Primary Department: Flood Control District
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Tina Petersen, Ph.D., P.E., Executive Director
Secondary Department: N/A
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official: N/A
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Supplemental RCA
Type of Request: Financial Authorization
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): Berkeley Research Group, LLC
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): 20%
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable): 18.50%
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal is not 0% and is listed above
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Not a grant item
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the Flood Control District for approval of an amendment to a sub-award agreement with Berkeley Research Group, LLC, in the amount of $1,995,000, for process and system improvements for strategic CDBG, Bond, and Maintenance Programs (Agreement No. 2023-25, Job No. 21/0317, MWBE Contracted Goal: 20%, MWBE Current Participation: 18.50%).
end
Background and Discussion:
The Harris County Flood Control District is continuing a multi-phased effort to modernize internal systems, streamline business processes, and improve decision-making capacity in support of the CDBG, Bond, and Maintenance programs. In 2023, the Flood Control District initiated this effort with Berkeley Research Group, LLC (BRG) through a sub-award under Job No. 21/0317, beginning with dashboard development for cashflow and grant portfolio analytics, as well as process documentation and improvement support. Commissioners Court authorized this work to help the Flood Control District address an unprecedented increase in federal funding-over $1 billion in awards including $860 million in CDBG Disaster Recovery and Mitigation funds.
In March 2024, Court approved Phase 2 to capitalize on early wins and enhance the scope of work. This phase significantly advanced system and process improvements for grants and project finance, developed key analytics tools, and supported the transition away from legacy platforms by assisting with the migration to Unifier. Human capital system and process improvement work was included in the scope given workforce and HR system and process limitations impacting CDBG, Bond, and Maintenance program delivery.
Building on early foundations, the third phase deepens and extends the work with BRG to accelerate progress and support operational excellence across FCD. It leverages the contractor’s expertise with Flood Control District systems, data, and processes to expand automation, deliver new project, grant, workforce, and process analytics, and support change management. The scope will also incorporate additional legacy system assessment and system enhancements for Unifier, Flood Warning System, ClayHR, KissFlow, and PeopleSoft.
Expected Impact:
This scope will yield tangible operational improvements, including streamlined process execution (accelerating execution timelines across CDBG, Bond, and Maintenance programs, particularly linked to project budgeting, grant funding, procure-to-pay, and human capital processes); modernizing systems (implementing new features, usage guides, and piloting performance management); and, enhanced visibility and analytics (improving decision making, accelerating projects and reimbursements, and ensuring staffing is aligned to workload demands).
Alternative Options:
The alternative would be to not to procure these services and increase risk to project delivery timelines for the $860 million-dollar CDBG program and Bond Programs and impact our ability to scale-up the Maintenance Program. Otherwise, to rebid the work and potentially contract a new vendor, which would entail a minimum 6-month delay for procurement, plus educating a new vendor on our systems and processes.
County Strategic Plan Goal: 2. Connect our community with safe, reliable, equitably distributed, and well-maintained infrastructure.
County Strategic Plan Objective: N/A
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): N/A
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): N/A
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): N/A
Health Initiative (Goal 4): N/A
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): N/A
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): N/A
Additional notes related to the Strategic Plan:
This project is aligned with the following Guiding Principles from the Countywide Strategic Plan:
• Leading with accountability: Improving our systems and processes to enhance our ability to deliver on our core mission effectively and efficiently.
• Embracing change: Not accepting the status quo and proactively working to improve how we do business.
• Empowering employees: Leveraging internal subject matter expertise and human-centered design principles as we assess and improve processes and systems.
• Investing responsibly: Closely managing and evaluating the performance of this contract and ensuring this is the wisest and best use of these funds (improving foundational systems and processes that have benefits across the CDBG, Bond, and Maintenance Programs).
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
8/8/2023 |
136. |
Request for approval of an order authorizing the expenditure of funds in the amount of $278,722 for grants management and cashflow consulting services, as a sub-award of the agreement with Berkeley Research Group, LLC under Job No. 21/0317. (MWDBE Contracted Goal: 20%). |
|
3/26/2024 |
203. |
Request for approval of an order authorizing the expenditure of funds in the amount of $1,970,000 for consulting services to implement system and process improvements supporting the CDBG and bond programs as a sub-award of the agreement with Berkeley Research Group, LLC under Job No. 21/0317. (Agreement No. 2023-25, MWDBE Contracted Goal: 20%). |
Location: N/A
Address (if applicable):
Precinct(s): Countywide
|
Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
|
Service Name |
4.a.9 - Financial & Technical Services |
|
|
|
Current Fiscal Year Cost |
Annual Fiscal Cost |
|
|
Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
Recurring Expenses |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
Existing Budget |
|
|
|
|
|
Tax Revenue - FCD |
$ |
$1,995,000 |
$1,995,000 |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Existing Budget |
$ |
$1,995,000 |
$1,995,000 |
$ |
|
Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
|
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Additional Budget Request |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Funding Sources |
$ |
$1,995,000 |
$1,995,000 |
$ |
|
Grants - Proposed Budget |
|
|
Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
No. of Grant Years |
|
Local Match Source - Existing Budget: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
|
Local Match Source - Additional Budget Request: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
|
Grant Funds Applied for/Awarded (Total) |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
|
Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
|
|
Current Position Count for Service |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Additional Positions Request |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Total Personnel |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Anticipated Court Date: 7/10/2025
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): Click or tap to enter a date.
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Bruce Haupt, Chief Finance & Administration Officer, Flood Control District
Attachments (if applicable): Order, MWBE Plan, Scope of Work
Prepared by: (name, title, department, phone #) Bruce Haupt, Chief Finance & Administration Officer, Flood Control District