City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR
Lead Department: Transportation
Meeting Date: December 15, 2025
Report #:2503-4330
TITLE
Approval of Professional Services Contract No. C26190778A with Turbo Data LLC, in an Amount Not to Exceed $989,138 to Provide Development, Implementation, Support and Maintenance of a Comprehensive Parking Permit and Citation Management System for five years; CEQA status - not a project.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that City Council approve and authorize the City Manager or their designee to execute a five-year contract, C25190778A (Attachment A) with Turbo Data LLC in the amount not to exceed $989,139 to provide development, implementation, support, and maintenance of a comprehensive Parking Permit and Citation Management System (CPMS) and related services in support of the City’s parking programs.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In October 2023, City staff engaged the services of Dixon Resources Unlimited (Dixon) to assist in developing a comprehensive Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new Parking Citation and Permit Management System (CPMS). The scope of the RFP included system development, implementation, support, and ongoing maintenance. The timing of the RFP was intended to coincide with the conclusion of the five-year term of Professional Services Contract No.
C19171363 with Professional Account Management, LLC (dba Duncan Solutions), which currently provides CPMS services through no later than June 30, 2026.
The City’s current CPMS lacks several desirable features, including enhanced online processing capabilities for permits and robust reporting functionality for revenue reconciliation. To address these limitations and ensure access to modern, industry-leading technology and solutions, the City pursued a competitive procurement process for CPMS services.
An RFP was released on September 6, 2024, and remained open for 28 days.1 The City received four proposals from: Turbo Data Systems, IPS Group, Duncan Solutions, and Enforce App.
Submissions from Turbo Data Systems, IPS Group, and Duncan Solutions were deemed to be responsive. The proposal from Enforce App was disqualified as multiple required documents were not submitted by the due date. An evaluation committee comprising representatives from the Office of Transportation, Police Department, Administrative Services Department, and the City Clerk’s Office reviewed the responsive proposals and vendor demonstrations were conducted with each proposer on November 13 and December 12, 2024.
Following the demonstrations, the City requested Best and Final Offers (BAFOs) from the three responsive firms. Based on a comprehensive review of written proposals, demonstration performance, system capabilities, and BAFO pricing, the evaluation committee recommended initiating contract negotiations with Turbo Data Systems.
BACKGROUND
Parking Permit Programs
The City of Palo Alto has instituted an approach to manage parking that exempts select motorists from short-term parking restrictions in qualified residential neighborhoods and the commercial cores (on- and off-street parking). There are 7,700 households within the five (5) Residential Preferential Parking (RPP) districts that are eligible to obtain parking permits. The businesses and/or employees that are located within some of the RPP districts and the Downtown and California commercial areas are eligible to obtain a limited number of permits.
In FY 2024, the City issued approximately 12,300 parking permits across these seven (7) parking programs with programmatic variations between districts, such as the number of vehicles per permit, fees, duration, renewal dates, eligibility, and limits. The 12,300 parking permits included:
4,700 RPP Annual Resident Parking Permits
2,000 RPP Annual Employee Parking Permits
5,600 Annual Garage and Lot Permits
Additionally, approximately 32,000 daily off-street parking permits were sold in FY 2024 through in-person sales at Palo Alto City Hall and at permit vending machines located in City garages and lots. Revenues for the 7 parking programs, including annual permits and off-street dailies, City employee permits, EV charging, and returns on investments, totaled $2,171,342 in FY 2024.
In support of these programs, the City’s current contractor, Duncan Solutions, receives approximately 1,200 customer service calls annually related to permit processing. 1 https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/palo-alto-ca/projects/114823 Parking Enforcement & Citation Management
The City of Palo Alto operates two distinct parking enforcement processes, one involving citations issued by contracted enforcement officers in five Residential Preferential Parking Program (RPPP) zones, which is managed by the Office of Transportation, and one with citations issued by Community Service Officers (CSOs) from the Police Department in all other parking areas (including the University Avenue and California Avenue parking districts, with garages and lots, and the two remaining RPPP areas). The purpose of these efforts is to encourage orderly parking conditions and generate parking turnover and/or on-street parking availability for premier users (such as residents in residential neighborhoods and shoppers in retail areas). Nevertheless, over the past five years, the City has issued an average of approximately 16,400 parking citations annually, generating an average of $875,000 in annual revenue.
The City of Palo Alto’s Office of Transportation staff engaged the services of a consultant, Dixon Resources Unlimited, in 2024 to facilitate the development of a comprehensive Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Parking Permit and Citation Management System, building off similar work done in previous years. This process began with City staff from Administrative Services, Police, and the Office of Transportation conferring on the requirements of the subsequent RFP.
The development, implementation, support, and maintenance of a Parking Permit and Citation Management System is intended to enhance the customer experience for online permit and citation activity, streamline processes for parking programs and provide City staff with enhanced technology.
ANALYSIS
The current CPMS implemented and supported by Duncan Solutions, was introduced to replace pre-pandemic legacy systems and manual processes. While the existing system represents a significant improvement over past operations, further enhancements are needed to better support the administrability of parking programs, community interface, and City staff. The next generation CPMS will focus on improving customer service, optimizing functionality for financial and operational reporting, and increasing system efficiency.
Solicitation Process
The City received four bids, of which three bids were deemed responsive. Written proposals were supplemented with a vendor demonstration where proposers outlined their team and subcontractor experience, particularly in California. They also demonstrated their Permit and Citation Management Systems, including software and hardware capabilities, adjudication capabilities, as well as their Customer Portals and customer service support processes.
Based on this process, City staff recommend an award of contract to Turbo Data Systems, Inc., for a term of five- years.
Table 1: Summary of Request for Proposal
Proposal Description Parking Citation and Permit Management System - RFP190778A
Proposed Length of Project 5 Years
Number of Vendors Notified 3244
Number of Proposal Packages Downloaded 31
Total Days to Respond to Proposal 28
Pre-Proposal Meeting N/A
Pre-Proposal Meeting Date N/A
Number of Proposals Received 4
Proposal Price Range $337,048 - $394,000
Public Link to Solicitation https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/palo- alto-ca/projects/114823
Turbo Data will build a custom parking permit and citation processing platform and provide support and maintenance of the system for a period of five years. The proposed platform will continue to transition City programs from manual processes to a cloud-based program. The proposed management system is expected to provide for enhanced user security, complete and immediate information for the City, and collect data for auditing and reporting purposes.
The proposed transition to Turbo Data Systems will introduce updated handheld technology for enforcement and improved integration with parking management systems. These upgrades are expected to streamline the citation issuance process, enhance administrative review workflows, and provide a more user-friendly experience for both staff and the public.
Key System Requirements
Key requirements for CPMS services requested in the RFP include:
Provision, maintenance, and support of hardware and software for citation and permit issuance and management;
A centralized online portal for citation payments, permit applications, and related processes;
Support for both physical and virtual permits;
Automated renewal notifications sent via mail and email; Full-service processing capabilities, including:
oOnline and mail-in payments,
oPermit fulfillment, and
oAdjudication request processing;
Permit management capabilities for all City permit programs; Access to in-state and out-of-state registered vehicle owner information; Delinquent citation collections, including:
oNoticing,
oDMV hold processing, and
oFranchise Tax Board (FTB) referrals;
Secondary collections;
Customer service support through a staffed call center; Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system;
Technical assistance for website users via phone and email; Enhanced reporting and noticing capabilities;
Real-time ad-hoc reporting tools; and
Ongoing staff training and technical support.
Staff remain committed to maintaining in-person customer service at the Palo Alto Civic Center for all parking permit programs. Additionally, City staff are evaluating opportunities to introduce new permit types and to transition select existing permit types from physical to virtual formats. These changes are intended to enhance program flexibility and improve convenience for permit applicants. Staff will also reassess in house resources and services are appropriately balanced with these additional customer service functions.
System Pricing
The RFP included a standardized Cost Proposal Workbook that all vendors were required to complete and submit as part of their proposals. The workbook was structured to facilitate a consistent, side-by-side comparison of pricing for core system features and services. It captured key cost elements such as per-citation and per-permit processing fees, monthly service and support costs, and upfront equipment expenditures.
Processing fees are invoiced monthly based on the actual number of citations or permits processed. As volumes fluctuate month-to-month, the workbook included average annual processing figures derived from FY 2024 totals to ensure a fair and uniform cost comparison across proposals.
Pricing submitted by the three responsive firms is summarized below, reflecting both first-year costs, which include one-time setup, configuration, and equipment expenses, and total estimated costs over a five-year period. All amounts have been rounded to the nearest whole dollar.
Table 2: Annual Contract Cost Bid by Vendor
Turbo Data Systems IPS Group Duncan Solutions
Year 1 5-Year Year 1 5-Year Year 1 5-Year
Citation Management
System
$105,950 $529,750 $147,150 $735,750 $126,919 $638,024
Enforcement Equipment
(hardware and software)
$40,790 $104,950 $48,890 $95,050 $76,410 $256,410
Permit Management
System
$48,600 $243,000 $71,350 $356,750 $18,081 $90,405
Customer Service Center $988 $4,938 $29,775 $148,875 $27,375 $136,875 Processing Services
(citations / permits)
$21,300 $106,500 $58,500 $292,500 $69,015 $213,390
Total $217,628 $989,138 $355,665 $1,628,925 $317,800 $1,335,104 Turbo Data Systems submitted the lowest overall cost proposal among the three responsive bidders. However, it is important to note that the cost estimates summarized in the table above do not include customer-facing convenience fees associated with online citation and permit payments. These transaction-based fees, which are paid directly by users at the time of payment, are detailed in the table below:
Table 3: Customer Facing Convenience Fees by Vendor
Turbo Data Systems IPS Group Duncan Solutions
Per Citation Convenience Fee $3.95 $1.00 $1.50
Per Permit Convenience Fee $2.00 $1.00 $1.50
While Turbo Data Systems proposed the lowest overall system costs, its customer-facing convenience fees for online citation and permit payments are higher than those proposed by IPS Group and Duncan Solutions. City staff are committed to maintaining existing mail-in and in- person payment options for both permit programs and parking citations. This ensures that users continue to have flexible payment options and can choose the method that best meets their needs, whether paying online, by mail, or in person. It is also important to note that parking demand and revenues for both citations and permits, though, have been substantially lower over the past five years than pre-pandemic times.
Timeline
Pending City Council approval, Turbo Data Systems is expected to begin work immediately, beginning with Citations management by January 2026 and then with all new permit sales and existing permits management by June 30, 2026. Staff from the Office of Transportation, City Manager’s Office, Police Department, and Administrative Services Department will collaborate closely with Turbo Data Systems and the current vendor, Duncan Solutions, to transition permit and citation processing services no later than an estimated 90- to 180-day period following contract execution.
To support a smooth transition, City staff have already provided high-level program information to Turbo Data Systems to inform early planning efforts. Initial transition priorities include expanding options for online permit sales and management, with the goal of deploying these features ahead of full system implementation, currently targeted for June 2026. A phased implementation approach will allow for system configuration, testing, and refinement prior to major permit renewal periods.
Turbo Data Systems will be required to submit a detailed project plan following contract execution, outlining key milestones and a final implementation timeline, subject to City review and approval. During the transition period, Turbo Data Systems will provide system training and ongoing support to City staff.
In parallel, City staff will work with the vendor to prepare outreach and educational materials for the community. Staff are committed to ensuring uninterrupted services and delivering a positive customer experience throughout the transition process.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
Parking Program Funds
These efforts are funded by designated parking program funds that distribute and receive program revenues (permit fees and citation payments) and costs (program administration, etc.) across three separate fund accounts. The estimated share of the costs of the new contract across the three parking funds is based on permit and citation sales volumes in each district and reflected in Table 4. Revenues in the three parking funds do not currently cover all expenses, and these funds have been supplemented by the General Fund as reoccurring loans since FY 2021, FY 2026 assumes approximately a $2 million General Fund subsidy. See the summary of all program expenses from a late 2024 Staff Report to Finance Committee3.
In the first year of the new contract, savings from the current vendor Duncan’s contract will cover the first year of new contract expenses, as the various programs generally operate with annual renewal programs with separate start and end dates, and Turbodata will take over each program on a schedule to be worked out with City department staff and the previous vendor, Duncan Solutions. Savings from the Duncan contract will be realized in the Parking 3 October 15, 2024 Staff Report #:2409-3537:
https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=14462 Management and System Implementation capital project (PL-16002). Funding for this project was originally transferred from the three parking funds to the Capital Improvement Fund, so the respective savings will be transferred back to parking funds to cover the first year of contract costs. This is estimated to happen as part of the FY 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review, once the final work by Duncan has been completed. The table below estimates the share of the contract expenses spread across the various program funds involved.
Table 4: Turbo Data Contract Funding Share
Period
Annual
Contract
Expense
Est Annual
University Ave Fund
contribution (55%)
Est Annual
California Ave Fund
contribution (7%)
Est Annual Residential
Permit Parking Fund
contribution (38%)
Year 1 $218,000 $120,000 $15,000 $83,000
Years 2-5 $193,000 $106,000 $14,000 $73,000
The estimated cost for the services over a five-year term is an amount not to exceed $989,138 and is based on the number of permits and citations processed. This cost is likely to be offset by revenues generated from both citations and permit payments. Funding for future years of the contract will be subject to Council appropriation as part of the annual budget process, including any additional subsidized funding from the General Fund. Note also that parking demand following 2020 decreases due to work from home trends continues to recover, but is not back to previous levels.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
This contract was reviewed and coordinated with internal departments including legal, procurement, and financial functions to ensure alignment with City policies and procedures.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Approval of the attached agreement described in this staff report does not meet the definition of a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to the California Public Resources Code Section 21065, because it is not an activity that will cause a direct physical change in the environment.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: TurboData Contract C25190778A
APPROVED BY:
Ria Hutabarat Lo