Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute an Agreement with OpenGov, Inc. for Continued Use of the Budget and Planning Module, for an Amount Not-to-Exceed $143,546.91 for One Year. (Finance)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
For the last four years, OpenGov has provided a comprehensive and transparent budgeting platform for the City of Alameda (City). In May 2020, City Council approved the execution of an agreement with OpenGov, Inc., to provide services for the Finance Department to build the budget, manage workforce planning and integrate financial information across platforms through the Budget and Planning module.
The Budget and Planning modules are compatible with the City’s current financial accounting software, Tyler Enterprise ERP. The cost for this module is $143,546.91 for one year. There is no upfront deployment cost associated with OpenGov if the City decides to renew the existing services.
Staff recommends authorizing the City Manager to execute an agreement with OpenGov (Exhibit 1) to continue utilizing this software, which is essential for the continued management and planning of the City’s Biennial, Mid-Cycle, and Mid-Year Budgets.
BACKGROUND
OpenGov is a leading provider of cloud-based tools designed for local governments to enhance budgeting and associated performance, communication, reporting, and open data, ultimately resulting in more transparent and comprehensive outcomes for both City staff and the public.
The Budget and Planning module has streamlined and enhanced the budgeting process from start to finish, from the initial stages of strategic planning and personnel forecasting to the final stages of City Council approval and staff implementation. OpenGov’s integrated online suite of solutions aggregate and synchronize both financial and non-financial data. This allows the City to effectively plan and manage its strategic initiatives by capturing priorities, linking budgets to these priorities, identifying key performance indicators, while allowing public engagement throughout the process.
DISCUSSION
The five main features of the OpenGov Budget and Planning module are:
Community Feedback: This feature allows for the efficient development of the operating and capital budgets while promoting communication and collaboration between internal stakeholders from initial budget stages to adoption. Since initially implementing OpenGov in 2020, the City has received the Government Finance Officers Association’s distinguished Budget Presentation Award for all Biennial budgets.
Dashboards: With this feature staff can create easy-to-understand charts, graphs and other visuals based on the data. Dashboards can be utilized across all features to facilitate transparency by explaining complex data through visuals.
Operating & Capital Budgeting (Budget Builder): For the City Manager, Public Works, and Finance departments to create a collaborative budget, the departments need a central platform to cost out and calculate many scenarios. The Budget Builder feature allows these departments to project multiple scenarios while having input from many different departments and stakeholders.
Reporting & Analytics: This feature integrates with the City’s Tyler Enterprise ERP system using OpenGov’s Communications and Reporting features to track budget and actuals and use the OpenGov dashboards and reports to run day-to-day budget-to-actual analytics. By having the data integrated, users can compare their budget in OpenGov to actuals in Tyler Enterprise ERP. The Finance Department can also set strict budget limits to disallow over-budget transactions to proceed.
Workforce Planning: This feature allows the Finance and Human Resources Departments to forecast personnel costs and create different outcomes and projections for different labor scenarios. The workforce numbers flow into the Biennial and Mid-Cycle operating budgets to create accurate and timely City budget.
ALTERNATIVES
• Authorize the City Manager to execute an Agreement with OpenGov.
• Do not authorize the City Manager to execute the Agreement City staff will then consider submitting a Request for Proposal to all budget planning software providers.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The total cost of the Budgeting and Planning module in OpenGov is $143,546.91 for the next fiscal year. The budget authority for this item starting July 1, 2025 was included in the recommended Fiscal Year 2025-27 Biennial Budget that was presented to the public and City Council in May and June 2025. This amount will be proposed in Fund 606 - Information Technology Internal Service Fund.
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Implementation Costs: |
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Budgeting and Planning Module (Community Feedback, Dashboards, Budget Builder, Reporting & Analytics, Workforce Planning) |
$143,546.91 (1 Year) |
The total compensation for this Agreement is not-to-exceed $143,546.91 as described in the Service Provider Agreement.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
Pursuant to Alameda Municipal Code section 2-61.7 (Joint Purchases with Public Agencies), purchase of equipment, among other items, may be purchased without resorting to formal bidding provided that the price paid by another public agency was itself the subject of competitive bidding. Staff confirmed that the price proposed by OpenGov is below the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) price list offered by a NASPO vendor, which is also an authorized reseller of OpenGov. In accordance with City Administrative Instruction Number 5 (“Purchasing Policy”), vehicles may be purchased through cooperative purchasing such as NASPO. Additionally, for procurement purposes, OpenGov’s software platform is the only integrated multi-tenant Software as a Service (“SaaS”) solution that can meet and/or exceed the City’s desired goals for communications, reporting, and civic engagement.
This action is subject to the Levine Act.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action is not a project for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 10561(b)(3) as there is no possibility that this action may have a significant effect on the environment.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
There are no identifiable climate impacts or climate action opportunities associated with the subject of this report.
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Manager to execute an Agreement with OpenGov, Inc. for continued use of the Budget and Planning Module, for a total contract amount of not-to-exceed $143,546.91 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Ott, City Manager
By,
Ecaterina Burton, Budget Manager
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Ross McCarthy, Finance Director
Exhibit:
1. Service Provider Agreement