City staff advertised a request for proposals for a vender to design, fabricate and install eight interpretive sites along the City's Cultural trail. The following five qualified bids were received on October 16, 2023:
- 106 Group
- Flutter and Wow
- Innovative Heritage
- Skydesign
- Urban Ecosystems
A group of stakeholders has been working on identifying the eight sites and gathering the information to be exhibited at each site. This stakeholder group consists of staff from the City, Beaumier Heritage Center, Marquette Regional History Center, Superior Watershed Partnership, Maritime Museum, Northern Michigan University, as well as a Northern Michigan University student, a Marquette Public Art Commission member, and a tribal representative. The group evaluated the proposals using the following scoring criteria:
- Quality of Past Work
- Appropriateness of Past work to Project
- Ability to meet the timeline
- References
- Location of the Company
Urban Ecosystems, LLC of Minnesota was the highest scoring proposal. Staff has worked with Urban Ecosystems and the City Attorney to draft the Professional Services Contract.
Urban Ecosystems fee is $100,000. $70,000 of this expense will be reimbursed by the City's Our Town Grant, and the other $30,000 will be utilize funds from the City's Native American Heritage Foundation grant.