Currently, the City of Long Beach offers many digital services through a variety of technology vendors. We are looking for a solution that would create a single sign-on for residents, businesses, and visitors that would integrate several online services onto one program. This solution would provide a user-friendly, web-based portal for accessing resident-facing applications and aggregate access to multiple City services. With one account, residents could sign into multiple applications and cut the need to provide duplicate login information for different City services. This portal could also be accessed via QR code on mobile devices or tablets. Given the COVID-19 crisis, it is even more important that digital services be simple and accessible for all Long Beach stakeholders.

The Technology and Innovation Department is looking for a solution that would ideally integrate with: 

• Municipal billing and service payment (water, sewer, gas, etc.)
• Parking lot and meter access/payment
• A fast track method for queuing for public comment at Council meetings
• Recreational and senior programming reservation/payment
• The City's Go Long Beach app, powered by Salesforce.
• Public-facing City kiosks placed at different community centers and libraries throughout the City

However, exact services would be determined as a part of the pilot process.

Questions and Answers

General Questions

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

Is the Department looking for proof of functionality and capability of the solution, or to deliver an integrated proof of concept with the applications listed in the RFP? 

The former as well as an understanding of the approach and project management.  

How many services and/or connectors are in scope of the challenge? 

That is to be determined as we further scope the project with the selected vendor.  

What is the process for next steps after the pilot is successful? 

Evaluating the data that has been collected in the pilot process and reporting back to Council/Mayor. Then, pending policy direction, entering into contract and scoping out a plan for the holistic rollout of the solution.

What are considered the success criteria for the challenge? 

Building a community-friendly single sign on that will allow residents to more easily access City services.  

Will the project go through a competitive bid cycle to determine the final solution provider? If yes, will the pilot vendor be allowed to bid on the deployment of the final solution? 

Yes and yes.  

Do you currently have any centralized or disparate parking management/reservation system? 

Yes. 

For fast tracking at Council meetings, is there a requirement for non-resident visitor management? 

Yes. 

Will payments for the recreational and senior programming reservation system be made and accepted across the city via the new application/platform? 

No, we have an existing system.  

Do you have any centralized database of residents and businesses? 

Only business licenses. 

If yes, will the centralized database be able to provide a unique identifier for all residents and businesses, or would this solution become the authoritative source? 

Is there an estimated number of residents/businesses so the solution can be sized properly? 

What type of hardware is available or currently in place, versus, expected to be provided by the vendor? 

There is no hardware currently in place and this project would focus on the software with the expectation that it can integrate  

Are kiosks currently deployed across the city, or do we need to provide and deploy them for the pilot? 

We are planning to install our own kiosks and we do not expect the pilot vendor for this project to provide and deploy them.  

Is the solution expected to turnkey or will the Department be covering certain areas of the scope? 

This is to be determined.  

Can you provide some insight on the Department’s team that the vendor will be working with? 

The selected vendor would be working with 

Does the city have a requirement for on-prem vs a cloud architecture? 

No but we prefer the cloud. 

Are you open to custom-developed software tool for the City? Or are you looking for an out-of-the-box solution? 

We are open to both.  

If you are looking for an out-of-the-box solution, do you have any preferred tool & technology?  

The City has investments in Microsoft stack, including Azure, and Salesforce.  

Any specific SSO tool that the city wants us to consider? 

No.  

Does the city desire the ability to use the new solution as a website OR as an Application (App)? Is app referred to a Responsive web application that is mobile-friendly or would a Cross Platform App or Native App is expected (like downloadable in app stores)? 

A constituent identity should be accessible via a website or via an app. The purpose of the identity is to provide access using one set of credentials across the City’s various websites and apps (e.g. Go Long Beach 311 app, the Long Beach Public Library catalog, etc.)  

What is your desired start date and go-live date? 

This is to be determined in the project scoping.  

Do you want us to host the solution, or do you want to host it in your own environment? Because this will impact the pricing. 

Hosted solution is preferred.  

If you want the vendor managed solution, would the city consider a non-SaaS solution hosted in their cloud infrastructure but managed by the vendor? 

Yes.  

Is your current solution a SAAS? Which cloud provider do you prefer or majorly using? 

The City uses Azure Active Directory for IAM of its employees.   

What is the current programming language used by the existing application? Do you prefer to continue using that language? 

Not applicable.  

Is your current IT team supporting the existing Customer Care and Bill Management system? If yes, is it a custom solution or an out of the box solution? What is the technology stack and what are their technical skills primarily focused on? 

Yes, we manage the system. It’s an out-of-the-box solution, but it has been highly customized. 

How many customer license and employee-license are required? 

This product is directed at constituents, not employees.  

Integration vs Migration: Is there a direct access to the financial system tables or are we creating a journalized entry to be migrated to financial system? Which method is currently used? 

Integrations with financial systems and payment processors will be discussed for feasibility during project initiation.  

When is the payment realized? • Is it at the time the transaction is processed by the merchant? • Is it when the invoice is posted in the financial system of record? 

Integrations with financial systems and payment processors will be discussed for feasibility during project initiation. 

Are there any data migration involved? Please provide volume specs such as database size, and transaction per day? 

Unknown at this time. Will vary depending on selected solution’s capabilities and internal system’s abilities to integrate with the selected solution.  

What are the valid cut-off dates for data migration (how far in the past are we attempting to migrate data)? Is it transactional data, what is the volume? Is there any archived data, if yes, please provide volume? 

Transactional data is not in scope, focus will be to obtain/maintain identity across multiple disparate systems.  

What is the data refresh frequency for integrated data? 

Not applicable.  

Do you need any reporting/ analytic and dashboard-ing capabilities? If yes, then please answer the following: 

Is there any existing analytics tool? If so, is it web-based? Please provide the name and version? Do you want to keep it or bring in a new tool? 

Yes, PowerBI. Open to other tools.  

What are the top 3 things that you would like to see in the new tool that are not available in your existing tool?  

Not applicable; the City does not currently have public digital identity services, thus it has no data points to evaluate.  

Dashboard: What is the preferred tool/technology for dashboard development (power bi/tableau/excel)? 

The City is open to tools, and strongly prefers programmatic access to machine-readable data (e.g. API) to drive reporting.  

Dashboard: How many end-users will be accessing the dashboards? 

Fewer than 10.  

Dashboard: Is there any Data Integration system in place to consolidate the data from different sources (Customer data, water consumption, leak detection, and weather)? 

No.  

Dashboard: What will be the source of data for dashboards? 

Unknown 

Dashboard: Are there any existing dashboards? If so, what is the backend technology, and should they have replicated as is? 

Yes, PowerBI and Salesforce.  

Will the city require configurable dashboards/ adding new items based on Customer requests? What are configurations required? 

Unknown.  

What is the source and/or format of billing information? 

To be discussed with the selected vendor.  

Do you have any documentation available for existing integrations? How does notifications are received and what other features does the supporting apps provide? 

Documentation will be provided to the successful partner.  

What is the current Municipal billing and payment systems? 

Oracle Customer Care and Billing 

What touchpoint(s) currently exists with the FIS/ERP system? 

None.  

What is the current system used in Recreational and senior programming reservation/payment? 

ActiveNet 

What software is the city using to capture parking lot and meter access info – we need this information for integration purposes and any potential cost impact? 

Passport and Smarking 

What is the name and version of the application inside public-facing City kiosks? Does the city provide any documentation for integration purposes?  

This is to be determined as the kiosks have not yet been put in.  

What system is currently being used at council meetings for queuing public comments and how is this data capture performed and displayed? 

Microsoft Forms and Zoom.  

What is the budget for the current project? 

This is to be determined as we scope the project with the selected vendor.  

Currently, how much is the city spending annually on the “existing application/business process”? 

This is to be discussed with the selected vendor.  

What are the areas of the existing application(s) city is not very satisfied? Please give us some examples. 

This is to be discussed in project scoping.  

Project implementation needs supporting roles that are outside qualifications listed. For example, Database administrator, Business Analyst, System administrator. Please confirm if The city would arrange necessary personnel for such support activities and the vendor will not bring in this expertise. 

Yes, we have this personnel.  

What is the scope for post-deployment production support for Web application and dashboard? 

This is to be determined as we conclude the pilot period.  

Is there any preference for the Training plan and demo? 

No.  

Can this be developed overseas - data will stay in the US but can the development happen overseas (Philippines, India, Canada, etc.)? 

No.  

What languages need to be supported? 

English, Tagalog, Spanish, and Khmer.  

What evidence of information security consistent with industry standards does the city need from the vendor? 

The selected vendor will be asked to complete the City’s standard Vendor Information Security Assessment form.  

How does the city currently require the Vendor to encrypt customer data in transit and at rest? 

Encryption at rest and in transit will be assumed/expected  

What is the current security and confidentiality requirements as outlined by the city? 

The selected vendor will be asked to complete the City’s standard Vendor Information Security Assessment form. 

Notifications/alerts: What is the process for configuring notifications and communicating with the users? 

Unknown at this time.  

Notifications/alerts: What are the scenarios for sending the notifications manually? What is the scope of automation? 

Unknown at this time. 

How is the security to be implemented while connecting the application to payment gateway or any other connected services? 

The selected vendor will work in conjunction with the City’s Cybersecurity Officer to ensure security standards and are followed.  

Is there any preferred methodology for development efforts such as Agile, Waterfall? 

No preference.  

Is the City looking for post-live support? 

Yes, but in the context of connecting additional applications.