Agenda - Council - 03/24/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Our Mistion: To work together to resposibly grow our community, and to provide quality, cost-effective, and efficient government services. CC Regular Session 7. 9. Meeting Date: 03/24/2015 By: Tim Gladhill, Community Development Information Title: Authorize Request for Quotes for Software Services for Permitting, Licensing, and Code Enforcement Purpose/Background: The purpose of this case is to authorize staff to issue a Request for Quotes for Permitting, Licensing, and Code Enforcement to aide in the preparation of the 2016 Budget. The intent of the RFQ is to review the current levels of service provided to ensure that the City is getting the maximum value for the services it purchases. This process will allow for a consistent, baseline review of options in a transparent manner. Without taking this step, Staff has found it difficult to provide a fair, equal, and transparent comparison of prices and offerings. Taking this step does not obligate the City to change from its current vendor. This is an exploratory phase, with alternative ranging from remaining with our current vendor to changing to a new vendor in 2016. The City has been with its current provider PIMS (Permit & Inspection Management System) provided by LOGIS (Local Government Information Systems) since circa 2004. LOGIS is a joint -powers, inter -governmental provider of a number of IT services. Staff has been generally pleased with PIMS in terms of excellent customer service, basic functionality needs, and cost -competitive pricing. This case is on the agenda due to the fact that the RFQ process takes a significant amount of staff time/effort and may lead to a significant capital expenditure. The City's current and proposed Strategic Action Plan identify this improvement as being part of the City's mission to provide more efficient, cost-effective service. It further addresses the goal of increasing staff effectiveness, and is part of the tactic of improving our business process. Notification: Notification is not required to authorize the RFQ. If approved, Staff will distribute the RFQ to a list of compiled vendors and advertise in appropriate media outlets. Observations/Alternatives: Recently, an inter -departmental Staff team collaborated on a document of desired services and functionality. All departments of the organization were represented in this meeting. Broadly speaking, Staff desires to enhance the services currently provided for City Staff as well as external customers and residents as is relates to permitting, licensing, and code enforcement. There are components that address some of Staffs desired improvements within the existing PIMS system. There is some desired functionality that is not currently provided by PIMS. The overall intent is to reduce the amount of duplicate data entry and increase self-service opportunities. As a general observation, it was discovered that are multiple instances of duplication in our process that should be explored to streamline. Some can be accomplished with software improvements. Some can be done with internal process improvements. As one Staff Member of the team noted: