OCEAN CITY — The underperforming audio system at the Performing Arts Center will soon get a major upgrade after resort officials this week approved $245,000-plus sole-source contract for a new state-of-the-art system.
During its design and construction phase, the audio system at the Performing Arts Center, located at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center, was specified as a basic lecture and voice quality sound system. However, after a year of performances, it was decided the initial sound system at the PAC was insufficient to meet the needs of current acts and performances and could curtail booking higher profile acts in the future.
To that end, the Mayor and Council in May agreed to allow staff to negotiate with Design Integration to come back in and design and implement a new state-of-the-art sound system for the facility. On Monday, City Engineer Terry McGean came before the Mayor and Council seeking approval of the negotiated $245,858 contract with Design Integration to upgrade the PAC’s sound system. The council approved the contract request unanimously. The $245,000-plus contract will be paid for with a portion of the $400,000 remaining in the PAC’s construction bond proceeds.
During the PAC’s construction, the Maryland Stadium Authority, which partners with the resort in the operation of the facility, and Whiting Turner, the main contractor for the project, dumped the original low-bid contractor hired to install the basic sound system and the appropriate rigging to support it for performance and work quality reasons and a different company, Design Integration, was brought in to complete the task.
The initial basic sound system is in need of a significant upgrade. Because Design Integration came in and mopped up after the initial low-bid sub-contractor for the audio system was sacked, McGean told the Mayor and Council he and his staff along with Convention Center Director Larry Noccolino had been working with the company to design a custom system that will meet the needs of the center for the foreseeable future.
Councilman Matt James said he had received a question from a private citizen about why the PAC sound system upgrade was not put out to competitive bidding and why Design Integration was chosen as the sole-source contractor. As he did when the concept was first pitched in May, McGean explained Design Integration came in and repaired the damage after the original subcontractor underperformed and the city had a great working relationship with the company.
“The original subcontractor did not perform and was removed,” he said. “Design Integration finished installing the sound system and we were very impressed with their work.”
McGean further explained the sound system upgrades would be paid for out of the balance of the PAC’s original construction bond and no new money was required. He also explained Design Integration was going to install a Meyer Audio System, which is considered to be the state-of-the-art in the industry.
“We left funds available to augment the sound system,” he said. “We reached out to Design Integration and talked about two systems. The Meyer system is the top-end system. Top acts are used to it and it’s what they expect.”
McGean said the existing sound system at the PAC was insufficient to meet the needs of acts currently booked for the facility and could curtail booking higher-profile acts in the future.
“We can’t have growing pains in the Performing Arts Center,” he said. “We can’t have sound glitching in and out. If there is a problem in here with the sound during your meetings, we can fix that, but we can’t fix sound problems at a live performance at the Performing Arts Center.”
McGean said because Design Integration came in and repaired the damage after the original contractor failed to live up to expectations, and because Design Integration came in with an affordable state-of-the-art upgrade plan, the decision not to go back out to competitive bidding was an easy one.
“I don’t bring sole-source contracts often and I’m not a big fan either, but in this case, this is in the best interest of the town,” he said.
When the concept of upgrading the PAC’s sound system was first broached in May, Councilmember Mary Knight related a story overheard during last year’s Maryland Municipal League (MML) convention at the Performing Arts Center and the public perception the town and the MSA went cheap on the sound system. Knight reiterated that story on Monday.
“Last year at the MML opening speech, the sound kept going in and out,” she said. “We’re sitting in this beautiful facility and I’m hearing people say ‘did they low ball the sound system?’ That’s how people think and you only get one shot at it.”
