COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

SHERIFF'S OFFICE

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

DATE:

November 17, 2002

BOARD MEETING DATE:

December 3, 2002

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Sheriff Don Horsley

SUBJECT:

Agreement With Tiburon, Inc. for Implementation of a Sheriff's Office Records Management System

 

Recommendation: That your Board:

    1) Adopt a Resolution:

    a) Authorizing the President of the Board to execute a Master Agreement with Tiburon, Inc. for implementation of a Records Management System (RMS) for the Sheriff's Office;

    b) Delegating to the Sheriff authority to execute a software license agreement (no additional cost) at a further point in the project when all standard and enhanced vendor products & programs can be fully categorized; and

    2) Approve an Appropriation Transfer Request for total project funding of $2,380,800, financed through a combination of two federal grants, three State criminal justice technology funds transfers, contract city contributions, and misc. other revenues (no net County cost) (4/5ths vote required)

 

Background

For the past nearly three years, the Sheriff's Office, with assistance from County Information Services and consulting support, has been working on a project to implement a Records Management System, to replace a hodge-podge of manual and stand-alone semi-automated systems now used in the patrol, criminal records, and investigative bureaus of the department. This project has been discussed in several prior Board reports and has been identified as a major medium-range goal in the department's Outcome-Based Management Plan since inception of OBM budgeting. Two contract consultants, Bill Romesburg of CitCom and Dennis Ryan of Sapphire Technologies, have helped manage the process and complete the initial stages of work.

The first eighteen months of the project were spent completing an inventory of existing manual and automated record-keeping systems; an automation needs assessment; followed by a detailed requirements definition in preparation for development, legal review, and issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new records management system (RMS.) In mid-January, 2001, an RFP for a Sheriff's Office RMS was issued. The RFP Summary table at the end of this report details the specifics of the RFP. Twelve County employees from a variety of bureaus within the Sheriff's Office and from ISD, as well Bill Romesburg, an independent consultant from CitCom who also contracts with the federal Department of Justice Office of Justice Planning SEARCH program to evaluate law enforcement automated systems, served on the selection committee. Five very competitive finalist companies were interviewed, and site visits were made to various finalist headquarters and/or to agency installation sites. Tiburon, Inc. was ultimately selected for the following reasons:

    Overall satisfaction of existing customers, and of our own RFP evaluation committee, with the Tiburon product and its compatibility with Sheriff's Office requirements;

    Robustness of the system and its ability to handle large amounts of data associated with County Government-level law enforcement agencies;

    Compatibility/ability to interface with existing County systems including CJIS and the County dispatch communications system;

    Positive prior experience with Tiburon (a Bay Area company) in San Mateo County;

    User training format and program, as well as follow-up customer service reputation

    Competitive pricing strategy

 

Discussion

The RFP and specifications for the proposed RMS system have been developed in conjunction with other County departments. Representatives from County Information Services on this project and on the RFP selection committee include Business Systems Deputy Director Charles Borden and CJIS Project Manager Patrick O'Meara. Representatives from the Courts, District Attorney, city police agencies, and Probation were also formally involved in special focus groups during the requirements analysis phase of RFP development. The proposed Agreement with Tiburon, Inc. has also been reviewed as to form by County Counsel.

The Agreement includes all aspects of the implementation of Tiburon's RMS system in the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, including all non-mobile fixed hardware and network equipment; customization of the RMS software package for applications in crime reporting, field citations and reports; investigations, criminal records management and state/federal reporting; document & image processing for external case reports, fingerprints, photo's and correspondence; integration/interface to major existing County automation systems including CJIS (Sheriff/DA/Courts components), PSC dispatch, TFP photo-imaging, and several other systems; interfaces to existing State databases such as CLETS; full statistical reporting in compliance with federal NIBRS and California State CIBRS criminal justice reporting protocols; a subcontract with QueTel for implementation and integration of QueTel's forensic laboratory management/property & evidence processing and case file/evidence barcoding system; system user documentation and manuals; and a full complement of training programs to train Sheriff's Office staff in use of the RMS system.

The recommended contract with Tiburon addressed in this report is the major component of the new RMS system. There are two other smaller, but also vital contractual components of the overall project, which will be subsequently addressed in other Board actions or contracts submitted for County Manager's approval:

    1) Issuance of an RFP; vendor selection; and negotiation of a hardware/installation contract for mobile data terminals (MDT's) in Sheriff's Patrol Bureau vehicles, in which the field inquiry/field reporting modules of the new RMS system will be utilized. This hardware/wireless network component of the RMS system was intentionally left out of the primary RFP for the RMS system: MDT systems are a highly competitive market and it was felt the County could obtain better pricing by issuing a separate RFP for this component of the project, and avoid RMS vendor overhead charges. Most of this industry's major vendors have already worked with Tiburon, Inc. and several of the other finalist RMS vendors on other installation projects, and are quite familiar with general RMS mobile hardware requirements already. The preliminary RFP for MDT's has been completed - following editing and review by appropriate parties, approval to release the RFP will be requested through the County Manager's Office, and the eventual proposed agreement will be brought to your Board for approval.

    2) Existing consulting contracts with CitCom (consultant: Bill Romesburg) and Sapphire Technologies (consultant: Dennis Ryan) will be renewed to carry through the duration of the RMS project implementation. Both of these contracts are below the limit requiring Board action, and will be submitted for County Manager's Office approval. These two consultants, each with different roles, have successfully guided the department through a challenging and complex internal evaluation and requirements analysis, and throughout months of complex negotiations with the selected vendor(s). Their continued assistance is seen as a critical success factor for the project, and sufficient funds for these contracts has been foreseen and identified in the total project budget.

The Resolution authorizes your Board's President to execute the master agreement, but also delegates to the Sheriff the authority to execute the required software license agreement at a later date. There is no additional cost involved in the latter document: all vendor license costs are identified in Exhibit B to the master agreement. The license agreement includes a detailed inventory and categorization of all software programs and products provided by the vendor to the County, including new interfaces which will be developed for CJIS and other existing County software. Thus, the inventory will be more accurate and comprehensive if it can be completed later in the project cycle rather than before project commencement, which in turn benefits both parties.

 

Vision 2010 & Strategic Alignment

Implementation of this project accomplishes one of the major goals identified and approved in the last three year's of the Sheriff's Office OBM Budget and Management Plan, and aligns with Vision 2010 Commitment No. 7 - protect and enhance the public safety of all residents and visitors; as well as Commitment Nos. 20 and 22, related to considered, effective decision-making and multi-jurisdictional strategic approaches to critical issues. The Towns of Woodside, Portola Valley have each contributed $80,000 of their own funds to participate in this project, and the Cities of Brisbane and East Palo Alto, as well as the Broadmoor police department and SAMTRANS, have expressed interest or the firm desire to buy in to support program maintenance once the system is up and running. Furthermore, the Sheriff's RMS system will eventually be accessible to other County law enforcement agencies via the secured law enforcement intranet, LawNet, as will access to other County police department records systems in turn be available to Sheriff's Office personnel. Other police agencies in the County are eagerly awaiting this development. This enhanced information capability will contribute to improved investigation of crimes, enhanced coordination of multi-jurisdictional law enforcement actions and investigations, and faster apprehension of wanted criminals.

 

Fiscal Impact

The total contract obligation with Tiburon, Inc. is $1,558,386. The total project cost is anticipated to be $2,380,800, which is itemized as follows:

Tiburon, Inc. contract $1,558,386

Estimated MDT contract expense 516,066

CitCom contract (RFP dev/mgmt; contract neg; grant reports) 88,704

Sapphire Technologies (Sheriff's technical project mgmt) 97,500

Project Contingency @ 5% 120,144

Total RMS Project Cost: $2,380,800

Funding is identified & available for this project from a variety of sources which have been pursued, secured, and consolidated for this purpose for over 3 ½ years. Two federal Department of Justice grants for this project have already been awarded and confirmed: a COPS MORE 2002 technology grant of $583,500, and a NIBRS/CIBRS statistical reporting requirements compliance assistance grant of $100,000. Additionally, funding from a variety of sources has been consolidated in a special fund for this RMS project over the past several years, including three years of California State Law Enforcement Equipment & Technology Program (CLETEP) block grants ($684,360); other agency contributions ($260,000); SCAAP ($418,353); and a variety of other special program revenue fund contributions and one-time revenues; all together comprising total available financing of $2,380,800.

The recommended Appropriation Transfer sets up an appropriation for the total project budget and recognizes offsetting incoming revenues from the above-named sources. There is no additional net County cost for this project - all "out-of-pocket" contractual expenses will be covered through pre-identified financing sources. In future years, there will be an ongoing annual system maintenance expense of approximately $110,000 which will be incorporated into the Sheriff's Office operating budget, even if other reductions are required to do so - this system is critically important for the department.

Cc D. Penny Bennett, Deputy County Counsel

Charles Borden, Deputy Director, Business Systems, ISD

Sheriff's RMS Evaluation Committee members

RFP Summary Table

1. General Description of RFP

Proposals were solicited for hardware, software and related engineering, package customization, interface development, and other support services associated with implementation of a comprehensive Records Management System for the Sheriff's Office.

2. Key evaluation criteria

Evaluation criteria were specified in the RFP, and include:

1. Completeness of proposal & adherence to RFP format and informational requirements

2. Design, capabilities, and functionality of vendor's system for San Mateo County Sheriff's Office RMS needs

3. Demonstrated ability to successfully implement RMS systems in a governmental organization comparable to San Mateo County

4. Level of integration/interface proposed with other existing County/Sheriff's Office systems

5. Quality and depth of references and existing customer satisfaction with vendor product (verified by site visits for the finalist candidates)

6. Project costs and competitive fees and rates

7. Current availability of all proposed software applications required by the Sheriff's Office

8. Level of support service and responsiveness committed by the vendor to satisfy SMC Sheriff's Office needs

9. Experience and technical expertise of proposed vendor project staff

10. Financial stability, resources, and market viability of the vendor

11. Capability, networking design, reliability and warranty of the proposed hardware

12. Feasibility, timeliness and quality of software implementation schedule and data conversion plans

13. Quality, hours, and extent of system documentation and of end user training

3. Advertisement and circulation of RFP

The RFP was sent directly to a list of 39 RMS application vendors compiled by our consulting firm, CitCom, over many years of implementing law enforcement RMS systems. Additionally, the RFP was posted to BidNet and the SEARCH National Consortium for Criminal Justice Information and Statistics websites, as well as in the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office website. The RFP was also advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday classified section for 1/14/01.

4. Total number of RFP's sent to prospective proposers

39 RFP's were mailed out

5. Number of proposals received

5 proposals were received

6. Evaluation Committee

An evaluation committee composed of 10 Sheriff's Office sworn and non-sworn personnel from a variety of units and bureaus in the department, two staff from ISD, and an independent consultant, evaluated all five proposals

7. Finalist candidates

Since only five proposals were received, all five were treated as "finalists" and were invited to make presentations and/or host site visits by Evaluation Committee representatives. The five finalists were:

HITECH, Los Angeles, CA

IKON, Sacramento, CA

Litton/PRC, San Francisco, CA

Printrak Division of Motorola, Boulder, CO

Tiburon, Inc., San Francisco, CA