Approve first amendment to Agreement No. 19-234 with Runbeck Election Service, LLC. for a 4-year contract for ongoing maintenance, support and licensing of the automatic signature verification software in the Agilis ballot sorting machine; and approve request for delegated authority to the Yolo County Registrar of Voters to approve future contract extensions for maintenance, support, and licensing of Runbeck equipment. (General fund impact $138,997) (Salinas/Rader)

In November 2019, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors approved the purchase of an Agilis ballot sorting machine and automatic signature verification software for a total purchase price of $227,490. The Agilis ballot sorting machine is used in every election of substantial size to scan the image of each unopened ballot envelope and sort them by precincts. This is a crucial step in the ballot processing workflow. The images of the ballot envelopes are run through Runbeck's automatic signature verification software, which identifies exact matches of signatures, allowing the ballots to move into the next step of the workflow. All envelope images of ballots that were not able to be automatically matched are uploaded to the election management system where signatures are then analyzed by the elections staff. The Agilis can be operated by 1 person and can scan images and sort thousands of ballots per hour. Prior to the purchase of the Agilis, this process was completed by hand and required substantially more labor. It is necessary to continue to contract with Runbeck for the maintenance of the Agilis due to the machine being proprietary and specially designed. For this reason, Runbeck is the only vendor that can provide license, support, and maintenance for this product.

Additionally, delegated authority is being requested due to the cost of the ongoing services. The original contract was brought to the Board for approval when the Agilis was purchased. Ongoing licensing, maintenance, and support costs will remain well below the limit required to seek Board approval.

Staff collaborated with Runbeck to create the contract. Collaboration took place with the General Services Procurement division and County Counsel to review and approve the contract as to form.

A sole source was written and approved by the procurement manager. Due to the nature of this service and that we own equipment sold by Runebeck, we are obligated to pay for ongoing maintenance, support, and licensing to Runbeck to keep the equipment and software up to date and running appropriately.