TAMRMS#: B06
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ESRI Enterprise Agreement
Presented by: Gordon Coulman, Director of Innovation and Technology Services
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RECOMMENDATION(S)
recommendation
That the contract for the provision of GIS software enterprise software licensing and support be awarded to Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) Canada in the amount of $189,000 ($63,000 per year for three years).
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PURPOSE OF REPORT
Administration requires Council approval to renew the ESRI enterprise agreement for licensing and support of Geographical Information System software as the cost exceeds the City Manager’s sole source approval limit of $100,000. Changing GIS software systems is neither desirable nor practical and the standardized ESRI small government agreement represents very good value.
COUNCIL DIRECTION
N/A
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The City uses the ESRI geographical information system (GIS) software suite for creation and maintenance of all geographic information, including parcel and street maps, buried utilities, asset management, online map services, mobile applications, emergency services, Transit, and maps embedded within other corporate and resident-facing software applications.
ESRI is the world’s largest producer of GIS software and is widely used by municipalities throughout Canada via their small government enterprise agreement (EA). The ESRI EA is a three-year agreement that grants access to a specified suite of ESRI software on an unlimited basis including maintenance and unlimited technical support provided by ESRI Canada. The ESRI EA simplifies license management and provides a fixed, known cost over the long term with no additional costs for the specified software.
Further to City Manager Directive A-PUR-01, a sole-source procurement is justifiable where there is a proprietary compatibility between goods or services and existing equipment, systems or services.
Changing to a different GIS system would be neither desirable nor practical and would involve substantial cost and effort; additionally, cooperative efforts with other municipalities would become more difficult with the acquisition of an incompatible system.
It is recommended that the contract for GIS software enterprise software licensing and support be awarded to Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) Canada in the amount of $189,000 ($63,000 per year for three years).
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS OR ENGAGEMENT
N/A
IMPLICATIONS OF RECOMMENDATION(S)
The ESRI GIS software is essential to the operations of multiple departments and failure to renew the enterprise agreement would have a significant impact to services.
Financial:
None at this time - per approved 2018 Budget.
Legal / Risk:
None at this time
Program or Service:
The ESRI GIS software is used for internal operations, decision making and analytics, resident-facing services such as Assessment, Fire Services, and Transit, as well as resident-facing web applications and maps.
Organizational:
None at this time.
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED
If Council does not wish to support the recommendation, the following alternatives could be considered:
Do nothing. Administration would be required to conduct an RFP process that would likely yield the same end result but would consume significant staff time.
STRATEGIC CONNECTIONS
City of St. Albert Strategic Plan (Policy C-CG-02) - Pillars of Sustainability
GIS software and applications are used to support all of the following pillars:
SOCIAL - We are a friendly and inclusive community of passionate equals, where everyone feels a sense of belonging. We believe that community starts with the person next door.
ECONOMIC - We prosper and excel through a strong and diverse economy that is supported by forward-thinking commerce, outstanding local businesses and a dynamic downtown core.
BUILT ENVIRONMENT - We build our community towards the future to sustain balanced development, with a reverent eye to the past, honouring our unique settlement history and distinct identity.
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT- We protect, embrace and treasure our deeply-rooted connections with the natural environment through championing environmental action.
CULTURE - We are proud of our storied history that has fed and nurtured our festive and culturally-rich community.
Service Delivery Strategy
Council is committed to ensuring that the City of St. Albert is engaging residents to identify opportunities to improve delivery of services to the community.
GIS software supports service delivery by all departments.
Long Term Plans
GIS software supports business objectives within numerous long term plans, including:
• Social Master Plan
• Environmental Master Plan
• IT Services Long Term Plan
• Smart City Master Plan
Corporate Objectives (See Corporate Business Plan)
Attract and retain high quality employees
Deliver programs and services that meet or exceed our standards
Exercise strong fiscal management
Ensure our customers are very satisfied
(Delete all objectives that are not associated with or applicable to this report)
Council Policies, Bylaws or Federal/Provincial statutes
Report Date: February 26, 2018
Author(s): Gordon Coulman, Director
Committee/Department: Innovation and Technology Services
General Manager: Michelle Bonnici
City Manager: Kevin Scoble