2002 AGN AUG 20 I15 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

CITY OF COLTON AGENDA REPORT For the City Council Meeting of August 20, 2002 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council FROM: Thomas K. Clarke, Electric Utility Director Item #15 SUBJECT: Award of Sole Source GIS Professional Services Contract to Donoghue and Associates, not to exceed $40,000 for the fiscal year 2002/2003. DATE: August 7, 2002 BACKGROUND: The Electric Department/GIS Division has the responsibility for the GIS (Geographical Information System) project for the City. To date the development tasks include conversion of the parcel base map, the water and sewer facility maps, the partial conversion of the electric distribution maps, and application deployment for city-wide use. The principle of application development is to allow city personnel to utilize the data that has been converted. This, in turn, will enhance customer service to the citizens of Colton due to faster and better researched decisions. DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: The process of GIS application development is very complicated, technically. To be optimally implemented, it requires a professional software programmer to create user-friendly, efficient applications. In the past, the GIS staff has hired a variety of programming consultants. Unfortunately, it has been our experience that GIS consultants do not create good programs, and software consultants do not know GIS. The senior staff of Donoghue and Associates has over 12 years GIS and software development experience, and has been making the GIS easier to use by City of Colton personnel. Past experience includes Orange County Water District, and the City of Riverside. The GIS division would like to continue the services of this consultant for the 2002/2003 fiscal year. The total cost for the year will not exceed $40,000. In reference to Colton Municipal Code Title 3 Chapter 3.08.150 states, in part, as follows: "The city council if it finds the public interest will not best be served by a formal proposal process, may waive the solicitation of requests for proposal and/or request professional consultant services based on a single proposal." As stated above, it is difficult to hire software consultants that know GIS application programming. In the past, consultants have claimed related experience but we encountered problems with their work. It would be impracticable and uneconomical in this instance to go to bid for this because: 1. Some of the consultants in the past include Symcas-TSG, Psomas, and GTI. Although all these consultants are very good at what they do, they could not produce GIS applications suited to the needs of city staff. The larger GIS consulting firms create templates of applications, and then try and adjust to the needs of the client. However, the resulting applications were not user-friendly, the applications did not fit Report prepared by: Michelle Pierce, Electrical Systems Engineer Page 1 of 3