Television and audio-visual equipment

Tender description

This tender is inviting qualified audio-visual specialists to respond to the requirements of Devon County Council for upgrading existing or installing new audio-visual systems within the committee suite with a continued support and maintenance service. This contract is also to work where necessary with partners or 3rd party suppliers to secure that all new solutions are integrated with our existing infrastructure services. DCC is therefore looking to award a contract to a single supplier to provide a managed service for all the elements to the committee suite portfolio. The supplier will be responsible for supplying and installing the equipment needed to provide the requirements and functionalities including all necessary cabling, switches, mounts, recording equipment and software to the manufacturers’ instructions, with minimum disruption and within timescales required around committee meeting dates. The maintenance and introduction of new solutions must be balanced with both the needs of the Council and the constrains of operations within these rooms as the committee suite is a listed building and any alterations may require special permission and for this reason, removal and installation works need to be sympathetic to the listed status and with care and respect for the materials which make up the fabric of the building. The committee suite meets the democratic needs of the Council and consist of 4 Committee rooms, a Council Chamber an ante room and a chair’s room as well as 2 political offices. Also, key to the strategy is that all the technology is easy to operate and access by different devices be reliable and allowing for majority of the rooms to be easily reconfigurable or opened out to make larger spaces to accommodate bigger audiences to meet the needs of the next meeting/presentation. Initially the audio-visual equipment upgrade is limited to the Daw Room which is the most versatile and utilised spaced and is very much seen as the window into the Council. Therefore, any new solutions will need to match the need of the current technology on the market and be future proofed. The main issues with this key room are the mix of aging systems and equipment with no clear departmental ownership and a limited in-depth knowledge of audio-visual equipment. This results in only minimal maintenance being possible. This is particularly difficult as the room is used for member meetings which have public attendance and failure of equipment is damaging to the council’s reputation and professional image due to the poor performance of the equipment.