City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: January 10, 2017
Agenda Item: 3.H
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: David Martin, Director, Planning and Community Development, Administration Subject: Purchase of New Parking Access and Revenue Control Equipment Recommended Action
Staff recommends that City Council:
1. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a contract with Sentry Control Systems, Inc., a California based company, in an amount not to exceed $4,700,000 for the purchase, installation, and up to 7 years of maintenance of the Parking Access and Revenue Control System for various City owned parking facilities, with future year maintenance funding contingent on Council approval; and
2. Authorize the budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts and Budget Actions section of the report.
Executive Summary
The City of Santa Monica operates parking facilities 24 hours/7 days per week generating approximately $32 million in revenue annually. Parking Revenue and Access Control Systems are used to provide controlled access to the parking facilities, payment options for parking fees that includes credit cards and debit cards, and management reports. Sentry Control Systems, Inc. (Sentry) is recommended as the best proposer to provide a new Parking Access and Revenue Control System for the City’s parking operations. The contract would include purchase and installation of new parking equipment for 14 parking facilities for an amount not to exceed $2,300,000, and provide ongoing maintenance service for five years with an option to extend for two additional years for a total seven-year amount not to exceed $2,400,000. An agreement to cover up to seven years of maintenance is recommended as the average life expectancy of parking equipment is seven to ten years.
Background
At its January 14, 2014 meeting (Attachment A), Council authorized the City Manager to execute an agreement with DataPark USA, Inc. (DataPark) for the purchase, installation, and up to ten years of maintenance of the Parking Access and Revenue Control System (PARCS) with License Plate Recognition (LPR) for the downtown parking structures, Main Library parking structure, Civic Center parking facilities, Ken 2 of 8
Edwards Center, and Pier Deck parking lot. PARCS equipment includes items such as computer servers, terminals for payment, and entry/exit gates within the parking facilities. The system manages the access in and out of the parking facilities. Parkers must present a valid parking credential such as a key card or pull a ticket to make payment. The system also accepts validations. The system provides revenue control for short term (i.e. transient) and monthly (i.e. non-transient) parking management solutions with payment options either before or after the time period parked as well as reporting capabilities on revenues and length of parking session. Fees can be incremental by time or a flat rate.
Parking Structure 6 opened to the public on December 19, 2013. In order to avoid a delay of the operation, the City issued a Request for Quotes in September 2013 for temporary leasing of a standalone PARC System for the new facility. The City received quotes from DataPark and WPS as well as a “No Bid” form from Sentry Systems.
DataPark was selected based on providing the lowest cost to meet all required specifications. The system was delivered and installed prior to the January 14th Council meeting noted above to support the grand opening of Parking Structure 6.
On May 12, 2015 meeting (Attachment B), Council authorized the City Manager to execute a first modification to contract #9860 in the amount of $160,000 with DataPark USA, Inc. to provide a Point of Sale system at the five cashier-staffed beach parking lots (Lots 4, 5 South, 1 North, 3 North, and 8 North). Due to installation issues, staff postponed the installation of this additional equipment. The equipment was never installed.
In 2012 DataPark USA, Inc. was purchased by FAAC Group. In 2013 Hub Parking Technologies was reorganized as FAAC’s Parking Business unit and DataPark USA, Inc. was subsequently reorganized as a product line of HUB Parking Technologies (HUB Parking) and is no longer a separate corporate entity. For the purposes of this staff report, the name HUB Parking will be used instead of DataPark since this is now the corporate entity name.
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Discussion
In May 2014, following the installation of HUB PARCS equipment in parking structure 6, the City began installation of the HUB Parking PARCS equipment in the remaining structures in the downtown and the Pier deck. The City experienced significant issues with the installation of the new system including system wide failures and inadequate hardware. Additionally, because the requirements to enter system testing were not met, acceptance testing of the system was not completed. Although the city was able to collect revenues on most days, there were many instances during the first year of installation where the city was not able to collect revenues from parkers due to system failures.
On June 30, 2016, after working with HUB for several months and being unable to correct certain issues with the system staff issued a letter of default to HUB Parking and is exercising the City’s rights under the agreement to cancel the agreement during the installation period of the agreement. Staff subsequently began the selection process for a new PARCS provider.
Vendor Selection
On October 17, 2013, the City issued a RFP via the City’s online bidding site in accordance with the City Charter and Municipal Code provision that require competitive bidding for this project. The evaluation committee, comprised of staff from the Finance and Information System Departments, City of West Hollywood Parking Operations, Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. and Macerich, reviewed all four proposals received.
Walker Parking Consultants also reviewed all the proposals and provided comments based on their professional experience to the committee without providing a recommendations.
The selection committee met twice and had extensive discussions on all evaluation criteria, including but not limited to pricing, proposed solutions, capacity of service performance, ongoing operating costs, financial and inventory resources, and system compliance levels.
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The evaluation committee recommended DataPark USA Inc. (now Hub Parking) as the best proposer, ranking the four qualified proposers. The results of the evaluation (based on a maximum average score of 10 for all four companies were:
Proposer Score
DataPark 8.19
WPS 7.44
Sentry 6.53
Zeag 6.28
Due to the recent process that was completed in 2013 to select a new vendor, staff used the existing qualified list of proposers. WPS and Sentry were both invited to update their proposals for consideration by a newly formed selection committee. Zeag was not invited to participate since the company is also now a product line of HUB Parking Technologies.
The two finalists were invited on June 30, 2016 to submit updates to their original proposals as part of an amendment to the original procurement process. Both proposers submitted updated proposals. Each proposer was also provided a list of the evaluation committee members with an opportunity to report any conflicts of interest.
Each evaluation committee member was also required to submit a signed acknowledgement that they had no conflicts. No conflicts were reported by either the proposers or evaluation committee members.
The evaluation committee included representatives from Planning & Community Development, Finance, Information Systems, Santa Monica Place/Macerich, and the City of West Hollywood Parking Operations division. Macerich participated in the evaluation process pursuant to its lease agreement for Parking Structures 7 and 8.
Representatives of SP+ Municipal Services, the City’s parking operator, also reviewed the proposals and participated in interviews held with each proposer. SP+ provided 5 of 8
comments to the committee as subject matter experts in parking operations and PARC systems, their experience as the City’s parking operator, and familiarity with the City’s operations. SP+ provided objective feedback to the committee in a consultative role.
SP+ did not score the proposals.
Based on the proposals submitted the companies achieved the following average scores from the committee members out of a total of 300 points possible:
Proposer Score
Sentry 243
WPS 203
Following are the costs (installation and maintenance) proposed by the two companies:
Proposer Cost with 7 Year Warranty/Service
Installation Extended Warranty,
Maintenance,
Service, and
Validations
Total
Sentry $2,428,563* $3,466,896 $5,646,459
WPS $2,566,366 $1,635,111 $4,201,477
*Sentry’s pricing is based on redeploying some existing Skidata equipment owned by the City of Santa Monica
Although not the lowest priced proposer originally, the evaluation committee scored Sentry the highest overall and recommends Sentry as the best proposer overall due to the following critical categories where it rated higher than WPS:
Demonstrated capacity to perform
Character, Reputation, Experience, and Stability
Qualifications of Project Manager and Staffing Commitment for Installation 6 of 8
Sentry demonstrated a greater understanding of the resources and timeline needed for implementation. Sentry’s demonstrated capacity to perform is critical for the City’s large parking operations. In addition to preventative care, the warranty provided by Sentry includes enhanced service for remedial maintenance as well as ongoing customized training on topics determined by City staff. This type of training increases performance and helps staff to resolve issues more quickly. The agreement would include support services 24 hours per day 7 days per week including holidays, which is vital to ensure minimal downtime. The service included in the proposal by Sentry includes a dedicated service technician as well as preventative maintenance.
Sentry is a market proven industry leader with strong financials. The company is based in Los Angeles with a warehouse support inventory facility in Van Nuys, making easy access to parts and equipment for service needs. Sentry’s system is installed in over 275 sites within California and 10,000 installations in 100 countries. Sentry equipment is installed in large facilities such as the LA Live/Staples Center/Convention Center, multiple UCLA sites including the Santa Monica Medical Center, the Irvine Spectrum, Orange County, as well as other local municipalities such as Beverly Hills. The company is also installed in all MGM Casinos in Las Vegas which include hotels such as New York New York, Mandalay Bay, and Aria.
Following the committee’s completion of its scoring, staff was successful in securing a reduced total cost from Sentry as the highest scorer, particularly with service and warranty fees prior to submission of this staff report which the Financial Impacts section totals are based on. The best and final amount offered by Sentry for equipment were reduced to $2,275,310 from $2,428,563; the best and final amounts offered by Sentry for Extended Warranty, Maintenance, Service, and Validations were reduced from $3,466,896 to $2,401,556, bringing the total cost with a 7 year warranty and service to $4,676,866, a reduction of approximately 17% over the original pricing proposal.
Protest
The two finalist where notified on December 9, 2016 of the evaluation committee’s recommendation of Sentry as the best bidder. On December 19, 2016 WPS submitted 7 of 8
a protest of the committee’s decision. On December 22, 2016 the Finance Director rejected the protest on procedural grounds based on the protest not being filed timely, even after WPS was provided with an extension to the protest deadline. However, the Finance Director noted that the even had the protest been filed timely, the protest would have still been denied based on insufficient grounds.
Based on the Finance Director’s final determination staff recommends that the contract be awarded to Sentry as the best bidder. Alternatively, Council may reject all bids, and, in its discretion instruct staff to initiate a new Request for Proposals.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
The contract to be awarded to Sentry Control Systems, Inc. is for an amount not to exceed $4,700,000, including the purchase, installation, and up to seven years of maintenance. The up-front equipment purchase will cost approximately $2,300,000. A portion of these expenditures are recoverable under the original HUB Parking termination clause of the agreement. Staff is exercising all options to ensure full recovery. Additionally, Macerich will continue to make its contributions of $1,120,031.97 as deductions from revenue sharing agreements for Parking Structures 7 and 8.
Funds of $468,975 are available in the FY 2016-17 Capital Improvement Program budget. Award of the contract requires the following budget actions, with the net increase coming from capital project contingency funds with the anticipation of cost recovery:
1. Transfer $200,000 from account 01417PY.555010 to C010715.589000;
2. Appropriate $470,000 in FY 2015-16 savings to account C010715.589000;
3. Release of fund balance from reserve account 1.380006 (capital project contingency) of $1,161,025;
4. Appropriate $1,161,025 to account C010715.589000.
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The contract will be charged to account C010715.589000. Future year maintenance funding will be included in the operating budget and is contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Salvador Valles, Assistant Director of PCD Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. January 14, 2014 Staff Report
B. May 12, 2015 Staff Report
C. Oaks for Contract Approval for PARC System