Title: Managed Tower Services

Background: Aurora, Illinois Technology Procurement

The City of Aurora is a city of 200,000 located in the Fox Valley in northwest, Illinois. Aurora is known as the City of Lights because in the 1800s the leaders of our city were implementing the latest technology when they decided to use electric streetlights throughout town – making Aurora one of the first cities in the nation to do so.

Part of the current strategic plan to continue Aurora’s growth is to be a leader in technology and innovation, embracing new ideas and initiatives to change. Mayor Richard Irvin’s goal is to make Aurora the technology leader of the Fox Valley region and the State of Illinois.

As part of that plan, Aurora has a Technology Strategic Plan to guide us through those initiatives and programs. Our guiding principles for the technology strategic plan are straightforward and align with the vision for our city – 1) to create and embody One IT, through shared products, processes, people, and partners; 2) Customer Experience, through providing quality solutions and services that ensure customer confidence and satisfaction; and 3) Agility & Smart Sourcing, by using the most efficient and effective blend of resources to meet our city’s ever changing business demands. Our mission is to deliver innovation, smart solutions, services and provide first class customer service.

In supporting those plans, Aurora has partnered with Marketplace.city to support technology procurements. For technology topics areas, Marketplace.city manages the process to provide Aurora with the market landscape of companies and solutions, comparable implementations, contracts and pricing options, and various procurement options. The City of Aurora then picks the solution, vendor and procurement vehicle that best fits their needs.

This process helps us achieve our goals to use technology to best serve our citizens while providing use with speed, efficiency, and transparency throughout the process. Through it we seek to shorten timelines, lower the resources used by both The City and the vendor community and achieve fair partnerships. Intergovernmental (piggybacking) language is included as part of our standard contract, to increase scalability for the market via Marketplace.city, and avoid other governments having to perform the same due diligence. Aurora seeks to use piggyback contracts and buy directly wherever possible.

The following is an opportunity overview and associated vendor response form for interested vendors to read and complete to be included in the reporting and selection process. Thank you in advance for your participation in the process.

Aurora requires all awarded vendors to be registered with the city and additional information may be requested at the time of the award. An overview of the process and information can be found here.

Please see here for complete bidding information for the City of Aurora.

An example of a standard City of Aurora contract can be found here.

The City of Aurora may cancel any or all parts of this bid and reserves the right not to proceed with a contract. The City has the right to terminate any agreement with the vendor, in whole or in part, for any reason or if sufficient funds have not been appropriated to cover the estimated requirement of the Services not yet performed, by providing vendors with thirty (30) days’ notice specifying the termination date.

Any information shared with The City of Aurora through this process is subject to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

For any questions about the content or the process, please email hello@marketplace.city.

Procurement Portal

Managed Tower Services