S.F. Supervisor Looks to Improve Software Procurement

San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood has introduced legislation that would smooth department solicitation for contracts involving data and information subscription software. Those existing, he said, have a big impact.

San Francisco officials rely on proprietary databases to do core aspects of their jobs, but oftentimes they encounter a frustrating roadblock: the city’s exhaustive contracting requirements.

Now, a local lawmaker is trying to remove that hurdle permanently as part of a bigger campaign to modernize City Hall’s technical capacities and make the government operate more smoothly.

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood announced Monday that he’s introducing legislation this week to let city departments enter into contracts for data and information subscription software without adhering to a voluminous set of solicitation requirements and social policy restrictions.

Mahmood and other San Francisco officials say those mandates have added needless amounts of difficulty and delay to the city’s ability to access important information that departments need to determine tax rates, assess the value of properties and perform other crucial services. The city’s current rules mean that officials now spend huge amounts of time negotiating with software vendors, or they have to seek a waiver from the Board of Supervisors — which can take months — or they’re not able to get access to important data at all.

“It’s a very nerdy, bureaucratic thing that’s having a big impact on the city,” Mahmood said. “We’re the tech capital of the country, and yet we’re unable to buy the software that makes it possible for us to function in the 21st century.”

San Francisco’s standard terms and conditions are 31 pages long — far more than some other cities and counties whose similar requirements are in the five- to 20-page range, according to a presentation last year from the city administrator’s office. Each of the terms is well-intentioned on its own, the presentation said, but “in aggregate, they become difficult to manage, effectively layering on an additional premium to the cost of doing business with the city.”

The office’s presentation said it is “often just as complicated to execute a $100,000 contract as it is to execute a $5,000,000 contract.”

A lot of the information that departments now get from online databases used to be provided on paper — and if that were still standard practice, City Hall wouldn’t have to deal with the same contracting headaches. But Mahmood thinks the treasurer, assessor-recorder and other key departments shouldn’t have to jump through innumerable hoops just to get access to information about commercial leases or property valuations.

“This is the government holding back the government from being able to do its job,” Mahmood said.

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