During the research phase of this task, and in interviews with the vendors, it became clear that it is difficult to quantify the general costs associated with development, deployment, use and support of an electronic delivery/signature verification system. For example, both Silanis and Adobe both have cost/pricing information on their websites. However, for enterprise or global users for larger organizations like a DOT, no cost information is actually provided, and the potential user is instructed to call for information. The vendors indicated during the interviews that clients such as government agencies get special pricing based on their specific needs. Both Silanis and Adobe have a special government sales department that negotiates pricing for these types of clients. In order to actually begin that negotiation and pricing conversation, the agency would identify its needs, i.e., how many internal users would be generating documents for delivery and signature, how many documents, the period of the contract, etc.
In order to at least get some semblance of pricing/costs, the following hypothetical model for a State DOT was presented to both Silanis and Adobe:
Number of internal DOT users |
Number of external property owners and displaced persons per year |
Number of documents electronically delivered and e-signed per year |
Period of contract |
|---|---|---|---|
25 |
250 |
2,500 |
5 years |
The number of external users (property owners and displaced persons) does not affect the cost, nor does the number of documents electronically delivered or e-signed. The cost for this hypothetical model for Silanis was around $22 per user, per month, or roughly $6,600 per year. Adobe’s cost was about $26 per user per month, or $7,800 per year. These are general costs, and longer contracts and further negotiation may reflect better pricing or at least provide price matching between vendors.
These costs are for named system administrators/senders for the agency. Both of these systems are user based, so the costs depend on the actual number of organization users. It is possible the costs could vary for a smaller organization, such as an LPA. The numbers of public and external signers, as well as the number of forms do not represent additional cost according to the vendors.
Obtaining an electronic delivery/signature verification system that serves potential users within the overall project development process, i.e., the entire agency, or one that is a stand-alone system that specifically facilitates the ROW acquisition process would not affect the costs. Based on the monthly subscription information provided by the vendors, an agency can multiply the number of users by the cost per user. Again, these costs may change based on actual negotiations that occur at the time an agency chooses to implement an electronic delivery/signature verification system.
