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Home My WebLink AboutRes2012-026 Sponsored by: 1 - Iunt Vii... CITY OF SEWARD, ALASKA RESOLUTION 2012 -026 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEWARD, ALASKA, AUTHORIZING A SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT WITH NWBS CONSULTING FOR THE PURCHASE, INSTALLATION AND TRAINING OF NEW FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE IN THE AMOUNT OF $214,766.25, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS WHEREAS, the City of Seward's existing financial accounting system was purchased and installed in 1989 (23 years ago) at a cost of approximately $199,206 (hardware $73,269; software $69,187; data conversion $6,000; installation/training $36,000; and annual maintenance $14.750); and WHEREAS, the City's software vendor, Timeline, Inc. significantly reduced support for the product in the period leading up to the Year 2000, and now has only one employee remaining to service existing customers, necessitating migration to a new accounting system; and WHEREAS, the City's hardware vendor, HP, has notified the City that it no longer maintains an inventory of parts to service the existing server hardware, and is only nominally able to guarantee ongoing maintenance of the hardware which houses the City's financial accounting ism system; and WHEREAS, Seward City Code §6.10.120 (9) exempts from competitive procurement procedures, the purchase of electronic data processing software and hardware systems; and WHEREAS, City staff have evaluated a number of different financial accounting systems aimed at meeting a number of goals, not limited to the following: 1) a suite of products capable of replacing various stand -alone systems (general ledger, accounts payable, payroll, budgeting); 2) a system capable of producing reports in .PDF and Excel formats with e -mail capability for greater transparency and information sharing; 3) drill -down capability for department managers to view real - time, detailed financial data; 4) user - friendly and Windows - compatible to facilitate cross - training; and 5) report- writing capabilities that do not require programming knowledge; 6) reasonable cost; 7) a system and vendor who has received good references from similar -sized governmental entities; and 8) a system that requires less dependence on individuals with unique knowledge sets; and WHEREAS, the finance department staff has selected Accu -Fund software as its financial accounting software suite, and will work with Accu- Fund's software representative in Alaska. NWBS Consulting, to facilitate software installation and training. The cost of the software is $65,405 and includes the following modules: general ledger, budgeting, accounts payable, bank reconciliation, cash receipting, financial reporting, financial dashboards, allocations, requisitions. purchasing, grants management, payroll, human resources, accounts receivable, loan tracking, work orders, building inspection, and fees and licenses. The cost of annual maintenance is $16,351.25. CITY OF SEWARD, ALASKA RESOLUTION 2012 -026 fasi The cost of professional services related to installation, training, and data conversion is estimated at between $90,300 and $133,000, resulting in a not -to- exceed total price of $214,766.25. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEWARD, ALASKA that: Section 1. The City Manager is hereby authorized to enter into a contract with NWBS Consulting for the purchase and installation of Accu -Fund software, in substantially the form as attached hereto. Section 2. The City Council finds that the public interest is served by authorizing a sole source contract with NWBS Consulting, for the purchase of computer software and associated - training and implementation, and that this purchase meets the exemption from competitive procurement requirements in accordance with Seward City Code §6.10.120(9). Section 3. Funds in the amount of $214,766.25 are hereby appropriated as follows: $147,484.02 from the General Fund reserves (account no. 101- 0000 - 3071 - 0103), representing one- time project management fees collected in 2011 and the remaining $67,282.23 from the General Fund reserves (account no. 101- 0000 - 3071 - 0103), representing a portion of the one -time State Revenue Sharing funds received in 2011, appropriated to the Capital Acquisition Fund equipment account no. 103 -1030 -5930. mai Section 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon adoption. PASSED AND APPROVED by the City Council of the City of Seward, Alaska, this 23` day of April 2012. THE CITY OF SEWARD, ALASKA David Seaward, yor CITY OF SEWARD, ALASKA RESOLUTION 2012 -026 AYES: Valdatta, Keil, Shafer, Casagranda, Terry, Seaward NOES: None ABSENT: Bardarson ABSTAIN: None ATTEST: i • 4 G• 4k0', f tLlLr Jnhanna Kinney ity Clerk, CMC (City Seal) O' l1 P 93GiID �' €s 0 V ��`� m �o ' e 3 �oxaaam � 4 I ® + � q - e.,' Q�j i hoo s ° SEA 4 f1 V •44, ®� 'e •e t p► 0000 Council Agenda Statement f. Of sett. Meeting Date: April 23, 2012 N e '4t ASKP Through: James Hunt, City Manager ' " tir From: Kristin Erchinger, Finance Director VA Agenda Item: Purchase of financial accounting system software BACKGROUND & JUSTIFICATION: The City of Seward finance department has utilized the same financial accounting software package, Timeline, Inc., since 1989, some 23 years ago. Since that time, the software has undergone a `patch' migration to make it compatible with the Y2K conversion, but has had no major upgrades since 2000. Due to the Year 2000 issue, the software vendor significantly scaled -back support for this product to the point where today there remains a single individual providing software maintenance and support. The finance department considered migrating to a new software package in preparation for Y2K, to avoid potential problems associated with the impact of the Y2K programming `bug'. However, Timeline, Inc. assured us that the software would accommodate the change without major problems, and that was our experience. At the time, competition with hundreds of other entities seeking to migrate off of their software to meet the Y2K deadline, imposed significant increases in costs, not to mention potential for jumping in to a software system in its early infancy, and having to be a guinea pig during the software maturity process. The City of Seward decided to hold off on migrating until this fierce period of competition calmed down, and it would be easier to identify which software programs would be sustainable, affordable, and meet our future needs. The department evaluated various financial accounting systems with the aim of finding a program that would meet the following needs, among others: 1) a governmental fund accounting system that would replace a number of current stand -alone software systems with a single system; 2) a system that was Windows - compatible and able to produce reports that could be shared with users and e- mailed to facilitate transparency and provide better information - sharing; 3) a system that allowed department heads to obtain real -time detailed financial information without reliance on finance department personnel to run reports; 4) a system with in -house report- writing capabilities that did not require computer programming knowledge; 5) a system at a reasonable cost; 6) a financial accounting package and support vendor who come highly referred by other governmental entities; and 7) a system that would replace the existing antiquated system with one not dependent on individuals with unique knowledge sets, for ongoing maintenance. The cost of the software is $65,405 and includes the following modules: general ledger, budgeting, accounts payable, bank reconciliation, cash receipting, financial reporting, financial dashboards, allocations, requisitions, purchasing, grants management, payroll, human resources, accounts receivable, loan tracking, work orders, building inspection, and fees and licenses. The cost of annual maintenance is $16,351.25. The cost of professional services related to installation, training, and data conversion is estimated at between $90,300 and $133,000, resulting in a not -to- exceed total price of $214,766.25. RESOLUTION 2012- o1 Page Two INTENT: The intent of this action is to authorize a contract for the purchase, installation, and training for new general ledger financial accounting modules and software. CONSISTENCY CHECKLIST: Yes No N/A 1. Comprehensive Plan (document source here): X 2. Strategic Plan (document source here): X 3. Other (list): X ATTORNEY REVIEW: Yes X No FISCAL NOTE: One -time General Fund revenues received in 2011 from project management fees and State Revenue Sharing are the intended source of funding for this project, since the City's budget policies recommend the use of these one -time revenues for capital purposes. There are no costs associated with upgrading hardware, since networking hardware is available in the finance department for this project Approved by Finance Department: A RECOMMENDATION: City Council authorize the City Manager to enter into a contract with NWBS Consulting for the purchase, installation, and training on Accu -Fund financial accounting software, at an amount not -to- exceed $214,766.25.