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APPROVE A MOTION AUTHORIZING AN AMENDMENT TO THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT FOR ACCELA PERMIT SOFTWARE TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND ENHANCEMENT
recommended action
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council approve a motion authorizing the City Manager to:
1) Execute Amendment No. 2 to the Standard Agreement with Gray Quarter, Inc. to increase the maximum compensation by $350,000 for a revised amount not to exceed $662,499; and
2) Take all necessary and appropriate actions to carry out the purpose and intent of the motion.
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Summary
The Community Development Department requires the specialized knowledge and skills of a consulting firm for ongoing technical support to maintain the Accela permitting system which includes but is not limited to:
• Continued expansion of online permitting offerings
• Enhanced system configuration to increase efficiencies, such as streamlining workflows and automation features
• Enhanced ease-of-use for customers and staff, such as simplifying permit creation forms, and increasing usability of task lists for staff
• Increased access to data within the system by creating dashboards for performance management and plan check monitoring, and performing data clean-up to ensure historic data within the system is accurate and up-to-date
Due to the Accela system’s central role in the Permit Center’s operations, reconfigurations to the system have become a necessary component of improvements as identified through Innovation Lab and Performance and Data Analytics meetings. The reconfiguring of Accela to facilitate these process improvements has led to the identification of other data-driven and customer-first improvements which were not previously identified at initial contract execution. These improvements are essential in getting to the next step of our process improvement goals.
Staff recommends Council approve a motion to authorize the City Manager to execute an amendment to the Professional Services Master Agreement with Gray Quarter, Inc., increasing the contract amount by $350,000 for a total amount not to exceed $662,499 to facilitate continued development of process improvements.
DISCUSSION
Background
On May 20, 2014, Resolution 2014-05-20-1501 approved two contracts. The first contract was with Accela for the Accela Civic Platform Software as a permit tracking software product. The second contract was with TruePoint Solutions, Inc. to provide implementation and ongoing technical support services for the Accela Civic Platform Software product. The implementation was completed in late 2015. The contract with TruePoint Solutions for ongoing technical support expired on December 31, 2020.
On September 29, 2020, City Council approved a multi-vendor contract with Gray Quarter, Inc. for a not to exceed amount of $225,000 and Byrne Software Solutions, Inc. for a not to exceed amount of $125,000. This contract was established to overhaul identified portions of the Accela system configuration needing improvements, and to replace the expiring Accela support services contract with TruePoint Solutions, Inc.
In October 2020, the City’s development review process went through iLab; a “leaning” exercise designed to streamline City processes. This generated several new improvements impacting the Accela system update work. Continuing from the iLab, the DevSTAT process began in December 2020. DevSTAT functions as the ongoing multi-departmental process to monitor progress on identified process improvements and to continually seek to identify additional improvement opportunities.
On April 6, 2021, the City Manager authorized Amendment No. 1 to increase the amount for the Gray Quarter Inc. contract portion by $87,499 for a total not to exceed amount of $312,499. These funds were added to address the expanded scope of work initially identified during the iLab process, improving several aspects of the building plan check and inspection processes.
Present Situation
Significant progress has been made overhauling the Accela system since this contract went into effect. Many Improvements have positively impacted customer experience with the system such as;
• More user friendliness and service
• Quicker plan review and permit processing times
• Increased efficiencies for staff
• Enhanced access to information for both the public and City leadership
In addition, these Accela system improvements are integral to non-system process improvements identified, implemented, and monitored through the DevStat process.
Significant tasks completed since Gary Quarter began work in October 2020 include:
• Comprehensive modernization to “scripting” which drives advanced database functionality
• Integration between Accela and the Tyler Munis ERP software
• New Accela record types created to improve efficiencies for overtime inspection requests, small cell (5G) applications, and solar project revisions
• Workflow improvements to several permit types
• Workload “dashboard” creation allowing staff and management to help ensure plan review due dates are met
• Key performance indicator (KPI) reports developed to monitor overall performance for Building Permit plan reviews
• Additional permits made available for online application submittal, improved online inspection scheduling process
• Numerous minor system configuration adjustments to increase efficiencies and system function
Some of the quantifiable impacts that these improvements have substantially contributed to include:
• Building Plan Check performance has improved from the baseline (2018 - 2020 calendar years) of meeting published plan review targets for first submittals 37% of the time, to meeting them 77% of the time after improvements went into effect (as measured from April-June 2021). Implementation of similar improvements affecting Improvement Plan projects and the Engineering plan check process are currently in-progress.
• Online permitting - As of August 31, 2021, eight of CDD’s high volume permits had been configured for online permitting. Between January and August 2021, 86% of these permit applications (4,300) have been applied for online, with the remaining 14% applied for in-person or through the mail. Based on available customer satisfaction survey data, the online portal has received an overall score of 3.63 out of 5, equating to between “Moderately Satisfied” and “Very Satisfied”.
• Incorporation of “SolarApp” program which allows for instant online solar permit issuance for qualifying projects
• Improvement in CDD notification process to Utility Billing for newly issued permits, saving roughly 7,500 printed pages annually
In-progress and planned tasks:
• Continue implementing workflow enhancements, streamlining permit creation, and expansion of online permitting offerings
• Enhance inspection routing and scheduling
• Improve incorporation of other City departments into the plan check and inspections process within the system
• Import historical planning and engineering projects from legacy Microsoft Access databases
• Overhaul fee structure and automated fee assessments to fix current deficiencies and streamline fee portion of database, includes enhanced tracking/reporting capabilities for fee waiver programs and demolition credits
• Implement potential expansion of system uses as determined through the ongoing DevStat process
• Create additional workload monitoring dashboards and Key Performance Indicator reports as additional workflows are updated
• Perform additional miscellaneous tasks including areas of data clean-up and continuing system efficiency improvements
Based on the foreseeable work remaining and the recent contract expenditure rate, staff anticipates the Accela overhaul work to be substantially complete by March 2023. While many system improvements had been identified at the time of initial contract creation, the i-Lab and DevStat processes continue to identify additional improvement opportunities. This proposed contract increase is based on the remaining tasks as initially anticipated, and the expanded scope based on the i-Lab and DevStat identified improvements.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Table 1 below outlines the expenditures for the contract. $241,703 has been expended through September 2021. The average monthly expenditure from June through September 2021 was approximately $21,000. Based on projected efforts, there is a need for an additional $350,000 (Attachment C - Proposed Amendment No. 2) to complete foreseeable system enhancements and to provide adequate service levels through the contract’s three-year duration ending September 9, 2023.
Table 1
|
|
Initial Contract |
Amendment No. 1 |
Expenditures through September 2021 |
Remaining Balance as of 9/30/21 |
|
Total Amounts |
$225,000 |
$87,499 |
($241,703) |
$70,797 |
The Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) Grant was awarded to the City by the State of California in the total amount of $621,150 for the purposes of facilitating accelerated housing production. Of that amount, up to $200,000 may be used for eligible permitting system enhancements.
Up to $200,000 of the total contract value, including expenditures to-date, may be determined to be reimbursable by the REAP grant, with the remainder of the contract value, including grant-ineligible expenditures, being funded by Development Services Business Operations expenditure accounts
Funds in the amount of $350,000 were appropriated through the FY 2021-22 annual budget process in the Development Services Fund, Community Development Department, Business Operations division for the remainder of the anticipated increase to the contract. This appropriation is sufficient to sustain the entire value of the recommended action in the unlikely event that no costs are eligible for reimbursement from grant funds. This appropriation is provided for by the Administrative Technology Fee which is collected as an additional 7.5% on most permit fees for the purpose of supporting and enhancing the technological capabilities of the Community Development Department.
The total amounts by funding source of this contract upon this action will consist of:
|
|
REAP Grant |
Development Services Fund |
Total |
|
Initial Contract |
|
225,000 |
225,000 |
|
Change Order #1 |
|
87,499 |
87,499 |
|
Change Order #2 |
Up to 200,000* |
150,000* |
350,000 |
|
TOTAL |
$200,000 |
$462,499 |
$662,499 |
*Grant eligibility will determine the final allocation between the two funding sources.
The proposed action will not result in any additional impact or cost to the General Fund or any other unrestricted funds.
Attachment A - Standard Professional Services Agreement 2020-09-29-1105 NP
Attachment B - Standard Professional Services Agreement Amendment 1
Attachment C - Proposed Standard Professional Services Agreement Amendment 2
Attachment D - Gray Quarter Amendment 2 Scoping and Price Estimate