The Brea Police Department has utilized Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Records Management System (RMS) software packages for many years. This technology allows the department to electronically and digitally manage its operations, including intake, dispatching, and tracking of public calls for service as well as the management of department records, such as crime reports, citations, and evidence. CAD and RMS are now standard tools used in the operations of law enforcement agencies all over the world.
The most recent purchase and implementation of a CAD/RMS package at the Brea Police Department occurred in 2007. At that time, a new vendor, Intergraph, was selected after a competitive process between several software companies. The department has utilized this product since that time. In recent years, the department has become dissatisfied with Intergraph and their product for various reasons. The primary concern has been the high annual maintenance agreement costs associated with the software and the exorbitant costs of upgrades to the system when they become available. Due to those costs, the department and City chose to forego upgrades to the system.
Now, the system being utilized is several versions behind the current product offered by Intergraph, and desired improved functions are not available to the department. At the same time, the Intergraph system requires 13 supporting servers, all of which are well past their manufacturer recommended life span and are no longer being supported. These servers also would not be compatible with the latest software in an upgraded system. In addition to the technical and ongoing cost concerns, the system has not provided the desired level of efficiency to the department’s end users. Data has not been reliable at times, and some modules have not worked effectively.
In 2013 the department began discussing internally, in conjunction with the City of Brea Information Technology (IT) Division, the possibilities for a replacement software package with a new vendor. Potential replacement vendors were explored, starting with Spillman Technologies, who had finished a close second during the 2007 competitive process which resulted in the selection of Intergraph. Staff compared Spillman’s features and cost structure to other vendors with clients in our area. It was determined that Spillman Technologies would be the best option for a new CAD/RMS vendor.
In August 2013, the City of Brea entered into a study with four neighboring cities to explore the feasibility of regionalized police dispatching. Necessarily, a significant concern of that study would be addressing the CAD/RMS needs of each agency. Therefore, the department’s internal dialogue about a new system was tabled until that study could be completed. However, regardless of that outcome, it was clear that a new system would be needed. During deliberations of the City’s FY 14-15 operating budget, a decision package was put forward to budget funds for the eventual replacement system (see attached). That decision package laid out options of staying with our current vendor, noting the cost of the upgrade and high ongoing annual maintenance costs, or selecting a new vendor, Spillman Technologies, with an approximate cost of $884,000. Brea City Council adopted a budget which included $884,000 for a new CAD/RMS package. Had the City eventually joined a regionalized dispatching model, those funds likely could have been applied to the costs of that project. Since that time, as the dispatch study continued, those funds have been carried over to the FY 15-16 and FY 16-17 budgets.
In February 2016, as the regionalized dispatch study reached a conclusion, it was determined to not be feasible without the participation of all five cities. The police department was directed to continue with its process to select a new CAD/RMS vendor and purchase a new software package. The three year delay had seen further deterioration of the current system, specifically in the supporting hardware, which would have to be replaced regardless since it would not support the latest version of Intergraph’s software. Intergraph still had not made available web-based RMS, an enhancement that was being provided by many of Intergraph’s competitors. Also, Intergraph had made no changes to their cost structure and the City was paying approximately $130,000 in annual maintenance, which did not include costs associated with system upgrades.
Since it had been three years since the police department and IT last explored CAD/RMS vendor options, in the interest of due diligence and a competitive process, a measured approach was taken and several new vendors were contacted, in addition to Intergraph and Spillman Technologies. The City’s Purchasing Agent joined in this process. Eight prominent CAD/RMS vendors with clients in California were identified and each was sent a Request for Information (RFI) (attached). The RFI consisted of a lengthy series of questions about each vendor’s system to determine if they met the City’s minimum requirements in the areas of operations, technical specifications, and maintenance costs and support. Some of those vendors, including Intergraph, chose not to respond to the RFI, indicating they felt they could not meet the City’s cost structure requirements. Five vendors responded to the RFI. All responses were reviewed and reference checks were conducted with existing clients. As a result, three vendors, including Spillman Technologies, were selected for further consideration. Each vendor conducted a day long demonstration of their most current product and answered questions from a large group of end users from the police department and IT.
Following the demonstrations, a core team of police department and IT members met to discuss the vendors and their products. Based on all information learned to that point, Spillman was identified as the clear and best option for the department. However, prior to beginning negotiations with Spillman, core team members conducted a site visit to Spillman’s most recently added client in the area, the Garden Grove Police Department (GGPD). Team members met with GGPD end users and administrators to gain their perspective on their experiences with the product and its implementation. Additionally, team members attended a Spillman user’s group meeting of agencies in Los Angeles County, again to gather information. The information learned re-affirmed the group’s decision to select Spillman Technologies. |
In 2014, a draft purchase quote from Spillman Technologies indicated the initial cost of purchase of their system was $814,058. This included software, professional services to include training, project management and technical support during installation, third party costs including data conversion, miscellaneous pre-paid costs, shipping, and tax. Additional costs of $69,690 were identified by IT for purchase of hardware (servers) and server software licensing. This resulted in the estimated cost of $884,000 noted in the decision package of FY 14-15. It should be noted that the sales tax amount listed by Spillman in the 2014 quote was based on the sales price of hardware and software, so the amount of tax was listed as $50,338. However, only tangible items such as hardware are to be taxed. Had the project and contract been approved under that quote, that taxing error would have been discovered and the actual cost of the Spillman portion of the project would have been approximately $763,831.
The current cost quote from Spillman is a purchase price of $860,379 to reflect a similar lists of costs identified above. (Sales tax is correct in this quote.) There are additional costs for implementation outside of Spillman’s scope of work. IT has determined that necessary hardware and licensing related to both backbone needs and operational changes will now cost approximately $91,476. Also, third party interfacing which was not necessary two years ago, will cost an additional $64,000.
| Total Project Cost Differences |
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| 2014: $814,058 (Original Quote) |
2016: $860,379 |
5.7% Increase |
| 2014: $763,831 (Tax Change) |
2016: $860,379 |
12.6% Increase |
Cost increases between the two quotes are detailed below:
| Software |
|
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| 2014: $532,340 |
2016: $598,882 |
12.5% Increase |
Spillman software costs have changed over the past two years. Some modules have increased in price, although some have also decreased. In general, the costs of the records management and dispatching packages saw cost increases, while a significant decrease was realized in the mobile product, which is utilized in the field by officers. The primary cause for increased costs in software was the addition of several modules and functions that were not available or deemed necessary in 2014. These include modules designed to gather and report crime statistics to the state and federal government as well as two modules designed for use by command staff and supervisors to monitor operations and officer activity in a live environment. Also, Spillman’s web-based crime reporting program for citizens has been added and will replace a current third party system in use.
| Professional Services |
|
|
| 2014: $131,300 |
2016: $169,300 |
30% Increase |
Professional Services include project management, technical work and support for installation, training, and specialized services requested by the City. The costs have increased primarily due to some increased anticipated project management time. Since 2014 Spillman has identified the need for more time in the workload and more ‘on-site’ time for the assigned project manager. This expanded role is based on experiences of Spillman and their clients. Other Professional Services include specialized training for key City and department administrative and core personnel. In addition, the department has requested Spillman customize some data reports specific to the needs of Brea.
| Third Party/Hardware |
|
|
| 2014: $96,880 |
2016: $83,171 |
14.2% Increase |
The bulk of costs in this category are related to converting data from the legacy system to the Spillman system. Conversion of data will make the system far more efficient for end users than carrying old data in an outdated system no longer in use. The costs of data conversion have gone down since 2014.
| Pre-Paid Services |
|
|
| 2014: $3,200 |
2016: $8,500 |
165% Increase |
These services are for ongoing training for end users and system administrators after the system is placed in use. After the department has experienced the system in a ‘live’ format, additional follow-up training will be done to address end user questions or identify more efficiencies.
Other Costs:
| Hardware |
|
|
| 2014: $69,960 |
2016: $91,476 |
30.8% Increase |
One of the benefits the Spillman product brings is the ability for the system to run on a very limited amount of support servers. Spillman requires only one primary server in contrast to the thirteen needed for Intergraph. While the reduced servers is a benefit, there are several reasons for the increased purchase cost of system related hardware. At the time of the 2014 quote, there was lifespan left in the computer workstations in the police communications center, police command offices, and the GIS workstation. By the time the Spillman system is fully implemented in 2018, the existing workstations will have over ten years of use on them. Their operating systems will not support a modernized software system such as Spillman. They must be replaced to accommodate a new system. Also, now that electronic citation writers are fully in use in the department, driver’s license bar code reader devices were needed to maximize the effectiveness of the interface with the citation database.
| Interfaces |
|
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| 2014: $0 |
2016: $64,000 |
|
When discussion first began on a replacement CAD/RMS software package, there were no known 3rd party interface requirements or necessities. Therefore, no costs for such interface work were identified. Since that time, two significant interface needs have surfaced. Both are related to data search engine capabilities for officers and investigators to access criminal data captured by other law enforcement agencies. COPLINK is a source for data gathered by all other Orange County agencies. NCIS LinX is the same for federal agencies as well as local law enforcement agencies around the United States. These are invaluable for the amount of data available, including arrest records, citations, and other identifying information useful for criminal investigations. A line item for after-hours technical support from Spillman is also included in this category at a cost of $3,500.
The $64,000 is considered a ‘not to exceed’ figure as one or both interfaces may cost considerably less or have no costs. The interface costs for COPLINK are under negotiation under the umbrella of the Integrated Law and Justice Agency for Orange County (ILJAOC), a JPA of which Brea is a member. NCIS LinX may come at no cost under a federal support program. That will not be known until later in the project.
Annual Maintenance
Agreement |
|
|
| 2014: $65,601 |
2016: $75,504 |
15% Increase |
As stated, one of the driving factors for the City to select a new CAD/RMS provider was the high maintenance costs charged by the current provider, Intergraph. Currently, the City pays $130,719 annually for Intergraph software maintenance. This does not include costs associated with upgrades as they become available. The Intergraph business model requires clients to pay for all professional services and technical work each time the client wishes to upgrade. This could cost several hundred thousand dollars each time. Generally, new software versions are available every one to two years. This exorbitant cost is the primary reason the department is so many versions behind the latest available Intergraph software.
Spillman’s business model is vastly different. In the second year after implementation, annual maintenance agreement costs for Spillman will be $75,504. (First year maintenance is included in the initial purchase price.) This represents a savings of $55,215 in the second year. Moreover, all upgrades to Spillman’s software package are included within the maintenance costs. Using this model, Spillman encourages Departments to upgrade often, in order to stay current with system enhancements and features, while doing this at no cost to the City. This represents significant savings over time.
Spillman has agreed to cap any annual increases to the maintenance agreement costs at no more than 4% annually, starting in the third year after implementation through year 5. The maximum increase in that line item expense will be $3,020 each year, and provides some budgeting certainty through FY2022-23.
Total Cost and Funding
The total one-time cost for purchase and implementation of the Spillman Technologies CAD/RMS solution plus additional hardware and interface costs is $1,041,251. This figure includes a 2.5% contingency line item of $25,396 to be used for potential unexpected costs. The total is $157,251 more than the originally budgeted amount of $884,000, which is still available for the project. The Administrative Services Department-Finance Division has reviewed Fund 172, Public Safety Augmentation Fund which is designed only for public safety and determined that there is sufficient balance in that fund to take on the additional $157,251. It is also possible that funds from Fund 182, the Fixed Asset Replacement Program, could assume some of the additional costs by funding the computer workstation hardware.
Ongoing, Annual Costs
In addition to annual maintenance costs starting in the second year after implementation, there are other annual costs related to the CAD/RMS package. Within the Spillman product, there are two modules which are subscription-priced on an annual basis. Spillman Analytics provides crime analysis tools at a cost of $5,601 per year. Crime Monitor allows members of the public to access and customize crime data that interests them. That subscription costs $1,960 per year. Some of the department’s third party interfaces require annual maintenance/subscription costs. These include the electronic citation system, Brazos, and the connection to NCIS LinX. The hardware being purchased for the project includes some ongoing maintenance costs. These include the data backup solution and GIS server software. Finally, $3,500 is estimated for annual after-hours technical support from Spillman. These ongoing costs, totaling $95,654 including the Spillman annual maintenance agreement, will be budgeted in subsequent budget years.
In conclusion, the recommendation to contract with Spillman Technologies for purchase and installation of a replacement CAD/RMS package for the Police Department is based in several areas.
First:
- This project will bring the latest technology in managing law enforcement operations and data management;
- It will provide enhancements in police dispatching and field operations;
- It will be faster and with more vibrant data flow;
- It will provide more accuracy and efficiencies in the police records management process;
- It will provide features for real time access to information for all police personnel and members of the public.
- This project will create long-term budget savings, both in ongoing and annual costs; and
- Will provide a certainty of continual system upgrades at no cost.
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