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Approve a $686,975 contract with Northwoods Consulting Partners, Inc. for the continuation and enhancement of an electronic document management system for the period of April 13, 2021 through June 30, 2023; and Authorize the County Administrator to execute the agreement
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Published Notice Required? Yes _____ No __X__
Public Hearing Required? Yes _____ No __X__
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Department of Health and Social Services (H&SS) recommends that the Board of Supervisors approve a $686,975 contract with Northwoods Consulting Partners, Inc. for the continuation and enhancement of an electronic document management system for the period of April 13, 2021 through June 30, 2023; and authorize the County Administrator to execute the agreement.
SUMMARY:
Northwoods Consulting Partners, Inc. specializes in document imaging and management systems for social service agencies throughout the United States. Collaborations between Northwoods and Solano County H&SS, Employment & Eligibility Services (E&ES) began in 2011 with the deployment of 1) self-scan kiosks used by clients to scan documents required for the verification of benefits and services, and 2) installation of a document management system (Compass) to import documents into the CalWIN (California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Information Network) case management system for administering public assistance programs. While the use of these services continues, new technology is now available to increase staff efficiency and reduce errors.
E&ES clients are required to submit documents to verify eligibility for and renewal of public assistance. Clients submit these documents via the online portal, through the mail, or in a drop box at one of the H&SS locations. In 2020, E&ES received and processed 443,794 documents. Processing includes scanning a barcode, looking up the case in CalWIN, and assigning the document to the correct case in CalWIN. These are currently manual processes. The requested additional technology partially automates these processes.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The proposed contract includes services totaling $686,975 for the period of April 13, 2021 through June 30, 2023 and is included in the Department’s FY2020/21 Adopted Budget. The two new enhancements increase the cost of Northwood’s services by $283,055. The remaining $403,920 is a continuation of annual services that the Department has received since 2011. There is no impact to the County General Fund.
DISCUSSION:
The requested system improvements include:
Nightly Batch Indexing - this enhancement automatically assigns (indexes) client documents received through the online portal to the correct CalWIN case. This solution will greatly improve efficiencies by reducing the need for workers to manually scan and index these documents.
Barcode Scanning - with this enhancement, workers will scan documents received via mail or drop box and the Northwoods system will then automatically assign (index) the document to the correct CalWIN case. This will also greatly improve efficiency by reducing the need to manually look up cases and index these documents.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board may choose not to approve the contract with Northwoods Consulting Partners, Inc. This option is not recommended because failure to implement these upgrades will result in a continued dependence on manual processes which decrease productivity for other required duties and increase potential for human error.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The Department of Information Technology and County Administrator’s Office have partnered in a collaborative review and have approved the Automation Improvement Request submitted by Solano County H&SS, Employment & Eligibility Services.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION