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Approve a contract with Simpler Systems in an amount not to exceed $80,500 to provide technical services to implement a web-based property systems archive inquiry system associated with the County Assessment and Taxation System project (SCIPS Replacement) for the term of October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020; Authorize the Chief Information Officer to execute the contract and any amendments that do not exceed 10% of original contract; and Authorize the Chief Information Officer to execute annual license/maintenance renewals that are within 10% of prior year net monthly amount for up to 3 years
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Department of Information Technology recommends that the Board of Supervisors:
1. Approve a contract with Simpler Systems in an amount not to exceed $80,500 to provide technical services to implement a web-based property systems archive inquiry system associated with the County Assessment and Taxation System project (SCIPS Replacement) for the term of October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020;
2. Authorize the Chief Information Officer to execute the contract and any amendments that do not exceed 10% of original contract; and
3. Authorize the Chief Information Officer to execute annual license/maintenance renewals that are within 10% of prior year net monthly amount for up to 3 years.
SUMMARY:
The Department of Information Technology is recommending that the Board approve a contract with Simpler Systems for technical services to implement a web-based property system archive inquiry system associated with the County Assessment and Taxation System project (SCIPS Replacement). This system will allow for the continual archiving and retrieval of SCIPS legacy date on an on-going basis.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The contract is for an amount not to exceed $80,500 and includes $65,500 for professional services and the initial license, $1,500 for travel expense, and $1,500 monthly license/maintenance cost for nine months. The Department of Information Technology’s FY2019/20 Adopted Budget includes appropriations allocated for the SCIPS Replacement Project.
DISCUSSION:
On April 4, 2017, the Board of Supervisors authorized the departments of the Assessor, Auditor-Controller and Treasurer/Tax Collector to proceed with the replacement of the Solano County Integrated Property System (SCIPS). The Board also authorized the County Administrator to negotiate a contract for software and professional services with Thomson Reuters, which was entered into on May 18, 2018.
However, a key concern identified by the Assessor, Auditor, and Tax Collector was the difficulty in accessing archive property systems data once the new system is in operation. Due to dissimilar data structures and systems operation, converting historical data from the legacy system to the Thomson Reuters platform is cost prohibitive and to address this concern, it was determined that a separate dedicated archive query and reporting tool would best meet the needs of the County and departments moving forward.
November 2017 through July of 2018, the Department of Information Technology in conjunction with the departments of the Assessor, Auditor, and Tax Collector demonstrated a Historical Archive proof of concept using the Simpler Systems platform. During this period, demonstrations were conducted to prove the feasibility of the product to allow easy retrieval of archived SCIPS data as well as the feasibility of continually archiving SCIPS legacy data on an on-going basis. While the proof of concept only demonstrated a subset of the inquiry capability, all three departments could envision how a complete implementation would be capable of filling the need for a historical archive inquiry tool.
Project Status
From the signing of the Thomson Reuters contract, in May of 2018, County staff actively pursued a start date and kick-off for the project. Due to Thomson Reuters resource constraints, the Solano project start was delayed. During this period, staff has continued to acquire and configure hardware and software resources needed for the data conversion phase (Phase 0) and gather initial data and report information in preparation for the initial Phase 0 workshops. The project officially began on February 25, 2019 with the project kick-off and the completion of the initial three-day Phase 0 data conversion workshops.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose to not approve this contract, however, this is not recommended due to the lack of viable alternatives to fill the need of an historical archive and query system to allow easy retrieval of archived SCIPS data.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
Assessor Recorder, Auditor/Controller, Treasurer Tax Collector and the Department of Information Technology were involved in conducting the proof of concept of the simpler systems platform. County Counsel reviewed the contract as to legal form.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION