Request for Information
City of Escondido
Version: 1.0
Date: 11/3/2018
Contents
Confidentiality
Introduction and purpose of the RFI
Scope
RFI procedure
Contact
Deadline
Background
Statement of Need
Requirements/Qualifications
RFI Questions
Confidentiality
Any information deemed confidential or proprietary should be clearly identified in the response as such. Confidential or proprietary information will be protected and treated with confidentiality only to the extent permitted by California State Law considering public information; otherwise, the information shall be considered a public record.
Introduction and purpose of the RFI
To request information regarding your company’s ability to provide project management, implementation, and consulting services for an upgrade and data migration from PeopleSoft CIS/Revenue Management Solutions version 8.90 to Oracle Customer Care and Billing version 2.5, including add-on modules: Customer Self-Service 2.1 and Documaker 12.4.
Scope
Specific information is requested according to the questions on page 6.
RFI procedure
To respond to this RFI, please answer the questions on page 6 and send in PDF or Microsoft Word format to the contact below. If you have questions or require clarification on questions, contact the person prior to the deadline.
Contact
Mitch Howard
Application Development Manager
Deadline
Final submissions should be returned by 5:00pm PDT on August 4, 2015.
Background
The City of Escondido is located in north San Diego County, approximately 30 miles north of the City of San Diego, California. Escondido is an established community incorporated on October 8, 1888 under the general laws of the State of California. The City’s current population is 145,900. Within the 36 square miles that comprise the City, there are many residential communities; the largest enclosed regional mall in San Diego County; 2 regional hospitals; 17 hotels; an auto center; many office, industrial, and commercial centers; and civic, cultural, and recreational facilities. The City operates under a Council-Manager form of government.
Utility Billing, which is a division of the Finance Department, is responsible for performing all accounting functions related to water, wastewater, and trash/recycling billing. There are currently 10 full-time and 2 part-time staff members responsible for Utility Billing functions. Presently, approximately 30,000 accounts are maintained through this office, with each of these accounts assigned to one of six billing cycles. The accounts are billed as follows:
- Cycle 1 – Billed on the 1st of every month
- Cycle 3 – Billed on the 15th of every even-numbered month (February, April, June, August, October & December). This cycle bills our non-water accounts.
- Cycle 51 – Billed on the 4th of each month
- Cycle 52 – Billed on the 11th of each month
- Cycle 54 – Billed on the 18th of each month
- Cycle 55 – Billed on the 25th of each month
Meters are read five days per week and utility bills are produced weekly.The City has a 3-tier billing structure for Single and Multi-Family Family Residential customers, a 2-tier billing structure for Residential Agricultural use, and a single tier structure for Commercial, Industrial, Schools, Irrigation (Institutional), Landscape Districts, the San Diego Safari Park, Special Unfiltered, and Agricultural Use.
For residential customers the wastewater charge is made up of a fixed monthly charge and a charge per thousand gallons (Kgal) calculated on the prior winter’s water use (Dec–Mar). Single family and multi-family residences are charged for 80% of their average winter use, while mobile homes are charged 100% of their average winter use. Monthly use during these months is capped at 10,000 gallons per month for single family residences and 8,000 gallons per month for multi-family residences and mobile homes.
For commercial customers the wastewater charge is made up of a fixed monthly charge and a charge calculated on the business’ current water use. A classification of the type of business at the premise determines the rate applied to the current water use. The rate for each classification reflects the impact of the business on discharge into the wastewater system.
Meter reading, billing and shut offs for non-payment are accomplished on a master calendar that is maintained inside the billing system. Water meters are read manually and input into handheld devices provided by a third party vendor, Itron. This data is then processed and transferred into the utility billing system using software also provided by Itron.
Daily payment processing is accomplished through a variety of methods. These include online web payments, automated clearing house payments (ACH), payments made over the phone as well as over the counter payments at City Hall. Payment processing also includes scanning of remittance stubs received through the mail, in a City Hall drop box, and over the counter.
Statement of Need:
The City has been using PeopleSoft CIS/Revenue Management Solutions since 2000 and wants to upgrade to Oracle’s Customer Care and Billing version 2.5, including add-on modules: Customer Self-Service 2.1 and Documaker 12.4. In order to accomplish this goal, the City is soliciting information from qualified vendors with a proven track record with the above mentioned products to lead a software upgrade, implementation, and data migration project.
Requirements/Qualifications:
- To reduce travel and expense costs and increase the ability of staff to communicate within similar time zones, company headquarters and participating project and administrative staff MUST be located in North America and MUST be able to spend a portion of project time on-site.
- Vendors MUST be an Oracle-certified partner specializing in the Utilities industry.
- Vendors MUST have a verifiable history of upgrading customers from PeopleSoft CIS/Revenue Management Solutions 8.xto Oracle’s Customer Care and Billing version 2.x.
- Vendors MUST have a proven, expedited deployment model that can complete implementation in 9 months or less, including training and referenced add-on modules.
- Vendors MUST have a proven track record of successful project implementations and a thorough knowledge of Project Management.
- Vendors MUST be knowledgeable in these functional areas:
- Utility Rates and Configuration (refer to Background)
- Summary Billing, Estimated Billing
- Credit and Collections and Severance processes
- Meter Equipment, Meter Reading, and Meter Maintenance
- Financials for Public Sector, General Ledger,Payment Processing, Deposits, and Adjustments
- Field Orders and Activities
- Use of Documaker for bill creation, form-letters, and reports
- Customer Self-Service (CSS) module setup and configuration
- Vendors MUST be knowledgeable in these technical areas:
- Oracle database setup and configuration
- PeopleSoft CIS/Revenue Management data models
- Weblogic setup and configuration
- Documaker setup and configuration
- Structured Query Language (SQL), test scripts, and data conversion scripts
- Reports and interfaces
RFI Questions
- Company name and address:
- Responder name, telephone number, and email address:
- What is the number of years of experience performing consulting, project management, and data conversion functions described in this RFI?
- Do you qualify for every item in the “Requirements/Qualifications” section above?
- Have you performed previously successful upgrades and data migrations from PeopleSoft CIS/Revenue Management Solutions 8.xto Oracle’s Customer Care and Billing version 2.x in nine (9) months or less?
Provide the name and contact information for one or more references to substantiate question #5:
- What percentage of project time would be spent on-site to successfully complete the project?
- What is a rough estimate of the cost for all services for the life of a project of this scope, including, but not limited to: consulting; project management; data conversion; system integration; system customization; go-live support; travel; and expenses?
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