COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Human Services Agency

DATE:

April 29, 2004

BOARD MEETING DATE:

May 11, 2004

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Maureen D. Borland, Director, Human Services Agency

Kathryn Ciamarro, Director of Automation

SUBJECT:

Agreement with Tata Infotech, for Software Engineering Support

Recommendation

Adopt a Resolution:

1.

Waiving the Request for Proposal process; and

2.

Authorizing the execution of an Agreement with Tata Infotech in the amount of $499,200 for the term of May 11, 2004 through June 30, 2005.

Background

Over the past three years, the Human Services Agency (HSA) has implemented a number of successful software applications that strategically address data collection and reporting needs and provide for efficiencies and economy of effort with regard to access to information and streamlining of business processes. Of these, the SHARP Data Warehouse, DAISY Alcohol and Drug system, Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and the Stellent Electronic Document Management / Imaging Systems are the most notable.

Discussion

In addition to the HSA's Business Systems Group staff, the technical resources necessary to support these applications requires a staff of four (4) full-time system engineers. These engineers provide database administration, database analysis, application programming and other high-level professional technical services necessary to maintain system operations.

Up until now, these services have been provided to the HSA through the County's Information Services Department (ISD). ISD has contracted with consulting firms to provide these resources to the HSA.

Tata Infotech charges an hourly rate of $65 per system engineer, whereas ISD charges an hourly rate of $104 per employee. Contracting with Tata Infotech for four full-time system engineers for 1920 hours equates to $499,200. On the other hand, working with four full-time ISD staff at 1920 hours equates to $798,720. Therefore, contracting directly with Tata Infotech results in a savings to HSA of $299,520, and will give the Agency direct supervision of the project.

HSA's decision to contract with Tata Infotech resulted from a January 2004 informal Request For Proposal process. Tata Infotech was selected after conducting a series of resume screenings and panel interviews of candidates from three contracting companies. The selection was based on Tata Infotech's expertise and experience in the systems that have been implemented by HSA. Additionally, similar implementation contracts with Tata Infotech have proven to be successful projects. Therefore, it is in the County's best interest to avoid a costly and redundant processing by a Waiver of the RFP process.

County Counsel has reviewed and approved this Amendment as to form. Risk Management has reviewed and approved Contractor's insurance for this Agreement. The Director of the Information Systems Department (ISD) concurs with this decision.

Vision Alignment

The Agreement with Tata Infotech keeps the commitment of: Responsive, effective, collaborative government and goal number 20: Government decisions are based on careful consideration of future impact, rather than temporary relief or immediate gain. This agreement contributes to this commitment and goal since Tata Infotech will conduct knowledge transfer activities that will allow HSA staff to maintain and further enhance the current system's capabilities to include other programs and service provided by the Agency and the County as a whole.

This Agreement is also aligned with goal number 21: County employees understand, support and integrate the County vision and goals into the delivery of services. This Agreement contributes to this commitment and goal since the Tata Infotech engineers will support vital applications in a more cost-effective way.

Fiscal Impact

The total obligation under this Agreement is $499,200, and has been included in the Recommended Budget for FY 2004-05. The Net County Cost is estimated to be $158,000, a savings of $94,900 in Net County Cost by contracting directly with this firm. The Agreement term is May 11, 2004 to June 30, 2005.