Title
Service Agreement for an Open Data Portal and Performance Measurement Dashboard for the Government 2.0 Initiative (NB)
This item requests approval by the City Commission to authorize the City Manager to enter into a specified source contract with Socrata, Inc., for The Socrata Open Data Platform and GovStat to make data available through shared public datasets and display performance metrics using interactive dashboards.
Explanation
In an ongoing effort to provide transparency, participation, and collaboration in government, City of Gainesville staff seeks to take an initial major step forward with the implementation of Government 2.0, as described in the City Commission's Strategic Initiative 4.2. This initiative was adopted in the FY2013 City Commission Strategic Plan to enhance service provisions and provide information to foster citizen engagement.
The draft agreement will provide a cloud-based, vendor-hosted offering delivered as a turnkey, configurable solution for The Socrata Open Data Platform, the Socrata version of an open data portal, and GovStat, the Socrata version of a performance measurement dashboard. The Socrata Open Data Platform will make City datasets available to the public in a variety of industry-standard formats and will provide accessible sorting, searching, filtering, and downloading capabilities for the development of web-based and mobile applications. GovStat will allow for the evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of City services through visualizations available on an external citizens dashboard and internal management dashboard.
Staff recommends a hosted solution to make data available to the public. Due to the cost of setting up servers, obtaining database licenses, and the significant resources required to initiate an in-house development and on-going maintenance, selecting a vendor with all of these components in place is imperative to provide this service.
After reviewing major municipal open data portals and performance measurement dashboards, staff found the following organizations contracted with Socrata using either a sole, single, or specified source justification. Staff's research included the City of Austin, Texas, the City of Dallas, Texas, the State of Washington, the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, the State of Missouri, the State of Illinois DOT, the City of South Bend, Indiana, San Mateo County, California, Wellington, Florida, and Cook County, Illinois.
While staff identified vendors outside of the United States offering a version of a data warehousing site, there are no known comparable vendors within the United States. This is comparable to the research identified by the above referenced government entities. While staff also identified multiple vendors of performance measurement dashboards, there were various limitations to each offering which would require specific customization to meet the needs of the City. Socrata is the only vendor offering a package of services which includes both the open data portal and performance measurement dashboard. Furthermore, staff found Socrata's offering to be unique in its live connection and data integration between both The Socrata Open Data Platform and GovStat.
The draft agreement contracts with Socrata for its Software as a Service (SaaS) offering and includes data conversion and implementation, initial and ongoing training, website hosting, and user support services. Based upon staff research and communication, the contract amount of the draft agreement is comparable to other municipalities of similar size to Gainesville. A three-year agreement would also be most effective due to the amount of staff resources that will be required for a successful implementation and launch.
Staff requests authorization to waive any bidding or competitive solicitation process and utilize the Socrata solution as a specified source for an open data portal and performance measurement dashboard.
Fiscal Note
Funds are available in General Government's Capital Improvement Plan e-Government Initiative budget to cover the full three-year service agreement totaling $197,892.
Recommendation
The City Commission: 1) approve Socrata, Inc., to be a specified source for The Socrata Open Data Platform and GovStat; and 2) authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to negotiate and execute a three-year service agreement with Socrata, Inc., subject to the approval of the City Attorney as to form and legality.