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City Council Report
City of
Santa Monica
City Council Meeting: May 11, 2010
Agenda Item: 0"®
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Carol Swindell, Director of Finance
Subject: Award of Parking Services Agreement
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a five-year agreement with Affiliated Computer Systems,. Inc., a Xerox
Company (ACS) for an integrated parking management system in an estimated amount
of $1,400,000 per year.
Executive Summary
The City annually issues in excess of 300,000. parking citations, generating over $16
million, as well as over $850,000 in parking permits. Since 2003, ACS has processed
the City's citations and internal staff has processed annual parking permits. The City's
handheld citation devices are out of date and the City does not utilize current
technology such as license plate readers for parking enforcement activities. The
development of an integrated parking system is consistent with the Walker Parking
Study recommendations and will provide for greater efficiency and effectiveness in
managing the parking program. After a joint competitive process with the cities of
Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, staff recommends that afive-year agreement be
authorized with ACS to provide an integrated parking solution. The amount of the
contract is directly dependent on the number of citations issued and is expected to
average $1,400,000 per year based on historical averages of the number of citations
issued.
Background
In 2003, the cities of Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills issued a Request
for Proposals for parking citation processing and Affiliated Computer Systems was
selected as the best bidder for a five year contract. On April 22, 2008, Council approved
a two-year extension so that the Westside cities could complete a study to determine
whether to keep contracting out the citation processing service or to bring it in house.
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Beverly Hills and West Hollywood have decided to continue to contract out the services.
These two cities joined with Santa Monica in issuing a Request for Proposals for citation
processing services, including handheld enforcement devices, license plate readers,
permit systems and other optional components for an integrated parking management
system. Santa Monica will still complete the in-house vs. outsourcing analysis as part of
a division-wide organizational study currently underway and is expected to be
completed in mid-summer. As such, this contract will include the City's standard
termination language to allow flexibility for bringing the function in-house if warranted.
The annual amount of the ACS contract is estimated at $1,400,000.
Discussion
On February 23, 2010, Council approved the Walker Parking Study Implementation
Plan. As part of that plan, Council endorsed the review of Parking Operations staffing,
policies and procedures. As part of the review and with input from other affected
departments, staff identified the desire to develop an integrated parking system to
improve the efficiency and effectiveness of managing the City's parking resources.
Concurrently, Parking Operations and Police staff have been working with the cities of
Beverly Hills and West Hollywood to improve and coordinate parking issues that affect
all Westside cities. All three cities desire the implementation of integrated parking
systems including permit management, citation processing, handheld devices and
license plate readers. The city's current contract for citation processing services expires
on June 30, 2010.
Contractor Selection
The three Westside cities jointly issued a Request for Proposals for citation processing,
handheld devices, license plate readers and permit processing systems, which was
broadly published by all three cities. Four proposals were received to deliver all
requested services and one proposal was received for only handheld citation devices. A
committee of representatives from all three cities, including Santa Monica Finance and
Police Departments, reviewed the proposals and unanimously recommend ACS as the
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best bidder based on price, range of products and services offered, ability to address
the. cities' issues and commitment to implement an integrated parking solution.
Customer Service
Over the course of the previous contract, Council has expressed concerns about the
customer service received from ACS, which resulted in the request to conduct an
analysis to determine if this service should be brought in-house. Over the past eight
months, both the City and ACS have taken steps to improve customer service, including
the assignment of one contract manager at the City, a review of ACS customer service
standards, reassignment of ACS staff responsible for customer service management,
reinstatement of regular meetings between the City and ACS, and a commitment to
continue to improve customer service.
ACS has added new management resources to include a Director of Operations to
oversee customer service standards and a dedicated program analyst position.
Additionally the new contract will feature system technology enhancements to increase
customer service and the City's ability to monitor and audit the customer service
experience. These enhancements include digital imaging of all. customer
correspondence, direct access to digital audio recordings of all customer service phone
calls, a customer service web portal that provides a secure method for customers to
manage their accounts via the web, and improved reporting capabilities via Business
Objects report tool to track and monitor customer service interaction and follow-up. The
new contract will include the development of Business Process Rules (BPR), reports
and other mechanisms to ensure a consistent level of customer service.
The new contract also includes monetary penalties for failure to adhere to the BPRs or
standards. The City is also currently conducting an organizational review of the
Business & Revenue Operations Division which includes a review of the citation
processing service and whether it should be brought in-house or continue to be
contracted. This analysis is expected to be completed in early summer. The contract
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includes termination language, should the analysis show that some or all of these
services should be brought in-house.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
The amount of the contract is dependent on the number of citations issued and is
expected to average $1,400,000 per year for the five year period-plus costs of handheld
devices, license plate readers and the residential preferential parking annual renewal
processing. Funds are requested at account 01225.544870 in Proposed Budget
FY1011 and budget authority for subsequent years will be included in each annual
proposed budget submitted for council approval.
Prepared by: Donald Patterson, Business & Revenue Operations Manager
roved:
Carol Swindell
Director of Finance
Forwarded to Council:
Rod Gould
City Manager
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Reference Contract No.
9210 (CCS).