Agenda Request Business of the City Council City of Pearland, Texas

Page 1 AGENDA REQUEST BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF PEARLAND, TEXAS AGENDA OF: July 11, 2016 ITEM NO.: Resolution No. R2016-120 DATE SUBMITTED: June 17, 2016 DEPT. OF ORIGIN: Fire PREPARED BY: Daniel Baum PRESENTOR: Vance Riley REVIEWED BY: Jon R. Branson REVIEW DATE: July 1, 2016 SUBJECT: Resolution No. R2016-120 - A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pearland, Texas, awarding a bid for Fire Department Dispatching Services to Cypress Creek EMS in the estimated amount of $223,400 for the period of December 16, 2016 to December 15, 2017. EXHIBITS: R2016-120 Cypress Creek EMS Subscriber Agreement FUNDING: Grant Developer/Other Cash Bonds To Be Sold Bonds- Sold L/P – Sold L/P – To Be Sold EXPENDITURE REQUIRED: $223,400 FY17 AMOUNT BUDGETED: $223,400 FY 17 AMOUNT AVAILABLE: $223,400 ACCOUNT NO.: 100-205-260-5400.160, 100-205-260-5600-170 PROJECT NO.: N/A ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATION REQUIRED: N/A ACCOUNT NO.: PROJECT NO.: To be completed by Department: X Finance Legal Ordinance Resolution EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BACKGROUND In January 2013, the City entered into a contract with Harris County Emergency Corps (HCEC) to provide dispatch services, including advanced emergency medical dispatch, for the then separate Fire and EMS departments. After several months of preparations, the 3rd party dispatch operations began in early May 2013. The City’s formerly separate Fire and EMS Departments were consolidated in October 2013 to provide improved coordination, service level, and efficiencies. Page 2 Over the past three years, the use of a 3rd party dispatch center has proven to be largely successful and has resulted in improved capabilities for the Fire department through the use of GPS-based dispatching, a CAD system specifically geared towards Fire and EMS operations, and dispatchers certified by the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch in Emergency Medical Dispatching and Emergency Fire Dispatching. There have been however, some operational inconsistencies with the current vendor. HCEC has been quick to fix issues as we present those issues to them, however these inconsistencies have occasionally hindered Fire Department operations. The primary inconsistencies relate to IT issues, and deviation from established protocols. Coordination with Pearland PD dispatch by the incumbent vendor has been less than desirable, particularly over the last several months. Fire Department staff still recommends 3rd party provision of these services, however department leadership has decided that it was time to re-evaluate the current vendor and look at what other opportunities are available. During the City Council budget retreat, a white paper outlining Fire Department dispatching was reviewed. At that time there was some conceptual interest to look at bringing Fire Department dispatching in-house, but the consensus and staff recommendation is that the continued use of a 3rd party vendor is more cost effective. It is estimated that bringing Fire Department dispatching in house would cost over $600,000 a year in salaries, and over $500,000 a year in software licensing costs, as well as over $500,000 in startup costs. Ultimately, contracting with a new vendor was the option discussed with the consensus to pursue. In fact, the existing contract with HCEC contemplates renewal options with six months’ notice so that the market could be tested and performance criteria developed for contractors to consider. Accordingly, City staff has developed a Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit responses from outside agencies/companies capable of providing the required services to the City. Two (2) proposals were received, one from the incumbent Harris County Emergency Corps (HCEC) and the second from Cypress Creek EMS (CCEMS). Representatives from the Fire Department, Police Department, and Information Technology participated in the RFP evaluations as well as attended the presentations given by the two firms. SCOPE OF CONTRACT Provision of Fire Department dispatching services for the City of Pearland at the fixed pricing reflected herein for a three (3) year term. BID AND AWARD In March 2016, the City published a public notice in its newspaper of record and posted Bid No. 0316-26 on the City’s e-bid system with email notification to six (6) vendors, in accordance with City Purchasing policy and state law. Two (2) proposals were received and have been evaluated by Fire, Police, and IT management personnel with respect to the following areas (which comprise the evaluation criteria contained in the RFP specifications): qualifications and experience; rates and expenses; procedures, reporting and software capabilities; quality of references; and ability to meet all requirements set forth in the RFP. While both proposals reflect an apparent ability to provide the required services to the City, the evaluations by City emergency staff recommend an award to Cypress Creek EMS due to Page 3 somewhat inconsistent performance by the current vendor, ability to better integrate with Pearland Police operations, and a stronger IT infrastructure. Financially, the current incumbent HCEC provides service on an $18 per call basis, roughly $168,642 per year for 9,369 calls for service. In the new proposal, HCEC continues to offers a fee structure of $18 per call. They also request an annual $200 maintenance fee per MDT license (currently 30). Additionally, the HCEC proposal is charging the city $50,000 to contribute to their installation of the Purvis Fire Station Alerting System hardware in their dispatch center. Estimated annual cost for HCEC is $174,642 plus the $50,000 contribution for the Fire Station Alerting System. In their proposal, Cypress Creek EMS offers a fee structure of $21 per call, and $9 per call for automatic alarms (Fire Alarms/Medical Alarms) that are unfounded. They also charge an annual base station fee of $2,000, an annual per station fee of $500, and an annual technology fee of $3,000. Estimated annual cost for Cypress Creek is $211,000. The costs to transition to Cypress Creek EMS are as follows: • Radio and antennae set up fees in the amount of $6,000 will be due in December 2016. • Base station, additional station and technology fees in the amount of $7,000 (detailed above) will be due in February 2017 (and each following February). • Purvis Fire Station Alerting integration with CAD in the amount of $18,400 will be due in December 2016. This is a one-time expense. • Estimated incident fees in the amount of $192,000 will be due in February 2018 (for calendar year 2017 incidents). Estimated additional costs of transition are as follows: • Image Trend for Electronic Patient Reporting Software integration with CAD in the amount of $5,000 due in December 2016. • First In Systems Mapping Software (integrates with CAD) in the amount of $12,000 will be due in December of 2016 • Installation of the Purvis Fire Station Alerting System servers, hardware, and software at the CCEMS dispatch center in the amount of $185,000 will be brought to Council for approval at a later date as a separate resolution. (CCEMS has stated that if any of their other clients decide to utilize the Purvis system, a cost sharing agreement can be set up). Both respondents made presentations and were interviewed by the evaluation team, as well as additional senior City management personnel. After the interviews, the evaluation team discussed respective vendor strengths/weaknesses, and anticipated performance based on presentation of processes, procedures, and reporting capability, as well as responses to team questions. The unanimous consensus of the evaluators, including a representative from Page 4 Pearland PD dispatchers is that the CCEMS proposal represents the better value and best meets the service requirements of the City. Cypress Creek EMS’s dispatch center is located in Spring, in the vicinity of Intercontinental Airport. CCEMS is the 9-1-1 and dispatch facility for 16 agencies including nine fire departments, three EMS providers, the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office, and the Harris County Hazardous Materials Team. It is also the Regional Communications Center for the South East Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC) and Emergency Medical Task Force Region 6 (EMTF6). Their communications center serves as a Secondary Public Safety Answering Point (SPSAP) in the Greater Harris County 9-1-1 network. They currently handle over 58,000 9-1-1 calls per year and their current clients span from the Katy area, to Houston ship channel area. Among the strengths considered in recommending CCEMS are their IT capabilities, the ability for their CAD to do address point based mapping, and it is the evaluation committee’s opinion that they can better integrate with the operations of Pearland PD’s dispatch center. SCHEDULE We anticipate a go-live date of December 15, 2016. Preparations for the transition will begin immediately. CURRENT AND FUTURE FUNDING /FINANCIAL IMPACTS Funding for these services will come from the General Fund. RECOMMENDED ACTION A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pearland, Texas, awarding a bid for Fire Department Dispatching Services to Cypress Creek EMS in the estimated amount of $223,400 for the period of December 16, 2016 to December 15, 2017. RESOLUTION NO. R2016-120 A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pearland, Texas, awarding a bid for Fire Department Dispatch Services to Cypress Creek EMS, in the estimated amount of $223,400 for the period of December 16, 2016 through December 15, 2017. BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND, TEXAS: Section 1. That the City solicited bids for Fire Department dispatch services, and such bids have been reviewed and tabulated. Section 2. That the City Council hereby awards the bid to Cypress Creek EMS, in the estimated amount of $223,400.00. Section 3. The City Manager or his designee is hereby authorized to execute a contract for fire department dispatch services.

Load more