Milpitas council awards contract for new land-management and permitting system to Mainstar; hires DataClimb for implementation

The Milpitas City Council voted unanimously on Aug. 19 to award a software license and services agreement to Mainstar, Inc. and to authorize a separate project-management professional services contract with DataClimb LLC to replace the city’s aging permitting and land-management systems.

City staff described the project as a long-planned replacement of TRACKIT, the city’s 2006 permitting system, and related point solutions such as ProjectDocs. Daniel Nam, the city’s IT director, told the council the new Land Management System (LMS) is expected to improve public service with a modern online portal for 24/7 project status, plan submittals, inspection scheduling and payments; streamline internal workflows across building, planning and engineering; enable better data sharing and integration with the city’s GIS and document-management systems; and reduce duplicative email- and paper-based processes.

"A major change and a good one is going to be the emergence of all the development services departments using this one system instead of this system or that system," said Bill Tutte, the building official, who told the council shared access will reduce the need to contact other departments for status and make reviews more efficient.

Staff said the recommended procurement resulted from a competitive RFP process. The record provided at the meeting indicates the RFP was released to more than 2,200 firms, 111 firms downloaded the document, 13 proposals were submitted and 11 passed initial evaluation. Six vendors were invited for demonstrations; three finalists were scored by an evaluation panel made up of subject-matter staff from multiple departments. Mainstar was the highest-scoring proposer under the evaluation criteria, which weighted technical capability, vendor viability and pricing. The initial software license and related services are priced at $650,000 for an initial four‑year term (with options that could extend the agreement to a total of 10 years), and staff estimated $1,571,000 over a full 10‑year term if options are exercised. The DataClimb project-management contract is $370,000 for an initial two‑year term with up to three one‑year options, not to exceed $200,000 in option-year costs, subject to appropriation.

Staff estimated the implementation will begin in October–November 2025, with an expectation of roughly 24 months to launch the system in 2027. The council approved the agreement and authorized the city manager to finalize and execute contracts (including a 10% contingency clause) subject to appropriation and negotiation.

Councilmembers asked detailed procurement questions during the hearing about demonstrations, reference checks, pricing comparisons and contract termination provisions. Finance Director Luis Caprissi Howe reported the procurement attracted 12 responders and that demonstrative scripts were used during vendor demonstrations so each bidder showed the same required functions to the evaluation panel. Councilmembers asked about data migration, integration with Bluebeam and other systems, training, and contract exit clauses; staff said data migration will be part of the implementation scope, many integrations are planned (payments, GIS, document management and e-plan review), and city-standard termination-for-appropriation and termination-for-convenience clauses will be included in the agreements.

Councilmember Lian moved to approve the awards and to authorize the city manager to negotiate and execute the agreements; the motion was seconded and approved on a unanimous vote. Councilmembers said they expect the new system to address longstanding customer-service complaints about permit processing timelines.