03.02.21 Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2021 The City currently has over 800 contracts, of these 800 contracts approximately 300 include optional renewal terms, 135 exceed $50,000, and 40 contracts are $750,000 and higher. The focus will be primarily on those contracts that are considered high impact/high risk contracts. Ms. Williams provided information on the benefits to extended term/optional renewal terms, these include: • Incentive to vendor to lower bid/proposal / competition. We an spread General and Administrative operating costs, overhead, or setup costs over the term of the agreement (for example, set up cost for printing tee shirts or cost for special equipment and implementation of a solid waste disposal contract.) • Certainty of cost for contract duration (Protection from price increases and volatility) • Continuity of services • Builds positive vendor relationships • Higher discounts for longer terms - Vendors (especially technology) will offer escalating discounts reducing cost over the life of the contract • Budgets are easier to plan/project each year • Opportunity to evaluate vendor quality and performance annually • Mitigates workload capacity of P&C staff to achieve more sustainable levels. Ms. Williams explained Cooperative Contracts and explained Cooperative Groups can be formed by school districts, state, or federal governments. These cooperative groups form to buy/contract for goods and services in aggregate to obtain lower prices thru open market Bidding/Proposal Processes. Authorization to use cooperatives is per state and local government code and in our City, the City Council approves each cooperative agreement in advance. Ms. Williams provided the benefits of Cooperative Agreements, including: • Buying power of cooperative which is especially important for technology hardware and software • Better price due to economies of scale (statewide) • Unique items which are not readily available in smaller quantity • Multi -term contracts and secure pricing (especially for hardware/software) • Expediency in obtaining goods/service • Cost savings in Purchasing and Contract staff resources when comparing shopping cooperatives vs. developing bid documents, issuing/advertising solicitation, evaluating bids, council award/execution. Ms. Williams stated the various types of contracts, including the following: Interlocal/Cooperative Agreements, Professional Engineering Agreements, City of San Marcos Page 2