REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
January 9, 2024
FROM
GILBERT RAMOS, Director, Transitional Assistance Department
SUBJECT
Title
Non-Financial Arrangement Letter with Accenture to Provide Pro Bono Services for Website Assessment
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve non-financial Arrangement Letter with Accenture to provide pro bono services to assist with an assessment of the department public facing website, for the period of January 22, 2024 through May 3, 2024.
(Presenter: Gilbert Ramos, Director, 388-0245)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
Pursue County Goals and Objectives by Working with Other Agencies and Stakeholders.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This Arrangement Letter is non-financial; therefore, it does not impact Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In collaboration with San Bernardino County’s Transitional Assistance Department (TAD), Accenture has offered to assess TAD’s public facing website to identify key areas of improvement and compliance. The assessment will focus on user experience and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, and will be completed within three weeks. The objective is to enhance user engagement and accessibility. Accenture’s services aim to assist organizations in improving their performance and create an improved website experience for their customers.
TAD has a long-term working relationship with Accenture, who serves as the main vendor for TAD’s case management system, the California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS), since it’s implementation in September 2004. In September 2023, informal discussions began with Accenture about potential services that could be provided to TAD. Accenture offered a pro bono website assessment with the focus on improving user engagement and accessibility. On November 16, 2023, Accenture sent an arrangement letter confirming the provisions of pro bono services.
Accenture’s pro bono services will assess existing services and ease of use through TAD’s website, review user navigation paths, evaluate website usability on mobile devices, and access to web content as it pertains to ADA compliance. Accenture will provide TAD with the final assessment report no later than May 3, 2024. TAD will review the identified compliance website revision and improvement recommendations and determine the next steps based upon the needs of TAD and the benefit to website users.
While this assessment does not require any future commitment for the County or Accenture to enhance the department’s website, TAD will follow County Policy 11-04 which may include considering Accenture as a potential contractor.
The recommended non-financial arrangement letter with Accenture includes non-standard terms that differ from the standard County contract terms:
1. Limitations of liability to the County of a maximum of $10,000.
• The County standard contract does not include a limitation of liability.
• Potential Impact: Accenture caps its liability to the County at a maximum of $10,000 for all claims arising under the arrangement letter except for Accenture’s intellectual property indemnity obligations or arising from Accenture’s gross negligence or willful misconduct. Claims could exceed the liability cap and the arrangement letter amount leaving the County financially liable for the excess. In addition, the County’s liability under the arrangement letter is not similarly limited.
2. Accenture provides the service “AS IS” and disclaims all warranties of any kind.
• There is no warranty requirement in the arrangement letter with Accenture. The standard contract requires its vendors and service providers to fully warrant the products and services they provide to the County.
• Potential Impact: The County’s use of the web assessment is solely at its own risk.
3. The arrangement letter does not require Accenture to meet the County’s insurance standards as required pursuant to County Policy 11-07.
• County Policy requires contractors to carry appropriate insurance at limits and under conditions determined by the County’s Risk Management Department and set forth in the County standard contract.
• Potential Impact: The arrangement letter does not include County standard insurance requirements. This means that the County has no assurance that Accenture will be financially responsible for claims that may arise from the County’s use of the website assessment.
4. The arrangement letter does not require Accenture to indemnify the County for all claims arising out of the arrangement letter.
• The County standard contract indemnity provision requires the Contractor to indemnify, defend, and hold County harmless from third party claims arising out of the acts, errors or omissions of any person.
• Potential Impact: Accenture is not required to defend, indemnify or hold the County harmless from claims arising from the County’s own acts or omissions which may arise during the performance of the arrangement letter. Additionally, if the County is sued for any claim based on its use of Accenture’s services, the County may be solely liable for the costs of defense and damages, which could exceed the total arrangement letter amount.
TAD has reviewed the non-standard terms and determined that the benefit to the County and public of an improved website, outweighs the potential risks the non-standard terms pose and recommends approval of the arrangement letter with Accenture.
PROCUREMENT
N/A
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by Human Services Contracts (Patty Steven, Contracts Manager, 388-0241) on December 1, 2023; County Counsel (Adam Ebright, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on December 5, 2023; Risk Management (Victor Tordesillas, Director, 386-8623) on December 11, 2023; ITSD (Marcella Ramirez, Business Applications Manager, 386-1997) on December 21, 2023; Finance (John Hallen, Administrative Analyst, 388-0208) on December 15, 2023; and County Finance and Administration (Cheryl Adams, Deputy Executive Officer, 388-0238) on December 19, 2023.