Recording and Transcription Services

The Vendor is required to provide record and transcribe board meetings, provide mp3 audio files of the recordings, and prepare and provide verbatim transcripts of the meetings in Microsoft word format.
- Primary services
•    Regular board meetings are held every other Wednesday, typically starting on or around 10:00 a.m., and lasting no more than an hour on average based on recent trends.  
•    If meetings go longer, the contractor is required to stay and continue providing services for the complete duration of the meeting. 
•    On occasion, meetings are canceled and rescheduled. 
•    The date and starting time of each meeting are subject to change. 
•    There are approximately 23 regular meetings held per year.  
•    The contractor will be paid a set appearance fee for the duration of the meeting, as established in their financial proposal.
•    Personnel must arrive at least 45 minutes before the meeting start time. 
•    All necessary equipment must be ready before the start of the meeting. 
•    A table and two chairs are available for use during the meetings. 
•    Personnel are not allowed to interrupt the meeting for any reason and must conduct all required work duties without disruption to the meeting.
•    Board meetings will typically generate approximately 1,000 pages of original transcript each year. 
•    The board does not warrant or guarantee any business volume.
•    Provide verbatim transcripts pursuant to this contract for other board-related meetings and hearings (average twice a year).
•    The board reserves the right to reproduce and publish all transcripts.
- Duties of contractor
•    On-site recording is performed via a laptop in the meeting room, and off-site recording through the live stream app. 
•    The audio recording must be provided in mp3 format. 
•    Due to the length of some board meetings, and the need to keep mp3 audio files within a manageable file size so that they may be emailed and easily transferred, it is preferred that mp3 files be recorded at lower bit and sampling rates (ex. 32kbps; 22.05khz sampling for mp3, or a similar industry standard for speech recordings), as long as the speakers can be heard clearly in the recordings. 
•    Recordings of longer meetings (i.e., several hours) may be divided into multiple recordings. 
•    A central audio plug-in is made available at the board meetings.
•    Most board meetings are held in a hybrid format: in-person, with an online streaming component as well.  
•    For these hybrid format meetings, the contractor must provide two individuals from the contractor: one in-person at the meeting, and one virtual and online.  
•    If the board meetings are conducted completely online and virtual (ex. due to inclement weather), the contractor must provide only one individual attending virtually and online.  
•    The board reserves the right to request an additional in-person transcriber for larger or longer meetings that may take place, with the board providing at least three business days’ notice in advance of the meeting to the contractor.  
•    The contractor shall ensure the speakers’ names and titles are correctly recorded, assisting with technical malfunctions during meetings, and linking discussions with corresponding agenda items. 
•    All contractor personnel shall conduct themselves in a professional manner and shall be appropriately dressed in business attire. 
•    Transcribe verbatim all spoken testimony, argument, comments, instructions, objections, and other verbal statements.
•    Prepare transcripts of board meetings in the following manner:
o    Each transcript page must be 8½” x 11” in size, with at least 22 lines per page. 
o    Margins on each transcript page may not exceed one inch on the right side of the page, one inch on the left side, and one inch on the top and bottom.  
o    A transcript “volume” for the purposes of this contract is a bound file containing a title page or pages showing the meeting date, time and place; the members of the board in attendance; the presiding officer; the name of each party appearing before the board and the organization represented; and the names of the reporters responsible for the transcript.