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CONSIDERATION AND AWARDING OF BID 1415-39 AND APPROVAL OF CONTRACT K-1415-137 WITH PARKEON IN THE AMOUNT OF $27,112 FOR INSTALLATION OF A PARKING REVENUE CONTROL SYSTEM AT THE DOWNTOWN (GRAY STREET) PARKING LOT, PERFORMANCE BOND B-1415-99, STATUTORY BOND B-1415-100, AND MAINTENANCE BOND MB-1415-95.
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BACKGROUND: On May 22, 2012, City Council approved Resolution R-1112-112 authorizing staff to proceed with the development of plans and bid documents for a Complete Revenue Control System or Modern Parking Meters for the Gray Street Downtown Parking Lot, located at the southeast corner of Gray Street and Peters Avenue (Map attached). The City constructed the parking lot in 2007 and provided free parking for several years.
On October 23, 2012, City Council awarded Bid B-1213-36 to Duncan Technologies for the installation of the Revenue Control System and staff issued a Noticed to Proceed with the work on October 24, 2012. However, Duncan was never able to deliver on its promise to install properly functioning sensors in the lot to complete the intended revenue control system. Their inability to deliver a complete system resulted in the cancellation of the contract. The partially installed Duncan system was removed in December of 2014, and a full refund of all partial payments made to the City issued on October 16, 2014. Once the refund was received, staff issued a notice for bids to other vendors to provide a Complete Revenue Control System for the Gray Street Downtown Parking Lot (Modern Parking Meters).
DISCUSSION: Bid packets for the purchase of the new Complete Revenue Control System were issued on December 26, 2014. Bid No. 1415-39 was opened on February 5, 2015. The Complete Revenue Control System for the Gray Street Downtown Parking Lot consists of three multi-space pay-by-space parking meter pay stations including an interface component for parking enforcement.
Bid packets were sent to a total of nine vendors and the bid was advertised in the local newspaper. Bids were received from two vendors, namely Parkeon (Moorestown, NJ) and the IPS Group (San Diego, CA).
While Parkeon was the low bidder with a base bid of $18,720, clarifications were sought from each bidder because both submittals were unclear as to how enforcement would be accomplished without the installation of sensors in each parking space. The Request for Clarification was sent to each vendor on March 8, 2015. Following receipt of responses to the Requests for Clarification on March 12, 2015, each vendor was invited to demonstrate their respective pay station. The IPS Group demonstrated their pay station to representatives of the Municipal Court, Norman Police Department and Public Works Department on Tuesday, April 14, 2015, and Parkeon demonstrated theirs on Wednesday, April 15, 2015.
Following the pay station demonstrations, staff was unanimous in its support of Parkeon as the preferred vendor. A series of add-ons to the base bid were negotiated later on to enhance the functionality of the system, for an additional cost of $8,392, increasing the total amount of the bid to $27,112. Specific features included in the optional add-on bundle include larger color displays on each pay station with access to “City News” (a software application that will be used to promote events in the downtown area), spare parts for future maintenance of the equipment, and an access validation code system for each pay station that allows the creation of codes so the City can offer free parking to special visitors, VIPs or merchants by validating their parking through a web portal.
Subsequent meetings were held with members of the Downtown Merchants Association to discuss the process and the staff recommendation to proceed with the award of the bid to Parkeon. From a Notice of Award, the Complete Revenue Control System for the Gray Street Downtown Parking Lot can be operational within 60 days.
The purchase and installation of the Revenue Control System will be financed through the Norman Downtowner’s Association Trust and Republic Bank. The original loan, in the amount of $140,386.50, was based on the cost of the Duncan Technologies equipment. It had been partially repaid using revenue collected from the system at an interest rate of 0%. The loan matures November 1, 2022 but will be extended if not paid-in-full by that time. The proposed system by Parkeon is considerably less expensive than the previous Duncan system because the Parkeon product does not include the parking space sensors and associated technology. The lack of sensors will require users to pay 25 cents for the first hours of parking, which under the original business plan was provided for free. Representatives of the Downtowners Association have endorsed this change, which will be included in the next revision of the Business Plan.
RECOMMENDATION NO. 1: It is recommended that Bid 1415-39 be awarded to Parkeon (Moorestown, NJ) in the amount of $27,112 (Base Bid plus Options Package). Funds are available in Downtown Parking Lot Expansion - Materials (account 050-9365-419.63-01; Project BG0028). Staff also recommends that upon completion of the project, any unused funds from the Republic loan be returned to Republic Bank.
RECOMMENDATION NO. 2: Staff recommends that upon approval of the bid the Mayor be authorized to sign Contract K-1415-37 and the performance, statutory, and maintenance bond.