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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 2 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 3 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: ~~~. ~Y ~v,-~ kl o ice' Jo " Wolf Chief Information Officer, Information Systems Approved: Forwarded to Council: ~ ~.~.~ ~ ~ t ~ l~ Barbara Stinchfield . La o Ewell Director, Community & Cultural Services City anager ~ 4 Reference Contract No. 8903 (CCS).