COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Assessor, County Clerk-Recorder

DATE:

July 31, 2006

BOARD MEETING DATE:

August 15, 2006

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Warren Slocum, Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder

SUBJECT:

Agreement with Hart InterCivic, Inc. for County Clerk-Recorder System

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a resolution:

1.

Waiving the Request for Proposal process; and

2.

Authorizing the execution of an agreement with Hart InterCivic, Inc. for a county clerk-recorder system, for the period August 1, 2006 through August 1, 2010, in an amount not to exceed $880,000.

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.

Performance Measure(s):

Measure

FY 2005-06 Actual

FY 2006-07 Projected

Percent of documents electronically recorded

2%

8%

Percent of “good or better” customer ratings

84%

93%

BACKGROUND:

Each year, hundreds of thousands of county residents are served by the several important missions of the Department of the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder (CARE). CARE registers voters and conducts elections; creates a public record of property ownership; and assesses property equitably and in a timely manner. More than one Division now separately gathers, processes, and stores the same data. Our goal is to further develop business processing systems that are open and at the same time tightly integrated, so that work can flow electronically across organizational boundaries. Your Board has supported this goal Countywide.

To complete the specific mission of the County Clerk-Recorder Division, we acquired a customized software ensemble in 2002. While that system has served us well, we now seek to replace it with a more powerful product that will reduce operating costs, increase productivity, relieve workers of much data entry, and enhance service delivery for the public and internal customers. The source of these potential benefits is the advanced technology of electronic data exchange and document imaging, integrated with our existing systems that can match data with geographic information and that officially record documents electronically. During its lifecycles, this architecture will allow for ease of maintenance and modification.

DISCUSSION:

Our selection is based on: (1) system readiness for full integration with other organizations; (2) prior successful use in California; (3) good functionality matching our business needs and County technology standards; and (4) competitive price. Extensive market research over the last several years included site visits and reference checking. Only Hart InterCivic of Austin, TX qualifies, especially for full integration. Nearly 100 years old, Hart is a specialized developer and provider of clerk-recorder and election systems. Hart’s image-enabled systems create, manage, and easily access complex databases and document image archives, and some in California use intelligent software systems that greatly reduce data entry.

This agreement supports the next phase in our comprehensive plan of continued upgrade and integration of automated systems. Its benefits will extend to public customers of our services and to County users of our public data. The Information Services Department (ISD) has reviewed and approved these system upgrades.

The contractor has assured compliance with the County's Contractor Employee Jury Service Ordinance, as well as all other contract provisions that are required by County ordinance and administrative memoranda, including but not limited to insurance, hold harmless, non-discrimination and equal benefits. County Counsel and ISD have reviewed and approved this contract.

A waiver of the Request for Proposal process is appropriate: only one vendor can meet our needs and this agreement will serve County’s best long-term interests.

FISCAL IMPACT:

There will be no Net County Cost. Budgeted funds are available in the Recorder’s Modernization Trust Fund Account.