SR 08-23-2022 5J
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: August 23, 2022
Agenda Item: 5.J
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Danny Alvarez, Fire Chief, Fire Department
Subject: Award Bid #RFP No. 315 to Wittman Enterprises, LLC for Third Party Billing
Services for the Fire Department
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Award the contract for RFP 315 to Wittman Enterprises, LLC for Third Party
Billing Services on behalf of the Fire Department
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Wittman
Enterprises, LLC for seven percent (7%) of net collections derived from Fire
Prevention Billing and Collection Services for a total amount not to exceed
$700,000 for a five-year term, with future years funding contingent on Council
budget approval.
Summary
The Santa Monica Fire Department (“SMFD”) responds to approximately 17,000 calls
for service annually, including responding to fire, health, and other emergencies. The
Santa Monica Fire Department is an all-hazards organization with a Class One
Insurance Services Organization (ISO) rating. The Fire Suppression and Rescue
(Operations) Division operates out of five Fire Stations and provides daily staffing of
thirty-four firefighters to protect the City, with one Battalion Chief overseeing the on-duty
crews. The Fire Prevention Division completed 5,482 annual inspections in FY2021-22;
during a standard non-COVID year approximately 7,500 annual inspections are
completed. The Fire Department seeks to enter into negotiations with Wittman
Enterprises to provide the Department with a robust electronic billing system.
Discussion
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SMFD is in need of a more efficient and capable billing system that can provide a range
of billing for fire inspections and other fire prevention services that are consistent with
the City’s adopted annual fee schedule.
Fire Prevention currently does not have the ability to bill electronically and must make
multiple entries of the same data to ensure an inspection or plan check are accurately
recorded and billed. The current inspection billing is processed by the Finance
Department’s utility billing software which was never intended to serve as a long-term
solution for Fire billing. The current system is inefficient and does not provide the
department the capacity to reconcile records and billing, nor does it provide notice when
a business is out of compliance. The Department is transitioning to a new preplanning
and inspection software system which has the capacity to integrate with Wittman for
billing purposes. Although the City will be paying Wittman a pre-agreed upon 7% of net
revenue collected, the improved billing processes and efficiencies are expected to
increase the total amount of revenue billed and collected on behalf of the Fire
Department.
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Bidder Recommendation
Best Bidder Wittman Enterprises, LLC
Evaluation Criteria
The following criteria was used to determine best bidder:
method of approach, qualifications of experience,
reasonableness of cost, completeness of proposal, and value
added/breadth of service.
The City shall have absolute discretion in determining the
applicability and weight of the criteria listed above.
The City is not required to select the bid with the lowest price.
The second bidder, Captivate Billing was scored as a non-
responsive bidder since they could not perform the scope of
work as detailed in the Request for Proposal specifications.
Municipal Code SMMC 2.24.180
Date
Posted Posted On
Advertise In
(City Charter & SMMC)
Vendors
Downloaded
Date Publicly
Opened
03/17/2022 City's Online
Bidding Site
Santa Monica Daily
Press
3 04/14/2022
Best Bidder Justification
Wittman Enterprises, LLC is deemed the best bidder due to their industry expertise,
completeness of proposal, cost, and value added.
Bid Data
Submittals Received
Wittman Enterprises, LLC 7% of Net Revenue for Fire Prevention Billing
Captivate Billing Did not submit for Fire Prevention Billing
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Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve funding from the General Fund to award an agreement
with Wittman Enterprises, LLC for Third Party Billing Services. Wittman will bill
inspections and collect payments on behalf of the City, prior to submitting the weekly
collection revenues, Wittman will retain their 7% of net revenues. Based on current Fire
Prevention activity, it is projected the annual amount Wittman will retain for their
services is $140,000. Fire does not anticipate a reduction in budgeted revenue as a
result of improved billing and collection practices.
Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Terese Toomey, Principal Administrative Analyst
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Wittman Oaks
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5.J.a
Packet Pg. 109 Attachment: Wittman Oaks (5282 : Award Bid #RFP No. 315 to Wittman Enterprises, LLC for Third Party Billing Services for the Fire Dep)