This is a service / maintenance or supply contract in Asheville, North Carolina. Contact the soliciting agency for additional information.

The City of Asheville, NC (the "City") is requesting proposals, per North Carolina General Statutes 143-129.8 Purchase of Information Technology Goods and Services, from qualified firms for the following: Upgrade audiovisual equipment in City Hall's First Floor Conference Room to enable full hybrid meeting capability for Board and Commission meetings. The RFP is comprised of the base RFP document, any attachments, and any addenda released before contract award. All attachments and addenda released for this RFP in advance of any contract award are incorporated herein by reference. This project is to be paid with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal funds. Project Description: Upgrade audiovisual equipment in City Hall's First Floor Conference Room from its current general meeting space to full hybrid meeting capability. The City's Board & Commission meetings are held in the First Floor Conference Room with current AV equipment including: Four new wall-mounted 86" ViewSonic Commercial displays, two behind the dais (facing the audience) and two on the back wall (facing Board and Commission members) One ELMO document camera Fourteen outdated desktop-mounted gooseneck mics positioned across the dais One new gooseneck mic at the lectern One 7" Crestron touchscreen control panel controlling the four 86" displays and all fifteen mics via a wireless system Wireless transmitters and receivers Outdated audio appliances Board & Commission meetings in the First Floor Conference Room are streamed to YouTube via OBS on a laptop at the back of the room. The laptop's built-in camera provides video while audio is provided via a mixed XLR output of the room's mics input to the laptop via a Shure X2u XLR to USB Adapter. The four 86" displays are currently used only to display presentations from the lectern. Additionally, meetings are carried in Google Meet as a means to output them to PublicInput, a community engagement platform that allows audio-only remote participation in meetings by phone. NOTE: The Asheville City Building (City Hall) is a locally designated historic landmark, and all work to the exterior and interior of the building must comply with the landmark designation ordinance and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards. A Certificate of Appropriateness (CA) must be obtained before any work may commence that might affect the interior or exterior of the building. Scope of Work The City of Asheville, North Carolina, is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to provide full hybrid meeting capability to its First Floor Conference Room in City Hall. Proposals will include system design, equipment, software, installation, labor, shipping costs, and training. Equipment and Implementation: The City is seeking a solution that is highly reliable, widely-used, well-established, and has a proven, solid industry track record for hybrid meetings in a municipal meeting environment. The proposed system will make use of existing hardware and software when possible and integrate new hardware and software when needed. New system components must maintain consistency and compatibility with existing system components. Proposed solutions must demonstrate how new system components will integrate with existing components, providing assurances of interoperability. Proposed deviations from this compatibility requirement must be justified with clear reasoning and potential mitigating measures to address any resultant issues. It is the responsibility of the awarded vendor to ensure successful implementation and functionality of all components comprising the hybrid meeting system. All primary equipment, subsystems, components, wire, cable and accessory hardware shall be new and unused products of a recognized manufacturer regularly engaged in the production of such equipment and materials. Vendor shall only supply manufacturer's newest and latest equipment and materials. Refurbished or gray-market equipment will not be acceptable. Vendor will provide spec sheets for all components. The City of Asheville will provide labor for cable runs from the First Floor Conference Room to the basement-level Control Room. Vendor will supply cable and drawings to the City of Asheville. City of Asheville will provide all electrical as necessary. The proposed system must replace the fourteen outdated gooseneck mics across the dais with new gooseneck mics. The gooseneck mic at the lectern is new and does not need to be replaced. The proposed system must replace outdated audio appliances with new audio appliances to improve general audio quality in the room and provide echo cancellation for hybrid meetings. The proposed system must replace the wireless transmitters and receivers currently controlling the four 86" displays in the room with hard-wired control for greater reliability. The proposed system must include a static, high-resolution camera mounted at the back of the room to capture a wide angle of Board & Commission members at the dais. PTZ capability is not necessary. The proposed system must include the capability to control microphone volume, both from the First Floor Conference Room and from the basement Control Room. The proposed system must include the capability to control OBS streaming to YouTube from the basement Control Room. Remote Switching: Hybrid meetings take place in the First Floor Conference Room, however, switching and monitoring capabilities for the meetings must take place in the production team's Control Room located in the basement of City Hall. The First Floor Conference Room is one-floor level above the Control Room. Located adjacent to the First Floor Conference Room is a Data Closet that provides cabling pathways to other floors in the building. According to Facilities staff, cable distance from the Data Closet to the Control Room is approximately 210-250 feet. Additionally, City Hall systems run on a VLAN so I.T. staff can establish drops between the First Floor Conference Room and the Data Closet, from which connectivity can be enabled in the basement Control Room. The basement Control Room is primarily used to live-switch City Council meetings that take place on the second floor of City Hall. The proposed solution for switching hybrid meetings is not required to make use of or integrate with the switching system used for Council meetings, although the option remains open. A simple switching solution may suffice. As mentioned prior, a Crestron touchscreen control panel controls the displays and microphones in the First Floor Conference Room. That basic level of control must remain in the room, in addition to the ability to turn on and turn off the room's camera, and to start and stop streaming via OBS on the City's network. Pursuant to the City of Asheville's Procurement, Purchasing and Contracting Policy, and the Code of Federal Regulations 200.317- 200.327, Proposals will be received for the following: The City of Asheville reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive informalities. Question Deadline 04/12/2024 at 5:00 PM ET. All questions concerning this Request for Proposal (RFP) should be submitted via email to: Dan Phairas, Project Manager dphairas@ashevillenc.gov Inquiries and/or clarifications must be submitted via email to the project manager . Any revisions to this RFP shall be made by written addendum only. Addendum will be issued answering all questions and/or addressing any approved modifications to the RFP . No oral statements by any person shall modify or otherwise affect this RFP. Proposers shall acknowledge receipt of any addendum by returning a signed copy with their proposal. All addenda will be posted electronically. It is the responsibility of the proposer to check online periodically for any changes to this proposal. The initial term of the contract will be for a five-year time period with two one-year optional extensions as agreed upon by the City and successful vendor. Submittals will be reviewed for responsiveness, and responsive submittals will further be screened by a selection committee in accordance with the above criteria. The firm(s) submitting the highest-rated proposal may be invited for interviews. Interviews, if held, will be scored and ranked separately from the written proposals. However, the City may use criteria similar to the above Evaluation Criteria to score and rank Proposers' responses to interview questions or instructions, in addition to other relevant information provided or requested. After interviews, a Best and Final Offer (BAFO) may be requested. The City reserves the right to make an award without further discussion of the proposal submitted with the offeror. Therefore, the proposal should be submitted initially on the most favorable terms and pricing that the firm or individual might propose. The City reserves the right to award a contract to the firm who's proposal best accomplishes the desired results. The City of Asheville reserves the right to request additional information or clarification from proposers during the evaluation process. The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, or to waive minor irregularities in said proposals, or to negotiate with the successful firm(s). In the case of differences between written words and figures in a proposal, the amount stated in written words shall govern. In the case of a difference in unit price versus the extended figure, the unit price shall govern. The City will notify all proposers whether or not they are selected for the subject work. Email is the City's preferred method of communication for all stages of the RFP process. Proposals must be delivered via email. The City of Asheville takes no responsibility for emails that are undeliverable or delayed. It is the responsibility of the submitter to obtain email confirmation. All proposals MUST be clearly identified in the email subject line as 298-RFP-HybridMtgs-FY24 and MUST be delivered