| | | | | | | | REPORT TO SHASTA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
BOARD MEETING DATE: November 15, 2016
CATEGORY: Consent - General Government-2.
SUBJECT:
APPROVE AN AGREEMENT WITH WEST PUBLISHING CORPORATION TO PROVIDE ONLINE AND PRINT LEGAL RESEARCH SERVICES |
| | | | | | | | DEPARTMENT: County Counsel
Supervisorial District No. : All
DEPARTMENT CONTACT: James Ross, Assistant County Counsel 530-225-5711
STAFF REPORT APPROVED BY: James Ross, Assistant County Counsel
Vote Required?
Simple Majority Vote | General Fund Impact?
No Additional General Fund Impact |
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| | | | | | | | RECOMMENDATION
Approve and authorize the County Counsel or the Assistant County Counsel to: (1) Sign an agreement with West Publishing Corporation, a Minnesota corporation, doing business as Westlaw and West Publications to provide online and print legal research services to County Counsel’s Office in an amount estimated to be $178,791 for five years effective upon execution by both parties; and (2) execute changes to the online and print legal research subscriptions provided such changes do not result in an increase to the total compensation of more than $5,000. |
| | | | | | | | SUMMARY
Approval of a new agreement with Westlaw and West Publications (“West”) will allow the County Counsel’s Office to reduce its overall online and print research expenditures while adding useful content and analytical tools. |
| | | | | | | | DISCUSSION
West is one of two primary online and print legal research services for lawyers and legal professionals in the United States. In addition, it provides proprietary database services. Information resources on Westlaw include more than 40,000 databases of case law, state and federal statutes, administrative codes, newspaper and magazine articles, public records, law journals, law reviews, treatises, legal forms and other information resources. Westlaw also features a citation checking service which allows customers to determine whether cases or statutes are still good law. Most law offices, including the County Counsel’s Office, rely on one of the two service providers for this valuable service.
The County Counsel’s Office currently has agreements with West to provide online and print research materials. As part of an ongoing process to evaluate the research needs of the office, the County Counsel’s Office identified a print subscription that was being duplicated in our online databases so it was unnecessary to continue receiving that print subscription. The County Counsel’s Office also identified a print subscription that was no longer needed. The County Counsel’s Office approached West about revising the existing agreements to delete the unneeded subscriptions. In consideration of revising the existing agreements, West proposed a new agreement that extends the term to a five year term, added additional databases, and added a new analytical tool. The County Counsel’s Office has evaluated the additional databases and the new analytical tool and found that they would be useful to the office and expand the ability to research materials without incurring out-of-plan charges. In addition, the County Counsel’s Office support staff will gain access to the subscriptions which increases the overall efficiency of the Office.
Based on the current subscriptions, the average yearly costs of the online and print subscriptions over the life of the agreement is $36,342.91. If the current agreement were continued over a five-year period, the average yearly costs of the online and print subscriptions over the life of the agreement would be $39,609.36 based on West’s current pricing schedule. If the new agreement is approved, the average yearly costs of the online and print subscriptions over the life of the agreement will be $34,147.10. By entering into this new agreement, the County Counsel’s Office will be able to increase the research libraries available without incurring additional charges, add an analytical tool, provide access to support staff, and decrease the overall costs of these services by an average of $5,462.25 per year.
The amounts provided are estimates because the agreement provides for additional costs for certain items that are outside of the base level of services. The new agreement should avoid any of the extra charges because libraries that were previously unavailable without incurring additional costs will now be available. |
| | | | | | | | ALTERNATIVES
The Board could decline to approve the agreement, could defer approval to a later date or could request additional information from staff. None of these alternatives are recommended as approval of the agreement allows the County Counsel’s Office to reduce its overall online and print research expenditures while adding useful content and analytical tools. |
| | | | | | | | OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
The County Administrative Office has reviewed the recommendation. Risk Management has reviewed and approved the agreement. County Counsel has approved the agreement as to form. Information Technology has approved the agreement. |
| | | | | | | | FINANCING
The amount to be paid for the service is included in County Counsel’s FY 16/17 Budget and there is no additional General Fund impact. |
| ATTACHMENTS: | | Description | Upload Date | Description | | Westlaw Agreements | 11/7/2016 | Westlaw Agreements |
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