Title
Public Transit Financial Advisory Services Contract - PTD23-003 - Amendment (Ordinance S-51306)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to execute an amendment to Contract 159261 with PFM Financial Advisors, LLC (PFM) to add additional funds for modeling software used for financial advisory services for the Public Transit Department. Further request to authorize the City Controller to disburse all funds related to this item. Additional expenditures will not exceed $650,000 for the remaining nine years of the contract.
Report
Summary
PFM provides financial advisory services to the Public Transit Department to help manage the long-term planning of billions of dollars from the voter-approved Transportation 2050 plan (T2050), federal grants, county sales tax, and other sources. The financial planning model is critical to the delivery of T2050 projects and improvements as carried out by both the Public Transit and Street Transportation departments, as it allows staff to ensure appropriate funding and to model scenarios reflecting potential changes in funding, project timing, and regional priorities over the remaining 25 years of the T2050 program.
PFM is now offering financial modeling software, Synario, to better maintain the T2050 financial plan. The current financial model utilizes an extensive Excel workbook with formulas so complex that they require PFM experts to create and manage them regularly. Maintaining an Excel-based model requires significant staff oversight to minimize risks related to version control, human error in updating data, and excessive file size. The new software will eliminate these risks and provide significant improvements to modeling and reporting capabilities. The software model will help to provide more reliable and actionable information to decision-makers. Synario is a subsidiary of PFM, so the current advisory team from PFM engage with the model alongside City staff.
This item has been reviewed and approved by the Information Technology Services Department.
Procurement Information
In accordance with Administrative Regulation 3.10, standard competition was waived for this amendment for software licenses as a result of an approved Determination Memo based on the following reason: special circumstances. The licenses are for the software owned and used by PFM to create and update the financial model; access to the model requires licenses for the same software.
Contract Term
The contract term is for ten years, expiring September 30, 2033.
Financial Impact
The annual software subscription is currently $55,620 per year, with implementation costs and expected increases making the nine-year total approximately $650,000. The total contract value is for an amount not to exceed $910,000. Funding is available in the Public Transit Department’s budget.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
Public Transit Financial Advisory Services Contract PTD23-003 - Request for Award (Ordinance S-50183) on September 20, 2023.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Public Transit Department.