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Commissioners table citywide records-scanning procurement amid large price disparities
Summary
San Benito staff recommended ARC Scanning Services to digitize roughly 200–300 boxes of city records for about $87,575, but commissioners requested full vendor quotes and per-box/per-page pricing and tabled the item to the next meeting.
San Benito City Commissioners on March 18 tabled a proposal to contract for citywide document-scanning services after staff presented three vendor quotes with widely different cost estimates.
Staff told the commission that roughly 200–300 boxes of historical records would need digitization and that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) reporting increasingly require digital submissions. Staff recommended ARC Scanning Services (based in San Antonio) at a baseline cost of $87,575, which staff said would cover approximately 300 boxes and includes color scanning, an encrypted hard drive option and secure electronic delivery. Two other quotes were described: Iron Mountain Government Solutions at about $248,000 (black-and-white scanning noted) and Terra Logic at $537,000 (the vendor provided a per-page price of about $0.11). ARC told staff the initial 300-box job would take about six months and that billing could be monthly as boxes are prepared and picked up.
Commissioners raised a series of clarifying questions: how many boxes exactly need scanning, per-box and per-page pricing, vendor locations, what the quoted prices include (color vs. black-and-white, large-format/flatbed scanning), and what the ongoing operating procedure would be for future records creation and storage. One commissioner said the price spread between the low and high bids “raises a cautious flag” and asked staff to return with full written quotes and per-box/per-page cost breakdowns. Another commissioner observed that some records may be old enough to discard under retention rules and asked staff to confirm which boxes require scanning.
Mayor Pro Tem Galvan moved to table the item to the next meeting; Commissioner Morales seconded the motion and the table carried. Staff was directed to provide the full three quotes and clearer scope, and to clarify how many boxes and pages are in the initial conversion scope. Staff said they would return at the next meeting with that information.
