Agenda Item #13.6
For Council Meeting of: February 10, 2026
CITY OF SANTA ROSA
CITY COUNCIL
TO: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: DINA MANIS, CITY CLERK, CITY CLERK’S OFFICE
ARI PIOTRKOWSKI, DEPUTY DIRECTOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUBJECT: APPROVE AWARD OF SOFTWARE SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENT F003155 FOR EDISCOVERY SOFTWARE SYSTEM TO REVEAL DATA CORPORATION AGENDA ACTION: RESOLUTION
RECOMMENDATION
The City Clerk’s Office, and the Information Technology and Finance Departments recommend that the Council, by resolution: 1) approve Software Subscription Agreement F003155 for a five year period, with five one year renewal options, to Reveal Data Corporation, Chicago, Illinois for an eDiscovery software system for a total not-to-exceed amount under the Agreement of $624,240, and a $100,000 contingency amount for miscellaneous charges; 2) approve appropriations in the amount of $124,848 from the Information Technology Contingency Reserves; and 3) authorize the City Manager or Assistant City Manager to negotiate and execute the Agreement, subject to approval by the City Attorney. This item is requesting appropriations for on-going funding.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City’s ability to comply with the California Public Records Act and respond to litigation-related discovery requests is increasingly challenged by the limitations of our current eDiscovery system. Public records requests and legal inquiries have grown significantly in both volume and complexity, often requiring the retrieval and analysis of thousands of emails and documents across multiple departments. Investing in a new eDiscovery system will improve operational efficiency, reduce risk exposure, and uphold the City’s commitment to transparency and legal compliance.
GOAL
This item relates to Council Goal #2 – Invest in the Development and Maintenance of the City’s Infrastructure. Investing in the development of the City’s Infrastructure includes not only physical assets but also the digital services that support transparency and compliance. Procuring and implementing an eDiscovery solution for Public Records Act requests strengthens our information infrastructure, ensuring timely, accurate responses and reducing operational risk.
BACKGROUND/PRIOR COUNCIL REVIEW
eDiscovery is the process of identifying, collecting, and producing digital records—a critical component of responding to Public Records Act (PRA) requests and litigation discovery. Historically, the City has relied on manual methods and basic software tools that were low-cost but not purpose-built for eDiscovery. Concerns have grown over the years about the inadequacy of these tools, especially in managing the increasing complexity and volume of email-related PRA requests.
Current State:
Our existing system was designed for smaller, less complex queries and cannot efficiently process or analyze large-scale eDiscovery requests that we receive on a regular basis. This results in delays, manual workarounds, increased staff workload, and heightened risk of non-compliance with statutory deadlines.
The City’s current eDiscovery software, in use for the past 5 years, has proven to be:
Functionally limited, lacking advanced search, filtering, and automation capabilities.
Resource-intensive, requiring excessive staff time for manual review and re-work.
Unreliable, with frequent errors, crashes due to high volume searches, unannounced updates, and poor vendor support.
Risky, lacking Data Loss Prevention (DLP) capabilities, which significantly increases the risk of confidential and sensitive information being inadvertently exposed during PRA and litigation-related discovery requests.
Despite significant efforts by the City’s IT team to mitigate these issues, systemic flaws in the vendor’s platform persist, based on the City’s needs. Discussions with the current vendor have not yielded meaningful improvements, with the only proposed solution being costly additional support services and no meaningful improvements to the software.
Impact on City Operations:
Delays in releasing records, affecting transparency and compliance.
Disproportionate burden on staff, diverting time from other essential duties.
Reduced responsiveness, undermining public trust and accountability.
In the past six months alone, staff across multiple departments have spent over 250 hours reviewing tens of thousands of documents for just 24 PRA requests involving eDiscovery—highlighting the urgent need for a scalable, reliable solution.
The IT Department, City Manager’s Office, and City Clerk’s Office agree that the current solution is no longer viable. A professionally implemented and supported eDiscovery solution is essential to meet growing demands, address current constraints, improve efficiency, and uphold the City’s commitment to transparency and fulfilling requests based on the California Public Records Act.
ANALYSIS
On March 27, 2025, the City of Santa Rosa released RFP 25-17 for a new eDiscovery Software solution. By the April 25, 2025, submission deadline, the City received fifteen (15) proposals.
An evaluation panel consisting of five subject matter experts from the City Manager’s and City Clerk’s offices and Information Technology Department reviewed and scored the initial proposals.
Six vendors were selected to go through a presentation process.
Selection of the top four proposals were invited for an interview process.
Selection of the top two vendors from the interview process were evaluated through a two week Proof of Concept trial testing process and use of the vendor system.
Reveal Data Corporation was selected from this process as the top vendor for recommendation of award.
The primary reasons for selection of Reveal Data Corporation for the eDiscovery solution as in the best interests of the City are as follows:
Solution requires minimal customization.
Implementation timeline was clear, and product will be able to be trained and used by city staff in a matter of weeks.
Thoughtful and effective training tools to assist staff in use of the product.
The user-friendly interface is dynamic and supports the needs of both frequent and infrequent staff users.
Simple integration to current e-mail repository.
Adequate storage capacity.
Data labeling tools to protect confidential or sensitive City data from being released.
Demonstrated exceptional customer service model.
Demonstrated tangible productivity and efficiency benefits, benefiting the public records requesters.
Reveal Data Corporation’s eDiscovery solution will provide the City with continued software releases including enhancements, new features, cybersecurity updates, and bug fixes as well as helpdesk support throughout the term of the contract.
The panel's thorough evaluation and Reveal’s comprehensive offering make this vendor the best solution to meet growing demands while upholding the City’s commitment to transparency and legal compliance for eDiscovery requests.
The Software Subscription Agreement contains unfavorable terms and conditions that may impact the City. These terms and conditions include, but are not limited to, limitations to provided warranty, a mutual indemnification and indemnification in favor of Reveal, limitations of liability, and exclusions of recoverable damages.
FISCAL IMPACT
New appropriations are required for the initial subscription year in the amount of $124,848. Council Policy 000-55 (Attachment 1) established a Contingency Reserve of the Information Technology Internal Service Fund to provide an immediate funding source to “provide funds for Rate Stabilization and for the large, unplanned expenditures”. To cover the costs for the initial FY2025-2026 subscription year, $124,848 will be allocated from the Fund 1730 Information Technology Contingency Reserves to GL Key 350307 – Enterprise Software Support. As per the IT Contingency Reserve Council policy 000-55, the reserves will be replenished in conjunction with future budget cycles, beginning in FY2026-2027 as part of the IT Cost Allocation and budget process presented to Council.
In the years FY2026-2027 through FY2029-2030 the annual costs for the eDiscovery solution will be included in the Information Technology department budget for Enterprise Software Support (GL Key 350307), presented to City Council as part of the annual budget process.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378, the recommended action is not a “project” subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it does not have a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. In the alternative, the recommended action is exempt from CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3) because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the recommended action may have a significant effect on the environment.
BOARD/COMMISSION/COMMITTEE REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Not applicable.
NOTIFICATION
Not applicable.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Council Policy 000-55
Resolution/Exhibit A – Software Subscription Agreement
PRESENTER(S)
Dina Manis, City Clerk
Ari Piotrkowski, Deputy Director Information Technology Jennifer Myles, Purchasing Agent
APPROVE AWARD OF F003155 SOFTWARE SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENT FOR EDISCOVERY SOFTWARE SYSTEM TO REVEAL DATA CORPORATION PAGE 3 OF 3