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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 05-17-2005-9aORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: May 17, 2005 Action Agenda Item No. ~ - p SUBJECT RFP Award: Needs Assessment for Replacement of Land Services Software DEPARTMENT: Purchasing, Information PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No Systems, Land Records, Planning, Tax Assessor, Revenue Collector, Register of Deeds ATTACHMENT(S): Staff Evaluation INFORMATION CONTACT: Pam .!ones, 245-2652 Todd Jones, 245-228.5 Roscoe Reeve, 245-2501 Craig Benedict, 245-2592 Jo Roberson, 245-2727 Joyce Pearson, 245-2676 John Smith, 245-2101 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To consider awarding a contract to Carolina Consulting Group of Matthews, North Carolina, tc provide a needs assessment for possible replacement of the current legacy land records/tax assessor/revenue collector/register of deeds software application. BACKGROUND: The Land Services Management Team (LSMT) was formed in Fall 2002 and includes department heads and representatives of the Land Records/GIS, Tax Assessor, Revenue, Planning, Register of Deeds, Environmental Health, and Information Technologies departments, with input from the Assistant County Manager. Over the past two years, it has become clear to the members of the LSMT that the current legacy computer application that supports the needs of the constituent members on the County "mainframe" is in need of detailed review, and perhaps replacement. While the current application has historically served the needs of the County well, the impending retirement of a key stakeholder, the antiquated underlying technologies, and lack of a qualified backup for the single IT support analyst means that the County may not be able to consistently sustain citizens' needs for Land Records information under the current structure. The technologies of 2 the current system are over 30 years old, preventing much needed modernization and integration to other more current applications within the County. In evaluating the need for updating or replacing the land services legacy system, staff propose to pursue a process very similar to that used with great success several years ago to assess the need far business system software updating or replacement (which was then followed by a very detailed and systematic MUNIS software acquisition and implementation process), Accompanying this abstract is a summary of the staff evaluation process and recommendation regarding the needs assessment for the possible replacement of the existing land services legacy software system. FINANCIAL IMPACT: Total cost of the contract, if approved by the Board, would be $56,625. Adequate funds to cover the cost of the contract have already been appropriated by the BOCC under the 2004-05 Information Technology Capital Project Ordinance. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board: 1.) Award bid number 5107 to Carolina Consulting Group of Matthews, North Carolina, at a cost of $56,625; 2.) Approve a contract pursuant to the terms of the Requests For Proposals contingent upon Attorney and Staff review; and 3..) Authorize the Chair to sign the contract on behalf of the Board, LAND SERVICES SOFTWARE NEEDS ASSESSMENT LAND SERVICES MANAGEMENT TEAM STAFF EVALUATION May 2005 3 The Land Services Replacement Project has been chartered to develop the business requirements for an integrated enterprise-wide Land Records application that meets the needs of the key stakeholders, This project will also include the requirements of the Tax Assessor's office to assess and bill for personal property, real property, business personal property, and fees. In addition, it will include the requirements of the Revenue Collector's office to assess, bill and collect for registered motor vehicles and fees as well as collect taxes for personal property, real property, business personal property and fees, The team determined that hiring a consulting firm expert in the Land Records/GIS information requirements would be the most thorough and expeditious method to develop the requirements of the county's application, to analyze the underlying business processes, and to determine the next steps. The consultant's proposed scope of work includes: • Identify stakeholders and their areas of interest and communicate the scope, organization, and direction of the project to all identified stakeholders; • Gather detailed functional and system requirements from stakeholders, clearly separating baseline requirements from artefacts of the old system's implementation; • Recommend project approach for identifying, selecting, testing, and obtaining an implementation approach; • Estimate future project casts, including (but not limited to) software acquisition, hardware acquisition, software configuration and enhancement, project management costs, training costs, and data conversion costs; • Estimate future project benefits; • Analyze risks associated with recommended project approach (including the risks associated with not implementing a new system); Develop a change management strategy; and, • Develop a communirations plan. The project is expected to create the following deliverables: • Functional and technical requirements documentation • Business scenarios documentation • Business process improvement opportunities Recommended project approach for identifying, selecting, testing, and obtaining recommended implementation approach; • Estimated future project costs; • Documented project benefits (quantified and "soft" benefits); • Presentation of findings and recommendations; and • Issues list and resolutions The RFP was advertised and forwarded to ten vendors as well as advertised on the Purchasing website, Four firms subsequently submitted proposals, Thirteen criteria upon which each proposal were evaluated were stated in the RFP: 1. Proven experience with requirements definition and analysis 2. Assessment of prior projects cited in response -scope, level of difficulty, applicability to our project 3. Assessment of proposed project manager's background and experience 4. Understanding of contemporary requirements elicitation, analysis, specification and verification tools 5, Proven ability to apply contemporary requirements analysis tool 6, Prior hands-on experience in business systems application design and development 7. Experience in project management of large scale business systems projects 8. Knowledge of enterprise customer application software solutions, particularly the selection, testing, and evaluation of solutions 9. Knowledge of contemporary system integration approaches 10, Local government experience 11,Narth Carolina local government experience 12. Knowledge of current North Carolina land records activities, taxation law, statutory requirements 13, Familiarity with vendor offerings of packages or customizable computer systems for Land Records, et al, An evaluation team made up of staff from Revenue, Tax Assessor, Planning, Land Records/GIS, and Information Technology independently evaluated each proposal on the criteria, Results were tabulated based on the individual scores. The evaluation team invited the firms with the tap three scores: Geographic Technologies Group of Goldsboro, North Carolina; Systems Consulting Group of Flemington, New ,Jersey; and Carolina Consulting Group of Matthews, North Carolina, to make presentations to the group, (The fourth respondent, Zenshin Consulting of Graham, NC was not invited because they received the lowest score of the four firms and due to the high cost of their proposal.) References were contacted for all invited firms, Carolina Consulting Group was the unanimous choice of the seven member panel. Among CCG's strong points were: • A good analytical approach for eliciting and documenting functional requirements -their sample products indicated a detailed analysis of requirements and a clear description of proposed solutions. • Experience in other counties that were attempting similar projects. Specifically, they had just completed a successful project automating key processes in the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds office. Every reference contacted highly recommended them, citing their professionalism, detailed analytical approach, and extensive business knowledge as key attributes. • Specialization in identifying opportunities far improving the effectiveness of county business processes - a critical skill when potentially replacing a 30-year old purpose-built legacy application. • Focused consulting activities on county government and therefore, knowledgeable in Land Records/GIS and Register of Deeds areas, The committee felt the firm's lack of experience in revenue collection processes could be managed internally.. The assessment will cast $56,625. There is an optional phase that includes assistance in specifying and procuring a soltation, The cost for the additional phase would be $15,500 and would only occur if a new system is budgeted, The work is targeted for completion within approximately 4 months from contract approval and signing,