SR-032508-1F~_
~;tYOf City Council Report
Santa Monica
City Council Meeting: March 25, 2008
Agenda Item: J=~
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Barbara Stinchfield, Director, Community & Cultural Services
Jory Wolf, Chief Information Officer, Information Systems
Subject: Authorization to Negotiate and Execute a Contract fora Homeless
Management Information System
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the. City Council authorize the City 'Manager to negotiate and
execute a contract with Bowman Systems for software licensing and data hosting of a
homeless management information system for a period of one year in an amount not to.
exceed $120,770 (including 10% contingency), with two additional one year renewal
.options in an amount not to exceed $44,760 (including 10% contingency).
Executive Summary
At the direction of City Council at its January 23, 2007 meeting, City staff is undertaking
a comprehensive study of the functionality and design of a new Homeless Management
Information System (HMIS) to replace the existing HMIS. The existing HMIS is used by
staff at seven homeless service agencies receiving funding through the Community
Development grants program. With the support of a selection and implementation
consultant; Canavan Associates, Human Services Division and Information Systems
Department staff issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit responses from HMIS
software vendors. Seven HMIS vendors responded with proposed software solutions to
meet the City's needs. Based on'a comprehensive two-stage review, Bowman Systems
was selected as the best bidder. Funds are available in the Human Services Division
budget to support aone-year. implementation contract of $120,770 (including 10%
contingency) and two annual renewals of the contract in the amount of $44,760
(including 10% contingency).
Background
As part of the Adopted FY 2007-08 City Budget, City Council approved first-year startup
costs associated with the implementation of anew HMIS in the amount of $322,604 and
ongoing funding for this project in the amount of $71,804. A Federal Supportive
Housing Program (SHP) grant awarded through the Los Angeles Homeless Services
Authority (Contract #8857 (CCS) and subsequent renewal grants) will provide additional
resources toward this project.
Consistent with the recently approved "Action Plan to Address Homelessness in Santa
Monica", City staff anticipates that implementing the recommended software at local
homeless service agencies will provide the following benefits:
• Compliance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
data standards;
• The ability to conduct asystem-wide unduplicated count of persons accessing
services;
• The ability to track all services and client outcomes system-wide;
• The ability to collect and query client demographics and needs to assess Santa
Monica's "fair share";
• The ability to identify "bottlenecks" in service delivery;
• The ability to interface with other local and regional data systems;
• Reduced agency staff time devoted to data entry by eliminating duplicative data
entry systems;
• The ability to use new technologies (scan cards, wireless capability) to increase
data collection and assist in new projects such as the Service Registry;
• Improved system management due to data hosting by the recommended
software vendor; and,
• Flexibility to meet future anticipated and unanticipated City, state, federal, and
other funder requirements and requests.
In late September, 2007, City Council approved a contract with Canavan Associates for
expert guidance in the selection and implementation process. Since that time, Canavan
Associates staff has been instrumental in facilitating the HMIS Steering Committee, a
group composed of representatives from the City's Departments of Community and
Cultural Services, Housing and Economic Development and Information Systems and
participating homeless service agencies; conducting a needs assessment of homeless
service agencies; developing. policies and procedures related to use of the HMIS; and
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developing the RFP for the HMIS software. The RFP was released in December, 2007
and was sent to 24 vendors, posted on one national HMIS job board and advertised in
the Santa Monica Daily Press.
Discussion
Contractor Selection
Seven proposals were submitted in response to the RFP. An initial review was
conducted by Canavan Associates and City staff. The top three respondents were
invited to provide demonstrations of their product to the HMIS Steering Committee. As
part of the demonstration, selected City and homeless service agency staff, including
front-line case managers, participated in hands-on testing of each product. References
for each firm were contacted and interviewed. Based on the demonstrations, surveys
completed by the user-testing participants and references, the HMIS Steering
Committee came to a consensus to recommend Bowman Systems' software product
ServicePoint to be the City's HMIS solution.
Bowman Systems was recommended based on:
• Capacity of the software product to meet the data collection needs of the City
and homeless service agencies and to dramatically improve the capability of the
system to report and track services and outcomes;
• Capacity of the software product to be customized at the agency level to ensure
case management and other staff members are able to use the system most
efficiently to benefit their clients;
• Bowman's client base of over 120 HMIS customers nationwide, including "best
practice" agencies (City of Portland and State of Michigan);
• Submission of a detailed and comprehensive start-up plan;
• Competitive price; and
• The character, integrity, reputation, judgment, training, experience and efficiency
of-the firm and the principal staff assigned to the project based on information
gathered from the RFP and through reference checks.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
The cost for the software licensing, training, hosting and disaster recovery will not
exceed $120,770 in the first year. No equipment will need to be purchased for this
implementation. Funds of $120,770 are available in the Human Services Division
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budget at account 012628.544390 75211W for this project. Ongoing maintenance costs
will not exceed $44,760 annually for Years 2 and 3. Ongoing annual funding in the
amount of $44,760 is available in the Human Services Division budget at account
012628.544390 99281 W.
Prepared by:
Julia Brown, Administrative Analyst
AI Dave, Software Systems Officer
Approved:
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Jo " Wolf
Chief Information Officer, Information
Systems
Approved:
Forwarded to Council:
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Barbara Stinchfield . La o Ewell
Director, Community & Cultural Services City anager ~
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Reference Contract
No. 8903 (CCS).