CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
title
Approve the award of Single Source Procurement 25-322, Smartworks Renewal, to Harris Computer Systems for an amount not to exceed $137,185.68 and for a one-year term
body
DEPARTMENT: Electric Utility
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Groth, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The Naperville Electric Utility (Utility) uses a meter data management system (MDMS) for smart meter data. Originally approved by the City Council in December 2010, the MDMS has been a critical piece of the Naperville Smart Grid initiative since its deployment in 2012. The MDMS software, SmartWorks, manages smart meter data and provides billing information to the customer information system so customers can be billed for their electric consumption.
The Smartworks MDMS solution provides a repository for meter data and supports the
following functions:
1. Provides electric consumption information to the City’s utility billing system and Empower customer portal.
2. Maintains meter to transformer to substation feeder relationships for use by the Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) program.
3. Performs electric vehicle consumption and Distributed Energy Resource (DER) analysis to determine impacts as well as opportunities for optimization and reconfiguration of the Utility’s electric distribution system.
DISCUSSION:
The Utility leverages the SmartWorks software maintenance agreement to receive MDMS security patches and software upgrades, as well as access to Harris’s technical support team to troubleshoot issues.
The 2026 software maintenance agreement cost of $137,185.68 is a 6% increase over the 2025 cost of $129,420.46. This is due to annual inflationary increases. The Electric Utility cost will be $114,778.78 and the Water Utilities portion cost will be $22,406.90.
Staff has identified this purchase as a single source because the SmartWorks software is the proprietary intellectual property of Harris Computer Systems, which is the only company capable of providing support, licensing, and services associated with the maintenance of SmartWorks software.
A letter from the software developer is attached.
If the SmartWorks software maintenance agreement is not renewed, the Utility will not be able to receive upgrades and technical support when system issues arise. This would negatively impact billing, Utility savings from CVR, and the Utility’s Empower portal, which would not be in the best long-term financial or customer service interests of the City.
Due to the evolving environment of the MDMS, the Utility recommends contracting for a one-year term from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2026, to ensure that only the programs that are essential are carried from year to year.
FISCAL IMPACT:
CIP #: N/A
SmartWorks software maintenance is expensed to the Software & Hardware Maintenance accounts listed below. The proposed 2026 budget includes a total of $142,050 for the 2026 SmartWorks renewal. The requested award is within the proposed budget amount for this expense.
|
Account Number |
Fund Description |
Total Proposed Budget Amount |
|
40331300-531312 |
Electric Utility Fund |
$1,469,450 |
|
41101500-531312 |
Water Utility Fund |
$41,621 |