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CC - CONSENT ITEM: (1) Approval of an Agreement with Cobblestone Software for Software Licensing and Professional Services to Implement the Contract Insight Enterprise Software to Support the City’s Contract Management Process in an Amount Not-to-Exceed $100,000; and (2) Authorization to the City Manager to Extend the Agreement for Four Additional One-Year Periods.
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Meeting Date: August 14, 2023
Contact Person/Dept: Lisa Soghor, Finance Department
Michele Williams, Information Technology Department
Heather Baker, City Attorney’s Office
Phone Number: 310-253-5865
310-253-5950
310-253-5660
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [X] No []
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X]
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (08/09/2023)
Department Approval: Lisa Soghor, Chief Financial Officer (08/08/2023); Michele Williams, Chief Information Officer (08/06/2023); Heather Baker, City Attorney (08/06/2023)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council (1) approve an agreement with CobbleStone Software (Princeton, NJ) for software licensing and professional services to implement the Contract Insight Enterprise Software to support the City’s contract management process in an amount not-to-exceed $100,000 and; (2) authorize the City Manager to approve four additional one-year extensions for annual software subscription, support and maintenance.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
The City’s contract administration and management process includes collaboration with the Finance Department, the Risk Management Division (Human Resources Department) and the City Attorney’s Office and includes an average of more than 400 contracts across all City departments in any given fiscal year. Most of the initial contract workflow processes are tracked and administered manually. In an effort to streamline and establish contract process efficiencies, a working group was formed including key staff from the Finance Department, Risk Management Division (Human Resources Department), Information Technology Department, and the City Attorney’s and City Manager’s Offices, to discuss the future of the contract management process. The contract management working group (Working Group) met regularly to review current processes and to identify software that would serve to support and enhance the City’s contract management process. The Working Group also established that any contract management software should ideally be integrated with the City’s financial system to reduce double-entry and data inconsistencies between the two software systems.
After surveying other municipalities to identify viable contract management software options, two solutions were recommended for further review: CobbleStone Contract Insight Enterprise software and Periscope E-Procurement/Contract Lifecycle software. The Working Group coordinated vendor product demonstrations and obtained software and implementation quotes from the vendors. The two vendors were also asked to provide current customer references. These references were contacted by staff to discuss their implementation experience, rating of the software solution, and overall recommendations of the relative software vendor. After completing extensive research of each software product, it was determined that the CobbleStone solution, Contract Insight Enterprise Software would best align with the City’s contract management specifications. Additionally, CobbleStone’s quote was significantly lower compared to the quote provided by Periscope. CobbleStone provided the City with Federal General Services Administration (GSA) Contract # GS-35F-0186W schedule pricing which is an acquisition vehicle used to provide access to products and services at fair and reasonable prices to government agencies.
The CobbleStone Contract Insight Software module is an enterprise contract management system that facilitates administering a contract throughout the lifecycle of the agreement. The software provides advanced contract tracking, user-assisted contract drafting, customization of data fields, E-Mail workflow alerts, custom workflows, document versioning and historical retention. Implementing the CobbleStone solution would centralize and automate the City’s contract management process, including providing greater visibility into renewals and other compliance expirations such as insurance certificates.
The CobbleStone software also provides licensing for its application program interface (API) which is used to integrate the contract management software with other software such as financial systems. The quote that CobbleStone provided includes licensing the API and staff would work with CobbleStone and the City’s financial systems software vendor to interface common data fields ensuring consistency and accuracy of the shared data. CobbleStone’s software also fully integrates with Adobe Sign which is the City’s electronic signature software. When contracts are ready for signature, the document is routed within the contract management software using the Adobe Sign platform.
Staff recommends engaging with CobbleStone for software licensing and professional services to implement the Contract Insight Enterprise Software solution in support of the City’s contract management process.
Pursuant to Culver City Municipal Code (CCMC) Sections 3.07.055.E and 3.07.055.G, respectively, formal bidding procedures shall not apply where items to be purchased are computer software, hardware maintenance or software maintenance services (Subsection E); and where competitive bid procedures have already been utilized by the City, another public agency, including, but not limited to, federal, state and county governments, including, state of California agencies, counties, cities, joint power agencies and special districts, or nonprofit agencies whose main purpose is to assist cities or other public entities (Subsection G). This procurement falls within both of these exceptions.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
Approval of an agreement with CobbleStone includes licensing of the software and professional services for the implementation and integration of the contract management software to the City’s financial system (Tyler Technologies Munis System). Sufficient funding was included in the Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 in Account No. 10124100.600200 (Information Technology Department R&M Equipment) to support this expenditure. Contract management software was specifically added as an enhancement in the Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2022-2023.
If the agreement is extended for the additional four one-year terms, ongoing software subscription, maintenance and support expenditures would be included in Account No. 10124100.600200 in future fiscal years budgets.
ATTACHMENTS
None.
MOTION
That the City Council:
1. Approve an agreement with Cobblestone Software (Princeton, NJ) for software licensing and professional services to implement the contract Insight Enterprise Software to support the City’s contract management processes in an amount not-to-exceed $100,000, and
2. Authorize the City Manager to approve four additional one-year extensions for annual maintenance, support, and software subscription; and
3. Authorize the City Attorney to review/prepare any necessary documents; and
4. Authorize the City Manager to execute such documents on behalf of the City.