Title: Digital Signage Solutions

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 [email protected].

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).