Budget Message / Highlights - Metropolitan Water Reclamation ...

METROPOLITAN WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT OF GREATER CHICAGO
2009 BUDGET
Budget Message / Highlights
communication, networking and awareness among key decision makers at the District; facilitating, through up-to-date
technology, the coordination and monitoring of efforts of the various departments for the holistic and integrated approach
required for sustainable development; and providing technical training and other information technology support to District
employees to improve their abilities to use, manage and coordinate resources for sustainable management.
The IT Strategic Plan initiatives begun in 2008 are expected to drive enhancements to the District’s information management
capabilities in support of District efforts to improve stakeholder value, core business effectiveness, operational efficiency,
enterprise asset management, life-cycle cost management, performance management, and sustainability.
The IT Strategic Plan objectives are aligned with the District’s operational goals as well as water/wastewater industry
initiatives, and include the following nine (9) programs: Enterprise Project Management, Business Performance Management,
Water Quality, Workflow Automation, Enterprise Asset Management, GIS Integration, Operations Optimization, eBusiness,
and IT Infrastructure.
As part of the initiative to move forward for more efficient and paperless management, ITD is implementing document
management, record management, Netweaver Portals, and performance dashboards for business warehouse and business
intelligence applications, Geo-spatial information system, and Internet Based Privately Owned Treatment Works
Administration and Compliance System. Additionally to support robust applications, the aging routers and switches were
evaluated and replaced with gigaman service that has greater capacity and reliability. Gigaman is a fiber-optic, point-to-point
gigabit Ethernet service that links together two networks that are physically located within the same metropolitan area or
general region.
The Information Technology Strategic Plan challenges the District to deliver solid strategic responses, and the District has
elected to respond by: streamlining workflows, reducing and eliminating paper-based processes; initiating an integrated and
unified approach to performing the services it provides to the community; seamlessly integrating the District’s entire business
environment, both internally and externally, and driving an enterprise focus to the way the District performs key functions such
as asset management, performance management, business/operations analysis and reporting, records and document
management, and sustainable development.
Affirmative Action
The 2009 Budget includes a request of $953,178 in the General Administration Budget to monitor and promote our Minority,
Women, and Small Business Administration participation program. The Procurement and Materials Management Department
Budget includes $54,600 for advertisement and promotion of our program. This program extends to all District constructionoriented
contracts exceeding $100,000 in value and to bidding opportunities on all other services, materials, and equipment.
The District is currently in the process of revising and updating the Affirmative Action Ordinance based on new case law,
regional contracting discrimination studies and public hearings. This will enable the District to update the program to continue
to effectively make available contracting opportunities to the diverse business community.
In 2007, the Board of Commissioners adopted a revised Affirmative Action Ordinance, Appendix D. The most significant
changes were as follows: The small business size standard was increased from $17 million to $31 million; compliance
requirements and penalties for noncompliance were strengthened; bids that exceed the allowable suppliers exception amount
will be deemed non-responsive; and additional race and gender neutral measures were included.
The Affirmative Action Section will continue to participate in local minority, women’s and small business expos sponsored by
the Chicago Minority Business Development Council, Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Women’s Business
Development Center, Minority Enterprise Development Week and the City of Chicago Building New Partnerships. These
outreach activities are vitally needed to ensure continued accessibility for minority, small and women’s businesses to bid on
District procurements and to participate in District construction and biosolids contracts and professional services engagements.
Our Affirmative Action program was revised in March of 1990 to conform with Supreme Court guidelines, as outlined in City
of Richmond v. Croson case. The District was the first major government in Cook County to adopt a new program consistent
with Supreme Court guidelines.
A certification program was developed in 1998 that requires the continuing reorganization of the Protected Class Enterprise
(PCE) vendor list. The purpose of this effort is to develop a list that will designate as a PCE only businesses that are in fact a
PCE. The District will list only those companies that have provided a copy of a Certification letter issued within the prior year
from the City of Chicago or Illinois State Department of Transportation, or have been reviewed and approved by the District as
a PCE in the past two years.
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