34 September 22, 2026
Honorable Mayor and City Council
City of Long Beach
California
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation to authorize the City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to amend Contract No. 34740 with Utility Solutions Partners, LLC, of Washington, DC, for managed services for providing maintenance and integration support for the City of Long Beach’s utilities information systems, to increase the annual contract amount to $2,670,368, plus a 5% contingency in the amount of $133,518, and authorize an additional one-time amount not to exceed $1,204,998 for the upgrade of the utility billing technology stack, for a revised annual contract amount not to exceed $4,008,884, and extend the term of the managed services contract to September 30, 2027 at the discretion of the City Manager; and,
Increase appropriations in the General Services Fund Group in the Technology and Innovation Department by $1,345,450, offset by one-time charges to user departments. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
City Council approval is requested to amend Contract No. 34740 with Utility Solutions Partners, LLC (USP) to continue to provide managed services for the maintenance and integration support for the City of Long Beach (City) utility customer information systems, which will reach end-of- support on September 30, 2026. A Managed Services Agreement (MSA) for Customer Information Systems (CIS) utilities technology support provides consistent, high-quality, specialized technical services for the City’s specific CIS system which supports the City's natural gas, water, sewer and waste management services. The MSA offers cost predictability and scalability that adapts to the City’s evolving needs, it ensures proactive maintenance that reduces downtime and operational disruptions, and it enables efficient, comprehensive, and highly specialized technology management and faster response times for all utility systems.
The City has used an MSA contract to provide these services since the inception of the first CIS implementation, which began in 2009 (RFP TS09-049) with the MSA contract executed in 2011.
At that time, the CIS system modernized processes, procedures, and requirements to provide a long-term automated solution, which created a need for a comprehensive suite of specialized technical skills. An MSA was pursued to ensure the City had the required dedicated, specialized technical skills to provide real-time maintenance, operational support, and end-user support enhancements and upgrades for the Oracle-based CIS Solution that provided gas, water, sewer, and solid waste services. The managed service vendor was selected through a competitive RFP process and specializes in technical experience with the City's CIS system and demonstrated that they can provide the needed managed services to help ensure successful production Technology and Innovation
411 West Ocean Boulevard, 7th Floor, Long Beach, CA 90802 (562) 570-6455
Honorable Mayor and City Council
September 22, 2026
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operation of the CIS Solution at the City. Since the initial implementation, an MSA contract has helped to support the team that oversees the City's CIS system.
At its meeting on September 5, 2017, the City Council adopted Specifications No. RFP TI 17- 095 and awarded an MSA contract to USP, for managed services of the City’s CIS utility systems, in a total amount not to exceed $4,044,595 for the first year, and thereafter, in an amount not to exceed $2,286,100 annually, for a period of two years, with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods for ongoing maintenance.
At its meeting on October 6, 2020, the City Council approved an increase in the annual amount of the MSA contract with a one-time increase of $425,000 for a new total including contingency of $2,982,430. At its meeting on July 5, 2022, the City Council approved a revised MSA contract amount of $2,550,295 including $400,000 for technical hours for special technical CIS system requests, known as the “Bucket of Hours” (BoH).
At its meeting on August 19, 2025, the City Council approved a revised annual MSA contract amount of $2,656,412 including $400,000 for BoH and extended the contract for a period of one- year. The contract is set to expire on September 30, 2026.
This recommendation requests to continue the MSA contract inclusive of support services known as Core Production in the amount of $2,255,328 for one year and increases the lump sum for BoH for special technical CIS system requests from $400,000 to $415,000 annually to account for rate increases and to maintain the same level of hours available in the BoH. The MSA also includes a Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase not to exceed 5.89 percent for Core Production work. Additionally, this MSA amendment will include a one-time specialized technical support for the implementation of an upgrade to the utility billing system, known as Customer Care and Billing (CC&B) in the amount of $1,204,998. USP has in-depth knowledge of the City’s system architecture, business processes, and the customizations implemented for utilities operations which uniquely positions them to support, test, and resolve any issues that may arise during the upgrade process. The current CC&B system will reach end-of-support on September 30, 2026, and Oracle will no longer provide security patches for the system or provide quick urgent repairs to issues that arise after that date.
It is crucial to extend the agreement with USP due to their in-depth knowledge of the City’s Utility Services and their proven specialized technical expertise in supporting ongoing improvements.
The City's overall utility information systems provide unified customer, billing, and field service management platforms supporting metered gas, water, sewer, and unmetered refuse services (collectively "Utility Services"), serving over 163,000 utility customers and generating more than $327 million in revenue for the City annually. The utility information systems are overseen by an Interdepartmental Steering Committee (Committee), which is composed of senior leadership staff from each of the departments that use the utility systems. These departments include Long Beach Utilities, Public Works, Energy and Environmental Services, Financial Management and Technology & Innovation. The Committee meets regularly and has recommended that the City amend the existing agreement at the terms outlined above and approve moving forward with USP’s support with an upgrade to the utility billing system in the amount stated above. Should the City Council not approve this recommendation and the CIS reach end-of-support on Honorable Mayor and City Council
September 22, 2026
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September 30, 2026, the City would be opening itself up to significant risks including system downtime or system failure, and increased costs associated with this. Loss of 24/7 monitoring and support of the Oracle databases and application servers, including real-time notification of issues that can cause system failure and real-time troubleshooting of issues that require immediate attention to avoid system downtime and system failure.
Inability to deliver Oracle security patches to the database or application servers can cause vulnerabilities to the City’s systems.
Issues that arise with the custom integrations in place between CC&B, the meter data management system, and the new MyUtiliity Web portal could render those applications unusable, would impact the City’s ability to issue utility bills and collect revenue, and would eliminate self-service options and increase calls to customer service call centers. This MSA contract provides a suite of specialized services that ensure system security. Complex new customizations or configurations or changes to CC&B requested by the utilities due to regulatory changes or business process changes would also not be immediately possible.
Any outstanding issues being worked on by USP would be discontinued and any submitted service request tickets for complex issues impacting customers may not be resolved.
This matter was reviewed by Deputy City Attorney Adam Jacobs on September 9, 2026, Procurement Analyst Tommy Ryan on September 3, 2026, and by Budget Analysis Officer Greg Sorensen on September 9, 2026.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action to amend Contract No. 34740 is requested on September 22, 2026, to ensure there is no interruption of services.
FISCAL IMPACT
The annual amount of the MSA contract for the current year will not exceed $4,008,884, inclusive of a 5% contingency and one-time support for the implementation of an upgrade to the utility billing system in the amount of $1,204,998. As the one-time upgrade project, CPI and BoH increases are currently unbudgeted, an appropriation increase in the amount of $1,345,450 is necessary in the General Services Fund Group in the Technology and Innovation Department.
Structural funding to align contract increases to budget may be necessary for future years and will be requested in the subsequent annual budget process. Contract costs are recovered from client departments and budgeted through the annual Technology and Innovation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
This recommendation has no staffing impact beyond the normal budgeted scope of duties and is consistent with existing City Council priorities. There is no local job impact associated with this recommendation.
Honorable Mayor and City Council
September 22, 2026
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SUGGESTED ACTION:
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully submitted,
Meredith Reynolds
Acting Director
Technology and Innovation