City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR
Lead Department: IT Department
Meeting Date: March 16, 2026
Report #:2509-5229
TITLE
Approval of Professional Services Contract Number C26193604 with GOVERNMENTJOBS.COM INC dba NEOGOV in an Amount Not to Exceed $686,277 for Full-cycle Recruitment and Applicant Tracking, Employee Development and Management Human Resource Platform for a Term of Five Years; CEQA Status - Not a Project.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that Council approve and authorize the City Manager or designee to execute Contract No. C26193604 (Attachment A), with GOVERNMENTJOBS.COM INC dba NEOGOV to procure a full-cycle recruitment and applicant tracking, employee development and management platform for a term of five years and a total amount not-to-exceed $686,277, including $623,891 for basic services and $62,386 for additional services.
BACKGROUND
City of Palo Alto has contracted with Neogov since 2011. The platform has supported recruitment, onboarding, and performance management workflows1. The total spend for these services since 2011 totals $641,000.
With the current contract approaching expiration, staff initiated a competitive process to evaluate long-term solutions.
ANALYSIS
Staff conducted a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) process to identify a modern, cloud-based applicant tracking and onboarding system that aligns with the City’s strategic objectives -
specifically, improving recruitment efficiency, enhancing the candidate’s experience, and ensuring integration with existing technologies.
Following a comprehensive evaluation process by Human Resources (HR) and Information Technology (IT) staff - including detailed proposal reviews, product demonstrations, and scoring – Neogov was identified as the top-ranked vendor. Key reasons for selection:
Comprehensive and Integrated Platform:
NeoGov offers a suite of integrated modules - including Insight, Online Hiring Center (OHC), Onboard, Perform, Data & Analytics, and Attract - that support the full recruitment lifecycle (applicant tracking, onboarding, performance management, and proactive talent sourcing).
Business Process Review and Optimization: During implementation, NeoGov will assess current recruitment workflows and recommend updates to align processes with system capabilities to improve efficiency.
System Integration Capabilities: NeoGov supports direct integration with existing systems (e.g. background check providers) and can potentially integrate with the City’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. This reduces duplicate data entry while improving data accuracy, compliance, and reporting.
Enhanced Candidate Outreach: The Attract module supports talent pipelines and targeted outreach campaigns, including department-specific branded landing pages, to expand applicant reach and strengthen the City’s brand as an employer of choice. Public Sector Expertise and Implementation Readiness: NeoGov is well-established in the public sector and recognized for its reliability. Because City staff already use the platform, adoption is likely to be faster with reduced training needs and a less resource intensive implementation
Solicitation Process
A request for proposals (RFP) for the project was posted on OpenGov, the City’s eProcurement platform, and 3,431 vendors were notified. The solicitation period was posted for 32 days and 9 proposals were received. The solicitation closed on March 11, 2025. HR and IT jointly developed the system requirements after assessing operational needs across data security, accessibility, real-time dashboards, performance evaluations, and end-to-end applicant tracking. Proposals were evaluated by IT and HR based on criteria outlined in the RFP, including proposal quality, feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed solution, relevant experience and staff qualifications, financial stability, ability to meet deadlines, past performance with other agencies, compliance, capacity to provide ongoing support and innovative technology.
Table 1: Summary of Request for Proposal
Proposal Description Recruitment and Hiring Solution RFP # 193604
Date Solicitation was Issued February 7, 2025
Date Solicitation was Closed March 11, 2025
Proposed Length of Project 5 years
Number of Vendors Notified 3,431
Number of Proposal Packages Downloaded 80
Total Days to Respond to Proposal 32
Pre-Proposal Meeting N/A
Pre-Proposal Meeting Date N/A
Number of Proposals Received 9
Proposal Price Range $259,000 to $2,495,000
Public Link to Solicitation https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/pa lo-alto-ca/projects/145487
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
This contract, if approved, will begin on the first day of Fiscal Year 2027. The first-year annual cost for this contract has been included in the budget preparations for Fiscal Year 2027 as a base increase of $38,000 within the Technology Fund. Funding for subsequent years of the contract will be subject to approval through the annual budget development process. The Information Technology Department is an internal service fund. Approximately 49% of the Department is General Fund funded with the remaining 51% funded by enterprise and special revenue funds.
Table 2: Summary of Contract Costs – C26193604
Year 1 $123,782
Year 2 $112,468
Year 3 $122,962
Year 4 $129,110
Year 5 $135,566
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
HR and ITD jointly developed the system requirements after assessing operational needs across recruitment, onboarding, and performance management processes. These requirements were formalized in a scope of work shared with vendors. Vendors were evaluated by City Staff and chosen through the City’s RFP process, RFP No. 193604.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The approval of this contract is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under CEQA Guidelines section 15061(c)(3).
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Neogov Contract C26193604
APPROVED BY:
Darren Numoto, Chief Information Officer; Lisa Bolger, Assistant Director Information Technology/CTO