To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): County Administrator’s Office
Staff Name and Phone Number: Christel Querijero and Jennifer Larocque; (707) 565-2431
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Amend the County’s contract with Rock Solid to improve Constituent Relationship Manager services
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Authorize the Chair to execute a contract amendment with Rock Solid Technology for Constituent Relationship Manager services, increasing the Fiscal Year 22-23 contract amount by $22,372, for a total amount of $126,793.40. The original contract is a five-year contract that is active from FY 21-22 through FY 25-26. The cost of future fiscal years will be determined by the number of licenses needed per department with appropriations established through the annual budget cycle.
B) Authorize the County Administrator to approve annual modifications to the number of licenses with future needs determined by departments and financed through the annual budget process.
C) Authorize the County Administrator to approve change orders of up to $25,000 each year.
end
Executive Summary:
In June 2021 the Board of Supervisors approved a professional services agreement with Rock Solid Technology to provide Customer Relationship Management and Civic Engagement Applications for a five-year term. The original contract included ten licenses for $13,596 annually, and the amendment increases the number of licenses to 35 for $50,244 annually. The number of new licenses will support the expansion of SoCo Connect from a work-request system that processes standard requests for Sonoma Public Infrastructure and Permit Sonoma such as potholes and code enforcement, to a constituent relationship manager that will track all constituent inquiries the Board of Supervisors and select inquiries to Permit Sonoma.
The number of licenses needed will be adjusted by departments before each fiscal year with costs to be included in their annual budget. Departments will also support the base costs for the software as a service.
This contract amendment increases the number of licenses for County staff to enter and modify requests in the software, includes language to clarify the County’s requirements for software to adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act, and adds an annual line item to enhance the integration with Lucity, Sonoma Public Infrastructure’s asset management system.
Discussion:
In June 2021 the Board of Supervisors approved a professional services agreement with Rock Solid Technology to provide Customer Relationship Management and Civic Engagement Applications for a five-year term for $101,380 annually, and a one-time cost of $101,750 for a total maximum five-year value of $639,990.
Over the course of a year the County worked with Rock Solid to tailor the software to Sonoma County’s needs. In June 2022 Rock Solid and the County launched the first phase of the Customer Relationship Manager: SoCo Connect. SoCo Connect replaced and augmented SoCo Report It, allowing constituents to submit work requests to Sonoma Public Infrastructure (formerly Transportation and Public Works) and Permit Sonoma with enhanced features, including a bilingual platform.
Following the launch and stabilization of SoCo Connect, Rock Solid and the County have been coordinating for phase two of the Constituent Relationship Manager: tracking and logging interactions with constituents such as information requests. Staff in the Board of Supervisors and select employees in Permit Sonoma will need a license with Rock Solid to create or update requests in the system. This contract amendment reflects the licenses needed to implement the system across the offices of the Board of Supervisors and to select staff in Permit Sonoma. The number of licenses needed will be re-evaluated by departments each fiscal year; costs will be reflected in each department’s annual baseline budget request.
The Board of Supervisors and select staff in Permit Sonoma will pilot the Customer Relationship Management platform while staff assesses if the tool will be useful to additional divisions and other departments. If staff determine that additional divisions and departments would benefit from using the Customer Relationship Management platform the contract with Rock Solid Technologies includes the ability to scale the software to additional departments.
The contract amendment includes language to clarify the County’s requirements for software to adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act at no cost. Additionally, the amendment adds an annual line item to enhance the integration with Lucity, Sonoma Public Infrastructure’s asset management system, for $4,200 annually. The enhancement to Lucity will allow the location of work requests to flow into the proper field in the Lucity software. The pro-rated amount for the 35 licenses and the Lucity custom integration for FY 22-23 is $22,372.
If departments maintain the use of 35 licenses in the upcoming fiscal year the cost of implementing the Constituent Relationship Manager in FY 23-24 will be $171,689.12, which includes the following costs:
|
License costs |
$ 50,244.60 |
|
Base software fee (increases 3% annually) |
$ 72,756.52 |
|
Lucity custom integration |
$ 4,200.00 |
|
Public Input Engagement Hub |
$ 20,188.00 |
|
Information Systems Department maintenance costs |
$ 24,300.00 |
|
Total |
$ 171,689.12 |
The contract approved by the Board in July 2021 is a five-year contract, spanning from FY 21-22 through FY 25-26. In advance of the contract concluding the County will evaluate the value of utilizing a Constituent Relationship Manager and complete a procurement process to continue Constituent Relationship Management services with Rock Solid or an alternative organization. This procurement process will include recommendations from the Permit Sonoma Management Review process and new insights gained during the implementation of Rock Solid’s Constituent Relationship Manager.
The County has gained valuable experience in Constituent Relationship Management systems while implementing the work request system and preparing to give the Board of Supervisors and select Permit Sonoma staff the ability to track all constituent inquiries. County staff are learning that many staff members will need to be licensed to use the Constituent Relationship Manager unless the county institutes a change in business process such as a call center. Rock Solid Technology uses the Microsoft platform to host their Constituent Relationship Manager, and Microsoft does not have an organization-wide license model, instead, each staff receives an individual license. This licensing model makes it cost-prohibitive to expand Rock Solid’s Constituent Relationship Manager across the organization. Additionally, the County is seeing value in systems that have strict programming and testing protocols with design oversite, as we have experienced numerous glitches or design flaws in the Rock Solid system that are a barrier for user adoption. The County is also using the lens of the Constituent Relationship Manager to evaluate opportunities for improved constituent communications and is currently working on adding timelines for request completion and regular updates.
Strategic Plan:
This item supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Organizational Excellence
Goal: Goal 1: Strengthen operational effectiveness, fiscal reliability, and accountability
Objective: Objective 2: Establish a master list of technology needs that support operational/service improvements by mid-2022, identify enterprise solutions, and develop fiscal strategies to fund and implement improvements.
Pillar: Organizational Excellence
Goal: Goal 1: Strengthen operational effectiveness, fiscal reliability, and accountability
Objective: Objective 3: Establish expectations and performance measures for customer service for all County departments.
The contract with Rock Solid gives the County the opportunity to assess if a Constituent Relationship Manager should be on the County’s list of technology needs, and it can track performance measures for customer service.
Prior Board Actions:
July 20, 2021: Agreement with Rock Solid for a Customer Relationship Management and Civic Engagement Application
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 22-23 Adopted |
FY23-24 Projected |
FY 24-25 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
$126,793.40 |
$171,689.12 |
$173,871.82 |
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
|
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
$126,793.40 |
$171,689.12 |
$173,871.82 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
$126,793.40 |
$128,437.67 |
$129,892.80 |
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Fees/Other |
|
$43,251.45 |
$43,979.02 |
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
$126,793.40 |
$171,689.12 |
$173,871.82 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
The additional licenses and customized integration with Lucity will cost the County $171,689.12 annually beginning in FY 23-24. Rock Solid will pro-rate the amount for the remaining six months of this Fiscal Year for a total of $126,793.40. Costs for FY 22-23 are included in the Non-Departmental budget as a cost-sharing methodology with departments is developed.
Beginning in FY 23-24 departments will be required to build in the cost for licenses and the base software costs and fees to the annual budget process. In FY 23-24 the base costs for the software (the software as a service and the Information Systems Department maintenance and license costs) will be distributed equally across Sonoma Public Infrastructure, Permit Sonoma, and the Board of Supervisors. This formula can be re-evaluated in future years if needed.
The following table illustrates the costs for each department for FY 23-24, assuming 35 licenses:
|
Total Costs by Department |
Cost |
|
Permit Sonoma |
$ 41,922.57 |
|
Public Infrastructure |
$ 43,251.45 |
|
Board of Supervisors |
$ 66,327.09 |
|
County Administrator |
$ 20,188.00 |
|
Total |
$ 171,689.12 |
If the County Administrator’s Office and departments determine to expand the use of the software or evaluate a different software model in FY 23-24 then departments may see increased license costs. Additionally, ISD would either incur costs for assisting with system expansion or software evaluation. The County Administrator’s Office is setting aside funding to prepare for these scenarios.
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
NA
Attachments:
First Amendment to the Master Customer Agreement
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
July 2021 Master Customer Agreement between the County of Sonoma and Rock Solid Technologies