SR 01-26-2016 3K
City Council
Report
City Council Regular and Special Joint Meeting: January 26, 2016
Agenda Item: 3.K
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Andy Agle, Director, Housing Division, Housing and Economic Development
Subject: Software Maintenance and Support Services Contract Renewal for the
Housing Authority
Recommended Action:
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a contractual service agreement with HAPPY Software Inc. (HAPPY), a
New York-based company, for ongoing software maintenance and support services of
HAPPY’s full suite of Housing Pro 8 Software. The proposed amount for the three-year
contract would not exceed $60,000, with future-year funding contingent on Council
budget approval.
Executive Summary
The City uses Housing Pro 8 software, owned by HAPPY Software, Inc., to administer
the Housing Authority’s rental housing voucher programs, as well as maintain its
Affordable Housing Programs wait list. The current agreement expires on
January 31, 2016. Staff recommends a new agreement with HAPPY Software for
ongoing software support and maintenance services for up to three additional years in
an amount not to exceed $60,000, extending through January 31, 2019. As HAPPY
software is a proprietary product, support and maintenance services are available only
through HAPPY.
Background
On March 15, 2010, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued by the Housing
Authority to find a solution for maintaining its Affordable Housing Programs wait list.
HAPPY Software's Housing Pro 8 wait list software and online portal was selected from
responses received and is currently utilized by the Housing Authority to maintain its
wait list. Housing Pro 8’s wait list software is a single component of a larger suite of
software components that make up the entire Housing Pro 8 software system.
Each component is referred to as a module and each module of the Housing Pro 8
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Software system is designed to aid in administering the Housing Authority’s rental
housing voucher programs, Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program, and wait list.
Following the installation of Housing Pro 8’s wait list module, staff determined that
upgrading software for other Housing Authority programs would improve administration
and efficiency, and allow for paperless automation. Staff researched available voucher
programs software and determined that HAPPY Software was the only software
provider that allowed for integration with the existing wait-list software.
On June 12, 2012, Council authorized the purchase of HAPPY Software's full suite of
Housing Pro 8 modules for the Housing Authority, for an amount not to exceed
$150,000 and a term of three years.
Discussion
Numerous administrative procedures previously completed manually by Housing
Authority staff for housing voucher programs have become automated with the use of
HAPPY’s Housing Pro 8 software. This includes document retention, transmission, and
retrieval. Records for each household can be very large and a significant amount of
staff time was previously spent organizing and accessing paper files. In complex
situations, multiple staff members often needed simultaneous access to a file, which
caused delays in the document retrieval and transmission process. Additionally, files
needed to be regularly purged of older information to keep them of a manageable size.
Purged files were then transferred into off-site storage for the legally required
retention period. The purging process was costly and time-consuming due to off-site
retention, which can take more than 24 hours to retrieve urgently needed files.
With Housing Pro 8, all tenant records are stored in one database and can be accessed
from individual computer, multiple users can access any tenant record simultaneously,
paper copies of households’ files are no longer needed, and copies of documents can
be printed or transferred into electronic f iles, if needed, directly from the software.
Housing Pro 8 has also improved efficiency and decreased the amount of time spent on
various tasks. With the use of a tablet, Housing Pro 8 allows housing inspectors to
create inspection reports electronically, including photos taken at the site, and upload
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the reports directly into the software database. Mail merging and tracking can all be
completed with Housing Pro 8, eliminating the need to export data and perform a
separate mail merge. Data-entry errors in household records are automatically
identified by Housing Pro 8, significantly reducing staff time spent identifying errors.
Information regarding households’ transactions and payments to apartment owners can
be transferred automatically from HAPPY software into accounting software and
HUD reports.
Vendor/Consultant Selection
To continue using the Housing Pro 8 software and receiving maintenance and support
services, a new contract with HAPPY Software is necessary. A sole source purchase of
Happy Software’s support and maintenance services is justified because HAPPY
Software is a proprietary product and only HAPPY Software can provide these services
for its software. Engaging a new software maintenance and support company would
necessitate purchasing a new software system, which would be much more costly than
maintaining the current system and would involve significant disruption to the Housing
Authority’s operations.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
The agreement to be awarded to HAPPY Software, Inc. is for an amount not to
exceed $60,000. Funds are available in the Housing and Economic Development
Department budget in account 122691.533580. Future-year funding is contingent on
Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Elsa Brown, Senior Administrative Analyst
Approved
Forwarded to Council
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Reference:
Agreement No. 10244
(CCS)