COUNCIL DISTRICT: City-wide
The Office of the City Auditor completed program reviews for the Storm Water Inspection Program in 2000 and the Pretreatment Program in 2001, both operated by the Environmental Services Department (ESD). The audits found that the current tracking systems were insufficient to successfully manage the more than 4,000 businesses regulated by one or both programs, along with the associated inspections and sampling analyses. Three recommendations from “An Audit of the Watershed Protection Division’s Industrial and Commercial Inspection Program Report 00-07” cannot be completely implemented until an Environmental Enforcement Data Management System (EEDMS) is put in place. Similarly, three recommendations from “An Audit of the Pretreatment Source Control Program Report 01-03” also remain outstanding pending EEDMS implementation.
The purpose of EEDMS is to improve efficiency, program integration, administration, and reporting. This is accomplished by expanding the functionality of systems currently in place to include the use of field devices for recording inspection and field data; bar coding for sample identification; remote access to data; and enhancing data analysis, queries, and reports. In addition to meeting auditor requirements, better data management for the programs and optimizing staffing resources provides an opportunity for improved customer service. Less time inputting and documenting information results in more time for inspectors to spend providing education and assistance to the businesses served by the programs.
ESD, with the support of Information Technology, conducted a detailed Business Process Mapping of all the procedures within each enforcement program. Mapping consisted of depicting the steps for each procedure in both a narrative and flowchart format. The Mapping was then analyzed to identify efficiency opportunities and information management needs. The culmination of this process was a complete documentation of both programs and a set of functional requirements for a new data management system.
The scope of the system needed could not be met by City staff or data management systems currently in use within the City. To solicit a qualified contractor to provide the new system, General Services Department and ESD identified a Project Management Team to conduct a competitive RFP process. The team used the results of the Business Process Mapping to develop the specifications for the RFP.
This memorandum is to report on the proposals received, the evaluation of those proposals and to make a recommendation on the award of contract.
ANALYSIS
An RFP was released on August 1, 2002. Thirty-seven potential contractors received packets. Twenty-three prospective contractors attended a mandatory pre-proposal conference held on August 19, 2002. On September 17, 2002 six proposals were received; all were deemed responsive. The six firms that submitted a proposal were: Black and Veatch (Fremont, CA), Covansys Corporation (Milpitas, CA), enfoTech & Consulting, Inc. (Lawrenceville, NJ), Softscape Response (Wayland, MA), Software Technology Group, Inc. (San Jose, CA), Synertech Systems Corporation (Seattle, WA).
Proposal evaluation was conducted in two rounds. The Project Management Team created one panel to evaluate the merit of the written proposals and another panel to conduct oral interviews with proposers receiving a passing score from the first round. The review panels included representation from ESD, Information Technology, General Services, and the City of Santa Clara. In evaluating the technical merit of each proposal, the written panel consisted of members who would score the proposal based on a broad set of criteria. Additionally, other members were selected as subject matter experts to focus their review on specific components of the proposal based on their expertise, e.g. conformance to the City’s Information Technology standards, compatibility with the City’s network environment, and the proposing firms’ project management expertise. Once the first panel completed and scored their evaluations, the Project Management Team evaluated and scored the cost proposals, and then combined the results into the scores reflected in the table below.
|
Firm |
Final Score
|
Evaluated Cost of
Proposal 1
|
|
Synertech Systems Corporation |
88.5 |
$932,300 |
|
enfoTech & Consulting, Inc. |
86.5 |
$994,080 |
|
Softscape Response |
72.3 |
$1,540,000 |
|
Software Technology Group, Inc. |
69.3 |
$1,543,800 |
|
Black and Veatch |
69.2 |
$3,336,600 |
|
Covansys Corporation |
61.3 |
$4,513,000 |
1 Costs for optional items were not included in the evaluation of the cost proposals.
Proposing firms with the required minimum score of 75 out of 100 points were invited to an oral interview. Proposing firms scoring lower than the predetermined score required to advance to the oral interviews was due largely because of higher costs and less advantageous approaches in the proposals. The evaluation of the written submittals and the cost proposals resulted in two clear finalists – enfoTech and Synertech. Based on the merit of the written proposals, Synertech and enfoTech scored 88.5 and 86.5 respectively. The written scores were comparable, with Synertech scoring slightly higher. Costs for the proposed solution were proposed at $932,300 and $994,080 for Synertech and enfoTech respectively.
The oral panel reviewed the firms’ presentations and responses to questions, discussing and clarifying the information in the proposals. At the conclusion of reference checks and the oral interviews, enfoTech's experience in implementing Environmental Enforcement databases became a determining factor, providing the best assurance that EEDMS would have the required functionality and that the project would be completed within schedule. enfoTech demonstrated the following points:
§ Commercial off-the-shelf product that closely addresses many of ESD’s requirements, thus reducing engineering/re-engineering time and minimizing the risk associated with expanding a software product beyond its common application.
§ Comprehensive understanding of the Environmental Enforcement field, thus reducing demands on City staff time to implement EEDMS.
enfoTech has proposed to implement their products - PACS 2000 and e‑SMR - as the core system along with all customization needed to meet the functional needs of EEDMS.
Additional advantages of their proposal include:
1) Expertise in the Environmental Enforcement field - specialized software for pretreatment program
2) Customized system that will still allow for future upgrades with minimum effort
3) Experience in handheld devices for inspectors in similar setting, and provision of a forms server for handheld devices
4) Knowledge of federal environmental regulations
5) Technology Transfer to City staff - Source code, training, and documentation to make the administrator from ESD’s Management Information Systems (MIS) unit expert in the EEDMS system
6) Internet interface for customers to submit Self Monitoring Report is complete and functional
7) Migration of application to web planned within 12-18 months after the initial implementation
8) Comprehensive maintenance service
For the reasons stated above, staff recommends that the implementation of an Environmental Enforcement Data Management System be awarded to enfoTech & Consulting, Inc. The Agreement with enfoTech is structured around deliverables and includes system design, customization, installation, and testing. enfoTech will also be responsible for data migration and staff training with an emphasis on technology transfer to ESD Management Information Systems staff. Following system acceptance, the agreement provides for a full year of system maintenance, which will include resolution of performance issues, patches, and upgrades. The City will complete final acceptance testing of the system and its components prior to payment for system licenses, with more than 45% of the total contract amount being held until final system testing is accepted.
The contract amount would include all of the deliverables mentioned above at a cost of $966,855, with field device and document management integration and hardware as an option at a cost of $96,544, for a total of $1,063,399. In addition, supplemental funds will allow for change orders at a cost of $106,000 for a total contract cost of $1,169,399. Since this is an out of state vendor, the tax amount of $27,225, for user licenses, is submitted directly by the City. The total project cost, including the $27,225 tax liability, is $1,196,624.
This recommendation is scheduled to be presented to the Treatment Plant Advisory Committee (TPAC) on April 10, 2003.
Posted on City website and advertised in the San José Mercury News.
This memo was coordinated with the Environmental Services Department, Information Technology Department, the City Manager’s Budget Office, and the Office of the City Attorney.
The City’s Information Technology Planning Board heard information on contractor selection for EEDMS on November 7, 2002.
The investment proposed in this recommendation is being advanced at this time to complete implementation of City Auditor recommendations and to ensure continued implementation of NPDES permit requirements at current staffing levels.
This recommendation has no adverse impact on the General Fund. It is consistent with the Council's Budget Strategy, General Principles No. 4 and 7.
General Principle No. 4: Implementing EEDMS will reduce costs by meeting additional requirements for NPDES permits without additional staffing. For example, the current stormwater permit now requires inspection of all restaurant facilities, adding approximately 1,000 inspections to the current annual workload.
General Principle No. 7: EEDMS has as its primary purpose
the streamlining of operations and the use of innovation to improve
efficiency. It will enable
implementation of City Auditor recommendations and additional process
improvements identified through the business mapping process. For example, the system will eliminate
duplicate entry of data, improve staff scheduling, and fulfill changing reporting requirements. Additionally, EEDMS will enable industrial
customers to submit monitoring information electronically.
The total cost for the project is not to exceed $1,196,624. Existing funds are available in the current budgets for the Treatment Plant Capital Fund (512) and the Operating Budget for the Storm Sewer Fund (446) to cover this cost. The functionality needed for sampling and the associated analysis and enforcement is more rigorous for the Pretreatment Program; thus, $996,624 will be funded from the FY 2002-2003 budget for Fund 512. The Storm Water Enforcement Program costs represent the approximate cost of modifying the core system to meet the needs of the Storm Water Program; $200,000 will be funded from FY 2002-2003 Operating Budget for Fund 446.
Fund: San Jose – Santa Clara Treatment Plant Capital Fund - 512
Appn: 4383 – ESD MIS Improvements
Amount: $1,000,000
Budget Document: 2002-2003 Adopted Capital Budget, Page 749
Fund: Storm Sewer Operating Fund - 446
Appn: 0762 – Non-Personal/Equipment
Amount: $2,145,860
Budget Document: 2002-2003 Adopted Operating Budget, Page 884
Not a project.
JOSE OBREGON
Director, General Services Department