TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Jon Gjestvang, Chief Information Officer - Information Technology Services
REPORT BY: Julia Bordona, Staff Services Manager
SUBJECT: Approval of Agreement No. 240313B with PRO-FILE Business Records Management
RECOMMENDATION
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Approve and authorize the chair to sign Agreement No. 240313B with Tishna Pastrama, doing business as PRO-FILE Business Records Management, for the term of March 12, 2024 through June 30, 2027 with a maximum annual amount of $74,376 per fiscal year, with automatic annual renewals; and approval of a Budget Adjustment for $45,000 for records storage and moving services. (Fiscal Impact: $45,000, Information Technology Services Fund, Not Budgeted; Discretionary.)
[4/5 vote required]
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BACKGROUND
In 2016 the Records Management (RM) department began the process of reducing the inventory at the County’s records center. Superannuated records were being routinely overlooked. The total box inventory had swollen to over 16,000 boxes. As staff set about creating a trusted system for the storage of all documents, it was determined that digitizing official documents would save space and labor while increasing accessibility. The digitization efforts and destroying superannuated records have brought our total inventory down to 8300 boxes. Everyday RM staff scan more documents and continue to reduce the inventory. One of the consequences of this decrease in inventory is the storage costs per box are rising. Our building lease remains the same while our inventory is reduced. It was determined that we would need to choose one of two options.
1. Move into a smaller facility with a lower cost.
2. Outsource the storage of our boxes.
Each solution had its merits. Unfortunately, moving to a smaller facility only guaranteed that we would need to move again once the inventory is reduced by another 50%. There are no County owned facilities that can house the records center operations at the current inventory level. Therefore, we would have to move into another lease arrangement at a different facility. A 50% reduction of inventory would result in a 100% increase in per box storage costs to our customers.
From a perspective of keeping fixed costs and making our per box storage costs variable, the outsourcing option provided the best value for the County. Instead of a fixed yearly lease of $120,000, we will pay roughly $75,000 annually to a vendor to store our records. As our inventory decreases, so do our storage costs. A 50% reduction in inventory would create a 50% reduction in box storage costs.
Requested Actions:
1. Approve and authorize the chair to sign agreement number #240313B with Tishna Pastrama, doing business as PRO-FILE Business Records Management for the term of March 12, 2024 through June 20, 2027 with a maximum annual amount of $74,376 per fiscal year, with automatic annual renewals.
2. Approval of Budget Adjustment to increase Information Technology Services- Records (4200011) Other Professional Services (52490) by $45,000, offset by a commensurate decrease in Salaries and Wages (51100) to pay for moving services and three months of storage costs related to the Records Center move through the end of the fiscal year.
[4/5 vote required]
PRO-FILE Business Records Management is a local vendor.
FISCAL & STRATEGIC PLAN IMPACT
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Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
Yes |
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Is it currently budgeted? |
No |
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Is it Mandatory or Discretionary? |
Discretionary |
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Discretionary Justification: |
The service that Pro-File provides will replace the expense of having a facility dedicated to the long-term storage of paper files. It will create a variable per box cost associated with records storage. As our inventory is reduced overall costs should go down as well. |
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Is the general fund affected? |
No |
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Future fiscal impact: |
The ongoing costs are included in the Information Technology Services (ITS) budget and built into the ITS Cost Allocation plan. Future costs, $74,376 annually |
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Consequences if not approved: |
Records Management will need to re-enter lease negotiations with the current landlord to extend our lease. The difference will increase our budget for the next fiscal year by $40,000. Additionally, as our current space is under-utilized, we will still need to find a long-term solution for the County’s remaining records. |
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California Code of Regulations 15378 (State of CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.