Subject
title
Staff recommends the Mayor and Council award and authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement for the purchase of software, support, and professional services with UKG of Lowell, Massachusetts to replace the City’s end-of-life employee time-keeping software in the amount of $96,252 per year through July 14, 2029, with the possibility of three additional one-year renewals.
end
Department
IT
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City execute the contract to upgrade our current Kronos timekeeping software to UKG Ready in the amount of $96,252 per year through July 14, 2029, with the possibility of three additional one-year renewals.
Discussion
The City’s employee timekeeping solution reached End of Engineering (EOE) on December 31, 2025, indicating that no improvements will be made to our version of the software. Furthermore, the vendor, UKG, has indicated that the software End of Life (EOL) will be March 31, 2027. We will need to migrate from our current on-premise version of the software, called Kronos, to the new cloud version, called UKG ready. This is a significant effort that involves approximately 12 months of implementation time from the vendor and City staff. Therefore, we are requesting authorization to proceed with the upgrade to protect the ability of the City to maintain and protect the timekeeping records of our staff.
One of the major benefits of moving from the current on-premises version is no longer performing the major costly server & database upgrades required every 2-3 years.
Strategic and Operational Benefits of Cloud Migration
• Elimination of On-Prem Infrastructure Costs: No future hardware upgrades, server maintenance, storage, backups, or disaster recovery provisioning.
• No need to license, patch, or maintain 4 Windows servers and 1 Microsoft SQL server that currently support Kronos.
• Periodic Updates & Enhancements: The cloud platform is always the most current version and receives continuous improvements without additional cost or IT burden.
• Enhanced Security & Compliance: UKG maintains FedRAMP Moderate authorization and SOC 2 compliance, aligning with increasing regulatory expectations.
• Improved Accessibility: Anywhere, anytime access for supervisors and employees, supporting hybrid/remote work environments.
• Scalability & Support: Enhanced support services, including post-go-live support and access to a modern user interface.
• Reduces Disaster Recovery Overhead: Offsite backup and DR planning is streamlined.
• Frees IT Support Capacity: Staff time previously spent on OS patching, SQL maintenance, and Kronos security remediation can now be redirected toward higher-value tasks such as:
o User training and adoption
o Advanced reporting and analytics
o System optimization to align with department operations
• Simplified licensing structure - the City no longer has to purchase separate licenses for managers or mobile users.
Alternatives were explored, including extending our Financial/ERP system, CGI Advantage, to cover timekeeping. However:
• Functionality Limitations: CGI cannot fully support all employee types or existing Kronos use cases without costly customization.
• Implementation Constraints: Integrating timekeeping into CGI now would require revisiting system design, likely resulting in even higher implementation costs than the UKG migration. Due to competing priorities, timekeeping was not included in the Phase 1 configuration, and adding it now would introduce significant rework, delays, and integration challenges.
• Operational Risk: Switching to an entirely new platform would require retraining, reconfiguration, and significantly more support.
• Loss of Capabilities: CGI and other vendors lack certain Kronos-native features (e.g., biometric integration, mobile geolocation, rules-based scheduling).
• Cost Comparison: Based on early estimates, configuring CGI for timekeeping would require a new implementation scope and budget amendment - likely exceeding the $100K UKG implementation cost and still not match UKG’s depth of functionality.
We also conducted a limited scan of other timekeeping platforms, but none offered the same level of maturity, functionality, and seamless continuation from our existing setup. Other compelling reasons include:
• Integration & Continuity: UKG has already been tightly integrated into our payroll and scheduling processes. Moving to a new platform would require reengineering processes and integrations.
• Vendor Mandate: As our current vendor, Kronos is ending support for our version and offering significant incentives to retain existing clients and bring them onto UKG Ready.
Mayor and Council History
This is the first time this item has come before the Mayor and Council.
Procurement
This purchase rides the OMNIA Partners, Public Sector, Inc f/k/a National Intergovernmental Purchasing Alliance Company. Cobb County, Georgia Procurement Department, acting as lead agency for OMNIA, issued Request for Proposal #24-6833 to procure for human resources information systems and related products.
The Rockville City Code states: Sec. 17-71. - Cooperative procurement authorized (b) The City may contract with any contractor who offers goods, services, insurance, or construction on the same terms as provided other state or local governments or agencies thereof who have arrived at those terms through a competitive procurement procedure similar to the procedure used by the City.
The City is an OMNIA Partners Participating Public Agency, OMNIA Partners number 4012934.
The RFP conducted by the Cobb County, Georgia Procurement Department was awarded on July 14, 2025, with a contract term of four (4) years. The term may be extended to three (3) additional twelve (12) month periods. The term of this Rider Agreement is from the Effective Date until July 14, 2029 with the option to extend.
Kronos SaaSHR, Inc (UKG) is offering the goods and services on the same terms as provided to the Georgia/OMNIA Partners Procurement Agreement referenced as Master Agreement #24-6833. This procurement is beneficial to the City to obtain the items in a timely and efficient manner and at a fair cost.
Kronos SaaSHR, Inc. (UKG) is a non-Minority, Female, Disabled or Veterans (non-MFD-V) business.
To view the draft contract, please see Attachment 1.
To view additional contract documents, please click the link below:
Attachment 2 - Exhibit A Georgia - OMNIA Agreement.pdf <https://rockvillemd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=AO&ID=171120&GUID=518e6569-c136-40b5-9997-ba1de2aab66c&N=QXR0YWNobWVudCAyLUV4aGliaXQgQSBHZW9yZ2lhLU9NTklBIEFncmVlbWVudC5wZGY%3d>
Fiscal Impact
The agreement is effective when signed and the term aligns with the underlying contract through July 14, 2029. The FY 2027 operating budget will need to be increased in the IT Department, IT Operations Division to support this award with an annual cost of $96,252. There are one-time implementation costs of $86,580 associated with the upgrade of the timekeeping system that are separate from the agreement.
Next Steps
If approved, the City Manager will sign the contract with UKG and project kickoff will be scheduled to begin implementation of the upgrade.