DATE: January 28, 2025
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Sanja Bugay, Director, Department of Social Services
SUBJECT: Purchase of Purpose-Built, Curated Data Set (PBDS) access and Technical Training through the CalSAWS Consortium
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Under Administrative Policy No. 34 for competitive bids or requests for proposals (AP 34), determine that an exception to the competitive bidding requirement under AP 34 is satisfied and a sole source is warranted due to unusual or extraordinary circumstances, and that the best interests of the County would be served by entering into an agreement with Gainwell Technologies LLC (Gainwell) and the CalSAWS Consortium as the CalSAWS Consortium is a Joint Powers Authority formed by all 58 California Counties;
2. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute the County Purchase Agreement with Gainwell Technologies LLC and the CalSAWS consortium, for the purchase of Purpose-Built Curated Data Set (PBDS) access, infrastructure support and technical training, on behalf of the County, effective February 1, 2025, through May 31, 2026, total not to exceed $48,530; and
3. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute First Amendment to Agreement No. 24-193 with Accenture LLP and the CalSAWS Consortium for the purchase of Purpose-Built, Curated Data Set (PBDS) access and Maintenance & Enhancements (M&E) support, with no change to the term of August 1, 2024 through July 31, 2025, and decreasing the maximum by $8,992 to a total of $460,258.
REPORT
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Approval of the recommended actions will allow the Department continued access and support through Gainwell and the CalSAWS consortium for the use of the Purpose-Built, Curated Data Set (PBDS) that currently resides in a CalSAWS Amazon Simple Storage Solution location. These services support the creation of customized reporting and analysis of welfare and Social Services data. Additionally, the Department will receive technical training on the CalSAWS system, leveraging the expertise and support from Gainwell. The cost for the purchase will be offset primarily through current year State and Federal allocated funds. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board not approve the recommended actions, the Department will lose access to PBDS. The Department will continue to extract data specific to the County of Fresno from the Enterprise Data Repository (EDR), creating modified reports and workarounds based on the limitations of existing pre-defined CalSAWS reporting.
SUSPENSION OF COMPETITION/SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT:
It is requested that the County find under AP No. 34 that an exception to the competitive bidding requirement is satisfied, and a sole source is warranted due to unusual or extraordinary circumstances, as the CalSAWS Consortium is a Joint Powers Authority formed for the management of CalSAWS on behalf of all 58 California counties. The Joint Powers Authority has procured the software, maintenance, and any necessary equipment support of a PBDS. A PBDS cannot be procured independently elsewhere. The Internal Services Department - Purchasing concurs with the Department’s assessment that this satisfies the exception to the competitive bidding process required by AP 34.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. The maximum cost of the recommended agreements ($508,788) will be fully offset with State and Federal Social Services Funds ($484,043), 2011 Realignment ($13,792) in lieu of State General Funds for Child Welfare Services and Adult Protective Services Programs that were realigned to counties through Assembly Bill 118 (Chapter 40, Statutes of 2011), 1991 Social Services Realignment ($5,555), and the required Net County Cost ($5,398) which offsets the General Relief Program share of cost. There was a decrease of $8,992 in Regulatory and Administrative (R&A) charges. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Department’s Org 5610 FY 2024-25 Adopted Budget and will be included in subsequent budgets.
DISCUSSION:
On March 12, 2019, the Board approved Agreement No. 19-129 and Agreement No. 19-130 with the CalSAWS Consortium, a Joint Powers Authority, to allow the CalSAWS Consortium to oversee activities and the management of CalSAWS, such as the design, procurement, development, implementation, migration, ongoing operation, and system maintenance, on behalf of all 58 California counties. The Department requests for additional CalSAWS support to follow the existing processes within the Consortium agreement and are represented as “Additional County Purchase Requests/Agreements”.
On April 23, 2024, the Board approved Agreement No. 24-193 with the CalSAWS Consortium for the purchase of PBDS access and technical training. Under the current arrangement, Accenture, originally selected by the Consortium to provide infrastructure, training, and M&E services, will conclude its infrastructure support by January 31, 2025. Following the Consortium’s decision to end its agreement with Accenture for infrastructure and training services, Gainwell was selected to provide support for these services beginning February 1, 2025. Accenture will continue providing M&E services until July 31, 2025.
Approval of the recommended actions will allow the Department to purchase continued PBDS access from the CalSAWS Amazon S3 location. The Department will access curated data from the County’s Amazon S3 account, specifically filtered to the County of Fresno. A PBDS will enable the Department to develop customized reporting and analysis of Public Assistance data, applying conditions in accordance with Department specifications. This will enhance data accuracy and adaptability, enabling the Department to meet its evolving needs while improving efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency. Additionally, the Department will receive technical training from Gainwell, the vendor selected by the CalSAWS Consortium, on generating, customizing, and interpreting reports within the CalSAWS system.
CalSAWS provides the Department with the Enterprise Data Repository (EDR) environment along with all 58 counties in which the Department’s IT division filters pre-defined datasets to obtain data that pertains to Fresno County daily for use in the Department’s current reporting infrastructure Oracle Business Intelligence (Oracle BI). The Department currently faces challenges with the CalSAWS reporting environment, due to the added time required to obtain and filter County specific data, limitations met with CalSAWS pre-defined reports, and the need for workarounds to combine data. Requests to modify current pre-defined CalSAWS reports can be an extensive process, requiring a Service Request and approval from all 58 counties. The EDR environment is built from a PBDS.
The County Purchase Agreement deviates from the County’s standard contract language as it was developed by the CalSAWS consortium.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #48, April 23, 2024
BAI #50, March 12, 2019
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Suspension of Competition Acquisition Request
On file with Clerk - Agreement with Gainwell and CalSAWS Consortium
On file with Clerk - Amendment I to Agreement with Accenture and CalSAWS Consortium
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander