REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Award of Contract for a Laboratory Information Management System for the Water Pollution Control Plant Laboratory (F15-88)
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
Approval is requested to award a contract in the amount of $178,145 to Ethosoft, Inc. of Norcross, GA for the implementation of a comprehensive Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) for the Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) Laboratory. Approval is also requested for a 10% contract contingency in the amount of $17,815.
EXISTING POLICY
Consistent with the provisions of Chapter 2.08 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code, contracts for this type of system solution are awarded pursuant to a Request for Proposals (RFP) best value process, unless otherwise exempt from competitive bidding.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
N/A
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The Environmental Services Department (ESD) Laboratory (Lab) provides critical analytical services for the City’s water and wastewater systems. The primary function of the Lab is to provide timely and high quality data as required for compliance with State and Federal environmental laws and regulations. Currently, the Lab performs more than 40,000 analyses per year, and the majority of them are manually entered into a homegrown database system. An updated LIMS will maximize the integration of data collection from individual laboratory instruments and feed that data into an integrated system. Positive outcomes resulting from implementing a modern LIMS include improved efficiency of data entry, integrity of data accuracy, and greater functionality of the system for monitoring lab productivity and efficiency.
A competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) was distributed to six firms and posted on the City’s public procurement network. Twenty firms requested the RFP documents. Four proposals were received on July 15, 2015 by Accelerated Technology, Chemware, Ethosoft and Promium. Initial proposed pricing for system implementation ranged from $143,000 to 263,000. The proposals were reviewed by an evaluation team consisting of staff from ESD and the Information Technology Department (ITD). The firms were evaluated based overall system functionality; system installation, configuration and implementation; product demonstrations; cost; and ongoing maintenance and support.
The highest cost proposer, Chemware, was deemed to be non-responsive because their system did not meet the City’s database standards and their price proposal was substantially incomplete. Another firm, Promium, was one of the lowest cost proposers, but their solution could not adequately integrate with the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA), which monitors and controls the City’s water supply and distribution system. The Promium solution would have also been more labor intensive for ESD and ITD staff to implement, operate and maintain, and their cost proposal did not include pricing for some of the required data migration.
The two remaining firms, Ethosoft and Accelerated Technology, were invited to the City for scripted product demonstrations. Subsequently, Ethosoft was unanimously selected as the solution providing the best overall value to the City, for several reasons. First, the solution met more of the City’s requirements than the other proposals. Second, the Ethosoft solution was the most user-friendly system, both operationally and from an IT-support perspective. Third, the proposal most accurately identified the required cost elements. Finally, their LIMS has the lowest annual maintenance and support costs (which were also negotiated to a lower amount). It should also be noted that staff was able to negotiate favorable contract terms with Ethosoft.
FISCAL IMPACT
The total cost of the contract, including licensing, data migration, implementation, training, labor and one year of system support is $178,145. Budgeted funds are available in capital project 830230 (LIMS). System implementation will require a new SQL server and a Windows Server License, and 7 new workstations/network drops to support the interface between specific laboratory instruments and the LIMS system. The total cost for the IT infrastructure is estimated to be $24,500. These costs will be covered by the LIMS project. Annual maintenance and support beginning in year two is approximately $10,000.
Funding Source
This project is funded by the Wastewater Management Fund. Annual maintenance and support costs beginning in year two will be funded by the General Services Fund - Information Technology Subfund through contributions made by the Water and Wastewater Funds.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall, at the Sunnyvale Senior Center, Community Center and Department of Public Safety; and by making the agenda and report available at the Sunnyvale Public Library, the Office of the City Clerk and on the City's website.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
1) Award a contract in the amount of $178,145 to Ethosoft, Inc. to implement a comprehensive Laboratory Information Management System, in substantially the same form as the draft agreement attached to the report; and 2) approve a 10% contract contingency in the amount of $17,815.
Staff
Prepared by: Pete Gonda, Purchasing Officer
Reviewed by: Grace K. Leung, Director, Finance
Reviewed by: David Jensen, Director, Information Technology
Reviewed by: John Stufflebean, Director, Environmental Services
Reviewed by: Kent Steffens, Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Deanna J. Santana, City Manager
ATTACHMENT
1. Draft Agreement