Report Prepared by: Jennifer Levesque, City Clerk and J.R. Wright, Information Technology
Title
SUBJECT: Approval to Waive the Competitive Bidding Requirements and Approval of 3-Year Agreement with Granicus, LLC for Renewal of Existing Agenda Management and Workflow, Board and Commission Management, Live Streaming Services, Web Site hosting, e-Communication Messaging, and Addition of Community Engagement Platform in a Total Amount of $222,174.40
REPORT IN BRIEF
Considers authorizing a waiver of competitive bidding requirement pursuant to Merced Municipal Code Section 3.04.210 for a 3-year agreement with Granicus, LLC for renewal of existing agenda management and workflow, board and commission management, live streaming services, web site hosting, e-communication messaging, and addition of community engagement platform in a total amount of $222,174.40.
RECOMMENDATION
City Council - Adopt a motion:
A. Waiving the City’s competitive bidding requirement as permitted by Merced Municipal Code section 3.04.210
B. Approving a 3-year agreement with Granicus LLC. for agenda management and workflow, board and commission management, web site hosting, e-communication messaging platform, community engagement platform, and Live streaming services in a total amount of $222,174.40; and,
C. Authorizing the City Manager or the Deputy City Manager to execute the necessary documents.
Body
ALTERNATIVES
1. Approve, as recommended by staff; or,
2. Refer back to staff for additional information; or,
3. Deny.
AUTHORITY
Charter of the City of Merced, Section 200.
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES
City Council Goals and Priorities Fiscal Year 2021-22, Guiding Principles.
DISCUSSION
The City of Merced continues to stive for greater transparency and increase civic engagement. Through media campaigns on TV and radio, social media, print media, and electronic solutions. The City currently manages multiple electronic solutions including agenda management and workflow, board and commission management, web site hosting, e-communication messaging platform, community engagement platform, and live streaming. All of these government focused, civic engagement products are from Granicus, LLC. Granicus is the largest vendor in civic engagement platforms. More than 5,500 global government agencies have chosen Granicus to modernize their online services, website & CMS, digital communications strategies, public meeting experience, and records management. Partnering with Granicus allows for interoperability between different Granicus products, reducing staff time for managing the individual products and increasing productivity.
Legistar - Agenda and Live Streaming
The City added Legistar, Boards and Commissions, Open Platform, Meeting Efficiency Suite, Government Transparency Suite, and Granicus Encoding in 2015. The combined Granicus suite of products built to increase civic engagement and increase transparency. The Legistar suite is used for council meeting agenda creating, by producing and approving administrative reports, for the public in reviewing agendas and meeting video online, and to the Council who can review and notate various items using their tablets without the need for an agenda packet. It also allows the Clerk’s Office to save both time and paper when producing the agenda.
Through the Legistar suite the City has integrated, or is in the process of integrating, all boards and commissions to use the agenda and video live streaming service.
GovAccess - Internet and Intranet Web Hosting
In fiscal year 2018-2019 the City of Merced contracted with Granicus to migrate external internet and internal intranet web hosting (City web sites) from the on premises to the govAccess hosted in the cloud. The improved cloud hosted management utility allowed the City staff to easily manage the internal and external web sites and published documents, quickly transforming the site into a modern digital platform viewable on computers, tablets, and smartphones. New simplified features for social media integration, calendars, and news publication enabled staff to improve communication with City of Merced citizens.
The web site format update and content migration to the new platform was completed in 2019 with a combined effort of the IT department, the City Department representatives, and the Granicus support team.
Communications Cloud - Subscribe Merced
In 2019 the City implemented Communications Cloud, known to the public as “Subscribe Merced”, to improve citizen outreach. Communications Cloud is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that enables government organizations to connect with more people. By leveraging the Cloud, the City is able to utilize a number of different outreach mediums, including email, SMS/text messages, and social media integration to connect to Merced citizens.
Bang the Table - Community Engagement
As part of Council Priorities the City is increasing public engagement in planning projects, city development, and community consultations. One way is through online engagement. Bringing the conversation online, the City can broaden its audience. By empowering Merced residents with an easy way to participate online, the City will build stronger community involvement.
Bang the Table is a civic engagement platform that provides an easy way for the residents of Merced to participate, online where they can learn, engage and give honest feedback when and where it’s convenient for them. The platform will bring more diverse groups of people into the conversation.
Bang the Table includes the ability to analyze community feedback across the City, using enhanced reporting features to better understand the City's needs. Staff can easily share feedback data and project updates with City Council and the community to keep them informed and involved. The built-in newsletter feature makes it easy to close the feedback loop and keep citizens wanting to come back to the site and participate more.
Cost
By combining all existing Granicus contracted products and including the addition of the new product, Bang the Table, the City was able to negotiate a favorable 3-year contract, saving $57,935 for the duration of the contract. Granicus eliminated all fees for the City’s intranet saving $9,200 per year. The City will also receive 3 years of service for Bang the Table for the price of 2 years of service. Amortized over the 3 years for a cost of $20,223.75 per year with 0% CPI, normally 5% - 7%.
The City is currently under two contracts with Granicus. One for civic engagement and for communications cloud. This new contract will combine all services into one contract and will supersede and void all previous contracts for all Granicus products listed in the agreement. The costs in year one reflects prorated amounts for civic engagement to match termination dates for all new and existing products.
First Year Pricing FY 2021/22
|
New Subscription Fees |
|
Solution |
Period of Performance |
Billing Frequency |
Quantity/ Unit |
Annual Fee |
Prorated Fee |
|
Bang the Table - Recurring |
12/20/2021 to 12/19/2022 |
Annual |
1 Each |
$20,223.75 |
$20,223.75 |
|
SUBTOTAL: |
$20,223.75 |
$20,223.75 |
|
Renewing Subscription Fees |
|
Solution |
Period of Performance |
Billing Frequency |
Quantity/ Unit |
Annual Fee |
Prorated Fee |
|
Communications Cloud |
12/20/2021 to 12/19/2022 |
Annual |
1 Each |
$13,781.25 |
$13,781.25 |
|
govAccess - Maintenance, Hosting, & Licensing Fee - Core |
12/20/2021 to 12/19/2022 |
Annual |
1 Each |
$9,261.00 |
$9,261.00 |
|
govAccess - Intranet |
12/20/2021 to 12/19/2022 |
Annual |
1 Each |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
|
Boards and Commissions |
7/1/2022 to 12/19/2022 |
Annual |
1 Each |
$9,396.90 |
$4,404.53 |
|
Open Platform Suite |
7/1/2022 to 12/19/2022 |
Annual |
1 Each |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
|
Granicus Encoding Appliance Software (GT) |
7/1/2022 to 12/19/2022 |
Annual |
1 Each |
$1,445.68 |
$677.62 |
|
Meeting Efficiency Suite |
7/1/2022 to 12/19/2022 |
Annual |
1 Each |
$5,059.87 |
$2,371.67 |
|
Government Transparency Suite |
7/1/2022 to 12/19/2022 |
Annual |
1 Each |
$6,505.55 |
$3,049.29 |
|
Legistar |
7/1/2022 to 12/19/2022 |
Annual |
1 Each |
$11,493.16 |
$5,387.09 |
|
SUBTOTAL: |
$56,943.41 |
$38,932.45 |
|
Total for Fiscal Year 21/22 |
|
$59,156.20 |
Future Year Pricing FY 22/23 and FY 23/24
|
Solution(s) |
Period of Performance |
|
|
12/20/2022 - 12/19/2023 |
12/20/2023 - 12/19/2024 |
|
Bang the Table - Recurring |
$20,223.75 |
$20,223.75 |
|
Communications Cloud |
$14,470.31 |
$15,193.83 |
|
govAccess - Maintenance, Hosting, & Licensing Fee - Core |
$9,724.05 |
$10,210.25 |
|
govAccess - Intranet |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
|
Boards and Commissions |
$9,866.75 |
$10,360.09 |
|
Open Platform Suite |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
|
Granicus Encoding Appliance Software (GT) |
$1,517.96 |
$1,593.86 |
|
Meeting Efficiency Suite |
$5,312.86 |
$5,578.51 |
|
Government Transparency Suite |
$6,830.83 |
$7,172.37 |
|
Legistar |
$12,067.82 |
$12,671.21 |
|
SUBTOTAL: |
$80,014.33 |
$83,003.87 |
IMPACT ON CITY RESOURCES
Funding is available in fiscal year 21/22 budget within these accounts:
672-0403-512.24-00 - $34,005.00
672-0404-512.22-00 - $9,400.00
672-0405-512-22-00 - $15,751.20
All future year costs will be included in fiscal year budget under IT account lines
672-0403-512.24-00 and 672-0404-512.22-00
ATTACHMENTS
1. Contract Proposal