Finance and Management Committee
October 13, 2026
RECOMMENDATION
AGENDA REPORT
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Extending The Agreement With Mythics, LLC D/B/A Mythics, VIII, LLC To November 30, 2028 And Increasing The Agreement From Two Hundred Forty Nine Thousand Eight Hundred And Fifty Dollars ($249,850) To An Amount Not To Exceed One Million Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($1,250,000)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Maintaining and expanding the current Cooperative Agreement (COOP), which is valid through October 30, 2026, is critical to ensuring payroll stability, regulatory compliance, and the continued functionality of the City’s Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. This request supports ongoing operational and compliance needs that the City cannot absorb with existing internal resources.
Mythics has become an essential partner in supporting the City’s highly customized and aging Oracle environment. Their specialized expertise has been instrumental in resolving complex Oracle system defects, payroll calculation issues, AWS processing errors, FLSA discrepancies, configuration failures, and production-critical system outages that directly impact payroll accuracy and compliance. Mythics also successfully configured the City’s new AWS setup for Local 21 and continues to support payroll processing, quarterly Oracle patching, retroactive calculations, tax reporting requirements, and ongoing system remediation efforts.
Continued Mythics support is also necessary to implement federally mandated requirements under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which requires significant Oracle configuration changes related to payroll calculations, tax reporting, and W-2 compliance. Given the complexity of the legislation and limitations of the City’s ERP system, specialized Oracle expertise is required to ensure compliance and mitigate regulatory risk.
Additionally, Mythics provides critical support for implementing negotiated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) changes across multiple bargaining units. Recent examples include TO: Elizabeth Lake FROM: Bradley Johnson
Interim City Administrator Director of Finance
SUBJECT: Mythics, LLC Agreement Extension DATE: September 28, 2026 City Administrator Approval Date: Elizabeth Lake (Oct 1, 2026 15:54:36 PDT) Oct 1, 2026 Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
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configuring medical benefit contributions and CalPERS deduction changes for the Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) and Oakland Police Management Association (OPMA). As labor agreements continue to be negotiated, Oracle payroll and benefits configurations must be updated, tested, and validated to ensure accurate employee compensation, benefit deductions, and compliance with contractual obligations.
Without approval of this extension and increase, the City faces significant operational, financial, and compliance risks, including:
• Failure to fully implement OBBBA-related payroll and tax reporting requirements. • Inaccurate W-2 reporting, requiring corrections and reissuance. • Potential IRS penalties, interest, and regulatory noncompliance. • Delays that could prevent employees from timely filing their tax returns. • Payroll calculation errors, FLSA compliance issues, and system processing failures. • Delayed implementation of negotiated MOU provisions, resulting in payroll inaccuracies, employee grievances, labor relations impacts, and potential financial liabilities. • Increased system downtime, emergency support costs, and operational disruptions.
Given the City’s reliance on an aging Oracle ERP platform, ongoing legislative changes, and continuously evolving labor agreements, continuity of Mythics’ services is essential. Extending and increasing the COOP will ensure access to specialized Oracle expertise needed to maintain payroll accuracy, implement required compliance changes, support negotiated labor agreements, and protect the City from significant operational, financial, and regulatory risks.
This investment is necessary to preserve continuity of operations and ensure the successful administration of one of the City’s most critical business functions.
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Since 2002, the City has relied on Oracle America, Inc. products and services to support critical business functions, including payroll, human resources, budgeting, procurement, and financial management. The City maintains an annual Oracle support subscription that provides access to software updates, security enhancements, troubleshooting, and emergency technical support necessary to sustain daily operations.
To supplement Oracle's standard support services, the City utilizes a Cooperative Purchasing Agreement (COOP) with Mythics, Inc. to obtain specialized Oracle technical and functional expertise for the City's highly customized and aging Oracle ERP and Human Capital Management (HCM) environment. Pursuant to Oakland Municipal Code Section 2.04.080, the City may leverage competitively procured cooperative agreements when advantageous to the City, allowing the City to obtain specialized services through an existing governmental cooperative contract without conducting a separate procurement process. Utilizing the Mythics cooperative agreement provides the City with timely access to highly specialized Oracle Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
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resources, promotes procurement efficiency, reduces administrative costs, and ensures continuity of critical support services.
The current COOP remains valid through October 30, 2026; however, the remaining contract authority is insufficient to meet the City's ongoing operational, compliance, and legislative requirements. Pursuant to Oakland Municipal Code requirements, City Council approval is required for contract increases exceeding $250,000. The requested increase in spending authority will allow the City to continue utilizing specialized Oracle support services necessary to implement federally mandated changes associated with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), support negotiated bargaining-unit modifications affecting payroll, retirement, and benefit calculations, and address ongoing Oracle system issues that cannot be supported with existing City resources.
Approval of the additional contract authority is necessary to ensure continuity of services, maintain payroll and tax compliance, prevent operational disruptions, and mitigate the risk of IRS penalties, inaccurate W-2 reporting, payroll processing errors, delayed implementation of negotiated labor agreements, and other compliance-related liabilities.
The recent Legislative History relevant to this project, includes:
• On March 7, 2023, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 89611 C.M.S that authorized the City Administrator to negotiate and execute an agreement with Fusion BI, Inc. for one hundred five thousand dollars ($105,000) for Oracle Business Intelligence and Analytics consulting services for a one (1) year term with the option to extend for an additional one (1) year for a total amount not to exceed two hundred ten thousand dollars ($210,000).
• On October 3, 2017, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 86922 C.M.S. authorizing the City Administrator or designee to appropriate $2.2 Million from the City's Development Services Fund (2415) Balance to fund the Oracle R12 Reimplementation Project.
• On October 6, 2015, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 85825 C.M.S. that authorized the City Administrator or designee to execute master lease agreement(s) with IBM Credit LLC for financing not to exceed an amount of $17,000,000, a term of 7 years and an interest rate of 3.5% tax-exempt and/or 5.5% taxable; and waived competitive selection requirements for the financing agreement(s).Resolution No. 85825 also stipulated that the proceeds of the financing were to fund: (A) current information technology systems operations and maintenance; (B) a project to upgrade/implement the Oracle Systems, including hardware, software, professional services, support and maintenance; (C) a project to implement a new municipal budgeting system including hardware, software, professional services, support and maintenance; and (C) a project to replace and improve 9-1-1 public safety systems including hardware, software, professional services, support and maintenance. In addition, the resolution approved the recommendations of the City Administrator for the award of contracts to provide professional services to upgrade/implement the Oracle Systems and to implement a new municipal budgeting system based on the results of the competitive selection process; Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
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and authorized the City Administrator or designee to negotiate and enter into professional services contracts with the approved firms
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
Since 2002, the City has relied on Oracle America, Inc. products and services to support critical business functions, including payroll, personnel, procurement, budgeting, and accounts payable and receivable. The Finance Department and Information Technology Department (ITD) have determined that specialized Oracle HRMS/Payroll consulting services are required to support ongoing payroll and personnel operations, address system complexities, maintain regulatory compliance, and reduce operational risk.
Attachment A details the full scope of consulting services to be provided, including specialized functional and technical expertise to support Oracle Payroll operations, maintenance, and enhancements.
The use of cooperative agreements allows the city to ensure services are uninterrupted and provides the city with access to commodities and services at the lowest prices. This results in significant cost savings for the city and significantly shortens the contract process cycle because the competitive solicitation process has been completed by another governmental jurisdiction or public agency, thereby saving staff time and resources
RELATED PLANNING EFFORTS
This agenda item supports the Strategic Priority to Streamline Operations. Specifically, this item relates to the implementation of the following task(s):
Centralize Payroll Policies and Practices: Streamline and enhance payroll processing and systems. Create citywide policies and standardized practices with consideration for department policies and structure (e.g., overtime policies).
The adoption of this resolution directly supports the 2026-30 Oakland Roadmap to Fiscal Health’s initiative to develop long-term investment plan for the City’s infrastructure, fleet, and systems. The Mythics, LLC D/B/A Mythics, VIII, LLC COOP agreement extension will directly support the enhancement and stabilization of the financial enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, Oracle HRMS/Payroll that serves as the primary personnel, payroll, and financial database. The proposed COOP agreement extension will support the City's ongoing payroll and personnel operations and to mitigate operational risks associated with the complexity of the City's Oracle environment.
FISCAL IMPACT
Approval of the proposed resolution authorizes the City Administrator, or Designee, to increase and extend the current COOP with Mythics, LLC D/B/A Mythics, VIII, LLC. in an amount not to exceed One Million Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($1,250,000) to provide Oracle payroll consulting services for a two-year term, subject to funding availability and the need for services Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
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to continue. There is no minimum commitment for any awarded contract, and funds will not be committed in advance unless funding is identified.
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2026-27 Midcycle Adopted Budget includes $250,000 for this contract.
Funding for the remaining amount of the proposed contract will be requested during the carry forward process and/or the FY 2027-29 biennial budget process, contingent upon funding availability and Council adoption.
Table 1: Mythics, LLC D/B/A Mythics, VIII, LLC Funding Sources Fund Organization Project Account Program Amount
4510 -
Personnel
Management
08121 -
Finance
Mgmt: Payroll
1000007 -
Administrative
Project
54916 -
Services:
Support
IP59 -
Financial
Management
$1,250,000
Total Funding $1,250,000
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
No outreach was deemed necessary for the proposed policy action beyond the standard City Council agenda noticing procedures because the proposed action is administrative, operational, and technical in nature and does not establish new policies, modify existing City services, or directly impact the public. The proposed agreement provides specialized Oracle HRMS/Payroll consulting services to support the City’s internal payroll, personnel, and financial systems, including payroll processing, labor agreement implementation, regulatory compliance, system maintenance, and continuity of critical business operations.
COORDINATION
This report and legislation have been reviewed by the Information Technology Department, Finance Department, Office of the City Attorney, and City Administrator’s Office.
RACE AND EQUITY
Approval of this resolution will provide specialized Oracle HRMS/Payroll consulting services needed to support the City's payroll and personnel systems, including implementation of negotiated labor agreements, compliance with legislative requirements such as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), quarterly Oracle patching, and critical payroll operations. These services are administrative and technical in nature and do not affect programmatic decisions, service delivery, eligibility determination, nor influence where or how work is performed. As such, staff did not complete a Racial Equity Impact Analysis for the recommended action.
Elizabeth Lake, Interim City Administrator
Subject: Mythics, LLC Agreement Extension
Date: September 28, 2026 Page 6
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Bradley Johnson (Oct 1, 2026 15:32:02 PDT)
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Extending The IT COOP Agreement With Mythics, LLC D/B/A Mythics, VIII, LLC To November 30, 2028 And Increasing The Agreement From Two Hundred Forty Nine Thousand Eight Hundred And Fifty Dollars ($249,850) To An Amount Not To Exceed One Million Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($1,250,000)
For questions regarding this report, please contact Anjali Saxena, Payroll Administrator, at 510- 238-6735 or [email protected] .
Respectfully submitted,
BRADLEY JOHNSON
Director of Finance
Prepared by:
Anjali Saxena, Payroll Administrator
Srinivasa Sunchu, ELDE-HR Systems Analyst,
Supervisor, Finance Department
Attachments (1):
A: Consulting services to be provided by Mythics, LLC D/B/A Mythics, VIII, LLC