HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 4056
City of Palo Alto (ID # 4056)
City Council Staff Report
Report Type: Consent Calendar Meeting Date: 10/7/2013
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Summary Title: Phase III of Tech Enhancements for Blueprint
Title: Approval of Amendment Number Two to Contract S13149314 with
TruePoint Solutions, LLC in the Amount of $495,000, to Provide Deployment
and Transition Support for Accela Citizen Access and Future Blueprint
Enhancements, for a Total Contract Amount Not to Exceed $652,800
From: City Manager
Lead Department: Planning and Community Environment
Recommendation
Staff recommends that Council move to authorize the City Manager to execute Amendment
Number Two with TruePoint Solutions, LLC (TruePoint) to extend the existing contract three
additional years and amend it in the amount of $495,000, resulting in a total contract amount
not to exceed $652,800.
Executive Summary
Staff requests approval of the Council to extend the term of, and authorize the City Manager to
sign the contract with TruePoint. TruePoint acts as a conduit between Accela and subject
matter experts from appropriate city departments in order to efficiently and effectively roll out
Accela products for tracking and billing of planning and building permits. The requested
contract amendment applies to continuing implementation of the Blueprint process for which
Citizen Access is the next step.
The extension is for a three-year period to allow the possibility of support for the City’s
expected subsequent steps of Electronic Document Management, Mobile Applications,
Electronic Document Review, Open Data Initiatives, and Fire Permitting.
Background
On September 6, 2011, the Council approved staff recommendations to implement the
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Development Center “Blueprint” project to streamline and modernize the City’s permit process,
focusing on improving customer satisfaction and inter-departmental efficiency. As directed by
the Council, staff has focused on the implementation and transition to the coordinated permit
system design, restructuring of the organization, technology upgrades, and performance
measurements.
On December 5, 2011, (Staff Report 2364) the Council approved a Budget Amendment
Ordinance (BAO 5134) for implementation of the Blueprint process plan for the Development
Center, including appropriations of $935,600 for technology enhancements and a projection for
an additional $802,401 for technology enhancements in Fiscal Year 2013.
In Fiscal Year 2013, these funds, totaling $1.7 million, were incorporated into Capital
Improvement Project (CIP) TE-12001 for Development Center Blueprint Tech Enhancements.
Accela provides the City with software licensing, software maintenance, and training for the
tracking and billing of planning and building permits. TruePoint acts as a conduit between the
Accela software applications and subject matter experts from various city divisions to roll out
and optimize the use of the software.
Discussion
Two of the goals of the CIP are to provide citizen access to permitting information and to
ensure that geographic information system (GIS) data passes bi-directionally in a seamless
manner between the Accela products and our City GIS system (currently Geodesy). The
Development Center is currently using Velocity Hall for citizen facing functionality, but will
upgrade to Accela’s Citizen Access for improved service. Accela is providing licensing,
maintenance, and some training for citizen access software. Implementing Citizen Access will
allow citizens to inquire about and submit records online. Initially, Citizen Access will allow the
public to view information about permits, get status reports on their plan check and inspection
process, allow for the submittal of a limited number of permits on line, and scheduling some
inspections. Going forward the system will be more robust and accommodate a larger cross
section of permits, inspections, and eventually electronic plan submittals.
The City released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the support of Blueprint enhancements,
sending copies of the RFP to at least seven firms. TruePoint was the only company to respond.
Since the City already has a contract with TruePoint to support other Accela applications,
Council is being requested to authorize a contract extension to include this additional work.
Under the contract extension, TruePoint will assist the City and its consultants through the
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transitions, provide technical and user support in the office and in the field, provide reporting
data, and serve as a knowledge liaison between users, Accela, and City staff and consultants.
Resource Impact
The requested TruePoint contract extension is fully funded by the Development Center
Blueprint Technology Enhancement CIP Project (TE-12001). This CIP project has a total budget
of $1.7 million, of which $500,000 has been expended or committed to date, leaving $1.2
million for the completion of the project. With this addition of $495,000 for services from
TruePoint, $705,000 will remain for the other components of the project. There is adequate
budget in the project to support the contract amendment with TruePoint, therefore no
additional funding is needed. This request does not include any costs for the software upgrade
to Accela Citizen Access since it is already funded and available through the City’s contract with
Accela.
Attachments:
Attachment A: Agreement between the City of Palo Alto and TruePoint (PDF)