The city of Charlottesville has hired a civil engineering firm to build a new software platform to help speed up the development process. The Timmons Group will be paid $902,337.50 over five years for the work, according to material obtained from the city’s procurement office.
The city issued a request for proposals (RFP) in November 2020 seeking a firm to provide a GIS-Centric, cloud-based Enterprise Land Management software system.
“The City realizes that part of the modernization effort of becoming a “Smart City” includes strategically aligning People, Process and Technology in order to manage work more efficiently and effectively,” reads the RFP.
The software will be used by the Department of Neighborhood Development Services to replace programs from 2008 that track the permitting process. The RFP states that the older software lacks provisions for automated workflows, which creates “bottlenecks in the comprehensive Development Process” with a reliance on paper.
“The lack of citizen self-service capabilities through the current system limits the local development community’s ability to engage remotely with the City by applying for permits electronically,” the RFP continues. “The City expects NDS to achieve substantial gains in productivity, accuracy, mobility, and capacity to make data-driven decisions through the implementation of the ELM software.”
The hope is to have the software functional and live by May 2023.
Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment comes from the March 8, 2022 edition of the program. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.
