Specifications include, but are not limited to: a) Determine the level of market interest; b) Obtain information on potential new technologies or approaches; c) Obtain recommendations that would enhance the success of a future procurement opportunity for this project; d) Obtain high-level cost estimates for planning and budgeting purposes; and e) Provide the industry with an opportunity to comment on the potential procurement opportunity. The County’s typical annual budget process requires that department end users submit their capital project requests for the next five years early in the budget cycle. These requests are reviewed by the department heads, the Budget Division, the Planning Division, and County Administration, among others. End users must provide sufficient documentation and explanation to support their requests. In the past, these requests have been submitted through a system developed in-house by the County. The County is interested in a capital budgeting system with the general capabilities listed below: • Department user interface • Ability for Budget staff to modify/update request fields each budget cycle as needed to collect pertinent information from end users • Request fields that allow for various response types from end users, including numeric, narrative, dates, drop-down, etc. • Ability to break down project costs over at least a five-year period • Ability to break down project costs into different categories (ex. design, construction, equipment, etc.) • Ability to attach supporting documentation to requests within the system • Workflow processing to allow authorized users to review and approve projects • Access restrictions so that only authorized users can see/edit/approve requests and read-only access can be granted as needed • Variety of built-in reports with easy report generation and ability to export to Excel or PDF • Data analysis tools • Import/export abilities to allow data to be loaded into or pulled from the County’s financial software • Ability to roll forward projects to subsequent budget cycles • Recordkeeping on the original requests and any updates for the proposed or adopted budgets • Improvements to efficiency • User friendly system • Cost effective system • Timely and responsive customer support for the duration of the contract
