Spalding County to pilot Siemens 'Confirm' and refresh Asset Essentials after vendor selection; initial years show lower cost

Spalding County public works leaders briefed commissioners on a multi-year plan to replace and integrate asset-management systems for roads, stormwater, parks and county buildings, and to pilot Siemens' Confirm software at no implementation cost to the county.

Public Works Director TJ Enberger said the county had used versions of FacilityDude/Asset Essentials for buildings and maintenance but had outgrown those tools for "vertical" assets such as roads, stormwater and park acreage. After a year-and-a-half search and product demonstrations, staff selected a combination: reimplement Asset Essentials for buildings and parts, deploy Siemens Confirm for public-works field operations, and use Brightly/Capital Predictor for long-range capital forecasting. Enberger said Siemens invited Spalding County to be one of two U.S. public-works test sites for Confirm, with the vendor covering implementation costs.

Enberger provided a four-year cost projection showing a lower first-year spending profile than what the county currently pays for older contracts: Asset Essentials implementation negotiated to $10,000 per year for four years, Confirm expected at $0 in year one and $24,000 in subsequent years two and four, and Capital Predictor free initially then with modest annual fees. Enberger summarized the vendor arrangement this way: "We would be one of the two public works departments in the United States to actually roll out the new Confirm software at essentially no cost." The county expects to begin full data collection and background runs in FY 2026–FY 2027 to produce replacement schedules and multi-year budget models.

Why it matters: if implemented as presented, the software suite would tie field crews' mobile work, parts inventories and GIS to a capital-forecasting tool that predicts replacement timing and costs for assets from HVAC equipment to curb and gutter. Enberger said the combined package would let the county "set budgets 2 years, 3 years in advance" and compare efficiencies against peer departments.

Commissioners praised staff for negotiating the pilot arrangement; one commissioner noted year-one costs of $10,000 and projected year-three/year-four annual costs near $51,000 for the combined product suite. Enberger said the county will not begin full Capital Predictor modeling until sufficient data has been collected in later fiscal years. No formal procurement action was taken at the work session; commissioners indicated support and will consider related budget items during upcoming meetings.