DEPARTMENT: Finance
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Troy Elliott
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City Wide
SUBJECT:
Signal Routing and Power Distribution / Regulating Equipment Upgrades and Head End Centralization of Services for TVSA Government and Public Channel Access
SUMMARY:
An Ordinance authorizing a contract with Unicom Government, Inc. to provide equipment and services concerning signal routing and power distribution / regulating equipment upgrades and head end centralization of services for the City’s Public, Education, and Government (PEG) access television channels, funded by the PEG fund.
This ordinance authorizes a contract with Unicom Government, Inc. in the amount of $1,382,366.06 for upgrades to current signal routing and power distribution / regulating equipment to facilitate the consolidation of PEG television access channel operation and video signal distribution into the Plaza de Armas facility. Funding for this contract is available through the FY 2019 Public, Education and Government (PEG) Fund Budget. Purchases authorized through this ordinance will be made in accordance with the U.S. Communities Cooperative Program authorized by Ordinance No. 98797, which provides for government procurement resources and solutions to local and state government agencies and nonprofits.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Submitted for Council consideration and action is an offer submitted by Unicom Government, Inc. to provide for the purchase of router head-end and signal distribution equipment, and required services to improve televising of designated public meetings and the operations of the City’s Government and Public access channels. This purchase will centralize the head-end router distribution of channel signals to the three local cable providers (Spectrum, AT&T and Grande) from the Plaza de Armas facility.
The head-end cable signal distribution equipment was located in three different City buildings; Municipal Plaza (Spectrum), the One Stop building (Grande) and the ITSD Frio Datacenter (AT&T), away from the GPA’s central broadcast operations center in Plaza de Armas. It was challenging for staff to manage equipment issues in an efficient manner. GPA also was not able to view the television broadcast return feed from the three video providers making it difficult to identify television signal issues.
The equipment purchase in this project will complete the centralization of the TVSA video feed distribution by moving one final cable provider, Spectrum, to Plaza de Armas. This head-end equipment purchase also assists GPA staff in monitoring the return feeds from all three cable providers in one location, Plaza de Armas. It also allows GPA staff to route video signals between Plaza de Armas and, City Hall, Municipal Plaza, and the One Stop building. Over the past two years, the City has increased public transparency by expanding operations to include live televised or web-streamed major City-wide events such as the City Council Budget Goal Setting Session, the SA Speak Up Community days, and beginning August 2019, Boards and Commission meetings at the One Stop building and City Council Committee meetings. Through this purchase, GPA will be able to standardize equipment and processes to ensure continuous operation and delivery of high-quality television productions.
This equipment purchase also includes replacement batteries to supply an uninterrupted power system (UPS) located in Plaza de Armas. The UPS will provide consistent and an even distribution of power to GPA’s television broadcast equipment that can extend the life operability of the production system. This system supports a television environment comprised of two, 2,300 square foot high-definition digital television studios, two control rooms and a data center. In addition, a new UPS system will be installed to protect the television environment in Municipal Plaza, comprised of two live television rooms (B Room and Chamber) and an AV control room. The UPS and battery replacement component of this purchase is necessary to protect equipment such as cameras, display monitors, live-switchers and routers from possible power outages that can damage equipment and interrupt operability. GPA’s broadcasting equipment has experienced power outages and surges that caused damage and impacted “live” television productions of City Council meetings that occur in B room and Council Chamber.
Finally, this equipment purchase includes modular walls, desks, and staging to expand production capabilities in the studios in Plaza de Armas. These studios are available for use by more than 200 active San Antonio TVSA Public producers, City staff and City Council offices. Requests have been made from both public access producer clients as well as City departments for studio set options for podcast recordings, talk-shows and music video recordings.
The City issued a Request for Offer (RFO) for “AV Upgrades/Router-Head End Centralization” to Unicom Government, Inc. on August 21, 2019, with a submission deadline of August 26, 2019. This contract utilizes the Omnia Partners Contract #4400006645 formally U.S. Communities with UNICOM Government Inc. Purchases authorized through this ordinance will be made in accordance with the U.S. Communities Cooperative Program authorized by Ordinance No. 98797, which provides for government procurement resources and solutions to local and state government agencies and nonprofits by ensuring all Participating Public Agencies have access to the same terms and conditions of an existing solicited contract.
ISSUE:
This contract will provide GPA with a purchase of equipment upgrades for the current City television environment.
This contract will be awarded in compliance with the Small Business Economic Development Advocacy (SBEDA) Program, which requires contracts be reviewed by a Goal Setting Committee to establish a requirement and/or incentive unique to the particular contract in an effort to maximize the amount of small, minority, and women-owned business participation on the contract. The Goal Setting Committee set a 10% Small Business Enterprise (SBE) subcontracting goal.
This contract is an exception to the Local Preference Program.
The Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) Preference Program does not apply to non-professional service contracts, so no preference was applied to this contract.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should this contract not be approved, GPA would be unable to send video feeds between multiple sites including Plaza de Armas, City Hall, Municipal Plaza and the One Stop building City buildings. The department’s Audio Visual staff would not be able to monitor video returns from cable providers from one centralized location or provide adequate power backup for critical equipment involved in live public meeting and studio productions, and would not expand production capabilities for the City’s TVSA government and public access producers.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This ordinance authorizes a contract for an estimated total amount of $1,382,366.06 available from the FY 2019 Public, Education and Government Fund Budget.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the approval of this contract with Unicom Government, Inc. for an estimated total amount of $1,382,366.06 to provide the GPA Department with required equipment upgrades.
This contract is procured by means of cooperative purchasing and a Contracts Disclosure Form is not required.