Approval of expenditure of Building Department funds in the amount of $153,000.00 to renew the Forerunner Software proposal for a three (3) year term.

Forerunner software is offering a discount for a three (3) year renewal when paid upfront. Improvements and new services include publicly available information, bilingual support on public websites, new table views, and managing and tracking the full mailing process for public outreach and other new services. A savings of five thousand dollars is available when the three (3) year renewal is paid upfront. These services are for Milestone inspections for $5,500 per year; Repetitive loss for $5,500 per year; and Mailing records for $2,000 per year, for a total of $153,108.00.  The base license for 2025-28 would be $114,108 and will include mobile offline mode. 

The Building Department has been using Forerunner since the original RFP was approved in 2023 and the original MSA is attached for background information.  Forerunner is a sole-source provider that offers software that the Building Department uses on a daily basis for the performance of flood reviews, tracking of substantial improvement and substantial damage, review and retention of Elevation Certificates and tracking of flood inquiries for compliance with flood and CRS program requirements. A public link is also provided for property owners to search for properties and respective flood zones.  Forerunner is used as our post-storm damage assessment program and all damage reports and photos are stored within Forerunner.  This information is the basis of what is reported to FEMA and the Florida Department of Emergency Management.  Forerunner is utilized to log and track all activities and due dates for the Florida Building Code required condo milestone inspections.  All Phase 1 and Phase 2 inspection reports are stored in Forerunner for archival purposes and are available to the public.  As part of the Community Rating System (CRS), the city is required to map repetitive loss areas and send annual repetitive loss area mailers to all property owners within a repetitive loss area.  Forerunner is used for this function and with this renewal, we will being using Forerunner for mailings as well.  Their software provides proof of mailing, tracking and receipt of mail.

Staff recommends approval of request to use Building Department funds to renew the Forerunner Software Contract for a three (3) year term. 

Do not approve at this time.

Paul Thomas, CBO, CFM, Director of Building
 

Shaun Coss, CFM, Assistant Director of Building