ITEM:		ACTION ITEMS
19.	CONSIDER REJECTION OF SOLE BID AND AUTHORIZATION FOR STAFF TO NEGOTIATE WITH BIDDER FOR DESIGN AND INSTALLATION OF AUDIO AND VIDEO EQUIPMENT IN THE DISTRICT’S CONFERENCE ROOM
Meeting Date:			February 23, 2006	Budgeted:	$20,000
From:			David A. Berger,	Program/
			General Manager	Line Item No.: Fixed Assets
Prepared By:			Rick Dickhaut	Cost Estimate:	$50,000
General Counsel Approval: N/A
Committee Recommendation: The Administrative Committee reviewed this item on February 15, 2006 and recommended approval.
CEQA Compliance: N/A

SUMMARY: Since December of 2004, District Board meetings, including some workshops, have been held in the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency (MRWPCA) Boardroom. While MRWPCA does not currently charge for the use of the room, charges from Access Monterey Peninsula (AMP) to furnish staff and equipment to televise the meetings have averaged over $650 per meeting for the past three months billed. This includes the time to set up their equipment, run the equipment during the meeting and pack the equipment back up to return to AMP. Additionally AMP has recently notified the District that it is expected these costs will soon double due to increasing staff costs and additional hours billed to recoup AMP’s staff time spent at AMP’s facility preparing the equipment for use at the District’s meetings and re-storing it after use. In addition to these costs, District staff spends a considerable amount of time and effort transporting equipment and materials to and from the site, setting up and taking down equipment, configuring the room for use, and restoring the room to its original configuration after each meeting.

As directed by the Board at its January 2004 meeting, District staff has continued to investigate the costs of upgrading the District’s conference room to accommodate Board meetings. Staff recently issued a Call for Bids to design and install audio and video equipment in the District’s conference room to allow Board meetings to be televised. The required equipment includes four cameras, a camera control unit, a camera switcher, a DVD recorder, four LCD monitors, approximately twelve microphones, an encoding device and other miscellaneous equipment. The District received one response to its Call for Bids from Active Matrix Networks, Inc. in the amount of $49,836.54. The bid includes a $9,000 item not included in previous estimates, an encoding device required for live broadcasts of meetings. AMP is currently providing this piece of equipment, but it has been problematic because it needs to be reprogrammed to work with different systems. Recently, several meetings have not been broadcast live due to the device not having the correct configuration. If the Board were to opt for replays only, instead of live telecasts and replays, the bid amount would be reduced by $9,000. If purchased, the encoding device could also be used for live video conferencing to other locations including various state entities throughout California.

RECOMMENDATION: District staff recommends that the Board reject the bid from Active Matrix Networks, Inc., and authorize staff to negotiate a reduced amount with the sole bidder. This is standard practice by public agencies when only one bid is received. Staff also recommends that the Board authorize an expenditure of up to $50,000 for the conference room upgrade. This amount would cover the cost for installation and design of video equipment, as well as funding the purchase of risers and new chairs for the Board and staff tables. If the Board elects not to have meetings televised live, with replays only, the maximum expenditure be $41,000. If negotiations with the current bidder are not successful, staff will issue a new Call for Bids. The Administrative Committee reviewed this item on February 15, 2006 and voted 3 to 0 to approve staff’s recommendation including the maximum expenditure of $50,000.

IMPACT ON RESOURCES: The 2005-06 budget includes $20,000 for purchase and installation of audio and video equipment for the District’s conference room to accommodate telecasts of Board meetings. If the staff recommendation is approved, an additional $30,000 would be incorporated into the mid-year budget adjustment. Using the maximum expenditure of $50,000, based on eighteen District Board and Workshops per year and the estimated future cost of $1,300 per meeting for AMP personnel and equipment, the payback time for the conference room improvements would be a little over 3 years. This payback is well within the standard time interval to justify a capital investment. As discussed above, if the District did not purchase the $9,000 encoding device that allows live broadcasts, the payback time would be reduced to just over 2 ½ years. It should be noted that one person would still be required to run the equipment, but the cost would be minimal. Additionally, staff will not be required to transport supplies and equipment to another location.

BACKGROUND: Prior to January 2004, District staff conducted an extensive investigation of potential meeting locations within the District’s boundaries. Many of the locations investigated were found to be unacceptable due to limitations in scheduling, parking and available equipment. At the January 29, 2004 Board Meeting, the Board elected to move regularly scheduled Board meetings to the Monterey City Council Chambers starting in March 2004 so that they could be televised. Since December of 2004, District Board meetings, including some workshops, have been held in the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency Boardroom. These meetings have also been televised. At the December 13, 2004 Board meeting, staff reported that the cost to add audio and video equipment to the District’s conference room would be up to $30,000 and that another $5,000 would be required if the Board wished to have risers to improve visibility. Based on the estimated annual expenditures for meeting room and AMP costs, it reported that the payback time for the conference room upgrade would be 3 to 3 ½ years, depending on whether or not the risers were included. District staff recently issued a Call for Bids for design and installation of audio and video equipment required to accommodate televised Board meetings in the District’s conference room.

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