Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Three-Year Agreement with Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., for Enterprise Geographic Information System Software License, Maintenance and Support, for a Three-Year Total Amount Not-to-Exceed $180,900 with an Annual Cost of $60,300. (Information Technology 60626070)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) provides essential Geographic Information System (GIS) services and software to City of Alameda (City) departments and community members through internal and external websites. In 2019, the City executed a three-year Small Municipal Government Enterprise Agreement (SGEA) with the option to extend the agreement for an additional three years. Staff requests City Council approval of a new three-year SGEA with ESRI until 2028.
BACKGROUND
ESRI is headquartered in Redlands, California, and ESRI’s ArcGIS software is an open and interoperable technology platform that provides mapping, analysis and data management. ESRI’s SGEA provides a cost-effective way to deploy GIS into City operations and business processes. The SGEA offers the City a flat-fee, all-inclusive subscription to ESRI software, making it ideal for broad, organization-wide GIS use, whereas using the City’s standard Service Provider Agreement would then require paying per license, which would limit access and increase administrative complexity.
DISCUSSION
The City continues to experience growing demand for GIS across departments and developed a comprehensive five-year GIS Strategic Plan. As part of this plan, ArcGIS Enterprise and the City's GIS data have been deployed in a robust cloud services platform. This modern GIS environment, included with the ESRI SGEA purchased in 2019, provides the foundation to fully leverage the City’s investment in GIS.
Notable GIS projects created with the ESRI platform include:
• Vision Zero Support - Produced annual analyses, maps, and interactive StoryMaps to support the City's Vision Zero goals, helping identify high-injury locations and guide safety improvements.
• Fire Pre-Planning - Equipped the Alameda Fire Department with tools to collect and manage critical building and infrastructure data for pre-incident planning, improving emergency response and firefighter safety.
• Unhoused Activity Reporter - Developed a mobile app used by Health and Human Services to document and coordinate outreach to Alameda’s unhoused residents, enhancing service delivery and tracking.
• Equity Mapping - Created internal web maps using authoritative equity data to help staff consider equity impacts during capital planning, grant applications, and budgeting.
The benefits of this Enterprise License Agreement include:
• Streamlining administration and procurement and reducing expenses through a single enterprise agreement.
• Including full maintenance and technical support for all ESRI software products across departments.
• Centralizing data management, improving coordination across departments.
• Providing unlimited viewer access and 225 advanced user licenses at a lower per-user cost.
• Providing staff access to ESRI web-based training including four passes to the annual User Conference.
• Enabling flexible deployment of GIS tools across the organization.
• Supporting mobile applications for field staff and real-time data collection.
• Facilitating creation of both internal and public-facing web maps.
One component of this SGEA will be to migrate to Arc GIS Enterprise which will centralize GIS services across departments. These migrations and end-user training will complete the City’s transition away from a decentralized GIS structure where departments use different versions of ESRI software and rely on aging servers toward a unified, secure, and future-ready platform. It will be more effective by reducing duplication of effort and costs as well as inconsistent information. The estimated completion date to migrate to ArcGIS Enterprise is Q4 of 2025.
Staff recommends that City Council approve a three-year Enterprise License Agreement with ESRI for enterprise GIS software license maintenance and support, for a three-year amount not-to-exceed $180,900 to be paid annually at $60,300.
ALTERNATIVES
• Authorize the City Manager to renew the ESRI subscription.
• Provide direction to staff to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to identify vendor for a GIS system that is functionally comparable to the existing GIS solution and includes a centralized GIS system. Staff is satisfied with ESRI and an RFP process will delay the transition to a centralized GIS system.
• Continue the existing level of GIS services with decentralized GIS in which departments each manage their GIS data and services which could lead to fragmentation, duplication of effort, and inconsistent information.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The total not-to-exceed cost for this three-year SGEA with ESRI is $180,900 and the annual costs are as follows:
FY 25-26 total compensation shall not exceed $60,300
FY 26-27 total compensation shall not exceed $60,300
FY 27-28 total compensation shall not exceed $60,300
Funds for this SGEA with ESRI are included in the Fiscal Year 2025-27 Biennial Budget for City Council approval in June 2025.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
The action is consistent with the Alameda Municipal Code.
This action is subject to the Levine Act.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action does not constitute a “project” as defined in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 and therefore no further CEQA analysis is required.
CLIMATE IMPACT
There are no identifiable climate impacts or climate action opportunities associated with the subject of this report.
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Manager to execute a three-year agreement with ESRI for enterprise geographic information system software license, maintenance and support, for a three-year total amount not-to-exceed $180,900 with an annual cost of $60,300.
Respectfully submitted,
Demetrius Cagampan, Information Technology Director
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Ross McCarthy, Finance Director
Exhibit:
1. Small Municipal Government Enterprise Agreement with ESRI