Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Director's Name: George Tablack
Department: Finance and Administrative Services Division: Purchasing
Information
Requested Action
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A. MOTION TO APPROVE Technology Agreement between Broward County and Liquid Litigation Management, Inc., for E-Discovery Solution, Request for Letters of Interest (RLI) No. TEC2125389R1, for the County Attorney’s Office, in a maximum not-to-exceed amount of $500,000, including $300,000 for subscription fees, hosting, and support and maintenance for the initial term; $25,000 for optional services, and $175,000 for optional renewal terms; and authorize the Mayor and Clerk to execute same.
ACTION: (T-10:23 AM) Approved.
VOTE: 8-0. Commissioner Davis was inaudible during the vote.
B. MOTION TO APPROVE Technology Agreement between Broward County and IQ Business Group, Inc., for E-Discovery Solution, Request for Letters of Interest (RLI) No. TEC2125389R1, for the County Attorney’s Office, in a maximum not-to-exceed amount of $500,000, including $300,000 for subscription fees, hosting, and support and maintenance for the initial term; $25,000 for optional services, and $175,000 for optional renewal terms; and authorize the Mayor and Clerk to execute same.
ACTION: (T-10:23 AM) Approved.
VOTE: 8-0. Commissioner Davis was inaudible during the vote.
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Why Action is Necessary
Motions A-B: In accordance with Broward County Procurement Code Section 21.47, Award and Execution Authority, Board approval is required for awards with a value of more than $500,000, inclusive of the value of any renewals or extensions provided for in the contract, that include a single bidder, rejection of apparent low bidder, protested award, or pulls from the Board regarding the intended award.
What Action Accomplishes
Motions A-B: Provides electronic discovery legal solutions for large-scale document review, production, and other litigation-related needs or Florida public record requests.
Goal Related Icon(s)
☐County Commission
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Previous Action Taken
None.
Summary Explanation/Background
THE PURCHASING DIVISION AND THE COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTIONS.
The Office of Economic and Small Business Development (OESBD) did not reserve this project for Small Business Enterprises (Exhibit 3).
The purpose of these agreements is to implement hosted, software subscription electronic discovery (e-discovery) legal solutions to process, analyze, review, convert, and produce electronically stored information of varying file types and formats, and from a variety of operating systems and electronic devices, as part of discovery litigation or in response to Florida Public Records requests (Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2).
The solicitation was estimated to have an anticipated total value of $500,000, and was therefore advertised without Board approval, as permitted by Procurement Code Section 21.33, Issuance of Competitive Solicitations. Expenditures by the County Attorney’s Office (CAO) for all e-discovery services, for the five-year period, is not expected to exceed $500,000. However, the proposed award to two vendors, each with a not-to-exceed amount of $500,000, results in a total contractual not-to-exceed amount of $1,000,000, which exceeds the approval authority of the Director of Purchasing.
The solicitation was intended for use by the CAO primarily for large-volume litigation or legal review of voluminous electronic records. However, the e-discovery solution can also provide significant benefits to other County agencies, such as for large public records requests or other matters involving reviewing or processing a large volume of documents or other electronically stored information. Awarding two vendors provides the CAO with its needed services and permits other County agencies to also utilize these services without requiring a separate procurement. Each agreement is structured with no minimum spend (i.e., charges are incurred only if services are used).
The RLI was advertised on September 28, 2023, and, by the time of the submittal deadline on November 17, 2023, nine firms submitted proposals: 1) Capsicum Group, LLC (Capsicum), 2) Everlaw, Inc. (Everlaw), 3) HLP Integration Florida, LLC (HLP), 4) Liquid Litigation Management, Inc. d/b/a LLM (LLM), 5) Logik Systems, Inc. (Logik), 6) Open Text, Inc. (Open Text), 7) Relativity ODA, LLC (Relativity), 8) Repario Data, LLC (Repario), and 9) The IQ Business Group, Inc. (IQBG).
On May 31, 2024, an Initial Evaluation Committee (EC) meeting was held. During the Initial EC meeting, the EC determined two firms, Capsicum and Open Text, to be nonresponsive to the pricing requirement. The EC determined the remaining seven firms to be responsive and responsible to the solicitation requirements to advance to vendor Demonstrations and to the Final EC meeting for presentations, and to be ranked by the EC.
On June 7, 2024, a demonstration meeting was held; each firm demonstrated its solution to the County.
On July 19, 2024, a Final EC meeting was held. After presentations, evaluation, and ranking, the EC elected to recommend multiple awards as permitted by the solicitation, and recommended awards to the three top-ranked firms: LLM as the first-ranked firm; Relativity as the second-ranked firm; and IQBG as the third-ranked firm.
The EC’s proposed recommendation of ranking was posted on the Purchasing Division website from August 1 - 5, 2024, which provided an opportunity for any proposer or interested party to present any new or additional information regarding the responsibility of the proposers. There was no additional information submitted within this timeframe.
The EC’s final recommendation of ranking was posted on the Purchasing Division website from August 6 - 13, 2024, which provided an opportunity for any aggrieved proposer to file a formal protest. No formal protest was received.
There were no vendor objections, protests, or pulls from the Board for this ranking. On August 14, 2024, in accordance with Procurement Code Section 21.42(k), Procedures for RFPs, RLIs, and RFQs, the ranking of the qualified firms became final, and staff proceeded with negotiations.
Three negotiation meetings were held to negotiate the Agreement with LLM: October 9, 2024; October 22, 2024; and November 14, 2024. The negotiation meetings were attended by representatives from LLM and the CAO. There are no subject disclosures.
Three negotiation meetings were held to negotiate the Agreement with IQBG: September 27, 2024; September 30, 2024; and November 25, 2024. The negotiation meetings were attended by representatives from IQBG and the CAO.
Negotiations with the first- and third-ranked firms, LLM and IQBG, concluded with proposed agreements. Negotiations with Relativity resulted in an amicable impasse on November 20, 2024, which was formally declared by the Purchasing Director on December 13, 2024.
Additional supporting documentation provided to the EC regarding this procurement can be found on the Purchasing Division website at <https://www.broward.org/Purchasing/Pages/Repository.aspx>.
Source of Additional Information
Robert E. Gleason, Director, Purchasing Division, 954-357-6070
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact/Cost Summary
The funds for this open-end contract are included in the current modified Fiscal Year budget.
Requisition No. ATT0000211