REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: BRYON HORN, Chief Information Officer
Information Services Department
BY: ED SMITH, Information Services Manager
Information Services Department
SUBJECT
Title
Actions pertaining to Accela Civic Platform Enterprise Land Management System:
1. Affirm the City Manager’s determination that Accela, Inc. is uniquely qualified; and
2. Approve a five-year Subscription Services Agreement and Order with Accela, Inc., to upgrade the software to current Cloud-based SaaS version, in the amount of $5,144,900.76; and
3. Approve the SaaS Migration Services Statement of Work with Accela, Inc., in the amount of $219,100
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council affirm City Manager’s determination that Accela, Inc. is uniquely qualified, approve a five-year Subscription Services Agreement (Agreement) and Order with Accela, Inc. (Accela) to upgrade the software to the current cloud-based SaaS platform in the amount of $5,144,900.76, and approve the SaaS Migration Services Statement of Work for $219,100 and authorize the Chief Information Officer, or designee, to execute all related documents.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The First Amendment of the Accela Agreement is set to expire on June 30, 2023. The City and Accela now wish to enter into a Subscription Services Agreement to upgrade to the current cloud-based platform. On January 18, 2023, Accela visited City to conduct an on-site assessment of our installation and configuration. The findings and recommendations that resulted provided us with a clear path to improving our Land Management System, increasing efficiency and productivity, and providing better service to the residents of Fresno and our customers:
1. Upgrade to the latest version of the Accela Civic Platform software, which is now a Cloud-based SaaS environment. After this last final upgrade, we will be in a hosted environment that is kept up to date on the latest version without any additional effort or expense to the City.
2. Take advantage of SaaS-only features of the software to improve our configuration, including Premium Citizen Experience and Accela Insights.
3. Improve the skills and capacity of our internal Accela IT team through training and development.
4. Support the internal IT Staff with an Accela Managed Application Services (MAS) contract after we migrate to the SaaS version. Accela MAS takes the form of a dedicated Accela resource that will work with the team to complete all the improvements and configurations identified in the findings and recommendations report.
The separate SaaS Migration Services Statement of Work is for the upgrade and migration of our environment to SaaS and is a fixed-price contract of $219,100. Accela will move our environment and upgrade us at the price stated.
BACKGROUND
In 2015, City released an RFP for an Enterprise Land Management System Software and Implementation Services platform. Accela was selected, and in April of 2018, we went live with Accela Civic Platform. In June of 2020, we renewed our contract to June of 2023 through the First Amendment to Agreement. In December of 2021, we completed an upgrade to our on-premise installation to the version we currently use, 21.1.4.
During the time we have been Accela customers, we have gradually increased our capacity to support and manage the software ourselves, and we have expanded and improved the scope of the software. We now have a dedicated IT team, including a supervisor and three programmers, who support the software users. With the support of external consultants, we have expanded the departments using the software to include the City Manager’s Office (going live in May 2023), Construction Management in Public Works, and others. Our investment in Accela allowed us to rapidly move most of our customer service online during the pandemic lockdown, and as we emerge from the pandemic we have greatly expanded abilities to support the residents of Fresno with online services.
In FY 23, we ordered 80 more licenses to accommodate new employees, and we added the Cannabis module which represents 15 more seats. All of these new licenses are charged to the new subscription model. Since the basis of our annual licensing cost is based on number of seats, this substantially increased our costs.
In November of 2022, the Accela executive team visited Fresno to discuss the new cloud-based platform, and during discussions with the department users, we began to catalog the necessary improvements and upgrades that need to happen in response to feedback gathered from residents and customers, as well as from internal staff users of the system. We are overdue for an upgrade and there are many configuration optimizations that are needed to solve various issues. As a result of the conversation, Accela scheduled an on-site assessment of our configuration, including interviews with all departments using the system or planning to use the system.
Since the release of those findings and recommendations, we have been working with Accela to ensure that the new Agreement will come with substantial remediation steps to ensure that we fully modernize our Land Management System to support today’s needs for efficient customer service. The new Agreement presented here will accomplish that in three important areas.
• First, moving to the latest hosted SaaS version of the software will simultaneously upgrade us and get us out of the upgrade business, since the hosted version is regularly updated by Accela to keep it up to date.
• Second, in the hosted SaaS version of the software we will have access to functionality not present in any on-premise version, such as the Open-Cities based Premium Citizen Experience that improves the Accela Citizen Access portal to reduce confusion, increase speed of service, and enable better customer service.
• Third, this Agreement includes 40 units of Accela training to improve the skills and capabilities of our internal Accela IT team and a 12-month contract with Accela Managed Application Services. Accela MAS is a professional services contract that dedicates an Accela resource to the City of Fresno who will work closely with the internal IT team. They will scope the findings and recommendations for improvements to our implementation and configuration into four quarters of project goals and work with the team to finish all the recommended improvements within 12 months of upgrade to the SaaS version.
The separate Scope of Work for the upgrade and migration of our environment to SaaS is a fixed-price contract. Accela will move our environment and upgrade us at the price stated.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
Pursuant to California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378, this item is not a project for the purposes of CEQA.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not implemented because this Agreement is with an existing vendor.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding for Year 1 of the Agreement will come from FY 23 funds already allocated to the Accela budget and FY 24 funds yet to be allocated. The full cost of the Agreement over 5 years, excluding the SaaS SOW, is $5,144,900.76. Funding for future years will need to be allocated in the budget.
Attachments:
Uniquely Qualified Memorandum
5-Year Quote
Accela Subscription Agreement
SaaS Migration Services Statement of Work