REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Award a Contract to Integrated Communications Systems (ICS) in an Amount Not to Exceed $813,720 for the Purchase and Installation of City Hall Video Conferencing Equipment and Traffic Management Center System Upgrades (F27-047)
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
Approval is requested to award a contract to Integrated Communications Systems (ICS) of San Jose, California, in an amount not to exceed $813,720 for the configuration, purchase, and installation of audio-visual equipment in the City Council Chambers, Redwood Training Room, and Bay Dividable Conference Room, and for upgrades to the Traffic Management Center. The total contract amount consists of $353,270 for the City Hall conference-room improvements, $460,450 for the Traffic Management Center upgrades, and up to $35,000 for additional services/contingency.
EXISTING POLICY
Pursuant to Section 2.08.040 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code, Council approval is required for the procurement of goods and/or services greater than $250,000 in any one transaction.
Pursuant to Section 2.08.070(3) of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code, competitive bidding may be dispensed with when the solicitation of bids or proposals would, for any reason, be impractical, unavailing, or impossible.
The proposed improvements would support the City Council’s Responsive Governance Strategic Goal by increasing public access through improved livestreaming and broadcast capabilities, facilitating civic engagement through improved hybrid-meeting functionality, and improving the reliability of the City’s public-meeting and traffic-management operations.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15301 because it involves the repair, replacement, and minor alteration of equipment within existing public facilities and does not involve an expansion of the existing facility.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The City’s audio-visual infrastructure plays a critical role in supporting public meetings, City Council sessions, board and commission meetings, and community engagement activities. The Bay Dividable Conference Room and Redwood Training Room support City Council special meetings, study sessions, board and commission meetings, and a range of public forums.
The video conferencing room configuration system installed during the construction of the new City Hall was designed before the City’s current hybrid-meeting configurations and new state laws and was not intended to accommodate the combination of in-person and remote participation now required for public meetings. As hybrid meetings have become more prevalent, the existing video conferencing configuration has experienced persistent technical issues that can hinder the effectiveness and accessibility of public meetings, prompting the need for a comprehensive upgrade to maintain the City’s standards for public engagement and operational reliability.
The proposed video conferencing system improvements will replace or upgrade cameras, microphones, monitors, projection equipment, control systems, and related components in the City Council Chambers, Redwood Training Room, and Bay Dividable Conference Room.
The Traffic Management Center monitors traffic operations throughout the City and supports the management of the City’s signalized intersections. The City owns and operates approximately 140 signalized intersections equipped with traffic-signal controllers. Most of these intersections connect to the City’s network for continuous operational monitoring, and many include pan-tilt-zoom cameras that let staff observe intersection conditions in real time.
The existing Traffic Management Center system was originally installed in 2017 and relocated to the new City Hall in 2025. Components of the system are aging, beginning to degrade, and experiencing equipment failures. The proposed improvements will replace the existing video wall, video-wall processor, audio-processing equipment, control processor, equipment rack, operator monitors, and related equipment. The work will also provide keyboard, video, and mouse functionality for three operator workstations and an auxiliary display and control panel in the adjacent office.
Collectively, these improvements will address existing operational deficiencies and improve the reliability, accessibility, and functionality of public meetings and traffic-management operations.
Although ICS did not originally install the City Hall systems, the City later retained ICS to provide ongoing technical support for the installed video conferencing infrastructure. ICS investigated the existing installations, reverse-engineered the system configurations, and developed the verified as-built diagrams and other technical documentation used to operate, troubleshoot, and support current systems. ICS has also evaluated the existing Traffic Management Center equipment and developed an integrated replacement approach. As a result, ICS has acquired detailed knowledge of the installed equipment, programming, signal pathways, control-system logic, network interfaces, room configurations, and existing operational challenges.
Engaging another vendor would require the vendor to independently investigate and reconstruct the existing system designs before beginning the proposed work. This would duplicate work already completed by ICS, increase the risk of equipment incompatibility or programming conflicts, extend the implementation schedule, and create additional risk of interruption to public meetings, broadcasting services, and traffic-monitoring operations. Staff also obtained informal pricing from alternate vendors for the City Hall conference-room improvements, and that pricing was substantially higher than ICS pricing. Staff also obtained informal quotes from alternate vendors, which were much higher.
Because ICS maintains the verified configuration documentation, currently supports the affected systems, and offers competitive pricing, staff determined that a competitive solicitation would be impractical and unavailing for this project. Awarding the contract to ICS will preserve continuity of system responsibility, reduce integration and compatibility risks, avoid duplicative system-discovery costs, and allow the City to address current challenges in a timely manner. Staff therefore recommend awarding the contract to ICS as a single-source procurement pursuant to Sunnyvale Municipal Code Section 2.08.070(3).
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding for the purchase and installation of video conferencing equipment is available in Fund 7027 - Technology and Communication Services Fund under Project P21600 - Information Processing Hardware.
Funding for the purchase and installation of traffic management equipment is available in Fund 2501 - Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund under Project 820180 - Traffic Signal Controller Replacement.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council meeting agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board at City Hall, at the Sunnyvale Public Library and in the Department of Public Safety Lobby. In addition, the agenda and this report are available at the City Hall reception desk located on the first floor of City Hall at 456 W. Olive Avenue (during normal business hours), and on the City's website.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Take the following actions:
- Award a contract to Integrated Communications Systems in an amount not to exceed $813,720 for the configuration, purchase, and installation of audio-visual equipment in the City Council Chambers, Redwood Training Room, and Bay Dividable Conference Room and for upgrades to the Traffic Management Center;
- Authorize the City Manager to execute the contract when all necessary conditions have been met; and
- Authorize the City Manager to approve additional services up to $35,000, amend the agreement through June 30, 2027, and increase compensation subject to budget availability, demonstrated need, and negotiated pricing.
Levine Act
LEVINE ACT
The Levine Act (Gov. Code Section 84308) prohibits city officials from participating in certain decisions regarding licenses, permits, and other entitlements for use if the official has received a campaign contribution of more than $500 from a party, participant, or agent of a party or participant in the previous 12 months. The Levine Act is intended to prevent financial influence on decisions that affect specific, identifiable persons or participants. For more information see the Fair Political Practices Commission website: www.fppc.ca.gov/learn/pay-to-play-limits-and-prohibitions.html
An “X” in the checklist below indicates that the action being considered falls under a Levine Act category or exemption:
SUBJECT TO THE LEVINE ACT
___ Land development entitlements
___ Other permit, license, or entitlement for use
_X_ Contract or franchise
EXEMPT FROM THE LEVINE ACT
___ Competitively bid contract*
___ Labor or personal employment contract
___ Contract under $50,000 or non-fiscal
___ Contract between public agencies
___ General policy and legislative actions
* "Competitively bid" means a contract that must be awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder.
Staff
Prepared by: David Battaglia, Purchasing Officer
Reviewed by: Matthew Paulin, Director of Finance
Reviewed by: Kathleen Boutté Foster, Chief Information Officer
Reviewed by: Sarah Johnson-Rios, Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Tim Kirby, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Draft Services Agreement