Okeechobee County approves five-year agreement for grant-management software to centralize grant tracking

The Okeechobee County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a five-year software agreement with Unisolution(s) for a centralized, cloud-based grant-management system, accepting a first-year cost of $39,265 and recurring annual costs thereafter.

County staff told commissioners the purchase will centralize grant application and reimbursement materials across departments and provide auditors secure logins for direct access to backup documentation. Peter Nikolaakakis, identified in the meeting as the finance director for the Clerk of Courts, said the county’s auditors supported the change and that the software could reduce the time department staff spend preparing for audits by “almost 2 months’ worth of work” through centralized backup and automated reminders.

Details provided to the board describe one-time implementation, training and data-integration services in year one totaling $15,265 and recurring annual hosting/service fees of $24,000 (with a 5% increase in years four and five). Staff estimated the five-year total cost at $138,925. County IT staff said the solution will be a manual export/import now with scheduled uploads; the vendor will host the cloud service and manage software maintenance. The county retains ownership of uploaded data, staff said.

Commissioners asked whether auditors and departments would be able to use the system; staff confirmed auditors would receive logins, and that the system should streamline audit work and reduce back-and-forth requests. The board approved the authorization for the county administrator to execute the software agreement and any addendums.

Ending: Staff planned to begin implementation immediately if the board’s approval was recorded, with data uploads starting as soon as the vendor completes setup and county staff prepare exports.