to release a Request for Competitive Sealed Proposal (RFCSP) in April 2018. Due to the impact to Development Services’ critical services, we highly recommend support and approval of this initiative.