Management Partners - Cost ProposalManagement
Partners
September 9, 2016
Mr. Gabriel Gonzalez
City Administrator
City Hall
7351 Rosanna Street
Gilroy, CA 95020
Dear Mr. Gonzalez:
Management Partners is pleased to have been selected through the City's request for
qualifications (RFQ) process. Based on our discussions with you and your staff, we have
revised our original scope to concentrate on the development review process. As we proceed
with that work, we will examine staffing and how services are delivered with the goal of'-
identifying optimum staffing and process improvements.
Activity 1: Start Project and Gather Information
Management Partners will begin this project with a careful learning phase, starting with a
meeting with you, the leaders of the development review process, and others you may
designate to ensure we have a clear understanding of your objectives. During the kick -off
meeting we will confirm the work plan and schedule so our proposed scope of work is aligned
precisely to meet your goals and objectives.
The project start -up activity will form the foundation for the partnership between our project
team and the City. We understand that the work associated with this review is in addition to the
normal work of the organization and must be integrated in a way that minimizes disruption.
Throughout the project we will keep you informed of our progress.
During this activity we will also request and review relevant background information such as
organization charts, job descriptions, workload information, historical budget and staffing data,
performance indicators, and policies and procedures.
We will proceed with confidential interviews with up to 15 individuals or small groups of
managers and supervisors to obtain a thorough overview of the development review process as
well as an understanding of how the work is accomplished. During interviews we will seek
input about ideas for improvement and suggestions to optimize efficiency.
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Mr. Gabriel Gonzalez
Page 2
Activity 2: Analyze Current Operations
Management Partners will review and analyze the City's existing policies, procedures,
strategies and performance data, including how work is planned and managed. Through this
analysis, we will identify how well current Community Development policies and procedures
promote consistent customer service and transparent workflow. In addition to reviewing the
use of information technology, we will observe counter operations to understand how
customers are served and the types of information available to them both electronically and in
print. We will also observe the Technical Advisory Committee and Development Review
Group meetings to understand how internal decisions are made and shared with customers.
As part of this activity, we will also assess staffing needs, paying particular attention to whether
vacant positions should be filled as configured. We will also examine the use of contract
employees and, as appropriate, make recommendations about the best use of permanent staff
positions and contractors.
The information obtained from department managers and key process staff will be
complemented by interviews with applicants and stakeholders in Activity 3. Doing so will
round out Management Partners' team members understanding of information and
communication important to the submission of complete applications and timely reviews.
Activity 3: Solicit Stakeholder Input
During this activity we will solicit input about what is working well with the development
review process and ideas for improvement from customers and staff. To understand the
effectiveness of any service operation, it is important to hear from those who use the service.
Given the nature of a city development review process, we know that confidential individual
interviews provide the best means to hear from a representative sampling of different types of
major customers. Management Partners will conduct up to 12 customer interviews to
understand how frequent applicants and users of the development process view the City's
service. An important step to understanding the customer perspective is to ask: How well does
it work?
We will conduct individual interviews with developers, architects, engineers, and contractors
selected by the City to ascertain their perspectives about perceived strengths, weaknesses and
opportunities for improvement. We will inquire about their experiences with customer service,
cycle times, fees, process complexity and transparency, and any other issues and insights they
think relevant to the analysis. Since there are differences in perspective among users and
various types of interactions within the City, care will be taken to reflect this diversity in the
group of process users asked to participate in interviews.
Management Partners' team members are skilled at conducting confidential interviews and in
sifting the resulting input to inform the overall process of learning. To assure and preserve
participant confidentiality we will work closely with the City's project manager to establish an
appropriate location for the meetings. Upon completion of the interviews we will prepare a
summary of common themes, which will be included in the project report.
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Mr. Gabriel Gonzalez Page 3
Because the department suffered from major staffing cuts during the recent recession, we
understand that staff has been stressed. We know that employees in every organization have
sound suggestions for making positive changes and this review provides an opportunity to hear
their ideas and opinions about what is working well and what could be improved. We will
prepare and administer a confidential survey of Community Development Department
employees to learn their views and to solicit their suggestions. We will work with the City to
encourage all employees to participate. Once the survey is concluded, we will prepare a
summary of the results and include it as part of the project report.
Activity 4: Prepare Process Maps
During this activity we will conduct meetings with frontline and supervisory staff to map the
key business processes. We will involve representatives from the various departments and
programs, as necessary to get a full picture of the major processes. We anticipate creating as
many as 17 process maps. Doing so will provide useful insight about staff functions, tasks, and
relationships used in work processes and will identify redundancies, process flow bottlenecks,
inefficiencies in communication and the use of staff, technology, and other resources key to
assisting development review customers.
Once we have a draft set of process maps, we will return them to City staff for feedback and
validation. We will then meet to hear about adjustments to ensure they reflect current
processes.
As we develop the maps we will discuss existing tools and technology used in customer service
functions and intra - department interfaces. We will also take time to explore the root causes of
specific issues and better understand observations that emerge from the interviews.
Activity 5: Report Results
Management Partners will next focus on analyzing the information we obtained from all
sources. We will evaluate what staffing levels are needed to provide excellent customer service
and meet the City's future requirements as well as provide recommendations about operational
improvements resulting from interviews and best practices.
Once we have analyzed the information, we will organize our observations and preliminary
recommendations and meet with you and your staff to discuss them. The discussion and
feedback will provide valuable information that will be useful as we prepare the project report.
After receiving feedback, we will prepare a project report reflecting our analysis with
recommendations to optimize the development review process as well as staffing. We take
pains to ensure that our recommendations are organized in an easy to understand format and
presented in a positive manner. We will review the draft report with you and appropriate
managers to ensure factual accuracy prior to preparing the final project report but of course
Management Partners takes responsibility for the ultimate content of our report. Our
expectation is that every recommendation in the report will, once implemented, improve the
efficiency or effectiveness of operations.
Mr. Gabriel Gonzalez
Page 4
Activity 6: Support Implementation
To help the City execute the recommended changes, Management Partners will prepare a draft
Implementation Action Plan (IAP). The action plan is an executable plan of work that provides
a schedule, milestones, priority, and assigned responsibility for each recommendation. The IAP
will be delivered in draft form, recognizing that an adopted implementation plan must contain
actual dates for completion, and to set those dates, management will need to consider how to
integrate the work of the draft Action Plan with the ongoing work of the City organization, and
particularly the departments involved with development review.
Cost Proposal
Management Partners estimates that 348 hours will be required to complete the project
described in the scope of work above. The following table shows a breakdown of the cost for
each activity that will be undertaken.
Activity
1: Start Project and Interview Staff
Cost
$ 10,510
2: Analyze Current Operations
7,540
3: Solicit Stakeholder Input
7,120
4: Prepare Process Maps
15,870
5: Report Results
11,360
6: Support Implementation
2,400
Total
$54,800
Conclusion
We are pleased to provide this scope of work to you. Once we receive a notice to proceed we
will develop a draft schedule and provide it for discussion at the kickoff meeting.
Please do not hesitate to call Amy Paul (513) 309 -3709 or me if we can answer any questions
about this scope or the work we are anticipating. We look forward to the opportunity of
working with you and your staff.
Sincerely,
Gerald E. Newfarmer
President and CEO
Accepted for the City of Gilroy by
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