HomeMy WebLinkAboutLettereCivis
September 13, 2005
Pamela Burns
Sr. Procurement Contracts Officer
City of Miami Purchasing Department
444 SW 2nd Avenue, 6th Floor
Miami, FL 33130
Dear Pamela,
Below you will find data explaining why Grants Locator by eCivis is a unique and
proprietary system. This excerpt of the eCivis Grants Locator sole source statement is
accurate as of the day of this letter.
What is Grants Locator?
Grants Locator is a web -based application containing a collection of internally generated
content written by trained research analysts employed by eCivis. This content is based on
these analysts' research of Federal, State and Foundation grants. In total, Grants Locator
covers all Federal and State (CA, FL, TX, IL, VA, OH) grants excluding certain very narrow
target audience grants (for example, State Department grants for agriculture development in
West Africa). Overall, Grants Locator covers at least 95% of available competitive grants
from these funders. Grants Locator is relied upon by over 400 local government entities
nationwide including 7 of the 12 largest local governments. None of these customers in
their purchasing evaluations has found an equivalent online product of similar scope or
quality to Grants Locator.
Product Specifications used in evaluating Sole Source:
• Comprehensiveness: Product contains materially all grants (at least 95%)
• Original Content: Product contains original content
• Quality Assurance: Product contains a five -point QA check prior to
publishing on Grants Locator
• Timeliness: Product is updated on a daily basis
• Local Government Relevance System: Product allows local governments to
quickly assess which programs are most relevant to them
• Search System: Product has custom search functionality leading to superior
results.
• Previously Funded Applications: Product has collection of previously
funded grant applications.
Comprehensiveness: Grants Locator is the only materially complete collection of Federal
and State grants that exists. eCivis spent five years searching all available programs,
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including those that the government does not actively solicit, for inclusion in Grants Locator.
With the feedback of clients, as well as partner companies, many of the lesser -known firms
were added to our review list. There are many free or low-cost web sites that list grant
programs, but these are retrograde versions of the Federal Register or Grants.gov, both of
which are incomplete sources of federal grants. The eCivis comprehensive list of grant
programs is proprietary information, which is secured internally and is not shared with any
other entity or client.
Original Content: Grants Locator is not a reposting of the original grant notice. Each grant
is researched, analyzed, condensed and packaged into comprehensive information that will
quickly allow customers to see if the grant fits their project. This original content is available
only through Grants Locator, and eCivis does not license this content to anyone other than
end users of Grants Locator. In addition, eCivis contacts the program officer on every grant
program and a summation of the conversation with the program officer is noted in Grants
Locator. The information gathered from program officers is available only through Grants
Locator and no other information provider offers comprehensive Program Officer notes for
all grants.
5-Point Quality Assurance
eCivis employs a five -point Quality Assurance check on each grant prior to posting it in
Grants Locator. This proprietary process ensures that all information gathered meets and/or
exceeds eCivis standards as having the best possible accuracy.
Timeliness: eCivis uses a proprietary back -end process to ensure timeliness that meets our
local government standards. While on average it takes 2 to 3 hours to encapsulate all the
information for a single grant program, eCivis maintains a same day standard for
approximately 50% of Federal and State grants and a three day standard for about 90% of the
grants. eCivis invests more than a million dollars annually to meet these timeliness standards
and maintain the level of quality that cities and counties expect. eCivis knows of no other
product that has timeliness standards for publishing. In addition, Grants Locator publishes
federal grant information before it appears on the Federal Register or Grants.gov, which is
not done anywhere else.
Local Government Relevance Rating: eCivis uses an internal process to assign each grant
a relevance rating based on our understanding of local government needs. This may differ
from the formal eligibility criteria listed from funding agencies that may mislead cities and
counties on their ability to apply for funds. For example, a program like Department of
Justice's Weed and Seed program would have a relevance rating of 1. This local
government -relevance rating only exists in Grants Locator.
Proprietary Search: eCivis has modified its search criteria based on local government
feedback. This search ensures that search results closely match what a user is looking for in
a grant. While the search uses VerityTM, a commercially available engine, the fields it
searches are custom-built and populated based on our employees' knowledge of lexicon used
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by local government employees. Additionally, the keyword field is manually created for each
new grant entered, ensuring customization of every grant
Previously Funded Applications (PFAs): Grants Locator contains a collection of
previously funded grant applications. The applications have been collected from existing
eCivis clients and by utilizing the Freedom of Information Act at the Federal and State levels.
While other collections of PFAs may exist, this unique collection focusing on local
government applications for a widespread group of grants is unlikely to exist.
Futures: Additionally, eCivis products and services are designed by eCivis Product
Development in correlation with local government feedback and the standard product
development process to create the finest, original products for eCivis clients.
Government Support of Sole Source: Grants Locator has been certified sole source by
numerous local governments around the country. eCivis can provide customer with examples
of sole source designation if useful in the purchasing process.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at the number below.
Best regards,
Karl Rectanus
Vice President
(626) 578-6210