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TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ? -`'°�' Contra
FROM: PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE WIN��. ` Costa
DATE: SEPTEMBER 9, 2008 T=
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SUBJECT: ISSUANCE OF RFP FOR NEW LAW AND JUSTICE INFORMATION SYSTEM
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the County Administrator, or designee, to issue a Request for Proposals
for an integrated law and justice information and case management system to replace the County's
aging Law and Justice Information System.
2. DIRECT the County Administrator and the Chief Information Officer(Department of Information
Technology)to begin developing a plan to move applications off of the County's mainframe within
three to five years, and determine the funding necessary to support that approach.
FISCAL IMPACT
The 2008/09 combined information technology development, maintenance, and operations budget for the
District Attorney, Public Defender, and Probation Departments (hereinafter the "Justice Partners") is
$814,247. Proceeding with the new case management system proposal warrants the immediate
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: ® YES SIGNATURE: r
❑ RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR ® RECOMM ATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
® APPROVE ❑ R
SIGNATURE(S):
JJyO--HN GIOIA,CHAIR DERAL D. GLOVER, MEMBER
ACTION OF BOARD ON
APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED [ael6THER ❑
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS: I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AND
CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AND
,./UNANIMOUS(ABSENT 14 0"d ) ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
AYES: NOES:
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: ATTESTED: SEPTEMBER 23,2008
Contact: JULIE ENEA(925)335-1077 DAVID TWA, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
cc: PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE STAFF
COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER(DoIT)
DISTRICT ATTORNEY By: /� Deputy
PUBLIC DEFENDER
COUNTY PROBATION OFFICER
RFP to Replace Law &Justice Information System September 9,2008
Page 2
FISCAL IMPACT (continued...)
suspension of most development and non-critical maintenance on the existing LJIS; only maintenance
required to continue the operation of the existing system will be funded. All remaining development and
maintenance funds will be redirected towards Department of Information Technology (DoIT) staff costs to
convert and transition existing data files to the proposed new system. As July 1, 2009 is the earliest
possible date on which a new system can be implemented (and that would be a very optimistic target date),
we anticipate no negative budgetary or fiscal impact to DoIT operations and any of its mainframe customers
in the current budget year.
Possible systems range in price from $1 to $3 million depending on the features, hosting, and maintenance
agreements. The County Administrator proposes to purchase a replacement system through a five-year
financing plan funded through the diversion of current information technology appropriations for the Justice
Partners. The diversion of budget appropriations from DoIT to a new system, once it is in place, will
require DoIT to eliminate approximately four positions (by attrition) among the Operations and Systems &
Programming Divisions, commensurate with a reduction in workload.
BACKGROUND
At the August 4, 2008 Public Protection Committee meeting, the County Administrator's Office presented a
proposal to begin the process to replace the County's aging Law and Justice Information System (LJIS), an
integrated case management system that supports the Justice Partners and the Superior Court. The proposal
was precipitated by the Superior Court's announced intention to switch to a new statewide calendaring and
court management system by 2012. In order to be ready to integrate with the prospective Superior Court
system, the County will need to migrate to a compatible system by, or ideally before, 2012. To achieve a
timely conversion, staff advised the Committee that planning should commence as soon as possible. Based
on this discussion, the Committee authorized staff to proceed with the development of a Request for
Proposals (RFP) for a new LJIS, and report back at the next Committee meeting with a written plan
showing how a new LJIS can be financed and what fiscal impact would occur due to the migration of the
LJIS away from the County's mainframe computer. Additionally,the Committee asked the Department of
Information Technology (DoIT) whether its remaining mainframe applications should be moved off of the
mainframe as a cost savings measure.
On September 9, staff reported back with a sample five-year financing plan in the approximate amount of
$600,000 per year. The annual cost would be funded through a diversion of current budget allocations from
the old LJIS to the new system (see Fiscal Impact). Staff also advised that the proposed migration of the
LJIS and the Superior Court (by 2012) will significantly reduce the funding available to continue to operate
the County's mainframe computer. DoIT operates three major applications on the County's mainframe
computer system: the County's Finance System, Land Information System (LIS), and Law and Justice
Information System (LJIS). Each of these systems is critical to the missions of the departments that rely on
them.
DoIT has been working for some time with the Auditor, Assessor and Tax Collector(hereinafter the
"Finance Partners"), as owners of the LIS, to seek an alternative solution for the County's property
management system. As a member of the California County Information System Directors' Association,
DoIT has participated with other County Information Technology departments in finding a suitable
replacement for a large county property system, including development of a proposal to have a consortium
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RFP to Replace Law&Justice Information System September 9,2008
Page 3
of large counties develop a replacement system using new technology and to use a private third party to
develop the new system. This proposal collapsed due to its complexities and cost. DoIT also supported the
Finance Partners as they evaluated a system in use in many smaller counties. The Finance Partners deemed
this system inadequate to support the requirements of a large county such as Contra Costa. Currently, DoIT
is working with the Finance Partners to review what Solano and Marin Counties have done to move their
property systems off of a mainframe environment and the savings they have achieved. It should be noted
that San Diego County has contracted with Bearing Point for $30 million to develop an integrated property
system, which is still in development. Bearing Point will have the ability to market this package to other
counties in the future. However, until a suitable replacement for the County's property system is found, this
LIS will need to continue to operate on the County's mainframe. DoIT will continue to work with the
Finance Partners to seek the best alternatives available for meeting their needs and controlling costs.
Unlike the LIS, DoIT believes there are many alternatives to the County's Finance System, which operates
as a batch system on the mainframe with web access to reports via the County's Intranet. However, based
on the County's experience with the PeopleSoft Payroll/Human Resource System and discussions with the
Auditor-Controller,•DoIT anticipates that a new finance system would have an operational cost of anywhere
from five to ten times more than the current operating costs of$261,000, in addition to the substantial
implementation costs estimated at over $1,000,000. Despite the initial replacement cost and higher
operating costs, DoIT supports replacing the Finance System because the newer technology will improve
staff efficiency by eliminating time-consuming, low-level, duplicative tasks. DoIT and the County
Administrator's Office will continue to collaborate with the Auditor's Office in seeking the necessary
funding for implementing a state-of-the-art system to replace the County's aging Finance System.
As was noted at the August 4 meeting of the Public Protection Committee meeting, the Superior Court is
planning on moving to a new statewide court system in 2012. In comparison to the Justice Partners'
combined $604,000 annual impact to DoIT due to departure from the County mainframe, the Superior
Court's departure is expected to have three times the impact, at $1.7 million annually. Once the Court
moves to a new system,those County departments who have applications still operating on the mainframe
will be faced with substantial cost increases or must be subsidized by the General Fund or other funding
source until a lower-cost alternative is found or a new funding model is implemented. For the remaining
mainframe clients, DoIT anticipates mainframe operations and maintenance costs at least doubling after the
Superior Court's departure due to the fixed costs of supporting the mainframe. While these costs are
substantially more than is being charged to mainframe customers today, it is not certain that these charges
would be more than the cost of replacement systems in the short term.
The timeframe for moving off of the mainframe is appropriate in that the County's mainframe is paid for
and is likely to continue to meet the County's needs for the next three to five years. This time period will
allow for an orderly transition to new Finance and Property Systems or migration of existing systems to
alternative hardware and software platforms. These alternatives are likely to require increased funding,
which will need to be a consideration for future annual budget deliberations.
With the inevitable requirement to upgrade to a new LJIS, our committee recommendations that staff be
authorized to issue an RFP, with a goal of identifying a responsive system some time in January to allow for
further planning.