Explanation
BACKGROUND: In the continued effort to provide increased community dialogue and transparency in local City government, Columbus City Council seeks to enter into a contract with GovDelivery for a pilot deployment of a constituent communication system.
GovDelivery's Digital Communication Management platform operates as Software as a Service (SaaS), a software application delivery model hosted and operated by GovDelivery for use by its clients over the Internet. GovDelivery takes care of the maintenance, support, training and upgrades and is responsible for all hardware, networking, storage, database, security, administration and other costs associated with the delivery of its Digital Communication Management solution.
GovDelivery's mission is to maximize direct connections to the public through digital communications. The DCM platform improves information access, while lowering costs associated with traditional communication options. GovDelivery typically provides a return on investment (ROI) within the first year through by reducing paper document distribution costs, consolidating list serve software costs and reducing administrative time.
Columbus City Council received presentations and conducted several interviews with representatives of multiple companies which offer similar services as GovDelivery, and met with GovDelivery representatives multiple times over a course of several months. In addition, Council engaged the City's department of technology (DOT) in evaluating GovDelivery's proposal, and to determine whether future citywide deployment was viable. While GovDelivery received favorable review from DOT, timing and other priorities make citywide deployment impractical at this time. Instead, experience gained by City Council through this pilot will help inform the decision to expand the program citywide in the future. To this end, Council will waive competitive bidding for this pilot period to take advantage of current pricing and immediately implement the program to assess the value to citizens.
GovDelivery is currently being used by over 550 federal, state and local governmental entities, including Columbus City Schools and Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO).
FISCAL IMPACT: $8,000.00 funding for such sponsorship was allotted in the Neighborhood Initiatives Fund.
EMERGENCY DESIGNATION: It is requested that this Ordinance be handled in an emergency manner due to the time sensitive deadlines.
Title
To authorize Columbus City Council to enter into a contract with GovDelivery for the pilot deployment of a constituent communication system, to appropriate and expend $8,000.00 from the Neighborhood Initiatives Fund, to waive the competitive bidding requirements of Chapter 329, Columbus City Codes, and to declare an emergency. ($8,000.00)
Body
WHEREAS, Columbus City Council wishes to provide a constituent communication system to help disseminate information to citizens, whereby increasing community dialogue and transparency in local government, and
WHEREAS, GovDelivery is a unique provider in the in the constituency communication field due to the fact that the company focuses exclusively on needs of public sector agencies, and
WHEREAS, GovDelivery works directly with more than 550 government organizations in the United States and across the globe including the U.S. federal offices of Homeland Security and Department of Defense, and
WHEREAS, Columbus City Council will benefit from use of the application by directly linking in to the best communication practices of such a large pool of governmental agencies, and by communication partnerships local agencies, and
WHEREAS, passage of the this legislation authorizes Columbus City Council to expend $8,000.00 from the Neighborhood Initiatives Fund to enter into a contract with GovDelivery for the pilot deployment of a constituent communication system; and
WHEREAS, based on the superior credentials of GovDelivery, Columbus City Council recommends the waiver of the competitive bidding requirements of Chapter 329, Columbus City Codes; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the City of Columbus in that it is immediately necessary to appropriate and transfer said funds to have funding available for necessary expenditures; now, therefore:
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
Section 1. That Columbus City Council is hereby authorized and directed to appropriate $8,000.00 in the Neighborhood Initiative Fund as follows:
Dept: 20
Fund Type: Neighborhood Initiative
Fund: 18
Object Level 3: 3336
OCA Code: 200018
Amount: $8,000.00
Section 2. That the expediture of $8,000.00, or so much as may be needed, be and hereby is authorized in:
Dept: 20
Fund Type: Neighborhood Initiative
Fund: 18
Object Level 3: 3336
OCA Code: 200018
Amount: $8,000.00
Section 3. That Columbus City Council is hereby authorized to enter into a contract with GovDelivery for the pilot deployment of a constituent communication system.
Section 4. That for the reasons stated, Columbus City Council finds it is in the best interest to waive all provisions of the Columbus City Codes related to competitive bidding.
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 passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.