Explanation
Background: The Director of the Department of Human Resources seeks the authority to utilize the subscription services of Salary.com LLC to provide a market data tool for the City’s Compensation Office. The survey tool is called Comp Analyst and will be able to aggregate several thousand salary surveys across all industries in both the public and private sector. The data will augment surveys conducted internally by the Compensation Management team with like jurisdictions ranging from local to national geographies.
To acquire a subscription service for a salary survey tool in the most timely manner, it was critical for the City and the Compensation Management team to perform due diligence. The internal team identified several potential providers known to the compensation professional community. Market data industry leaders were contacted to gain knowledge of their products and pricing options. Presentations were given and each bidder followed up with question-and-answer meetings and any additional requested information.
Four reputable market data providers that were considered were Economic Research Institute (ERI); Mercer; Payscale, Inc.; and Salary.com LLC. The following table details the offers and terms from each provider:
Market Data Provider Annual Cost Contract Term
Economic Research Institute (ERI) $3,989.00 1 Year
Mercer $11,500.00 3 Years
Payscale, Inc. $19,750.00 3 Years
Salary.com LLC $16,000.00 5 Years
After thorough analysis of the services provided, cost, quality of product, and performance in other venues, the salary survey tool offered by Salary.com was determined to be the best for the City. The rationale is as follows:
• Robust, aggregated survey data with 4,300 benchmark jobs and more than 15,000 unique jobs in its database
• More than 25,000 organizations contribute to the continuously updated data
• Professional Human Resources-reported compensation data, not employee-reported data, which can be filtered by geography, industry segments, organization size, and other scopes of study
• Other contract amounts were offered for varying time periods, but the platform is trustworthy and well-respected, so the five-year time period is both appropriate and fiscally responsible
• Upon contract approval, Salary.com LLC will provide access codes for immediate web-based access to the platform
This legislation authorizes the Director of the Department of Human Resources to enter into a five year subscription contract with Salary.com LLC consisting of one initial year and four one-year renewals and will further authorize the expenditure of $16,000.00 for the initial year one, to commence shortly after the passage of this ordinance.
The competitive bid process would not be conducive to acquiring a subscription service for a market data survey tool. Therefore, competitive bidding requirements are being waived.
This is a five year subscription contract consisting of one initial year and four one-year renewals, subject to sufficient appropriations. The initial year shall run from November 10, 2023 to November 9, 2024.
Fiscal Impact: Funds totaling $16,000.00 are budgeted specifically for this purpose in the Department of Human Resources 2023 General Fund budget.
Emergency Action: Emergency action is being requested to allow for the salary research to begin immediately and the data be available to compensation team, to make sure the City maintains its standing as a competitive employer.
Title
To authorize the Director of the Department of Human Resources to enter into a five year subscription contract consisting of one initial year and four one-year renewals with the Salary.com LLC for the purpose of providing a market data tool for the City’s Compensation Office; to authorize the expenditure of $16,000.00 from the General Fund; to waive the competitive bidding requirements of the Columbus City Codes; and to declare an emergency. ($16,000.00)
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus requires the market data salary survey tool, comp Analyst, provided by Salary.com LLC; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the city to waive relevant provisions of Chapter 329 of the Columbus City Code relating to competitive bidding in this situation, due to the results of the Compensation team’s due diligence review of four providers that have standing in the compensation field and are known to the compensation professional community for their expertise and experience; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Human Resources in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the Director to enter into contract with Salary.com LLC in order to produce the City with a tool that will aid in maintaining and improving the City’s stature as a competitive employer, thereby preserving the public health, peace, property, safety and welfare; NOW, THEREFORE;
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the Director of the Department of Human Resources is hereby authorized to enter into a five year subscription contract consisting of one initial year and four one-year renewals with Salary.com LLC for the purpose of providing a necessary subscription salary survey tool.
SECTION 2. That Council finds it is in the City’s best interests to waive the relevant provisions of Chapter 329 of the Columbus City Codes regarding competitive bidding, and the same are hereby waived.
SECTION 3. That the expenditure of $16,000.00 or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby authorized to be expended from the general fund 1000 in object class 03 Services, per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 4. That the funds necessary to carry out the purpose of this ordinance are hereby deemed appropriated, and the City Auditor shall establish such accounting codes as necessary.
SECTION 5. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves or vetoes the same.