Perot proposals to be presented Thursday
TEXARKANA, Texas — The three applicants seeking to manage the Perot Theatre for the city of Texarkana, Texas, will give in-person presentations Thursday to the citizens’ committee tasked with making a decisive recommendation.
The Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council, which currently manages the historic downtown theater, the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra and the Ames, Iowa-based VenuWorks will present their case Thursday afternoon with the committee asking follow-up questions after each presentation.
Robby Robertson, the director of the city’s parks and recreation department who’s overseeing the Perot request for proposal process, said the city, along with the citizens’ committee, will make a recommendation but the citizens’ committee decision will be the deciding factor in awarding the job.
Dean Barry, Debby Sutton, Gail Eichler, Derrick McGary and Fred Norton are the five committee members. The presentations will not be open to the public, Robertson said, because the advisory committee does not make city policy.
“We want to protect the integrity of the RFP (Request For Proposal) process, and this is going to be at specific times where these vendors can come in. We’ve given them time slots. The committee has already seen their proposals, the written proposals,” Robertson said.
Vendors can present as long as 30 minutes, if they wish, but the city recommends 15 to 20 minutes, Robertson said, with the remainder of each presenter’s hour giving the committee a chance to ask questions.
“This is just kind of the second round. The committee has looked over the proposals and then from those proposals and from the presentation, we’re confident that the committee is going to have specific questions for each vendor to ask,” Robertson said.
Evaluation criteria are shown as part of a bid tab document available at the city’s purchasing department webpage on the city website.
Evaluation criteria include: Experience & Qualification (30%); References (20%); Proposal (50%) with sub-categories of General Management Approach (10%), Vision for Programming & Growth (10%), Equipment Operation & Maintenance (5%), Marketing & Promotion (5%), Operations & Parking (5%), Financial Stability and Accounting Approach (5%), Staffing (5%) and Compliance with Instructions (5%).
The committee has the preliminary criteria score they can look at, based on the written proposal. Then they can adjust it once they see the presentation, too, Robertson said, and have specific questions answered.
“They’ll have a recommendation, we will have a recommendation,” Robertson said, noting if the city’s recommendation disagrees with the committee, the committee will have the final say.
“They’re the citizens that have different backgrounds and we respect how they feel about this,” Robertson said. “We’ve got a very diverse, very good committee that has really jumped in the middle of this and they’ve studied these proposals. I don’t think we could’ve came up with a better group.”
While there’s not a specific timeline set in stone, the city has a goal for making a decision.
“We would like to have it awarded or make the decision, make the selection, in the first couple weeks of April,” Robertson said.