Eugene Weekly : News : 05.11.06

And the Winner Is…

City selects Boston consultants for arts and culture plan.

BY MELISSA BEARNS

The votes are in, the scores are tallied, the winner is clear and now we're waiting. Second-place Bozeman, Mont.-based ArtsMarket Inc. has until Friday to protest the process used to select the consultant firm that will oversee the Cultural Policy Review (CPR) — a process funded by the city in which the consultants will come up with a comprehensive plan for developing arts and culture in Eugene over the next 10 to 20 years. Boston-based Wolf, Keens and Co. (WKC) scored higher than ArtsMarket in the final round and is now in line to receive the contract for what could become one of the most hotly debated and avidly discussed projects in the city since the Hult Center.

When the request for proposal (RFP) for the Cultural Policy Review first went out, the city came under fire from community members and people involved in the arts community who objected to the city outsourcing a project with such a local focus.

Despite the controversy and debate, the city proceeded with the process and on May 3 the two finalists met with the city's seven-person evaluation panel and presented their plans for how to best conduct the CPR. Unlike most hiring decisions, which are completely closed and confidential, Jeff Perry, the city's purchasing manager, allowed the members of the Mayor's Committee to sit in on the process. The Mayor's Committee is a group of 23 people made up of the Cultural Services Advisory Committee members and people appointed by Mayor Piercy. They will be working closely with the consultant in an advisory capacity.

After the first round of scoring in which their written proposals were evaluated, the two companies, ArtsMarket and WKC were almost tied with 619 and 647 points respectively. Kirk Boyd, artistic director of Willamette Repertory Theatre and a member of the seven-person review panel, was one of the people who scored WKC's written proposal significantly higher. "Their strength is in their experience," he said.

One major thing ArtsMarket, Inc. had going for it was price. Their projected budget was more than $40,000 lower than the budget in the WKC proposal. But on more than half the tally sheets turned in by the seven-person panel members, the scoring doesn't reflect that. For example, Karm Hagedorn, event manager for the city, gave both companies eight points for price. Three panel members only gave ArtsMarket one more point than WKC in the price category. And the final three members all gave ArtsMarket the full 10 of 10 points while awarding five, six and seven points to WKC.

The two companies were then invited by the city to come to Eugene and make the May 3 presentations. The scoring criteria for the presentations included 20 points for content and relevance; 20 points for how well the companies addressed the requirements outlined in the original request for proposal including intent, goals and objectives; and 20 points for "relevance of response to Eugene challenges and attributes."

When the scores were tallied, WKC emerged as the clear winner with 322 points compared with a score of 269 for ArtsMarket, Inc.

Because the protest period has not yet ended, all parties remain tightlipped. Marc Goldring, the lead on this project for WKC, declined to comment except to say that his company is very excited and that he will not talk to the media until he gets the go-ahead from his client, the city.

"It's very premature to be talking about this," said Cultural Services Division Director of Operations Mark Loigman. He said that if ArtsMarket, Inc. does not protest by Friday, the city will officially award the contract and begin contract negotiations with WKC. ArtsMarket, Inc. President Louise Stevens has told Eugene Weekly that her company will not protest the decision.

After Friday, more information will be available about what happened during those presentations and why the panel chose WKC.