DATE: November 3, 2020
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Robert W. Bash, Director of Internal Services/Chief Information Officer
Bernice E. Seidel, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT: Agreement with Kofile Technologies, Inc.
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute an Agreement with Kofile Technologies, Inc., for document preservation and imaging of historical records and software services, effective upon execution, not to exceed five consecutive years, which includes a three-year base contract and two optional one-year extensions, total not to exceed $1,002,124.
REPORT
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Approval of the recommended action will authorize Kofile Technologies, Inc. (Kofile) to preserve the County’s historical records. County staff will be able to efficiently access historical records and provide copies to the public. The recommended agreement utilizes rates negotiated by Alameda County under U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule 70 Contract No. GS-35F-275AA, pursuant to the Purchasing Manager’s authority in compliance with the Purchasing Manual. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board may choose not to approve the recommended action; however, the departments will need to secure a vendor that can preserve or image historical records and avoid degradation.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The recommended agreement has a total compensation amount not to exceed $1,002,124 for the term. This includes document restoration and preservation services ($776,084), archival shelving units to safely store the restored documents ($12,150), QuickLinks set up, indexing and maintenance and support ($165,550), taxes and related fees ($28,340) and additional services ($20,000). Costs will be based on the actual page counts and usage of software. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues for the first year (approximately $200,000), are included in CAO - Interest and Miscellaneous Expenditures Org 2540 FY 2020-21 Adopted Budget and will be included in future Board of Supervisors Org 0110 budget requests.
DISCUSSION:
As noted in the County’s Purchasing Manual, the Purchasing Manager is authorized to join with other public entities for collectively preparing specifications; requesting and receiving quotations or proposals; and making an award to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder if the source selection method used is in compliance with the requirements of Chapter 4 - Vendor Selection Through Competitive Solicitation. Further, the Internal Services Department - Purchasing Division may also use California Cooperative Purchasing Contracts if the items under a State contract meet the County's needs and if it is unlikely that a separate County bid would result in prices, terms and/or conditions that are more favorable. Contract buying groups are considered to take the place of competition if, in Purchasing's opinion, it is in the best interest of the County.
The recommended agreement utilizes rates negotiated by Alameda County under GSA Schedule 70 Contract No. GS-35F-275AA, as such GSA has determined that the vendor's pricing is fair and reasonable, and the vendor follows all applicable laws and regulations. Kofile’s billing under the recommended agreement will be based on the actual page counts and usage of software.
The Alameda County conducted research to identify companies that could provide historical document preservation, including companies suggested by the GSA. Due to the specific and unique nature of this service, Kofile is the only company that can meet the preservation standards of the County, and was the only respondent to the Requests for Proposals (RFP) issued over the last several years by other counties in the State for similar preservation services. Over the last decade, only two other companies had submitted bids for these services to Alameda County. By 2011, Kofile had acquired those companies, thereby confirming Alameda County’s findings that only Kofile is able to successfully perform the service. Kofile has performed these services in all but five California counties in the past 20 years. On October 18, 2018, GSA approved a sole source procurement and issued a Finding of Non-Competition-Sole Source No. 5536, included as Attachment A.
Under the recommended agreement, the historical documents will be chemically restored, encapsulated in a material to protect them from further environmental breakdown, and imaged to preserve the data. On August 11, 2015, the Board approved Agreement No. 15-366 for services and software for the County’s Assessor-Recorder’s Office and on April 28, 2020, your Board approved Agreement No. 20-156 to continue using Kofile to preserve, image, and index documents. On July 7, 2020, your Board approved Agreement No. 20-270 for similar services for the County’s Department of Public Works and Planning - Development Services Division.
The proposed scope of work includes preservation and imaging of various historical documents, including historical records of ordinances, Board Meeting minutes, and related documents. Records housed by the Clerk of the Board date back to the 1850s and are in varying condition due to age and storage environments. Many of the documents have issues related to binding, previous repair, and other age-related problems that will result in the eventual complete degradation of those documents, if not addressed. The recommended agreement includes the option for the Clerk of the Board to utilize Kofile’s indexing services through their QuickLinks solution. This solution is also being adopted by the Assessor-Recorder’s Office and would simplify historical document retrieval through the indexes of Board minutes.
With your Board’s approval, Kofile will use archival-quality document preservation methods to preserve and protect the documents and will then image the documents for digital access. The documents will be inventoried by volume and page; binding, fastening, and old repairs by tape will be removed; and the paper will be chemically stabilized. After restoration, each document will be encapsulated in an archival polyester sleeve for protection from environmental contaminants, and rebound. Kofile will safely package and transport all documents to their western facility and return them to the County when the preservation, protection, and imaging process is complete. Should the Clerk of the Board elect to utilize the QuickLinks indexing software, digital links will be created by Kofile to hyperlink the index to the minutes and related information, followed by the creation of a site for the data to be stored.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #53, July 7, 2020
BAI #34, April 28, 2020
BAI #27, August 11, 2015
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Attachment A - Finding of Non-Competition-Sole Source No. 5536
On file with Clerk - Agreement with Kofile
CAO ANALYST:
Sonia M. De La Rosa