The Long Beach Police Department is seeking a solution that digitizes two paper processes that officers perform as part of their daily work. They want to digitize the forms that officers use to track incident numbers and police reports as well as the field interview process. Currently, these are paper processes and if a member of the public loses their incident ticket, they have to come into the Police Department to look it up. The Field Interview data is currently collected and typed up by administrative staff. 

The Police Department seeks a solution that would be: 

• Mobile-friendly to use on the officers' cellphone
• Secure and private
• Able to email the public with their incident report number

Questions & Answers

General 

What is challenge-based procurement?  

Challenge-based procurement lets us as City staff articulate our challenge without prescribing how we want it to be solved. We are asking for tech vendor insights into how we might solve this challenge. If you think you can help, take 30 minutes and fill out our application.  

Will the pilot end after 6 months or is there potential for the pilot to carry on? 

The timelines have some flexibility but proposers should not expect for the pilot period to last longer than 6 months. The timeline for the pilot project will be finalized during the project scoping process. For questions on transitioning to a larger scale project, see question 5.  

What happens with leftover assets after the pilot process?  

Any equipment used will not be retained or considered property of the City or participating authorities. All products piloted as part of the Smart City Challenge will be returned at the end of the pilot and/or the partner is expected to remove them in a timely manner. 

How does the city plan to transition successful pilots to larger scale projects?  

We will have a robust evaluation process that is meant to assess whether the pilot is meeting the City’s strategic goals. If the City chooses to move forward with a larger contract, there is the potential for the opportunity to go through another competitive RFP process.  

Can you provide more information regarding the Smart City Initiative? 

More information here: http://www.longbeach.gov/smartcity/pilot-programs/2021-smart-city-challenge/ 

To learn more, proposers may contact Estefania Zavala, Digital Innovation Program Manager at estefania.zavala@longbeach.gov and Ryan Kurtzman, Smart City Program Manager at ryan.kurtzman@longbeach.gov.  

How many hours is the vendor expected to allocate on a weekly basis to the City during the pilot phase? 

The hourly expectations and schedule for the pilot project will be finalized during the project scoping process.  

Is there a stipend or any funds available for the vendor during the pilot period? 

No 

If a desired outcome is achieved before the end of the pilot phase can a contract be entered into early? 

Yes, after an appropriate and robust evaluation process. If the City chooses to move forward with a larger contract, there is the potential for the opportunity to go through another competitive RFP process. 

Who owns the Intellectual Property created? 

The solution is owned by the vendor and the City’s data is owned by the City.  

Is the City open to accepting solutions that include long-term partnership with the vendor?   

The pilot project should be able to stand alone and should not depend on a long term partnership.  

If I own a company that usually consults on these types of challenges, should I apply for just one challenge or for every challenge if I think I have a solution? 

We would welcome the same proposer applying to multiple challenges. Please note, however, that if selected to provide a solution for multiple challenges, time constraints may be a challenge. 

Will the city permit applications from one company on multiple challenges? 

Yes. 

Challenge-Specific Questions

With this digitization process, are you looking to use the existing paper forms or have the ability to create forms from scratch?  

We currently have existing paper forms and are interested in the ability to create forms as well.  

Are you planning on using a platform standalone or looking to integrate with any third-party systems?  

Currently a standalone but this is a possibility depending on the capabilities that the application can provide.  

How many individuals (police officers and/or administrators) would be needing to access the platform?  

500+ or more users. However, not all will need to access the application at once. Again the number of users can depend on the types of forms that will be used. 

Does the Department currently have a system in place to house incident reports? Or is the Department seeking a hosted solution?  

Yes there is a system in place.  

Are photographs included with incident reports? If yes, what is the volume per year?  

This is not needed or required 

Please provide a copy of your current incident report form.  

To be identified during scope.  

Are there forms associated with field interviews? If yes, please provide a copy.  

Field interviews is the process to collect data so it is only one form.  

What is the volume of field interviews conducted per year?  

We had 7,896 field interviews and 74,866 police reports in 2019.

Is there a workflow or approval component to the solution? If yes please describe.  

For the purpose of this project this will not be needed. 

Has the Department previewed any solutions prior to the RFI release? If yes which ones?  

We are asking for the ability to automate our data collection and send to a system.  

Is the incident referring to traffic violation tickets?  

Incident refers to all police reports that are filed.  

Can you please clarify if the incident and police report represent one process?  

 The Police report is what documents this incident; field interview is a separate data collection process.   

Do you mean that currently paper-based forms are used to record and track incidents, police reports, and field interviews?  

There are few processes that are paper-based that the department is interested in automating; to be identified further during scope.  

Do you mean the police officer records the field interview data on a paper-based form, which is eventually recorded in the electronic system by the administrative staff?  

Yes that is correct 

Are APIs (application programming interface) currently available to that electronic system where incidents are recorded?  

Yes this can be available. 

Is the current electronic system a web-based system?  

Currently no but the department is implementing a new system that is web-based.