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sr-051110-1d (2)~~~ 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 The City's handheld citation devices are out of date and the City does not utilize current technology such as license plate readers for parking enforcement activities.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. 1 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 2 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 3 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 4 Reference Contract No. 9210 (CCS).