TITLE
Recommendation to adopt resolution authorizing City Manager to execute a contract, and any amendments thereto, with Ernst and Young LLP, of Secaucus, NJ, for as-needed technical support and integration services related to the City’s Customer Care and Billing, Mobile Workforce Management, and Advanced Metering Infrastructure systems in an amount not to exceed $585,000 for a period of two years, with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods, at the discretion of the City Manager; and
Increase appropriations in the General Services Fund (IS 385) in the Department of Technology and Innovation (TI) by $585,000. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
City Council approval is requested to enter into an agreement with Ernst & Young, LLP (EY), to provide technical support and integration services related to the City’s key utility software systems, including Oracle Customer Care & Billing (CC&B), Oracle Mobile Workforce Management (MWM), Oracle User Productivity Kit (UPK), and the City’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure System (AMI).
EY worked with the City to implement the new Customer Information System (CIS) that replaced the legacy Utility Billing software. The firm currently provides managed services to support the CC&B, MWM, and AMI systems for the City under fixed scope and fixed cost contracts. Since the systems were implemented, staff has identified the need to make certain enhancements to these systems to provide better integration. These necessary changes will help provide a more efficient business process flow and streamline data exchange. The agreement will also support additional technical training and support.
The as-needed services under this proposed agreement will focus on the following:
AMI Configuration, Testing, and Development Support Development of the AMI system is well underway. The project is entering the “Beta” testing phase and staff anticipates beginning full deployment in November of this year. As the implementation team works through integration between systems, there is a need to change the meter data exchange configuration to enhance the Metersense Customer Connect and CC&B "To-Do" reporting. EY is the best technical option to address these enhancements.
Oracle Product Training Development The City engaged EY to assist with Oracle’s UPK training initiative. The product has shown initial success in training employees and providing online help functionality to staff. Additional support from EY is needed to continue to build out the training material and document all business process flows.
Additional MWM Support and Enhancements Current EY resources under the original managed service contract are insufficient to support the City’s needs. Additional support is required to enable the City to develop a more stable MWM environment and facilitate enhancements and debugging in a more timely manner. In particular, support is needed to develop the processes to provide field crews with the meter location codes on their mobile units. Additional benefits of this work include enabling the project team to incorporate MWM changes into utility-wide solutions, including the AMI project which requires MWM changes to support automated processing of meter retrofits.
Additional CC&B Upgrade Support Enhanced CC&B productivity, business value, and cost savings will be facilitated by incorporating the Version 2.5.1 upgrade. The scope of these additional services include: COBOL to Java Conversion and Rate Engine Migration to facilitate the process. EY support is required to complete this effort.
EY has already performed work in each of the above areas and has the institutional knowledge of the systems and processes they have already developed. In addition, as the managed services provider of the CC&B and MWM systems for the City, EY is primarily responsible for the ongoing maintenance and support of the system. For these reasons, it would be futile and an unnecessary expenditure of public funds to advertise for bids.
City Charter Section 1801 requires that contracts for City purchases be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder after a competitive bid process, but allows for awards without a competitive bid process if accompanied by a Resolution adopted by the City Council.
This matter was reviewed by Deputy City Attorney Amy Webber on July 27, 2015 and by Budget Management Officer Victoria Bell on August 3, 2015.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action is requested on August 18, 2015 in order to leverage EY resources currently utilized on the AMI Project.
FISCAL IMPACT
Total expenditures for as-needed professional and technical services with EY will not exceed $585,000. Because these services are currently unbudgeted, an appropriation increase is necessary in the General Services Fund (IS 385) in the Department of Technology and Innovation (TI). The cost will be allocated among the four enterprise operations (gas, water, sewer, refuse), which fund the City’s current utility billing function. The allocation is equal to each enterprise’s proportionate usage and dependence on the system. The participating departments will request increases in budget appropriation as needed. There is no local job impact associated with the recommended action.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
BODY
[Enter Body Here]
Respectfully Submitted,
BRYAN M. SASTOKAS
DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION
CHRISTOPHER J. GARNER
DIRECTOR OF LONG BEACH GAS AND OIL
APPROVED:
PATRICK H. WEST
CITY MANAGER