Lincoln County approves $493,480 contract for new permitting and licensing software

County staff presented a request to approve a sole-source justification and award a contract to Vertisoft for a cloud-hosted permitting and licensing platform that county staff said will integrate with the existing enterprise asset-management system. Andrew Bryant told commissioners the county reviewed at least eight competing products and that peers using the platform had positive experiences with support and implementation.

Bryant said the three-year implementation, including the initial implementation year, is priced at $493,480 (roughly $170,000 per year when averaged across three years). He also requested preauthorization of up to $50,000 for any additional professional services such as data conversion that may be needed during implementation. "The selling point for me is the customer experience," Bryant said, noting the platform’s public portal and features such as mobile inspections, planning and zoning workflows, health licenses and special-events modules.

Commissioners approved the sole-source justification (motion by Commissioner Carpenter) and separately approved the contract award (motion by Commissioner Patton). No member of the board recorded a nay vote in the meeting minutes; both motions carried with aye votes.

Staff said implementation would begin in March with an anticipated finish in November of the same year, and that the county expects the system to reduce internal processing time and improve applicant communication. The presentation emphasized vendor support and prior local-government implementations as reasons for selection.