REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Award a Multi-Year Contract for Utility Billing Services (F17-116)
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
Approval is requested to award a five-year contract to Infosend, Inc. of Anaheim in an amount not-to-exceed $250,000 for utility bill printing, mailing, electronic bill presentment and payment services for the Finance Department.
EXISTING POLICY
Pursuant to Chapter 2.08 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code, City Council approval is required for contracts exceeding $100,000.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered does not constitute a "project" within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(5) in that it is a governmental organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The City first awarded a contract to Infosend in 2004 to provide utility billing services, including designing, printing, inserting, and mailing the City's utility bills for the Department of Finance. The agreement with Infosend was later extended to include hosting and maintenance of an electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) system. This system enabled utility customers to view and pay their utility bills online.
In 2015, the Department of Finance issued an RFP (15-05) for utility bill production and online payment services. Upon review of the proposals and an extensive negotiation process, it was clear that a change in vendor would require a significant impact to about 14,000 of the City's utility customers with only marginal benefit to the City. Customers would be required to re-enroll and re-enter all their profile information, which is an inconvenience to the customer and could result in missed payments or other enrollment issues. In addition to the customer impact and the substantial staff time required to change vendors, awarding the contract to another vendor at this time would also require mod...
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