The City of Billings Public Works Department currently has an Automatic Meter Reading/Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMR/AMI) system in place through Neptune Technology Group, Inc.  This AMR/AMI system is an integrated system of approximately 31,000 meters, communication networks, and data management systems that enables frequent communications between the customer's meter and the Utility.  The approved FY 2019 budget includes funding for a utility customer portal to bring that data into a format that will allow customers online access to their water consumption and billing data and to provide better tools to staff for leak detection and customer alerts.  The customer portal will provide a significant boost in customer convenience by allowing customers to track their consumption on their smartphones or other computing devices and provide customers with alerts regarding their accounts and water consumption.  The portal will also be integrated with the billing system to enable customers to conveniently view and pay their bills from the portal.  

A Request for Proposals (RFP) was advertised for a software-as-a-service provider to build a web-based application using data from Neptune and the billing system.  A Committee evaluated five proposals and ranked the proposals based on each firm's ability to meet the specifications and parameters identified in the RFP.  The Committee voted unanimously to select WaterSmart as the vendor to provide the software service to build a customer-facing web-based application that incorporates data from Neptune.

City Council may:

• Approve the Agreement with WaterSmart Software or;
• Disapprove the Agreement with WaterSmart Software.

The first year cost for WaterSmart is $100,900 which includes implementation fees, as well as the annual fee for platform hosting, support, and maintenance.  The annual fee is approximately $53,395 in year 2, $54,832 in year 3, $56,312 in year 4, and $57,836 in year 5 for a total 5-year cost of approximately $323,275.  The actual costs may increase or decrease slightly depending on the number of leak detection and other customer engagement letters mailed.  Funds for the software are available in Public Work's water budget.

Staff recommends that the City Council approve the agreement with WaterSmart Software for the utility customer portal and authorize the Mayor to execute the agreement.