Board approves $1.17M CRM contract to bring customer relationship management in‑house

San Diego Community Power’s board on Nov. 13 approved a contract with CGI Technologies and Solutions to implement an enterprise customer relationship management (CRM) platform intended to consolidate customer data and bring customer‑facing functions into the agency’s systems.

Staff described the project as a Microsoft Dynamics solution hosted in the agency’s Azure environment and emphasized cybersecurity and compliance objectives (SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST standards). The vendor selection followed a competitive solicitation with six responses; staff recommended CGI based on public‑agency experience and a local presence. The not‑to‑exceed amount in board materials was stated as $1,166,915; staff presented the implementation schedule as a 10‑month rollout with an estimated implementation‑phase cost near $824,000 and a subsequent 12‑month service/support contract.

Directors questioned firewall protections, third‑party audits, the limits of vendor access to customer PII, incident‑response protocols and whether existing contracts (e.g., Calpine hosting of customer calls) would phase out after implementation. Staff said de‑identification of data where possible, regular penetration testing and a developing incident‑response plan are in place; change‑management provisions were described for timeline extensions.

A motion to approve the CGI agreement was moved, seconded and approved by roll call. Staff said the project is funded in the agency’s operational budget for FY 25–26 and that the contract includes change‑management and acceptance testing.