COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Assessor-Clerk-Recorder’s Office

DATE:

February 10,2006

BOARD MEETING DATE:

February 28, 2006

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Warren Slocum, Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder

SUBJECT:

Agreement with Easy Access, Inc. for Professional Services

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a resolution: (1) waiving the Request for Proposal process; (2) authorizing the execution of an agreement with Easy Access, Inc. (EAI) for analytical and technical services to upgrade the existing secured and unsecured assessment systems, from the date of execution through December 31, 2006, in an amount not to exceed $161,200; and (3) authorizing the Department Head to execute subsequent amendments not to exceed $25,000 cumulatively, to modify the scope of the work.

VISION ALIGNMENT:

Commitment: Responsive, effective and collaborative government.

Goal 20: Government decisions are based on careful consideration of future impact, rather than temporary relief or immediate gain.

This agreement further implements the modernization, integration, and efficiency of the County’s tax assessment and collection services, to fairly and accurately maximize revenue generation to fund county and local government districts.

Performance Measure(s):

Measure

FY 2004-05
Actual

FY 2005-06
Projected

Median days from residential sale to notice of supplemental assessment

28

27

Percent of taxing agencies rating services as good or better

100

90

BACKGROUND:

Pursuant to the 1995 Taxpayer Services Initiative Project (Reso. 59176, 3/21/95), County’s Information Services Department acquired a new AS400 computing platform, replacing the outdated mainframe system, to host automation support systems for the Tax Collector and the land records of the Assessor and Recorder. In 1996, this Department contracted with EAI to replace its outdated secured and unsecured assessment applications with custom software that captures and tracks data and electronic documents from the time a deed is recorded through the issuance of a valuation/assessment decision, and enables data sharing with the Controller and Tax Collector. In 1996, only one vendor could produce systems with the specified functionality and capacity to process our large assessment database. Substantial implementation was achieved in late 1999, and subsequent agreements have maintained our license and technical support and implemented further customization enhancements. (See Reso. Nos. 60069 (3/12/96); 62446 (12/1/98); 63304 (1/4/99); 62856 (6/15/99); 63639 (6/6/00); 63886 (8/22/00); 64275 (3/6/01).)

The proposed agreement provides for an upgrade to integrate both assessment systems into a single, internet browser-based system that takes advantage of improved user interface technologies and the enhanced power of a redesigned, fully SQL-compliant database structure now possible on the existing AS400 platform.

DISCUSSION:

A waiver of the Request for Proposal (RFP) process is warranted: only EAI can provide the proposed upgrade of its custom systems. In today’s market, the two other vendors cannot provide equivalent system functionality and capacity. EAI software and personnel have proven their high quality, reliability, and adaptability.

The upgrade will further reduce assessment processing time by improving the capture, manipulation, and retrieval of data and e-documents and related queries and reporting. System code programming will also be simplified. In the course of development and testing, we may discover the need for minor changes in the Statement of Work to more effectively achieve the desired functionality. To expedite change orders, we ask this Board to authorize the Department Head to execute amendments to this agreement, not to exceed $25,000 cumulatively.

This agreement has been reviewed and approved by the Information Services Department and County Counsel.

FISCAL IMPACT:

There will be no Net County Cost. This is budgeted, funded by the State-County Property Tax Administration Grant Program (AB 589, Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code 95.35)