Council committee backs $300,000 contract for consultant to begin ERP replacement planning

Pittsburgh City Council’s standing committee voted to recommend approval of a resolution authorizing the mayor and the Department of Innovation and Performance to enter a contract with Plante Moran PLLC not to exceed $300,000 over two years to lead requirements gathering and procurement work for a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

City officials said the city’s current ERP, JD Edwards (JDE), is past end of life and requires a consultant to develop an RFI/RFP and map workflows across departments before a replacement can be budgeted and procured. “The version of [JD Edwards] that we are currently on is, pretty much, past end of life,” Heidi Norman, director of the Department of Innovation and Performance, told the committee. She said the consultant will guide the city’s cross‑departmental team through the RFI and procurement process.

The nut of the request is planning: Gwendolyn Moore, assistant director of business technology in Innovation and Performance, described the ERP as “the foundation for collection of funding and also for distribution of it,” and said the city needs a clear picture of how money flows among multiple departmental systems. Ian Fitzgerald, deputy director of the Finance Department, said JDE currently requires many manual processes to move funds between systems and that modern ERP functionality would make reporting and auditing less labor intensive.

Council members questioned cost and timing. Committee members were told the city currently pays about $336,000 a year to operate JDE (after a 2021 “lift and shift” away from county‑managed services) and that the Plante Moran engagement is intended to produce an RFI this spring, with results in June and a funding request to the Technical and Legislative Committee (TLC) in July. City staff said full implementation of a replacement ERP would be a multiyear effort, with a target go‑live in the late 2020s if the city proceeds this year.

Several council members pressed for alternatives, including greater use of local universities. “Why don’t you save that money and go talk to CMU and partner with them?” Councilwoman Theresa Kale Smith said, saying she would vote against the measure without documented outreach showing universities could not meet the need. Supporters countered that the city ran a competitive procurement and Plante Moran’s bid was substantially lower than other private sector proposals; staff said some responses exceeded $1 million.

Council members also probed expected savings and operational impact. Norman and Moore said the RFI will cover financials, procurement and human capital management, and that any decision about consolidating HR (Dayforce) with financials would follow RFI findings and likely occur in a later phase. City staff characterized the consultant role as advisor and requirements lead; the ultimate selection of an implementation vendor would be performed through a separate procurement.

The committee recorded three abstentions during the vote; the resolution received an affirmative recommendation to advance. Staff said the next steps would be an RFI issued in March, results in June and a TLC funding request in July so the city can plan for procurement and implementation in subsequent years.

What’s next: If the TLC and full council approve funding from the RFI findings, staff said they would issue an RFP for a replacement ERP and pursue implementation planning toward a multiyear rollout that city officials estimated could produce a 2028–2029 go‑live timeline.