TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into an Agreement with Citymart, Inc., of New York, NY, for the provision of capacity-building and professional services to pilot a collaborative, idea-sharing, pre-procurement platform, for a period of two years. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
On May 19, 2015, the City Council authorized the City Manager to enter into a contract with Citymart to complete the Knight Foundation Citymart Partnership. A key initiative of the Knight Foundation is the Engaged Communities Strategy that funds innovative approaches to problem-solving and the procurement of goods and services. Citymart transforms the way cities solve problems, and they have worked with cities from around the world, including Barcelona, London, San Francisco, and Rio de Janeiro, to find proven solutions. Through the City’s Innovation Team (i-Team), Long Beach is one of 20 cities around the world participating in the initiative.
Over the course of 18 months, the City published five procurement challenges focused on business assistance, economic development, place-making, and data-driven governance. The initiative was very successful and Citymart has now engaged the City to pilot a new procurement-based platform. The pilot platform provides tools, workflows, and data to make municipal problem-solving connected and collaborative. The platform allows project managers to create project and opportunity interviews for potential contracts. Project managers can search a database of worldwide solutions, including technologies, products and policies, and contact project managers in peer cities, to exchange insights and best practices. The i-Team will take primary responsibility for managing the pilot platform and will have the participation of the Development Services, Economic and Property Development, and Police Departments, as well as any other departments interested in this innovative procurement platform. ...
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