REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
April 4, 2019
FROM: Jennifer K. Clark, AICP, Director
Development and Resource Management Department
BY: Bonique Emerson, AICP, Planning Manager
Development and Resource Management Department
SUBJECT
Title
Authorize the Director of the Development and Resource Management Department or designee to sign the First Amendment to the Consulting Services Agreement with Byrne Software Technologies, Inc. for Professional services for Accela System Support. The amendment is a request to extend the contract by an additional $200,000
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the Director of the Development and Resource Management (DARM) Department or designee to sign the First Amendment to the Consulting Services Agreement between the City of Fresno and Byrne Software Technologies, Inc. (Byrne) effective April 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019, in an amount not to exceed $200,000.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Fresno DARM Department previously requested Byrne to provide Accela consulting services for a 16-month term. This contract was approved by Council in October of 2018. These ongoing consulting services include assistance with training, custom scripts, reports, workflow changes, new record types, and quick fixes, in the Accela system for the following: Building and Safety, Public Works and Public Utilities, Current Planning, Code Enforcement, Neighborhood Revitalization, Reactive Rental Housing, and the Fire Department. DARM is seeking continued expert assistance for enhancements to continue to improve the function of the City’s new Land Management system (Accela). Given that the DARM has had a difficult time hiring a new Programmer Analyst who would take over many of these Accela related duties, Byrne Software been filling this need and has thus utilized more hours than originally anticipated. In addition, there are several new programs and changes that need to be addressed through Accela that will require additional hours to develop, including incorporating major changes to accommodate the Money Back Guarantee ordinance and the creation of records and workflows to accommodate the needs of the ASET/Proactive/Reactive rental housing programs.
BACKGROUND
The City of Fresno entered into a contract with Accela in June of 2016 and went live with the system in April of 2018. For the 2019 fiscal year, $150,000 was originally allocated for consulting services for Accela system enhancements. This contract was approved by Council in October of 2018. DARM was seeking expert assistance with system enhancements in order to continue to improve the functionality of this system. Byrne has been providing this assistance for the past few months, but in addition to this, they have also been assisting with day to day issues, troubleshooting, and making minor workflow changes as needed. As part of this contract increase, Byrne will continue to develop scripts, reports and other technical deliverables for the City of Fresno on an as-needed basis. Since Byrne began this work, they have developed dozens of new reports, scripts and automations, as well as fix existing reports and scripts as needed, and have provided support for staff when things do not work as intended.
In addition to the general items listed above, the following is a list of additional new items that will be addressed with this contract extension with Byrne:
• Planning: Modification of Project Due Dates through Scripting to accommodate the Money Back Guarantee ordinance
• Planning: Modification of several workflows in order to accommodate the Money Back Guarantee ordinance
• Planning: Creation of scripted Activities based on record type to create a calendar report to keep staff on track to meet timelines created by the money back guarantee ordinance
• Code & NRT: Finalize implementation of FresGO Public Stuff integration with Accela. Custom scripting is required
• Rental Housing: Creation workflows and records in Accela specific to ASET/Proactive/Reactive units
• Rental Housing: Integration with Proactive App to flag health and safety inspections
• Rental Housing: Creation of metric reports to comply with the requirements of Section 10-1613 (Rental Housing Improvement Act)
• Code, NRT, Rental Housing: Integration with “new neighborhoods” and/or photo management improvements to enable staff to better result in field
• Code, NRT, Rental Housing: Finalize electronic approval process/signatures
• All: Staff support for transition to Version 10 of Accela
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
By the definition provided in the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15478, this item does not qualify as a “project” for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Since there was no RFP or selection process because of a uniquely qualified consultant, local preference was not considered.
FISCAL IMPACT
Support for this contract is being provided by funds previously allocated in FY 2019 for Accela project system enhancements and some project contingency funds. Additional funding for this contract is being paid for by Code Enforcement revenue ($50,000) and Rental Housing revenue ($50,000).
Attachments:
- Exhibit A: First Amendment to Consultant Contract
- Exhibit B: Original Contract