CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the award of RFP 19-041, City Council Chambers Audio Visual Upgrade, Installation and Support, to Sound Incorporated for an amount not to exceed $604,798 and for a five-year term
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DEPARTMENT: City Manager’s Office
SUBMITTED BY: Linda LaCloche, Communication’s Manager
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The audio-visual system within Council Chambers plays an important role in Naperville’s promotion of government transparency. Regular broadcasts of City Council, Planning and Zoning Commission and Transportation Advisory Board meetings allow citizens to connect to their elected and appointed officials by seeing and hearing deliberations on City issues in real time. The system also provides internal and approved external users of Council Chambers the ability to hold relevant meetings and events for the benefit of the public.
The audio-visual system within Council Chambers was last upgraded in 2012, and much of the equipment in the room has now reaching the end of its usable life, with manufacturers no longer supporting this older model equipment. In addition, in the years since this upgrade, audio and visual technology has evolved considerably, and the room is not optimized to integrate use of more current technology. As the recent COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, the ability to incorporate web conferencing technologies more seamlessly into the broadcast experience is critical.
Due to the age of the equipment, ongoing issues are common with both the audio and video components of the system. From an audio perspective, feedback in the Chambers and placement of the existing speakers compromises the listening experience. The ability to remotely turn on and off microphones failed over a year ago, which plays a role in these ongoing feedback concerns as well as requiring a staff member to turn off the mic at the podium during City Council meetings. A second phone line for remote dial-ins to meetings is unable to integrate into the system at this time making it unusable.
Video components comprise the largest risk of failure. These include ongoing resolution issues with the existing projector, dais, and podium PC feeds; and podium cord management issues that compromise these feeds and the viewing experience of the public. The original message board system that provides critical information on WCNC failed in 2018. The “all-in-one” system that controls cameras and meeting broadcasts has aged out, with no backup available if the system fails, leaving the City unable to broadcast if that failure occurs. The server that provides city meeting rebroadcasts and channel management is obsolete and can no longer be serviced by the company that produced it.
A more user-friendly solution for petitioners and residents addressing various board members is necessary at this time as well as enhancing the current audio and video feed, which is critical for the City and its partner NCTV17 to deliver a quality broadcast via Granicus and WCNC, the City’s government access TV station.
Working in tandem with NCTV17 staff, the Communications Division developed a scope of work requesting a qualified vendor to create a design to upgrade equipment within the chambers, which will result in an improved experience within the room and while broadcasting. The scope of work covers procurement of equipment, installation, testing and training of existing staff members as well as five years of maintenance and support of the system.
In October 2019, the Communications Division issued RFP 19-041, City Council Chambers Audio Visual Installation Design, Installation and Support, to contract with a qualified firm to design, install and support an upgrade or replacement to the audio-visual system within Council Chambers.
DISCUSSION:
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Advertisement Date: |
10/29/2019 |
Notices Sent: |
196 |
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Opening Date: |
12/12/2019 |
Planholders: |
15 |
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Proposals Received: |
2 |
Proposals were received from the following vendors:
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AVI SPL |
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SOUND INCORPORATED |
A selection team comprised of staff from the City Manager’s Office, Finance Department and NCTV17 evaluated proposals, which were scored based upon the criteria set forth in the RFP:
1. Capability, Capacity and Qualifications of the Firm (20%)
2. Suitability and Quality of the System (35%)
3. Suitability and Quality of the Approach (20%)
4. Milestones and Deliverables (15%)
5. Outcomes to be Achieved (10%)
After review and scoring of proposals, the selection committee invited the two vendors to attend interviews. Following completion of interviews, the selection committee rescored the vendors. The vendor with the highest qualification score, Sound Incorporated, is recommended for award. The table below provides a summary of the final qualification scores:
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Vendor |
Qualification Score |
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Sound Incorporated |
71.2 |
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AVI SPL |
52.9 |
The project is planned to take place during summer 2020 to avoid construction as much as possible during regularly scheduled Council meetings, with an anticipated completion by the end of August 2020. This timeline is subject to change based on any unforeseen supply chain issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but all efforts will be made to complete the work within an eight-week timeframe leveraging time that meetings will potentially continue to be held remotely.
The cost to implement the upgrade is $508,356 and the cost to provide maintenance and support services is $96,442 over a five-year period. The maintenance and support services will begin following City sign-off after the installation is completed.
FISCAL IMPACT:
CIP#: EQ052
Chamber upgrades are expensed to the building improvements account listed below, as part of the capital improvement program. A total of $200,000 was budgeted for EQ052 in 2020. The remainder of the award will be funded through deferral of conference room upgrades (CE160) and Next Gen 911 upgrades (CE156), which have a combined budget total of $1,120,000 in 2020. The annual support services costs will be expensed out of Communication’s software and hardware maintenance account listed below, and budgeted appropriately in subsequent years for the duration of the agreement.
Staff from communications, IT and NCTV17 attempted to scope and price this project out over the last several years. Recognizing that we have in house capability to define the outcomes to be achieved by the project, but very limited expertise in the specific audiovisual requirements to replace and upgrade the entire system, staff reached out to the industry professionals that have knowledge in this type of work. The differential between the initial budget and the actual project costs is due to a lack of comparable projects to create a better estimate and lack of knowledge of the complete scope/costs associated with the outcomes.
Given the project costs, staff investigated the possibility of phasing the project, but given the interdependency of the equipment, very few components of the project could be phased. Phasing would result in a higher total project cost.
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Account Number |
Fund Description |
Total Budget Amount |
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16102200-551500 |
Capital Projects |
$200,000 |
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11391100-531312 |
General Fund |
$109,262 |