Report to: General Committee                                                       Report Date: Sept. 23, 2008

 

 

SUBJECT:                          Joint Portal Initiative, RFP 077-R-07

PREPARED BY:               Nasir Kenea, ext. 4733

                                            Alex Moore, ext. 4711

 

RECOMMENDATION:

 

THAT the report entitled “Joint Portal Initiative, RFP 077-R-07” be received;

 

AND THAT The contract for Hardware, Software and Support Services, with the exclusion of Professional Services, for the Joint Portal, as per Part A, be awarded to the highest ranked and lowest priced bidder – IBM - for $1,584,614 exclusive of GST;

 

AND THAT Staff be authorized to issue separate Request For Proposals (RFP) and/or negotiate with the successful vendor from Part A for Professional Services to implement portal applications for the Town of Markham and the Region of York;

 

AND THAT Staff be allowed to further investigate vendor-hosting options;

 

AND THAT an initial 50% - 50% cost sharing arrangement between the Town of Markham and York Region for the Hardware, Software and Support Services for the Joint Portal be approved;

 

AND THAT Markham’s contributions for this project in the amount $792,307 be funded from 2008 approved capital budget “Portal Implementation” - account # 49-5350-8659-005;

 

AND THAT the release of a Purchase Order to IBM be contingent on York Region Council approving an award for the Joint Portal Project.

 

AND THAT Staff be authorized and directed to do all things necessary to give effect to this resolution.

 

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Not applicable

1. Purpose                     2. Background                      3. Discussion                        4. Financial        

 

5. Others (Environmental, Accessibility, Engage 21st, Affected Units)             6. Attachment(s)

 

 

PURPOSE:

 

The purpose of this report is to seek Council’s approval to award a contract for Hardware, Software, and Support Services to the highest scoring and lowest priced bidder for the Joint Portal initiative. This report also seeks authorization to issue RFPs for the Professional Services components of the project in accordance with the attached Executive Summary of the proposed Professional Services Procurement Plan.

 

 

BACKGROUND:

 

The Information Technology Services Department initiated a strategic planning process through IBM in 2004, and the final report was endorsed by Town of Markham Council in 2006. Implementation of a Portal technology is among the six recommendations made in the plan.  The following activities have been taking place over the past few years as a follow-up to the portal initiative:

 

Nov. 2005 - The Town of Markham completed a Business Value Assessment for portal implementation, which identified a number of qualitative and quantitative benefits of the technology to residents and Town staff.

 

March 2006 - Town of Markham Council directed staff to develop a Joint Portal Business Plan in collaboration with the Region of York. In April 2006, Region Council approved working with Markham to develop a Joint Portal Business Plan as well as to open the process to other Local Municipalities.

 

Fall 2006 - An external consultant, Connected Insight Inc., was retained to prepare a Joint Portal Business Plan for the Town of Markham and Region of York.  The report, which was finalized in Feb. 2007, identified numerous qualitative benefits including improved citizen service and business efficiencies, and 30%-60% cost savings as compared to individual implementation.

 

April 2007 - Report on Portal Business Plan was received by Markham Council and Staff was directed to issue an RFP for the procurement of a joint portal solution for the York Region and the Town of Markham.  A similar resolution was approved by York Region Council in Oct. 2007, including the invitation to other local York Region municipalities to participate.

 

On Jan. 10, 2008 an RFP 077-R-07 was issued in accordance with Purchasing By-Law 2004-341 to acquire a Joint Portal solution for York Region and the Town of Markham.  Part B of the same RFP included a Markham-only option that will be evaluated if the Joint Portal is not successful.

 

The Request for Proposal was fairly complex and was looking for broad-based information, including:

  1. response to listed mandatory (and optional) requirements and deliverables along with a project plan
  2. cost breakdown on the four components of the proposal, namely: Hardware, Software, Support Services and Professional Services components
  3. client-hosted and vendor-hosted options, as applicable, and pricing
  4. response to include Markham-only portal project (Part B), if applicable
  5. high-level cost estimate for including other local York Region municipalities at a future time should they opt to participate in the joint initiative, with the understanding that the information is not to be used for evaluation purposes.

 

The submissions were evaluated by an Evaluation Team consisting of the following participating departments/organizations:

 

            Markham: Building, Markham Public Library, Information Technology Services, Finance, Recreation Services, and Asset Management Departments

 

            York Region: Geomatics Group, Information Technology Dept., and Community and Health Services.

Other Municipalities: Town of Richmond Hill, Town of Aurora, Town of East Gwillimbury, and Town of Newmarket.

 

The process was facilitated by staff from the Purchasing Department, Town of Markham.  In addition, consultants from Chartwell Inc. were retained to assist in finalizing the RFP, synthesizing the responses and contribute to the evaluation process as appropriate. A consultant, Bob Tapscott, was also engaged to participate in the evaluation process as well as produce a Professional Services Procurement Plan for Professional Services, of which the Executive Summary is attached (Attachment 1).

 

 

BID INFORMATION:

 

Advertised

ETN

Bids closed on

April 11, 2008

Number picking up bid documents

12

Number of companies responding to bid

5*

 

* Three highest ranked proponents were asked to prepare for an interview and presentation/demo session which took place on May 22nd and 23rd, 2008 as per scoring information below.

 

 

SCORING INFORMATION:

 

Client-hosted solution

IBM Canada Ltd.

IMEX Systems Inc.

NAVANTIS Inc.

 

 

 

 

Technical score (60%)

52.70

41.90

45.10

Interview score (15%)

13.23

10.23

9.98

Price (25%)*

25

8

13

Total (100%)

90.93**

60.13

68.08

Rank

1

3

2

 

* The prices scored are reflective of Hardware, Software, and Support Services. 

** IBM was the only short-listed proponent who submitted both client-hosted and vendor-hosted options, which were scored equally by the evaluation team. 

 

 

OPTIONS/ DISCUSSION:

Portal for Markham

Increasingly, citizens and businesses are coming to expect the reduction of paper-based forms and processes in favour of online interaction and transactions.  Accordingly, governments are striving to provide citizen-centred services and meet these expectations by embracing the rapidly advancing technological capabilities.  

 

At present Markham is not able to provide the level of online services that its external customers and employees expect due to the limitations with the existing technology environment.  Implementation of discrete online capabilities in the current infrastructure can be achieved in order to improve electronic services; however, such an approach lends itself to costly maintenance with increased online service offerings, higher security risks, and continued shortfall in meeting customer needs over time. In short, opportunities to substantially improve productivity and increase efficiencies through electronic service delivery, as well as citizen expectation of personalized access to information and services cannot be fully realized.

 

Implementation of Portal technology is transformational to the way municipalities interact with their constituents.  It provides increased customer service through personalized access to service and information, self-service capabilities to businesses and constituents, faster response to inquiries, and government transparency.  This infrastructure also permits increased public engagement by allowing the citizens and businesses to access information anywhere/anytime, and enhanced public awareness of local government. These are realized through operational efficiency by way of faster deployment of municipal information and services, improved flexibility to expand services, and better coordination & decision making.  This implementation also aligns with Markham’s image of knowledge-based community and host to a large cluster of technology companies.

 

In addition to other levels of governments, many municipalities have already upgraded to portal technology, including Mississauga, Toronto and Hamilton, among others.  By making a portal investment, Markham will be able to keep pace with other technologically advanced municipalities and communities.  With the fast-paced technological advances and reduced cost, it is now an opportune time for Markham to move from the less than optimal website to the next level of building the infrastructure for citizen-centric service in a Portal environment.

 

Partial award and project plan

As indicated above, the Joint Portal RFP – Part A – consisted of four components: Hardware, Software, Support Services and Professional Services.  Review of the responses submitted by the three short-listed vendors indicates that the price for the first three components ranges from $1.58 - $4.82 million, whereas the Professional Services component varies from $1.84 - $6.43 million.

The Evaluation Committee is confident that the Hardware, Software & Support Services components, can be compared and that a contract for this work should be awarded to the lowest bidder – IBM for a total cost of $1.58 million. However, understanding the complexity of the requirements/deliverables, and the wide price range, it was not totally clear if the Professional Services component can be validly compared among the evaluated proposals.  Based on these observations, it is recommended that RFPs be issued to retain third-party service providers for professional service, which is believed to be obtained at a far more competitive rate (Attachment 1).

In addition, all the short-listed vendors proposed to complete each stage of the work sequentially for all the identified requirements (i.e. planning and scoping, then applications and portal development, testing and finally portal implementation).  According to this approach, there would be little useful functionality introduced for almost two years after contract award. As a result, there would be a significant risk for cost overruns to accommodate any change in the priority or implementation requirement. 

The proposed implementation plan is based on a phased approach through the use of the Professional Services Procurement Plan.  According to this plan the initial focus will be on implementation of out-of-the-box capabilities such as collaborative tools for citizen engagement, and high priority business requirements including a redesigned web interface, online payment options, and other important online information and services.  Following the initial phase, Markham will continue to selectively implement other portal functionalities in discrete packages at the time and pace of its choosing, depending on business and funding priorities as well as staff resource.  The general objective is to have the first release by the end of 2009; however, the details of the plan will be finalized at the end of the Professional Services procurement process.

 

The overall benefits of this recommended approach include:

1.      Focused Priority - At first the portal implementation will focus on out-of-the-box functionalities with minimal complexity, as well as the most important requirements as identified by stake holders.

2.       Flexibility - The Town of Markham, can implement additional specific portal capabilities in the future based on its own priorities, resource availability and business needs through separate contracts. 

3.      Value for investment - Emphasis on smaller, high priority work packages increases the ability of business and technical staff in various operational areas of the Town to leverage the technology investment for business efficiencies. Use of the common Joint Portal platform and common software will facilitate deployment and sharing of the investment.

4.      Paced Investment - There is a lower initial funding commitment and future individual investment will be tailored to local fiscal circumstances.

 

 

Vendor- versus client-hosted options

The Joint Portal RFP also sought responses on both vendor- and client-hosted options. Among the short-listed proponents, IBM alone submitted proposals on both alternatives.  Review of both the vendor- and client-hosted options submitted by IBM reveals that they are comparable in terms of deliverables/services as well as price with the exclusion of support services.  In addition, considering the potential partners that will join this initiative in the future, there may be increasing resource requirement to the host municipality, including server-room space and maintenance, if we proceed with the client-hosted option.  Based on these factors, it is recommended that staff be permitted to further investigate hosting options and report back to council.

 

Joint portal

In conclusion, the Town of Markham and Region of York have been working on a joint portal technology requirement over the past few years.  During this period sufficient information has been collected that indicate the value of portal implementation to improve services to citizens and also establish a more integrated and efficient work environment. This joint effort to build a common infrastructure between the two government levels is unique, and if adopted by other municipalities in the Region, it would be an excellent opportunity in demonstrating partnership and cost sharing to serve their citizens.  Building the shared capacity on electronic services internally and externally in order to enable future growth will provide cost savings and advance Markham’s shared vision for collaborative future.

 

 

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS AND TEMPLATE:

 

The total cost to set up the technical infrastructure for the Joint Portal for York Region and the Town of Markham is approximately $1.58 million which will be spread over few years.  The professional services cost will be addressed when RFPs for professional services are issued in accordance with the Professional Services Procurement Plan (attachment 1). 

 

Internal staff time to support the Joint Portal project implementation has not been accurately determined. However, following the issuance of RFPs based on the Professional Services Procurement Plan (attachment 1), staff will be able to provide external resource requirements to ensure successful & timely implementation within budget.  Resource commitments by business units whose services are to be implemented in the portal environment will also be identified at the appropriate project phase. The exact operational cost to the Town will also be known and reported once the hosting option has been further evaluated.

 

In addition to significant enhancements to customer service for Markham constituents, the Business Value Assessment conducted by IBM in 2005 also identifies numerous business efficiency gains, versus budget savings, to employees that are estimated to be in the range of $6 - $8 million over five years.   Although both the Joint Portal Business Report completed in 2007, and the Professional Services Procurement Plan (Attachment 1) refer to the possibility of partial cost recovery through online fees, they do not recommended to pursue this option in interest to encourage portal adoption.

 

Staff recommend initial cost sharing on the basis of a 50% - 50% agreement between Markham and York Region for hardware, software, and support services components.   Should other local municipalities join the partnership, Markham would be recovering part of this initial investment as well as share incremental costs for implementation through professional services. Specific cost sharing arrangements will be determined in the future.

 

Markham’s share of this project is $792,307, and will be funded from 2008 approved capital budget “Portal Implementation” - account number 49-5350-8659-005.

 

 

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS:

 

Citizens and employees can access have to information and services, including self service, through a portal technology from anywhere using the internet and thereby reduce travel requirement.  Automated online options also help in reducing paper-heavy work processes and thereby contribute to the environment.

 

 

ACCESSIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS:

 

Portal implementation is expected to provide citizens with improved access to Town services and information, and the new web environment will be compliant to accessibility standards as provided by World Wide Web Consortium.

 

 

ENGAGE 21ST CONSIDERATIONS:

 

In the “Engage Markham 21st Century Markham Report”, the community vision and corporate goals are to be realized through the following elements:

·        Markham will be recognized as an international leader in the management and delivery of high quality municipal services;

·        We are the high tech/knowledge-based capital of Canada;

·        Our communities … feel connected;

·        The Town will be a leader in e-government services; and

·        To establish, promote and support Markham as the best location for diverse high-tech and related businesses.

 

It is the view of staff that the realization of these visions and goals can be supported through effective deployment of portal technology that permits access to services and information for its citizens and employee from any where at any time.

 

 

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

 

This project has a corporate wide impact and business unit leaders have been made aware of the project.  Selected business unit leaders also took part as a member of the Joint Portal Evaluation Committee.

 

 

RECOMMENDED

                            BY:    ________________________          ________________________

                                      Nasir Kenea,                                      Andy Taylor,

                                      CIO                                                   Commissioner Corporate Services

 

 

 

ATTACHMENTS: Attachment 1.