Justification Responses.pdf

TIMMONS SOLE SOURCE

Justification Responses Q1: What is the business need or problem that requires this contract?

The Project Information System (PRISM) and the Salmon Recovery Portal (SRP) are the Recreation and Conservation office’s (RCO) mission critical applications that have been designed and implemented over many decades to meet RCO’s unique business needs.

PRISM and SRP enable RCO to perform efficiently for a small agency, putting nearly $500 million dollars on the ground each biennium with little administrative cost. PRISM supports the essential operations of RCO, and it is essential that it be available every workday.

RCO is currently managing approximately $1.1 billion in grants and contracts and over 3,000 sponsors rely on PRISM and SRP for contract and project management. PRISM was expanded in 2022 to allow the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission to manage one of their grant programs. This allowed State Parks to move from a paper-based system to an electronic system that greatly increased their efficiency.

SRP is mandated in RCW 77.85.060 to ‘ensure salmon habitat projects will be prioritized and implemented in a logical sequential manner that produces habitat capable of sustaining healthy populations of salmon’.

As the RCO business evolves and expands, it is imperative to keep PRISM and SRP evolving and expanding to match. The technology must be maintained and occasionally upgraded, system business rules must be added and updated as needed, and enhancements implemented to keep the system secure and to keep up with new workflows for an ever-growing workload.

The PRISM database, which incorporates SRP data, consists of over 1000 data tables, 500 views, and 4,000 stored procedures. There are two main applications with thousands of webpages and hundreds of reports in the 20 modules. Additionally, several modules include GIS features increasing the complexity of the system.

RCO does not have internal Developers, Business Analysts, and/or Quality Control/Assurance Specialists on staff, so the agency relies on a contractor, the Timmons Group (Timmons), for the maintenance and continued development of both applications.

Timmons is currently a vendor through the Department of Enterprise Services (DES) IT Professional Services(#08215) statewide contract. Timmons is waiting to compete in the next IT Consulting Solicitation process, which was anticipated to launch in Q1 of 2025, but has been delayed.

RCO must maintain continuity with our current vendor to keep productivity and customer service high and reduce overall costs to the state and is seeking a sole source contract to keep Timmons as the agency’s primary contractor for this work. Having onboarded

Timmons less than two years ago, the agency has firsthand knowledge and experience of the effort and resources it took to get to a place where we are operating efficiently.

Q2: Describe the unique features, qualifications, abilities or expertise of the contractor proposed for this sole source contract.

The PRISM system is an extensive framework of modules and shared components, built in 1995, and has expanded nearly every year since. Competitively procured through a two-tier solicitation process, RCO selected Rudeen & Associates LLC (Rudeen) to build early phases of the PRISM system and to maintain and enhance it from1994 to 2023. This contract was secured competitively from a shortlist of DES vendors, until the last renewal period in 2022, which was a sole source contract. SRP is an entirely federally funded system that was amended into the Rudeen contract after the original developer, Dude Solutions, decided the maintenance and enhancement of the system no longer aligned with their business goals.

In 2023, the principle at Rudeen announced her retirement. RCO worked with DES to have the contract reassigned to Timmons which is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The move to Timmons was advantageous to RCO in that they had done work with other Washington State agencies and a few core PRISM/SRP developers transitioned to work for Timmons as well. Timmons is a well-established, larger contractor with more developers and resources available than other database management firms.

Timmons’ technical team is already familiar with RCO’s technical infrastructure and has developed a good working relationship with RCO data and IT staff. Their contract performance and vendor responsiveness are good and the partnership continues to develop. There is a clear economic advantage to continuing with the same vendor, because a new contractor would essentially be starting over to learn the complex systems of PRISM and SRP.

Continuing a contract with Timmons allows RCO continuity working with our current team, made up of three Application Developers, two Business Analysts, one Project Manager, and one Quality Control/Assurance Specialist. After a significant onboarding period, the members of the Timmons team have developed significant experience working on

PRISM/SRP.

Q3: What kind of market research did the agency conduct to conclude that alternative sources were inappropriate or unavailable? Provide a narrative description of the agency’s due diligence in determining the basis for the sole source contract, including methods used by the agency to conduct a review of available sources. Use DES’ Market Research Template if assistance is needed.

PRISM and SRP are agency developed systems (not purchased off the shelf). These databases are tailored to the unique business that RCO conducts and no other contractor within the state has more knowledge than Timmons of how these systems were built or function. Limited market research was conducted due to Timmons specialized knowledge of RCO’s system.

Q4: As part of the market research requirements, include a list of statewide contracts reviewed and/or businesses contacted, date of contact, method of contact (telephone, mail, e-mail, other), and documentation demonstrating an explanation of why those businesses could not or would not, under any circumstances, perform the contract; or an explanation of why the agency has determined that no businesses other than the prospective contractor can perform the contract.

We reviewed the list of approved vendors, identified above, to compare rates/costs with other statewide contracts. We did not contact other statewide vendors. PRISM and SRP are unique, customized applications that only two different contractors have worked on. The learning curve is very steep, which makes contracting with a different vendor not advantageous nor economical, especially because RCO just onboarded Timmons in 2023.

Q5: Provide a detailed and compelling description that includes quantification of the costs and risks mitigated by contracting with this contractor (i.e. learning curve, follow-up nature).

RCO recently went through a transition from one vendor to another in 2023 when Rudeen transferred their contract to Timmons. Given that no other vendor had worked on/with PRISM or SRP before, the learning curve was steep. Production decreased temporarily and costs increased. RCO saw costs nearly double as new developers worked to get familiar with the platform and the coding behind the system. Additionally, projects took significantly longer times to complete than in the past. After 20 months of working with Timmons, costs and timelines have normalized and productivity has increased to expected levels.

RCO uses its PRISM system to manage all the functions of our granting and contracting services. From application intake to project review, to active project management including paying our sponsors and partners, the system meets all required functions of working with project sponsors. This work is at risk if the agency must go out to bid, select and onboard a new contractor. In addition, switching to a new vendor would cause additional problems:

• A new team without PRISM and SRP experience does not have the knowledge to estimate maintenance and development costs.

• New developers who are unfamiliar with RCO’s systems can inadvertently create bugs by changing code.

• New developers without full understanding of system interrelationships take an extensive amount of time to troubleshoot issues.

• The agency would likely experience system downtimes that would be extremely disruptive to operations, including the inability to pay sponsors for their work and our ability to meet deadlines set by our boards.

Lastly, the agency does not have the money to absorb the costs of paying for two contractors simultaneously while transitioning to a new vendor.

Q6: What are the consequences of not having this sole source filing approved? Describe in detail the impact to the agency and to services it provides if this sole source filing is not approved.

If this sole source amendment is not approved, RCO would have to go out to bid for this work. If the agency had to select a new vendor, we would see increased costs, decreased productivity, and a decrease in the level of service we are able to provide to our clients.

When RCO went through the transition in 2023, we had the luxury of the original vendor assist with training and on-boarding the new vendor. RCO does not have the technical expertise on-staff to be able to train an Application Developer on PRISM and SRP code without the assistance of the current contractor. If RCO was required to part ways with Timmons and contract with a new vendor, RCO would have to pay two vendors at the same time, to onboard the new contractor. The agency does not have the money to absorb such costs and paying for two vendors would be a misuse of public funds.

RCO has worked hard to onboard Timmons and are now just hitting our stride working with this new team. Continuing to contract with Timmons means low start-up costs for enhancements, the timely resolution of issues, and a secure and stable platform for both systems to manage projects efficiently.

Q7: Since competition was not used as the means for procurement, how did the agency conclude that the costs, fees, or rates negotiated are fair and reasonable?

Please make a comparison with comparable contracts, use the results of a market survey, or employ some other appropriate means calculated to make such a determination.

RCO reviewed the DES list of approved vendors and performed a market rate analysis. We narrowed the list down to Washington State-based companies that offer IT Business Analysis, Database Services, and GIS Services (the primary functions we get from Timmons). This returned 253 companies with a maximum hourly rate that ranged from $60- $1,000 and an average max hourly rate of $210. Once the outliers were removed (any contractor under $100, and the one at $1000), 244 companies remained, ranging from $100-$500, with an average of $207.

The rates for Timmons under this proposal range from $107/hr. (QA/QC staff) to $170/hr.

(Senior Software Engineer). These rates are in line with, or lower, than average for contractors located in state.

RCO concluded that Timmons’ rates are fair and reasonable though this analysis.