(RFP) ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) SOFTWARE SOLUTION Issued: July 9, 2014 Proposals due: August 22, 2014 at 12:00 p.m. Information Technology Office 749 Main Street Louisville, CO 80027 (303) 335-4568
TABLE OF CONTENTS Schedule of Events... 2 Introduction & Background... 3 General Information & Requirements... 4 Project Scope... 8 Proposal Format... 9 General Requirements... 12 Evaluation of Proposals... 13 Technical Specifications Finance Department... Attachment A Technical Specifications Human Resources Department... Attachment B Technical Specifications Community Development... Attachment C Technical Specifications General Administration... Attachment D Proposer Comments to Technical Specifications... Attachment E Disclosure Statement..Attachment F Certification Statement...Attachment G Page SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Event Date(s) (RFP) Distributed... July 9, 2014 Pre-Bidders Conference Call... July 21, 2014 Deadline for Requesting RFP Clarification... August 6, 2014 Responses to Requests for RFP Clarification... August 15, 2014 Vendors Response to RFP due by 12:00 p.m. MST... August 22, 2014 Product Demonstrations... September - October 2014 References and Site Visits... October - November 2014 Negotiation & Clarification... November - December 2014 Approval of Contract... December 16, 2014 Begin Implementation... February 2015 The City of Louisville reserves the right to modify this schedule at its sole discretion if it deems necessary. 2 of 14
INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND The City of Louisville, Colorado, hereinafter referred to as the City, is accepting proposals to provide the software, project management, installation, training, and support necessary for the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software solution to support the City s Administration, Finance, Human Resources, and Community Development processes and workflows. The objective of this procurement process is to identify the firm, the product, and the services which can best meet the City s needs within the budget allocated. The City is interested in reviewing both traditional (on premise) and cloud-based (hosted) software solutions. The City was incorporated in 1882, operates under a City Council-City Manager form of government, and provides general government and administrative services, public safety, public works, street maintenance and snow removal, licensing, permitting, zoning and inspection, parks, recreation and golf, and utility services; water, wastewater, and storm water. The current population is approximately 19,000 and over the next twenty years not expected to be more than 25,000. The City has approximately 150 full-time employees and 175 parttime seasonal employees. The City is located in the Denver metropolitan region, approximately 6 miles east of the City of Boulder and 25 miles northwest of Denver. Louisville has an incorporated area of approximately 7.9 square miles. The City has been recognized multiple times nationally over the past few years for livability. In 2009, 2011 and 2013, the City of Louisville was selected by Money Magazine as one of the top three Best Place to Live: America s Best Small Towns for the entire United States. The City s total 2014 budget is approximately $67 million. The City has appropriated funds to select and implement an Enterprise Resource Planning software solution for Finance, Human Resources, Community Development. The City will also assess the availability of other modules for general administrative services (Licensing, event permitting, civil/courts, etc.) to be implemented at a later phase. The City s Finance Department performs the following functions: administration, accounting and financial reporting, cash management and investments, payroll, sales tax administration, cash receipting and general collections, accounts payable, and utility billing. The number of employees in the Finance Department totals 9. The City s Human Resources Office manages recruitment, selection, and orientation; compensation and benefits administration; employee relations; employee training and development; supervisory coaching and counseling around corrective performance activities and performance management. In addition the Human Resources Office oversees several employee committees and programs including the Wellness Committee, the Employee Benefits Committee, the Employee Safety Committee, and the Employee Events Committee. The Finance Department and the Human Resources Office work together to complete the payroll processing function. The number of employees in the Human Resources Office totals 4. The City s Building Safety Division oversees all building and construction in Louisville. Building Safety issues building permits and contractor s licenses, conducts building, electrical and plumbing inspections, and handles water and sewer tap fees. The Planning Department administers land use regulations in the City including zoning, development review, and long-range planning. The Planning Department also serves as the first contact for developers and landowners who are considering new development or changes to existing 3 of 14
development and oversee the Building Safety Division. The number of employees in the Planning and Building Safety Departments totals 9. General City administration is comprised of the City Manager, Deputy City Manager, City Clerk, Municipal Courts, Public Relations and Economic Development. The City Clerk oversees all City elections, Municipal Court, Liquor Licensing, the City's Central Records, and Public Information requests. The Municipal Court oversees all aspects of the Louisville judicial process. Economic Development promotes business development and retention in Louisville. Public Relations supports information, communications, and the City s web presence. The number of employees associated with Administration, Clerk, Courts, Economic Development and Public Relations is 9. City Information Technology (IT) reports to the Deputy City Manager and supports a Microsoft Windows Active Directory environment and a high speed (fiber) switched infrastructure between City sites. City IT is in the process of consolidating its physical server environment using VMWare, enterprise storage and Microsoft Windows Server 2008/2012 r2. City IT supports 4 datacenters and approximately 175 Windows XP and Windows 7 workstations. City IT currently oversees the governance of City GIS services and is in the process of deploying an ESRI Local Government configuration under its ESRI ELA. City IT does not have any dedicated GIS, database or business analysis staff. The number of employees in the IT Department is 3. Summary of enterprise systems currently in place at the City: American Data Group (ADG) (Finance, Payroll, Utility Billing, Sales Tax, Courts) ESRI ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS SDE. (GIS) Laserfiche (Document Management) Motorola NetRMS (Police Records) Cartegraph (Public Works) NeoGov (Human Resources) Accela Permits Plus (Building Permits) Vermont Systems RecTrac (Parks & Recreation) GENERAL INFORMATION & REQUIREMENTS Communication with Staff From the issuance date of the Request for Proposal (RFP) until a vendor(s) is selected and the selection is announced, vendors are not allowed to communicate with any City of Louisville staff or officials regarding this procurement, except at the direction of Chris Neves, Information Technology Director, or the designated representatives of the City of Louisville. Any unauthorized contact may disqualify the vendor from further consideration. Receipt of Proposals and Public Inspection Upon receipt of proposals, all marked trade secrets and company financial information will be removed from the responses and provided only to the evaluation committee members or persons participating in the contracting process. All remaining qualification materials will be available for public inspection after the final award process. Claims to Keep Information Confidential Proposals may be considered public record after opening pursuant to City ordinance and the Colorado Open Records Act. The City will notify the proposer of any request for disclosure and it will be the responsibility of 4 of 14
the proposer to object and to pursue any legal actions pursuant to Colorado law. A proposer shall notify the City within 24 hours of notification by City of request for disclosure of the proposer s objections to disclosure and the proposer s intent to pursue lawful protection under Colorado law. Any proprietary or otherwise sensitive information contained in or with any response is subject to potential disclosure. Submitting it waives any recourse in respect to disclosure and indemnifies the City for any charges directly related to the City s disclosure. Pre-Bid Conference Call The City will host a pre-bid conference call at 1:00 p.m., MST on Monday, July 21 st, 2014 to answer any prebid questions regarding this RFP. Potential bidders wishing to participate in the pre-bid conference call should send an email with the subject ERP RFP Pre-bid Conference Call to chrisn@louisvilleco.gov by 5:00 p.m., MST, Friday July 18 th, 2014. Please specify your name, company, and contact information within the email. Logistics of the call will be returned to you via email and published on the City of Louisville website. Preparing a Proposal This RFP contains the instructions governing the proposals to be submitted and a description of the mandatory requirements. To be eligible for consideration, a proposer must meet the intent of all mandatory requirements. Compliance with all requirements will be determined by the City s evaluation committee. Responses that do not meet the full intent of all requirements listed in this RFP may be subject to point reductions during the evaluation process or may be deemed non-responsive. Proposers shall promptly notify the City of any ambiguity, inconsistency, or error, which they may discover upon examination of this RFP. Proposers requiring clarification or interpretation of any section or sections contained in this RFP shall make a written or email request to the City by the deadline. All written and email correspondence must be addressed to: City of Louisville ERP RFP Chris J Neves IT Director 749 Main Street Louisville, CO 80027 ChrisN@Louisvilleco.gov Each proposer submitting written questions must clearly address each question by reference to a specific section, page, and item of this RFP. A written answer will be provided to all questions received by 5:00 p.m., MST on August 6, 2014. Written questions received after the deadline may not be considered. Every effort will be made to provide written answers by 5:00 p.m., MST on August 15, 2014. Any interpretation, correction, or change to this RFP will be made by written addendum by the IT Director. Interpretations, corrections, or changes to this RFP made in any other manner will not be binding and proposers shall not rely upon such interpretations, corrections, or changes. If no exception, explanation, or clarification is required in the proposer's response to a specific subsection, the proposer shall indicate so in the point-by-point response with the following: (Proposer s Name), understands and will comply. 5 of 14
Points may be subtracted for non-compliance with specified format requests. The City may also choose to not evaluate, may deem non-responsive, and/or may disqualify from further consideration any proposals that do not follow this RFP format, are difficult to understand, are difficult to read, or are missing any requested information. A proposer responding to a question with a response similar to, Refer to our literature or Please see www.com may be deemed non-responsive or receive point deductions. All materials related to a response must be submitted to the City and not just referenced. Any references in an answer to another location in the RFP materials shall have specific page numbers and sections stated in the reference. Each element will be scored independently of one another and the scoring will be based solely on the information provided in the response to the specific element. Submitting a Proposal In an effort to promote sustainability and minimize the consumption of natural resources, proposers must submit four (4) Microsoft Windows compatible USB flash drives containing one (1) file of their entire proposal in clear and legible PDF file format. Exceptions to the one (1) file are the responses to the Microsoft Excel worksheets for attachment A, B, C and D which can be submitted as separate Microsoft Excel files on the same USB flash drive. The USB Flash drives should be in a sealed envelope marked Do Not Open, and sent to: City of Louisville ERP RFP ATTN: Chris Neves 749 Main Street Louisville, CO 80027 Proposals must be received at the City of Louisville prior to 12:00 p.m., MST, August 22, 2014. Proposals received after this time will not be accepted for consideration. Paper, facsimile or e-mail submissions are not acceptable. Vendors submitting corrupt, unreadable or damaged USB flash drive media or files will not be accepted for consideration. By submitting a proposal, each proposer represents that: The proposal is based upon an understanding of the specifications and requirements described in this RFP. The costs for developing and delivering responses to this RFP and any subsequent presentations of the proposal as requested by the City are entirely the responsibility of the proposer. The City is not liable for any expense incurred by the proposer in the preparation and presentation of their proposal. All materials submitted in response to this RFP become the property of the City and are to be appended to any formal documentation, which would further define or expand any contractual relationship between the City and the proposer resulting from this RFP process. The individual signing the proposal is authorized to legally bind the business. Late Submissions Regardless of cause, late submissions will not be accepted and will automatically be disqualified from further consideration. It shall be the proposer s sole risk to assure delivery at the designated office by the designated time. Late proposals will not be opened and may be returned to the proposer at the expense of the proposer or destroyed if requested. 6 of 14
Withdrawing Proposals Proposals may not be withdrawn for a period of 180 days after the proposal due date. Proposals may be withdrawn prior to the proposal due date, provided that such requests are in writing. Exceptions to Proposals The proposer shall, on a separate sheet of paper, include any exceptions to the conditions of the proposal. This sheet shall be labeled "Exceptions to Proposal Provisions" and shall be attached to the proposal. If no exceptions are stated, it will be understood that all RFP conditions will be complied with, without exception. Insurance Successful proposer shall not commence work under the contract until proof of required insurance has been submitted to, and approved by, the City. Comprehensive General Liability insurance is required in the amount not less than $1,000,000 combined single limit per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage. The City must be shown as an additional insured with respect to this coverage. This policy shall be issued by an insurance company authorized to do business under the laws of the State of Colorado. Certificates will indicate no modification or change in insurance shall be made without thirty (30) days written advance notice to the City. Disclosure Statement The proposer shall, disclose any possible conflict of interest with the City including, but not limited to, any relationship with any City of Louisville elected official or employee. The Disclosure Statement, Attachment F, must be completed and submitted with the proposal. Certification per C.R.S. 8-17.5-102(1) By submitting a proposal, the proposer certifies that at the time of this certification, the proposer does not knowingly employ or contract with an illegal alien; and that the proposer will participate in the program, as defined in C.R.S. 8-17.5-101(3.3) and 8-17.5-101(3.7), respectively, in order to confirm the employment eligibility of all employees who are newly hired for employment to perform work under the public contract for services. Attachment G is required to be completed and submitted with bid. Rights Reserved While the City has every intention to award a contract as a result of this RFP, issuance of this RFP in no way constitutes a commitment by the City to award a contract. Upon a determination such actions would be in its best interests, the City in its sole discretion reserves the right to: waive any formality; cancel or terminate this RFP; reject any or all proposals received in response to this RFP; waive any undesirable, inconsequential, or inconsistent provisions of this document, which would not have significant impact on any proposals; not award, or if awarded, terminate any contract if the City determines adequate funds are not available. Evaluation All responsive proposals will be evaluated based on stated evaluation criteria. Submitted proposals must be complete at the time of submission and may not include references to information located elsewhere, such as Internet websites or libraries, unless specifically requested in the City s RFP document. 7 of 14
Proposer Interview / Product Demonstration After receipt of all proposals, respondents will be required to make an oral presentation and product demonstration at the City Hall in Louisville, Colorado, to clarify their response or to further define their proposal. Oral presentations and product demonstrations shall be at the proposer s expense. Representatives of the City may choose to visit client references to observe the applications in an actual working environment. Contract Provisions and Terms This RFP and any addenda, the proposer s response including any amendments, any clarification question responses, and any negotiations shall be included in any resulting contract. Award Once the proposals are opened, a committee selected by the City will evaluate each proposal, taking into consideration the criteria and methodology stipulated in this RFP. The City will be the sole judge in evaluation considerations and may make an award to the proposer(s) who submits the proposal judged by the City to be in its best interest. A recommendation as to which system best meets the interests of the City (as determined by the evaluation committee) will be presented to the City Council. The award will only be to responsible proposer(s) qualified by experience to perform the services specified herein. All proposals submitted shall be valid for a period of one hundred eighty (180) calendar days from the date of the proposal opening. PROJECT SCOPE The City is seeking proposals for a fully integrated municipal suite of software applications that will include software, implementation services, ongoing training, and technical support. The scope of the proposed solution for this RFP shall encompass; Finance, Human Resources, Community Development and general City Administrative Services. The City plans to implement the new City ERP System in phases. This RFP process will focus on the first phase, but proposers will be evaluated on their ability to present information about the phases of a successful implementation process including training and on-going support. The information gathered through this RFP process may be used to adjust the project scope, if needed. Depending upon the costs of implementation and the City s availability of resources, the City may consider accelerating or postponing the implementation of one or more of the phases listed in the proposal. The City recognizes that an out-of-box solution may not meet the City s needs in all areas. Therefore, the City is willing to evaluate current processes and adjust if/where practical, or work with the proposer to customize certain aspects of the software. It is the intent of the City to keep any customization to a minimum and to adhere to industry best practices, in order to decrease costs and facilitate ongoing support. In general, the proposer will be expected to: Deliver a quality and fully integrated Microsoft Windows-based software solution, either traditional (on-premise) or cloud-based (hosted), that will meet or exceed the requirements listed in the supporting RFP attachments. Provide qualified and experienced project management and technical resources to advise City stakeholders during the analysis, design, implementation and support phases of the project. 8 of 14
Provide the appropriate technical expertise to configure all related files to make the system 100% operational. Provide comprehensive education and training for system operations and configuration. Education shall be provided in a hands-on environment with complete and necessary documentation and training manuals. Provide conversion labor to convert existing system data into the new applications. The proposer shall work with current system vendor to ensure a 100% successful data conversion. Ensure all modules are complete, have been tested, and are ready for operation when training is complete. Provide follow-up training as needed, as well as dedicated support and customer service after the initial training and implementation of the system. Required System Functions The City has defined its General Requirements as well as its specific Technical Specifications. The Technical Specifications are listed in the following attachments to this RFP: Finance Department. Attachment A Human Resources Department.. Attachment B Community Development Attachment C General Administration. Attachment D PROPOSAL FORMAT In order to facilitate the analysis of responses to this RFP, proposers are required to prepare their proposals in accordance with the instructions outlined in this section. Vendors whose proposals deviate from these instructions may be considered non-responsive and may be disqualified at the discretion of the City. Each proposer is required to submit their proposal in a sealed package. Proposers should ensure they have received and completed the accompanying worksheet (Attachment A through D) containing technical specifications. Proposals should be prepared as simply as possible and provide a straightforward, concise description of the proposer s capabilities to satisfy the requirements of the RFP. Emphasis should be on accuracy, completeness, and clarity of content. All parts, pages, figures, and tables should be numbered and clearly labeled. The proposal should be organized into the following major sections: Section Title Title Page Letter of Transmittal Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary 2 Proposed Software & Computing Environment 3 Optional Software Section 4 Responses to General Requirements Title 9 of 14
5 Responses to Technical Specifications 6 Implementation and Project Management Services 7 Ongoing Support Services 8 Investment Summary 9 Additional Information 10 Detailed Cost Breakdown of software solution proposed by module and functional area. 11 Detailed Costs for the Following: System Implementation Conversion of Historical Data Training Annual Support/Maintenance/Upgrades 12 Hourly Rates for: Tasks Not Outlined in RFP Additional Training Custom Modifications 13 Exceptions to the Proposal Instructions relative to Sections 1-9 of the response to this RFP are defined in the remainder of this section. Section 1 Executive Summary This part of the response to the RFP should be limited to a brief narrative highlighting the firm s proposal. The summary should contain as little technical jargon as possible and should be oriented toward non-technical personnel. The complete name of the firm or person(s) submitting the proposal, the main office address, the primary contact person(s) and their respective telephone number(s) should be included in this section along with the following additional information: Year founded, number of employees in your company, public or privately held company, primary business focus, how many years has the system you are offering been released, how many clients do you have, how many public sector clients do you have, information and experience about the team that would be servicing our account, and what is the average size of your customer. Section 2 Proposed Software & Computing Environment The proposer must present, in detail, features and capabilities of the proposed software. In addition, the following information should be included: Operating System: Identify the operating system required by the proposed application software and database management system. In the event there is more than one suitable operating system, list all options and indicate the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. List the operating system software support products required to support the recommended computing environment. The proposer should also explicitly state the name of any third-party products that are part of the proposed solution. For each third-party product, there should be a statement about whether the proposer s contract would encompass the third-party product and/or whether the City would have to contract on its own for the product. Section 3 Optional Software Include a description of any products, features, or other value-added components available for use with the proposed software application(s) that have not been specifically requested in this RFP. Consideration of these products, features, or other value-added components will be given where these may be of value to the City. 10 of 14
Section 4 Responses to General Requirements The proposer must provide responses to each of the requirements that are listed in the General Requirements Section of this RFP and must be provided in this section of the proposal. Section 5 Responses to Technical Specifications Responses to the Technical Specifications for the RFP, as listed in Attachments A through D, must be provided in this section of the proposal. Proposers should answer the questions in the format provided, and add any explanatory details necessary in a separate column to the right of the item being referenced. The following answer key should be used when responding to the specifications: Y = Fully meets specification, out-of-the box A = Available in next version (include estimated date of release) T = Specification is provided through third-party software M = Modifications necessary to meet specification. W= Specification is not provided, but there is a reasonable work-around C = Customization/change of source code required to meet specification N = Specification is not, and cannot, be provided If any symbol other than Y or A is the response for a specification, the proposer must complete the Proposer Comments to Technical Specifications sheet (Attachment E). Any specification that is answered with a symbol other than what is listed above will be treated as a negative/non-response. Section 6 Implementation and Project Management Services The proposer should provide a detailed plan for implementing the proposed solution. This information should include: Detailed project methodology including milestones and average timelines Conversion support City resource requirements Overview of proposed training, including options for onsite or training center services, for end-users and management personnel Implementation and training plan including deliverables for each stage of the project Brief biographies of proposer s key staff who will be involved in the project Section 7 Ongoing Support Services Specify the nature of any post-implementation support provided by the proposer including: Telephone support (e.g., toll-free support hotline, hours of operation, etc.) Availability of future upgrades and product enhancements Details regarding how future software updates will be accomplished, tested, and then implemented. Availability of user groups Problem reporting and resolution procedures Other support (e.g., onsite; remote dial-in; web site access to patches; fixes; knowledge base; etc.) Section 8 Cost Summary Provide a detailed total cost of the proposed solution complete with costs for all software licenses, support, training, and implementation services being proposed. 11 of 14
Section 9 Additional Information Proposers may use this section to include additional information about their products and services not covered in other sections of the proposal. Examples could include: Published case studies Newsletters Conference information Documentation Other modules or products a municipal government may utilize. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Requirements defined in this section contain the overall general functions of the City s desired integrated software applications. These requirements underlie the detailed checklist of Technical Requirements contained in Attachment A, B, C and D. Together these two sections define a system that will provide a high level of flexibility in meeting the City s current and future requirements. Processing Environment A preferred or specific hardware platform will not be specified in an effort to obtain the widest range of software solutions to meet the City s information processing needs. Database A true relational (RDBMS) database must be used. The database design should allow for a wide range of drilldown capabilities. Table and column names should be intuitively labeled and linked columns should be consistently named. Vendor must provide a current data dictionary for custom and ad hoc reporting purposes. Real-Time Mode Applications are expected to run in real-time mode. Logging Adequate logging must be provided to ensure audit trails required by the City s internal controls. Tables Dynamic tables must be used, where applicable, to preclude repetitive entry, for validity checking, and to eliminate program code changes when rules are changed or added. Editing The system should provide programmatic editing of data input, when possible, for validity and logical application. Security Security must be provided at program/user level and should provide hierarchical levels of control and security for various software functions and tasks. 12 of 14
Implementation Commencement Vendor will have the appropriate resources ready to engage in system implementation within 6 weeks of receiving a signed contract. Support The selected vendor must be able to provide timely and adequate support during the City s normal business hours. Vendor support must deal with issues related to integrated or adjunct third-party software proposed. The City intends to rely solely on the application vendor as its software support source. Hardware Proposals are for software only or a hosted solution (SaaS) that does not require any additional hardware on the part of the City of Louisville. Vendors need to specify whether their proposed solution is (1) Traditional (onpremise install at City) and/or, (2) Cloud-based (SaaS) and provide appropriate pricing for one or both options. For vendors who specify traditional install (1), the City requests that the hardware/software requirements be provided, and, the vendor needs to specify the ability of the solution to perform in a virtualized (VMWare/HyperV) environment. Any specific requirements associated to running the solution in a virtualized computing environment also need to be provided. Windows Clients Vendor needs to specify all supported client operating systems/platforms and web browsers for their solution. All client software installs, add-ins and core dependencies (i.e..net services, Java version, etc.) need to be clearly defined. Software Maintenance Vendor will include the first year s maintenance and support cost as part of the initial proposal. Vendor shall specify when the first year of support takes effect (i.e. immediately, upon module implementation, etc.). Vendor shall list what specifically is included in software maintenance (upgrades, patches, technical support, etc.) and shall list any for fee services that may be associated with annual software maintenance. 3 rd Party Software If the software being proposed requires any additional third-party software or subscription services to operate (i.e. MSSQL, SSL certificates, etc.), the vendor needs to specify the software and/or services and whether the cost of this software is included in the proposal. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS Evaluation Procedure The City evaluation committee will separate proposals into responsive and non-responsive proposals. Nonresponsive proposals will be eliminated from further consideration. The evaluation committee will then evaluate the remaining proposals and rank them to establish the highest score. Proposers may then be asked to provide onsite demonstrations. Discussions and negotiations may take place with the short list of proposers to obtain a best and final offer. The award will be based upon the proposal that is determined to be in the best interest of the City. Evaluation Criteria The intention of the City is to procure a functionally complete, cost effective, and fully integrated software suite of applications. Responses to this RFP will be evaluated according to the following criteria: Quality of software, clarity of proposal, and responsiveness of proposal in conformance with instructions, conditions, and format contained herein. 13 of 14
Ability to meet technical requirements. Ability to provide a complete solution that fully integrates across all functional business units and the availability of additional features that may be purchased in the future which would enhance the City investment and integrate with our current investment. Timeliness and professionalism of on-going support. Demonstrated performance of proposed system elsewhere in the public sector. Cost and quality of software and implementation services. Cost of on-going maintenance. Reference checks, including possible visits to client sites. 14 of 14