MICROAUTOMATION, INC for Aspect Voxeo Products and Professional Services for Houston Public Works - $189,072.50 - Enterprise Fund

S78-N28717 – Approve the sole source purchase from MicroAutomation, Inc. for Aspect Voxeo Products and Professional Services in an amount not to exceed $189,072.50 for the Houston Public Works.

Specific Explanation:

The Director of the Houston Public Works and the Chief Procurement Officer recommend that the City Council approve a sole source purchase from MicroAutomation, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $189,072.50 for the purchase of Aspect Voxeo (Aspect Voice Center) Products and Professional Services for Houston Public Works, and that authorization be given to issue a purchase order.

The Aspect Voxeo (Aspect Voice Center) has served as the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) cloud-based solution for Customer Account Services (CAS) Contact Center located at 2805 McKinney since May 2016. Aspect Voice Center is the most cost-effective channel for customer service and provides enhanced self-service by phone.  The self-service by phone options include balance inquiry for water, wastewater, drainage, and permit center payments, account status lookup, and payment arrangements. Approximately 148,000 customers per month phoned the CAS Contact Center during 2017 of which 105,000 (71%) utilized the IVR self-service options with the remaining 43,000 assisted by a customer service representative.

In collaboration with Houston Information Technology Services (HITS) and HPW-IT, CAS will migrate to the City of Houston’s enterprise wide IVR on the CISCO platform.  The migration project is underway and expected to complete by the end of Fiscal Year 2019.  Funding is required to bridge CAS’s existing Voxeo IVR capability through completion of the CISCO IVR migration by HITS.  Funding requested is based on costs associated with historical IVR usage in the Contact Center.  Lack of IVR capability would result in the loss of self service options due to the required routing of all calls to a customer service representative.  Rerouting calls to a customer service representative would adversely impact the customer experience as customers would experience longer wait times, hold/busy signals dropped calls, and potential delay of payments.

This recommendation is made pursuant to Chapter 252, Section 252.022 (a) (7) (A) “a procurement of items that are available from only one source because of patents, copyrights, secrete processes, or natural monopolies” of the Texas Local Government Code for exempt procurements.

MWBE Participation:
M/WBE Zero Percentage Goal Document approved by the Office of Business Opportunity.

Hire Houston First:

This procurement is exempt from the City’s Hire Houston First Ordinance.  The bid was not solicited because the department is utilizing a sole source contractor for the purchase.

Fiscal Note:

Funding for this item is included in the FY2019 Adopted Budget.  Therefore, no Fiscal Note is required as stated in the Financial Policies.

$189,072.50 – W & S System Operating Fund (8300)