Negotiating Successful
HMIS Software Contracts
LaTonya Harris, Director of IT, LAHSA
Dawn Lee, Executive Director, Orange County Partnership
Matt White, HMIS National TA Initiative, Abt Associates, Inc.
September 18-19, 2006 – Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Presentation Overview
• Learning Objectives
Topics
• Case Study - The LA/OC HMIS Collaborative
– Collaborative Background
– Our RFP and Contract Process
– What Went Well
– What We Would Do Differently Today
• Negotiating A Successful HMIS Contract
– Before You Begin Contract Negotiations
– Getting Down to Business
– Do’s and Don'ts
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
2
Learning Objectives
• To understand how to secure HMIS project support
and development through successful contracting
processes/ techniques.
• To review different types of contracts and
contracting options.
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
3
Case Study
The LA/OC HMIS Collaborative
September 18-19, 2006 – Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Case Study - The LA/OC HMIS Collaborative
Collaborative Background:
Formed in December 2001, the Los Angeles/Orange County
(LA/OC) HMIS Collaborative consists of four Continuum of
Care (CoC) Systems in two urban counties:
• In Los Angeles County, there are three CoCs: The cities of
Glendale, and Pasadena each coordinate their own CoC;
and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA)
is responsible for the City of Los Angeles and the balance
of Los Angeles County.
• In Orange County, OC Partnership and its partners Orange
County Housing & Community Services Department and
Info Link Orange County coordinate the Orange County
Continuum of Care.
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
5
Case Study - The LA/OC HMIS Collaborative
Why We Decided to Collaborate:
• Being in a collaborative provides leverage;
• Homeless service providers deliver services in multiple CoC
jurisdictions;
• Homeless persons may travel between CoCs to receive
services;
• The two counties will benefit from having regional data and
reports and a broader picture of local homeless services;
• Los Angeles County, would benefit from having Countywide data and reports;
• Service providers in the two counties could benefit from
coordinated planning.
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
6
Case Study - The LA/OC HMIS Collaborative
Our RFP Process:
• Integrate all partner's system requirements into one
comprehensive requirement list
• Issue Request For Proposals
• Design a consistent proposal evaluation process
• Use due diligence in reference checking process
• Conduct onsite software demonstrations and labs
• Select vendor finalists and begin contract process
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
7
Case Study - The LA/OC HMIS Collaborative
What Went Well:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Collaboration gave us leverage
Diverse implementation team expertise
Wide geographic coverage through shared system
Process for ranking CoC contract priorities
Ability to share resources and costs
Flexibility to contract together or individually
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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Case Study - The LA/OC HMIS Collaborative
What Would We Do Differently Today:
• More up front research on the HMIS software
providers
• Expand the review team for vendor demos before
releasing the RFP
• Participate in a vendor’s training session
• Confirm full functionality of all modules listed in the
vendor’s RFP response
• Onsite visit to vendor’s facilities
• Research vendor’s social services experience
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
9
Negotiating Successful
HMIS Software Contracts
September 18-19, 2006 – Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Before You Begin Contract Negotiations
Select a Negotiation Team:
Continuum's Negotiation Team
• Team members should include subject matter experts
from your continuum, agency or other departments
• Technology staff
• Contract specialists
• Continuum of Care staff
• Attorneys (for each partner)
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
11
Before you begin contract negotiations
Select a Negotiation Team:
Vendor’s Negotiation Team
• Require that the vendor provides a representative
with the highest level of authority to participate in the
negotiation process
• Require that the vendor include representatives that
are integrally knowledgeable of the software product
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
12
Before You Begin Contract Negotiations
Negotiation Preparations:
Scheduling
• Set a contracting start date, early!
• Set a contracting completion date
– process may take up to 3 - 6 months to complete
Set Roles and Responsibilities
• Determine the roles and responsibilities for the
negotiation team members
• Select lead negotiating partner(s) responsible for
communications to the negotiation team and vendor
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
13
Before You Begin Contract Negotiations
Negotiation Preparations:
Funding
• Know your budget





How much do I have to spend?
Which funder(s) will pay for which items?
What costs are eligible and which are not?
Tie funder line items to vendor contract
Keep a close watch on variable per user/seat costs
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
14
Before You Begin Contract Negotiations
Negotiation Preparations:
Documents needed
• Previous contract or RFP
• Vendor's contract/proposal in MS Word format
• Contract/proposal budget
• A list of contract questions and concerns to be
discussed with vendor
• A list of additional needs to be discussed with vendor
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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Before you begin contract negotiations
Negotiation Preparations:
Prepare a strategy
• Know what you want. Be specific!
• Know your expected responses
• Know which items are negotiable, which are not!
• Prioritize items on your wish list
• Modify vendor’s standard contract to meet your
unique needs
• Be flexible and realistic!
• Work toward a Win-Win outcome
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
16
Before you begin contract negotiations
Negotiation Preparations:
If you are part of a collaborative, decide in advance:
• If you want a shared collaborative contract or
individual CoC contracts
• The allocation of cost to be paid by each collaborative
partner
• How shared cost are handled if a collaborative partner
wishes to terminate their contract with the vendor
• The MOU specifications outlining each member’s
responsibility to each other and to the vendor
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
17
Contract Negotiations
Getting Down to Business:
Software Considerations:
• Ensure software licenses are appropriate and
adequate for implementation schedule
– If possible, negotiate concurrent user licensing
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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Contract Negotiations
Getting Down to Business:
Hosting Considerations:
• Vendor Hosting agreement should contain details
on:
– A description of hosting facilities
– Hardware equipment and software applications
– Security procedures
– Maintenance and support
– Bandwidth and performance
– System availability and uptime commitments
– Disaster and recovery procedures
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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Contract Negotiations
Getting Down to Business:
Hosting Considerations: (cont.)
• Continuum Hosting details to be considered:
– Obtain hardware and software requirements from
vendor
– Configuration requirements for servers and
applications
– Determine which services will be purchased from
the vendor
– Installation cost
– Clearly spell out partner responsibilities
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
20
Contract Negotiations
Getting Down to Business:
Technical or Customer Support Considerations:
• Get a detailed outline of the technical support
procedures including:
– Maintenance and service levels agreements
– System availability and uptime commitments
– Customer service hours
– Estimated response time for support issues
– Technical and product support contacts
– Project management contacts
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
21
Contract Negotiations
Getting Down to Business:
Technical or Customer Support Considerations
(cont.)
– Issue escalation process
– System administrator and user training
– Training manuals and materials
– Disaster and recovery procedures
– Software warranties
– Software upgrades
– System quality and integrity
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
22
Contract Negotiations
Getting Down to Business:
Technical or Customer Support Considerations
(cont.)
– Proprietary information
– Indemnification clause
– Confidential information and data privacy. Require
that the vendor sign a Confidentiality of
Understanding agreement
– Additional consulting service rates for items
outside of negotiated contract
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
23
Contract Negotiations
Getting Down to Business:
Technical or Customer Support Considerations
(cont.)
– Escrow Deposits
 Make sure you have an initial deposit and
subsequent deposits throughout the contract period
– System Enhancements
 Consider having a pool of dollars set aside in the
contract for small system enhancements and/or
custom reports that may arise during the course of
the contract
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
24
Contract Negotiations
Getting Down to Business:
Scope of Work:
• Include all deliverables in the contract
• Spell out the specifics of each deliverable
• Contract Period
– Start with a short term contract until you are
comfortable with vendor’s performance
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
25
Contract Negotiations
Getting Down to Business:
Scope of work: (cont.)
• Contract Budget
– Payment intervals should be tied to successful
completion of project milestones
– Price units of work individually to quantify item if
they are not completed satisfactorily
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
26
Contract Negotiations
Getting Down to Business:
Other Key Contract Components:
 Include applicable local laws and ordinances
 Attach the proposal or RFP as an exhibit in the
contract
 Include list of key definitions to make sure that all
parties have the same understanding
 Clearly spell out the vendor's responsibilities
 Clearly spell out your responsibilities
 Define how disputes, terminations and/or suspensions
are handle. Be specific and define repercussions!
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
27
Contract Negotiations
Do’s and Don’ts:
DO:
• Make sure all partners are highly involved in the
communication process
• Use a Track Changes editing feature during contract
revision process
• Get all promises in writing
• Be honest, say what you can't afford
• Read final contract thoroughly before signing to make
sure it matches all agreements
• Obtain a PDF contract final version in addition to the
hardcopy
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
28
Contract Negotiations
Do’s and Don’ts:
DO: (cont.)
If you are part of a collaborative:
• Make sure that all parties in the collaborative have
the same language, similar pricing and payment
schedules
• Request that collaborative members track vendor
invoices to the scope of work
• Confirm that shared work is billed according to preallocated percentages
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
29
Contract Negotiations
Do’s and Don’ts:
DON’T:
• Sign the vendor's standard contract form, customize
to meet your needs.
• Allocate all of your money to the contract. Set aside
dollars for unexpected expenses.
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
30
Contract Negotiations
Additional Resources:
• HMIS.INFO
– HMIS Cost Estimation Guidelines: Cost Framework
and Submission Recommendations
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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Contract Negotiations
Remember!
Successful Contract Negotiations
is a team effort
with YOU and the VENDOR!
September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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