The City periodically reviews its business units to assure that operations are being performed in the most robust and prudential manner possible. In this regard, the City determined it was necessary to conduct a revenue enhancement study, for the purpose of analyzing the City’s Utilities Department to identify and recover un-read, mis-read, and un-metered water revenues.
At the March 31, 2017 Finance and City Wide Committee meeting, a referral from the City Commission (Item C4N) was discussed regarding the engagement of a Revenue Enhancement Consultant to study the City's Utilities Department. It was discussed to repeat the revenue enhancement study of the City’s Utilities Department previous performed in 2009. Direction was given to identify other areas for cost reduction potential so that an RFQ could be issued for revenue enhancement review.
At the June 30, 2017, Finance and City Wide Committee meeting, staff presented those areas where the city would benefit from this type of evaluation and those areas where an evaluation would not be necessary since a review has been recently performed by other parties. The Administration recommended conducting a revenue enhancement study of the City’s Utilities Department since the last study was performed in 2009.
It was recommended that the awarded Consultant should have a minimum of five (5) years' experience in performing similar work for government agencies, particularly municipalities, for the revenue enhancement study of the City’s Utilities Department. This should include expertise and nationwide experience in teaming with state or local government utilities to identify and recover un-read, mis-read, and un-metered water revenues. Additionally, the Consultant shall be required to provide services leading to identifying and analyzing the cause of revenue loss from unread, mis-read and un-metered water and sewer usage, wastewater services problems, meter related malfunctions, or lost accounts. Finally, the Consultant shall be able to quantify the potential revenue enhancement associated with the correction of lost revenue, including providing a written analysis detailing such findings, and recommendations for future improvements and solutions.
On May 16, 2018, the Administration returned to the Committee to seek approval for the issuance of the RFP. The City issued the solicitation on May 16, 2018, as RFP No. 2018-234-JC for Revenue Enhancement Study for Utilities. Through www.publicpurchase.com, 586 vendors were notified of the RFP; 84 vendors accessed the solicitation. A voluntary pre-proposal conference was held on May 31, 2018. On August 8, 2018 the City received a total of three (3) proposals from the following firms: ISI Water Company ("ISI"); Elite Consulting Specialists, Inc., d/b/a ECS Business Services ("ECS"); and Utility Revenue Management Company ("URM").
On August 16, 2018, the City Manager, pursuant to LTC No. 457-2018, appointed an Evaluation Committee (the “Committee”), to consider the proposals received. The Committee convened on August 30, 2018, to consider the proposals received. The Committee was comprised of the following: Mark Coolidge, Assistant Internal Auditor, Internal Audit Department; Lys Desir, Water and Sewer Superintendent, Public Works Department; Jay Fink, Assistant Director, Public Works Department; Manny Marquez, Assistant Director, Finance Department; and Benjamin Nussbaum, Revenue Manager, Finance Department. The following individuals were appointed as alternates: Norman Blaiotta, Senior Auditor, Internal Audit Department; Roy Coley, Director, Public Works Department; Natasha Nicholson, Senior Management Analyst, Public Works Department; and Allison Williams, Deputy Finance Director, Finance Department.
The Committee was provided an overview of the project, information relative to the City’s Cone of Silence Ordinance and the Government Sunshine Law, as well as general information on the scope of services, a copy of each proposal, and was instructed to score and rank each proposal pursuant to the evaluation criteria established in the RFP.
The evaluation process resulted in the following order of ranking:
1st ISI Water Company
2nd Utility Revenue Management Company
3rd Elite Consulting Specialists, Inc., d/b/a ECS Business Services
The following is a brief summary of the proposers:
ISI Water Company
According to its proposal, ISI Water Company is headquartered in Houston, TX, and is a well-respected and experienced revenue recovery company. Its experience in revenue studies for municipal utility departments nationwide, began in 1989. Since initiating the first ever project of this nature in the nation twenty-nine (29) years ago, they have gained substantial national experience from a diverse group of very successful contract opportunities including, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Miramar, Florida, Gainesville, Florida, Hillsborough County, Florida, Pinellas County, Florida, Boynton Beach, Florida, Salt Lake City, Utah, Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans, Louisiana. While teaming with utilities as large as 374,000 accounts in Miami Dade County and as small as 1,600 in Florida City, the firm has increased the billings and collections to clients substantially, in some cases resulting in over $2 -$3 million dollars of annual increased revenue.
Utility Revenue Management Company
According to its proposal, ISI Water Company is headquartered in Houston, TX, and has extensive experience in revenue recovery. URM was founded in 1992 and has successfully completed thirty-one (31) revenue recovery contracts. Its revenue enhancement programs have allowed utilities across the United States to increase their billable revenues by over $50 million annually. Some of URM's recent revenue enhancement/recovery projects include the Charleston (SC) Water System, Cobb County (GA) Water System, Fulton County (GA) Department of Finance, City of Columbus (OH) Department of Public Utilities, and the City of Columbia (SC).
Elite Consulting Specialists, Inc. d/b/a ECS Business Services
According to its proposal, ECS Business Services has been in business for nineteen (19) years providing auditing services for water revenues, including stormwater revenues, and general utility auditing services and revenue enhancement services to its clients. ECS has amassed experience locally by servicing clients such as 4770 Condominium Association, Loft Downtown Condominium, and the Galleon Condominium. An example of their most recent work has resulted in one client saving over $30,000 per month on its water/sewer billings.