REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on Authorizing the City Manager to Negotiate and Execute Amendments to the Agreement with N. Harris Computer Corporation for the NorthStar CIS Utility Billing System
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Deliver and Enhance High Quality Efficient Services and Infrastructure
BACKGROUND
The City's utility billing operations rely on the NorthStar Customer Information System (NorthStar CIS) provided by N. Harris Computer Corporation (Harris). NorthStar CIS is a critical utility billing system that supports ten interconnected user applications that enable seamless integration between meter reading, service orders, meter data management, utility bill generation, payment collection across multiple channels, and customer service delivery, including both a call center and an online self-service web portal.
The City originally entered into an agreement with Harris in 1998 for the implementation, support, and maintenance of the NorthStar CIS. In 2017, the City Council authorized the City Manager to execute a new agreement with Harris (2017 Agreement) to upgrade NorthStar CIS from version 6.3 to version 6.4, with a maximum compensation of $276,648 and a term through December 7, 2020. Since then, the agreement has been amended multiple times to incorporate additional critical projects and increase compensation, as summarized below:
* Amendment No. 1 (Authorized under RTC# 20-714, executed December 1, 2020): Extended the term through December 31, 2023, with no change in the maximum compensation. City Council also authorized the City Manager to negotiate and execute future amendments for additional work related to transitioning the customer payment system from NorthStar CIS to the City's Smart Energy Water (SEW) platform to ensure compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). The PCI DSS is a set of security requirements designed to protect cardholder data and reduce payment card fraud, applicable to any entity that stor...
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