The City of Aurora seeks to modernize its display of public information at several key citizen-facing facilities. This includes agendas, directional instructions, relevant video, and, if necessary, emergency notifications. While the immediate need involves City Hall and other highly-visible, public-facing CoA facilities, stakeholders are interested in finding a partner to provide a broad suite of signage tools for the Aurora public safety departments. 

This is a joint initiative between the Mayor's Office of Community Affairs and the Information Technology Department. 

The current digital signage landscape in Aurora facilities consists of a sparse patchwork of unconnected systems. Several sites, including the Aurora Police Department Headquarters, have a single screen with a static display. These are infrequently updated. 

In Aurora City Hall, which hosts the greatest share of citizen business, visitors rely on a cork board in the lobby for news, procedures, and directions. Beyond providing a dated first impression to Aurora citizens, the information on the cork board can easily become obsolete without a digitized system with automatic updates. Along with the lack of interactivity, this can result in confusion and additional time needed to confer with staff.

Aurora project stakeholders seek a comprehensive digital signage solution that will streamline display and communications throughout City infrastructure. While the most acute need resides at City Hall, several other potential installations may be required from the recommended partner. The Aurora project team seeks a flexible, scalable solution that can grow its footprint across departments and buildings over time. At this point, project leaders are interested in solutions that provide both unified hardware & software solutions and those that provide stand-alone software. 

Whether bundled with partner-provided hardware or not, the team seeks a modern content management system that allows broad perspective and control over the digital signage ecosystem. Admin users should be able to update displays in real time and schedule content shifts.

Critically, the project team would like to tailor their displays at varying "levels" of specificity. For example, a city-wide event at RiverEdge Park would be highlighted on all displays, while tonight's City Council meeting time & location would only be displayed on City Hall screens. Project leaders are curious how administrative permissions interact with these tiers of notification specificity. 

Aurora Fire Department

AFD has utilized a homegrown display and notification system for roughly 5 years. To assist AFD firefighters in anticipating and responding to emergencies, these systems frequently display time, date, and real-time weather information. This system is not integrated with the fire station's emergency alerting system. 

As part of their evaluation of this technology for City operations, AFD stakeholders may also review the proposals to see what options exist for upgrading their digital station signage. 

Aurora Police Department

APD maintains one central interactive display in the lobby of their headquarters building. Beyond this, wired displays are positioned throughout the building that provide a simpler rotating display. Both independent systems are controlled by the Office of the Chief of Police. Replacing this system is not the primary focus of this project, but is a potential next installation.

Phillips Park Golf Course

Another potential expansion for this project involves an employee-facing display at the Golf Course. The primary purpose would be to relay updates and task assignments to staff in their break room. Since much of the golf course staff is seasonal without full City of Aurora IT credentials/emails, allowing system access without compromising security provides some complication to this otherwise straightforward installation.

• Capabilities
• Prior Experience
• Price & Model
• Approach & Implementation
• Value-Added Services

This request for information was released on Thursday, May 11, 2023.

The City may require additional meetings or demonstrations to clarify points of the proposal. 

We will be accepting responses through Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 5:00 pm.

The City of Aurora has partnered with Marketplace.city to support technology procurements. For selected topics areas, Marketplace.city provides The City of 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 need.

For this support and access to Marketplace.city, The City of Aurora has an MOU with Marketplace.city that they will include language in their contracts developed through the Marketplace.city process stating the vendor will pay Marketplace.city an administrative fee of 7% of the initial contract value, collected when vendor receives payments. The complete MOU can be found here.

Marketplace.city will confirm that agreement through a separate agreement with selected vendor(s).