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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05. Review draft Position Paper to authorize the General Manager to execute a sole-source Professional Consulting Services Agreement with the Government Finance Officers Association with a cost ceiling of $139,925 for improvements to the District’s Enter 5m Central Contra Costa Sanitary District BOARD OF DIRECTORS c) POSITION PAPER ........................... Board Meeting Date: JULY 612017 Subject: ADOPT RESOLUTION MAKING FINDINGS AND AUTHORIZING THE GENERAL MANAGER TO EXECUTE A SOLE-SOURCE AGREEMENT WITH THE GOVERNMENT FINANCE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION FOR PROFESSIONAL CONSULTING SERVICES FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO THE DISTRICT ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) SYSTEM, DISTRICT PROJECT 8240 Submitted By: Initiating Dept./Div.: John Huie, IT Manager Administration Information Technology REVIEWED AND RECOMMENDED FOR BOARD ACTION: Phil Leiber, Director of Finance & Administration Ann Sasaki, Deputy General Manager Kent Alm Roger S. Bailey District Counsel General Manager ISSUE: Board approval is requested to enter into a sole-source agreement with the Government Finance Officers Association. Board authorization is also required for the General Manager to execute an agreement in an amount greater than $100,000. BACKGROUND: The SunGard HTE Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system has been used by Central San since 1993. This system manages the business data and processes for the District Human Resources, Procurement, Accounting, Billing and related subsystems. Every area of District operations depends upon the ERP as a foundational technology. Replacement of the ERP system was identified as a task in the IT Master Plan presented to the Board on January 29, 2015. However, upon further investigation it was decided to implement targeted improvements to the current SunGard system to extend the life further. During implementation of these improvements for the Purchasing Division it was found that staff repeatedly ran into limitations of the system that proved to be frustrating and disappointing. Because of this, staff has decided to suspend the targeted improvements to the system and to revisit the possibility of replacing the SunGard ERP sooner rather than later. Replacing an ERP system requires extensive planning and must be carefully considered to ensure that Central San has adequate staff resources, business readiness, change management and executive and board level support to ensure a high likelihood of successful implementation. In order to assess business readiness, Central San will be contracting with the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) to engage with District staff, analyze Page 1 of 2 POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: August 41 2010 Subject: ADOPT RESOLUTION MAKING FINDINGS AND AUTHORIZING THE GENERAL MANAGER TO EXECUTE A SOLE-SOURCE AGREEMENT WITH THE GOVERNMENT FINANCE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION FOR PROFESSIONAL CONSULTING SERVICES FOR IMPROVEMENTS To THE DISTRICT ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) SYSTEM, DISTRICT PROJECT 8240 and document current business processes, look for areas to optimize those processes, assess organizational readiness and, if the decision is made to proceed from that point, FOA will prepare an RFP and assist with RFP response evaluations, vendor selection and preparation for implementation. GFOA was selected for this work, as they are a not-for-profit entity with a division that has extensive experience in assisting public agencies with ERP replacement projects. GFOA has an established framework for helping agencies evaluate their ERP needs and successfully manage the process of documentation requirements, develop an RFP for vendors, and identify other readiness factors for such a complex project. GFOA will also be assisting Central San document business processes in connection with this undertaking. ALTERNATIVESICONSIDERATIONS: The alternative is to continue using the SunGard ERP system for District business needs and to implement further improvements. This does have value but the improvements that staff has been able to make have been incremental rather than transformative. staff also considered and evaluated other firms that could assist with this evaluation process but determined that GFOA had a unique combination of independence, experience and cost effectiveness in this phase of the ERP replacement evaluation process. FINANCIAL IMPACTS: The agreement will have a cost ceiling of $189,928. The exploratory nature of the work requires that it be classified as operations and maintenance rather than as a capital project. The work will be funded through the favorable budget variance in the FY 2015-17 budget, and through other funding offsets in FY 2017-18. COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION: The Finance committee reviewed this subject at its meeting on June 29, 2017, and recommended adoption of the proposed resolution and approval of the agreement. RECOMMENDED BOARD ACTION: Adopt a resolution that: Authorizes the General Manager to execute a sole-source Professional Consulting Services Agreement with the Government Finance officers Association, with a cost ceiling of $189,928 for improvements to the District's ERP system. Page 2 of 2