REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
May 24, 2022
FROM
ENSEN MASON, Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector
SUBJECT
Title
Contract with Grant Street Group, Inc. for TaxSys Software and Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
1. Approve Contract with Grant Street Group, Inc. for implementation services and subscription to software and maintenance and operations support services for a modernized County property tax system in the amount of $58,013,819 for the total contract period of May 24, 2022, through June 30, 2032.
2. Designate the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector as the authorized official to approve and sign non-financial documents as they pertain to changes to or confirmation of the scope of work of the project, subject to review by County Counsel, so long as such documents do not increase the agreement amount or extend the duration of the agreement beyond the approved term.
3. Direct the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector to transmit all documents related to this agreement to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors within 30 days of execution.
(Presenter: Douglas R. Boyd, Assistant Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector, 382-7004)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Improve County Government Operations.
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of additional Discretionary Funding (Net County Cost). Sufficient appropriation will be included in the 2022-23 recommended budget and will be included in future recommended budgets with funding provided by the new Property Tax System General Fund Reserve. The effective date of the contract is May 24, 2022, and Year 1 is fiscal year 2022-23.
|
Item |
FY 22/23 |
FY 23/24 |
FY 24/25 |
FY 25/26 |
FY 26/27 |
FY 27/28 |
FY 28/29 |
FY 29/30 |
FY 30/31 |
FY 31/32 |
Total ($) |
|
Implementation |
8,393,090 |
8,107,259 |
9,304,250 |
1,637,042 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
27,441,641 |
|
Subscription |
500,000 |
1,225,000 |
1,775,000 |
3,325,000 |
3,491,250 |
3,665,813 |
3,849,103 |
4,041,558 |
4,243,636 |
4,455,818 |
30,572,178 |
|
TOTAL ($) |
8,893,090 |
9,332,259 |
11,079,250 |
4,962,042 |
3,491,250 |
3,665,813 |
3,849,103 |
4,041,558 |
4,243,636 |
4,455,818 |
58,013,819 |
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Property Tax Legacy Systems Replacement (PTLSR) Project was initiated in 2019 to replace a forty-year-old obsolete system. Working together with the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector (ATC) Property Tax Division (ATC-PTD) and Tax Collector Division (ATC-TCD), the Information Technology Division’s (ATC-ITD) Business Systems Analysts thoroughly and skillfully produced a 1,059-page set of Request for Proposal (RFP) documents with 134 property tax and tax collection business processes and 2,952 business requirements, including 75% new/enhanced requirements. The documentation of the business processes and requirements allowed ATC to create an exceptionally high-quality RFP and corresponding proposals for the software as a service (SaaS), including implementation, infrastructure, maintenance and ongoing support of the new software.
The ATC’s current Property Information (PI) system imports property rolls from the Assessor and State of California Board of Equalization and then extends taxes after taking into consideration agencies, districts, cities, Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO) adjustments, successor agencies, and related Tax Rate Areas to which properties are associated. The calculations are complex and were established in 1978 by Proposition 13 and subsequent legislation. The foundation for the calculations is primarily done outside of PI on desktop applications due to current system limitations. After the tax rolls are extended, the ATC-PTD passes the roll to the ATC-TCD and their Tax Roll On Line (TROL system) for billing and collection. After the monies are collected, they are then apportioned to agencies, cities, districts, etc., according to the model established during tax roll extension. The core systems are monolithic software and hardware, which are 1980s technology, and the County formally declared them obsolete in 2004. The current systems do not cover many business process needs, and thus the majority of information technology work is done outside these systems of record.
The ATC’s future system will be a natively integrated solution that will provide infrastructure and software as service. Much of the complex ATC-PTD processing will be built into the software and same database that will be used by the ATC-TCD. Taxpayer value-added features will also be included to enhance customer service. Risk of system failure or inability to maintain functions or add new legislated features will be greatly reduced if not eliminated.
The initial implementation of the new system is anticipated to occur over a 37-month timeline and has a tentatively scheduled go-live date of July 1, 2025. The successful and approved implementation on that date marks the beginning of the Maintenance and Support phase, which will last for the duration of the term of the contract.
PROCUREMENT
On June 7, 2021, ATC issued RFP No. ACT121-ACTT-4250 for the PTLSR project. Six proposals for software and implementation of the software were received by the August 18, 2021, bid opening date. All proposals were deemed eligible for evaluation.
An evaluation committee comprised of four ATC-PTD staff, four ATC-TCD staff, three ATC-ITD staff, and one CAO representative evaluated the proposals for selected categories (from a total of 16) based upon expertise. Division Chiefs evaluated proposals in all categories. ATC’s Management Services Section of the Controller Division evaluated proposer financial viability, and the Purchasing Department conducted reference checks. Evaluation of the proposals were scored in a weighted model that was configured into the new Purchasing Department cloud-based proposal evaluation management software, Bonfire. The top three scoring proposers were invited to formally demonstrate selected functions and processes for evaluation and scoring over a three-day period per proposer. After three weeks of scoring and evaluating, the Evaluation Panel’s efforts yielded the ranking of the Proposers. ATC, in collaboration with Purchasing, County Counsel, and the County Administrative Office then began contract and pricing negotiations with the top scorer, Grant Street Group.
Ranking was based upon evaluation at macro and micro levels; 20% of the scoring was for Qualification and References, with emphasis on serving California counties, 65% was for weighted scoring at the most granular requirement level for business and technical solution requirements, and 15% was for weighted cost according to prescribed Purchasing methods. Grant Street Group exited the evaluation process as the highest ranked proposer primarily driven by their recent California county implementations and their solution for the property tax and tax collector complex processing functions. While Grant Street Group’s proposed pricing is higher than the other vendors, their ability to execute a successful implementation and the completeness of their solution, which meets the extensive and complex requirements requested in the RFP, are the main factors for their highest score. Other proposals received included a fragmented collection of tools and utilities rather than a cohesive solution. Moreover, other proposers did not have adequate California property tax knowledge and would need to depend upon ATC’s Property Tax Division to help build the property tax auditing and controlling complex processing functions, which would negatively impact business operations from resource and risk perspectives.
|
Proposer |
Location |
Original Proposed Cost ($) |
Demo Invite |
Final Scoring Rank |
|
Aumentum Technologies |
Portage, MI |
10 years: 47,966,340 |
Yes |
2 |
|
FAST Enterprises |
Centennial, CO |
10 years: 21,988,000 |
Yes |
3 |
|
Grant Street Group |
Pittsburgh, PA |
10 years: 64,217,072 |
Yes |
1 |
|
Ionate |
San Francisco, CA |
5 years:11,799,375 |
No |
NA |
|
LSI Consulting |
Waltham, MA |
5 years:51,334,707 |
No |
NA |
|
Tyler Technologies |
Plano, TX |
10 years: 49,139,295 |
No |
NA |
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Bonnie Uphold, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on April 25, 2022; Risk Management (Victor Tordesillas, Director, 386-8621) on May 2, 2022; Purchasing (Bruce Cole, Supervising Buyer, 387-2148) on April 28, 2022; Finance (Carl Lofton, Administrative Analyst, 387-5404) on May 9, 2022; and County Finance and Administration (Paloma Hernandez-Barker, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on May 9, 2022.