To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Information Systems Department
Staff Name and Phone Number: Dan Fruchey and Sherry Bevens, 565-2911
Vote Requirement: 4/5th
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Integrated Justice System (IJS) Replacement Project Phase 4
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Authorize the Information Systems Department Director to execute an agreement for professional services with Ernst & Young, LLP (EY) for Phase 4 of the Integrated Justice System (IJS) Replacement Project, to extend development for partner implementations and integrations to the new data exchange, provide production support for the new platform, and continue knowledge transfer, in an amount not to exceed $1,850,000 for the term of March 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026.
B) Authorize the Information Systems Department Director or Designee to execute an optional extension to the agreement with Ernst & Young, LLP (EY) to provide extended post-production support, in an amount not to exceed $400,000 for the term of January 1, 2027, through April 30, 2027.
C) Adopt a FY 2025-26 Budget Adjustment resolution programming $2,250,000 from ISD Replacement A Fund ($1,000,000), Non-Departmental Designated Purposes Fund ($806,695) and a portion from the $1 million set-aside of ongoing appropriations capacity for integrated justice system-related work currently appropriated in Non-Departmental Other Financing Sources ($443,305) to finance the recommended agreement.
end
Executive Summary:
The Integrated Justice System (IJS) Replacement Project is a multi-year effort to retire the County’s 40-year-old legacy justice system and implement a modern, secure data exchange known as the Justice Hub. The legacy system was originally built as an all-in-one justice platform supporting the Courts, District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender, Sheriff’s Office, and Probation Department. Over time, most partners transitioned to vendor-supported systems, leaving the Sheriff’s Office and Probation as the only remaining justice partners using IJS for their case management system. The Phase 1 assessment, completed in 2023, found that further modernization of the legacy system would be cost prohibitive and technically unfeasible. The recommended path was to move these departments to Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) systems, create a new data exchange to securely connect all partner systems to share data, and provide a complete view of individuals as they move through the justice process.
Phases 2 and 3 established the foundation of the new cloud-based Justice Hub, obtained California Department of Justice approval to operate in the Microsoft Azure Government Cloud, and began integration work with partner systems. As project timelines evolved and three key staff with knowledge of the legacy system retired sooner than expected, additional support from Ernst & Young (EY) became necessary to maintain progress and system continuity. Phase 4 extends this work through December 2026 to complete integrations with the new Courts and Public Defender systems, perform key integration work for the new Sheriff’s Office system, provide ongoing production and integration support for the Justice Hub, and ensure continuity of operations as agencies transition between systems. This phase also includes an optional extension for post-production support and continued knowledge transfer to prepare the County to assume ongoing operational support for the platform as the Sheriff’s Office migration progresses and the Probation Department begins its migration project.
Discussion:
The legacy Integrated Justice System (IJS) was originally designed to be a fully integrated justice platform serving as separate, yet interconnected, case management systems for the Courts, District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender, Sheriff’s Office (jail management system), and Probation Department (adult and juvenile case management, including juvenile hall operations). The system supported justice operations end to end, from arrest through court proceedings, incarceration, and probation, and for decades provided data exchange and workflow functionality across all justice partners.
Beginning in 2015, several justice partners transitioned away from IJS as their primary case management system. The District Attorney’s Office and Public Defender implemented standalone case management systems in 2015, followed by the Superior Court in 2016. These departures left Probation and the Sheriff’s Office as the primary operational users of the legacy IJS for case management, while the system continued to function as a data exchange and centralized source of justice information among all justice partners and law enforcement agencies. Over the ensuing years, there were multiple discussions regarding the Sheriff’s Office and Probation eventually migrating to new platforms.
During this time, the County attempted to modernize the existing IJS platform to extend its service life. However, the modernization effort was ultimately unsuccessful due to the system’s complexity, limited vendor support, and high cost. The Phase 1 assessment, completed in 2023, confirmed that continued modernization would be cost prohibitive and technically impractical. The system’s diminishing user base, having lost three of the five original partner agencies but retaining nearly the same maintenance costs, and the anticipated retirement of key technical staff, further underscored the urgency for a complete replacement strategy.
The recommended approach was twofold. First, to move away from maintaining internally developed case management systems that were unique to Sonoma County and shift the Sheriff’s Office and Probation Department to Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solutions. These vendor-supported systems are designed for their respective lines of business, are in use by other agencies across the nation, and are regularly updated by the vendors to meet operational, reporting, regulatory compliance, and security requirements. Second, to build a new County-managed data exchange, the Justice Hub, to connect all justice partner systems and provide a single, secure environment for sharing justice data in near real time. The data exchange would also serve as a unified portal that offers a 360-degree view of individuals as they move through the justice process.
At the start of the replacement project, the Courts, District Attorney’s Office, and Public Defender planned to remain on their existing case management systems. However, shortly after project initiation, both the Courts and the Public Defender announced plans to transition to new platforms. These changes introduced additional complexity but also reinforced the need for a modern data exchange that could integrate with new vendor systems. Recognizing that the project would span multiple years, and that critical legacy staff were nearing retirement, the project was moved forward with the goal of incorporating the new Courts and Public Defender projects within the existing timeline and budget, to maintain continuity of justice operations and prevent disruption of critical data sharing functions.
Phase 2, approved by the Board of Supervisors in April 2024, focused on building the foundational architecture that could run in the Microsoft Azure Government environment, enabling secure data pipelines, and completing the application process for obtaining California Department of Justice (CalDOJ) approval to operate the new system in the cloud. Phase 3, approved in February 2025, completed the core exchange components, migrated the platform to the cloud (once DOJ approval was obtained), expanded the system to include both adult and juvenile Probation data, and initiated integrations with existing partner case management systems. Optional work was also included in the contract to support integrations with new systems that would be implemented before the end of the contract term (February 2026). As the Courts and Public Defender implementation schedules extended beyond EY’s contract term, work was redirected to other approved activities, including early planning and technical design discussions to support the Sheriff’s Office migration (which started earlier than expected), addressing unexpected data quality issues with existing integrations, and additional security design for juvenile data, all of which required more extensive analysis and development than originally anticipated.
In late 2025, three senior staff members, each with more than 25 years of experience supporting the legacy IJS system, retired, further emphasizing the importance of continuity and knowledge transfer into Phase 4. As a result of these retirements, project resources were redirected to maintain ongoing legacy IJS operations, limiting the availability of County staff to participate in development activities and knowledge transfer for the new platform as originally planned. Phase 4 extends the project through December 2026 to align with justice partner implementation timelines, including newly adjusted schedules for the Courts and Public Defender, whose system integrations are now expected to continue into mid-2026. The Sheriff’s Office also began its implementation project, which is expected to continue into 2027. Core integration work between the Sheriff’s Office system and the new Justice Hub is planned for 2026 and included in the EY scope of work, with remaining integration activities to be completed by Information Systems Department (ISD) staff. The Probation Department’s migration project will also be supported by ISD staff, although the project timeline has not yet been finalized.
During this period, both the legacy IJS and the new Justice Hub must operate concurrently. The legacy system must remain operational until the Sheriff’s Office and Probation Department have fully migrated to new platforms, after which the County can begin the transition and eventual decommissioning of the legacy system while retaining access to required historical information.
Phase 4, the final phase with EY, is essential to supporting completion of integrations for the Courts and Public Defender, advancing the core integration components of the Sheriff’s Office system, and maintaining continuity of justice operations during the transition to the new data exchange. A key objective of this phase is for EY to provide training to ISD staff and transition support for the platform to ISD. After which, ISD staff will be responsible for completing the remaining Sheriff’s Office integration work, support the Probation Department’s future migration, and assume full responsibility for ongoing operation of the Justice Hub without additional vendor support. ISD, Sheriff, and Probation are working on project timelines to complete these final integrations and ISD will be doing this work with existing IJS staff. These departments will return to the Board with project plans and funding recommendations for these final pieces, estimated to occur in FY 26-27.
Prior Board Actions:
• 2022-1462: Contract Approval for Ernst & Young, LLP - Integrated Justice System Technology Consulting Services
• 2024-0239: Integrated Justice System Modernization Phase II
• 2025-0073: Integrated Justice System Modernization Phase III
• 2025-0078: Reimbursement of licensing costs to support IJS Modernization
Fiscal Summary
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Expenditures |
FY 25-26 Projected |
FY26-27 Projected |
FY 27-28 Projected |
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Budgeted Expenses |
$443,305 |
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Additional Appropriation Requested |
$1,806,695 |
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Total Expenditures |
$2,250,000 |
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Funding Sources |
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General Fund/WA GF |
$443,305 |
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State/Federal |
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Fees/Other (baseline and project rates) |
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Use of Fund Balance |
$1,806,695 |
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Contingencies |
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Total Sources |
$2,250,000 |
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Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
ISD estimates the cost for Phase 4 to be up to $2,250,000. This amount includes up to $1,850,000 for professional services with Ernst & Young, LLP (EY) for the final development of the work with EY through December 2026, and up to $400,000 for an optional extension to provide post-production support and continued knowledge transfer through April 2027, if needed.
Initial funding of $8 million for this project came from use of fund balance, including ISD Accumulated Outlay Fund Replacement A ($1.2m) and Non-Departmental sources including the Designated Purposes Fund ($5m) and the Graton Tribal Mitigation Fund ($1.8m). Funding for Phase 4 will be supported by $806,695 use of fund balance from the unspent portion of the initial $5 million Designated Purposes Fund allocation, $1 million from the ISD Accumulated Outlay Fund Replacement A, and by utilizing $443,305 from the $1 million set-aside of ongoing appropriations capacity for integrated justice system work currently appropriated in Non-Departmental Other Financing Sources. A budget adjustment resolution to increase project budget appropriations is included with this item and includes appropriations for operating transfers between budgetary sections.
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Staffing Impacts: |
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Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None
Attachments:
Professional Services Agreement
Exhibit A - Scope of Work
Budget Resolution
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None