Title
Document Retrieval Services - Requirements Contract for Litigation and Claims (Ordinance S-47400)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to ratify an agreement with Compex Legal Services, Inc. (Compex) to provide document retrieval services, such as medical bills and other records related to litigation or notice of claims for the Law Department. The aggregate amount will not exceed $98,000 for a two year agreement. Further request authorization for the City Controller to disburse all funds related to this item.
Report
Summary
The purpose of this agreement is for a document retrieval service that pulls all relevant documents for litigation and notice of claims such as medical, hospital, billing, payroll, personnel, insurance claims, Medicare, VA, Social Security, police departments, fire departments, OSHA, employment and educational records. Those records are provided to the Law Department as related to cases in litigation, or where the City has received a Notice of Claim, to assist in evaluation of the case and for discovery purposes. The City has an agreement with a paralegal service that was providing this document retrieval service. The paralegal not only obtained the documents, but organized and summarized them for the file. Cost cutting measures were taken last Fall to pilot a program for obtaining these document services directly. Based on a few months of using document retrieval services, the Law Department concluded over $100,000 could be saved by using the document retrieval in lieu of using the paralegal contract for obtaining documents. Therefore, the Law Department requests approval to continue using this agreement to continue the pilot until Nov. 15, 2022.
Legal services are exempt from the Procurement Code, nevertheless, the City obtained quotes from four vendors: DocuTrak, AZ D3, ABI Document Support Services and Compex Legal Services, Inc. Compex was the lowest bid with volume discount pricing for record retrieval charges per document copies, with assorted preparation charges, services fees and field trip charges where applicable.
Contract Term
The agreement began on Nov. 16, 2020, and is effective until Nov. 15, 2022, for a two year aggregate term with no options to extend.
Financial Impact
Funds are not anticipated to exceed $98,000.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by City Manager Ed Zuercher and the Law Department.