SUBJECT/RECOMMENDATION:
Title
Approve a purchase order to Cale America, of Clearwater, FL, for the purchase of parking kiosks and associated parking payment technology, in an amount not to exceed $433,796, pursuant to Clearwater Code of Ordinances Section 2.563(1)(c), Piggyback, and Section 2.563 (1)(d), non-competitive purchase, and authorize the appropriate officials to execute same. (consent)
Body
SUMMARY:
The Parking Division has worked with Cale America d/b/a Flowbird since 2008. Parking has 78 Flowbird parking kiosks. These kiosks account for 70% of the payments made for public parking in Clearwater. Most of the existing kiosks are on Clearwater Beach. With the re-opening of Coachman Park, 16 additional parking kiosks are needed to facilitate parking payments. The additional kiosks will have the same design and functionality of existing machines for a seamless integration for both staff and customers that have been using these machines for years. The proposed purchase order is a piggyback on the National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance (NCPA) Region XIV Education Service Center Contract #05-39.
The prices quoted to Clearwater for the purchase of the kiosks, back-office software, and warranty are all less than the NCPA prices. The proposed NCPA contract expires July 31, 2023. Parking will present a multi-year renewal of this proposed contract prior to its expiration for payment technologies and back-office support under a non-competitive purchase, as Flowbird is the sole source to provide support for this equipment.
The contract includes payment for 16 months of back office and warranty services for the 78 existing kiosks and 12 months for the new kiosks, transitioning to the same renewal period in future years. The kiosk costs and their required fees are $215,096. The remaining fees are charged on a “per use” basis and are charged to the customer at the time of the parking payment transaction. These parking payment technology fees are for services linked to the use of the Flowbird kiosk and are enhancements to the service currently provided. The text to extend feature has been in place on a trial basis and it is growing in popularity with customers as it allows the user to transition payments over to their mobile phone, no longer requiring customers to return to the kiosk to make payments or add time. Payments for extending by text ($0.35 per transaction), making initial payment by text ($0.35 per transaction), or using the Flowbird app to pay for parking ($0.35 per transaction) are collected by the city, along with the fee for parking, and paid to Flowbird monthly. The combined fees anticipated for reimbursement to Flowbird will not exceed $207,900 for the year.
Text message receipts in lieu of paper have been offered to customers for a little over a year. The service reduces the amount of paper used by the kiosks, reducing costs to maintain the printers and stock the kiosks with receipt paper. The fee for text message receipts for payments made at the kiosk ($0.03 per transaction, a $0.02 discount from the price listed) are charged if a customer requests a text receipt and is absorbed by Clearwater. This price is per the NCPA contract and will not exceed $10,800 for the year.
APPROPRIATION CODE AND AMOUNT:
ENPK180002-ACQ-EQ1-5K $105,056
4351333-530300 $328,740
Funds are available in capital improvement project ENPK180002, Parking Lot Improvements, to fund the purchase of Parking Kiosks.