TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF MAY 21, 2020
COMMITTEE ON PROCUREMENT
Mr. Brian A. Perkovich, Executive Director
Title
Authority to Advertise Contract 20-RFP-02 Deliver and Implement a Laboratory Information Management System, estimated cost $1,000,000.00, Account 101-16000-634820, Requisition 1539731 (Deferred from the May 7, 2020 Board Meeting)
Body
Dear Sir:
Request for Proposal (RFP) documents have been prepared to deliver and implement a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), at the request of the Monitoring and Research (M&R) Department. The contract begins approximately on September 30, 2020 and ends on June 30, 2022.
The purpose of this contract is to purchase and implement a new LIMS, which will be used to collect, store, and report all analytical results generated by the M&R Department. This includes plant data necessary for compliance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits and industrial discharge data for enforcement of the local pretreatment limits.
This new LIMS will replace the existing system that was implemented approximately 27 years ago and will deliver most of the required functionalities in an “out of the box” package. The existing LIMS did not contain many functionalities required by the District, because they were not available as a commercial package. As a result, the District enhanced the system by constantly adding custom coding that would provide for the necessary functionalities. More than 40 percent of the current LIMS is customized. The Information Technology (IT) Department’s resources are required to make even minor changes in the laboratory operations. With new laboratory instrumentation and technologies, there is a constant need for LIMS improvement. The current level of customization prevents the addition of any new code, as it can affect the existing setup. More importantly, it makes the LIMS software impossible to upgrade to the current version offered and supported by the software developer, Thermo Fisher Scientific.
It is the M&R Department’s goal to minimize customization and implement a system that will be configurable without customization to fit the evolving needs of each laboratory. This will significantly reduce the dependence on the IT Department. It will further allow for greater trackability and traceability of all the involved documents, analytical results, and data reports. It will also automate upload of the results from the analytical instruments and will provide more advanced reporting tools. It will allow for efficient and accurate management and execution of the Quality Assurance Program to ensure its compliance with the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program. The desired system will be able to integrate with emerging technologies making some mobile applications possible in the future.
The estimated cost for this contract is $1,000,000.00. The estimated expenditures for 2020, 2021, and 2022 are 100,000.00, $750,000.00, and $150,000.00, respectively.
A bid deposit is not required for this RFP.
Appendix A and Appendix V will not be included in this RFP due to the scope of work to be performed under this contract. As it is explained in the review memo from the Diversity Administrator, these services do not provide practical or cost-effective opportunities for direct or indirect subcontracting due to the specialized nature of the work requested.
The tentative schedule for this contract is as follows:
Advertise: June 3, 2020
Proposals Received: July 3, 2020
Award: September 17, 2020
Completion: June 30, 2022
Funds for the 2020 expenditure, in the amount of $100,000.00 are available in Account 101-16000-634820. The estimated expenditure for 2021 and 2022 are $750,000.00, and $150,000.00, respectively, and are contingent on the Board of Commissioners’ approval of the District’s budget for those years.
In view of the foregoing, it is recommended that the Director of Procurement and Materials Management be authorized to advertise Contract 20-RFP-02.
Requested, Edward W. Podczerwinski, Director of Monitoring and Research, EWP:KB:JC:PG:cs
Recommended, Darlene A LoCascio, Director of Procurement and Materials Management
Respectfully Submitted, Barbara J. McGowan, Chairman Committee on Procurement
Disposition of this agenda item will be documented in the Official Regular Board Meeting Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for May 21, 2020
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