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5/6/2003 o All Signs America in Tustin, CA (two years). All Signs America has provided bronze plaques; water jet cut, router cut and cast metal letters to many of its customers. We have worked with York, Matthews, Meie&hen- Wengler, Gemini and several other major foundries. We have found the quality of Matthews and Gemini to be consistently very good. However, being such large companies, they dictate with lead-times and delivery schedules which can vary from order to order by a few days to several weeks, depending on their backlog at the time the order is placed. Also, these companies have a standard letter allowance depending on the area of the plaque and charge for each letter over that allowance. Recognizing that the plaques to be ordered in this procurement have varying amounts of text and, in all cases, exceed the standard allowance, we retained Mr. Don Johnson, a retired, senior marketing and sales manager whose career was in the bronze plaque industry. With Mr. Johnson's assistance, we have selected a foundry that has the latest technology processes for creating the molds, thus being able to cast the finest detail. As a foundry, BPL Bronze International is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. They have a recommend letter allowance like the other companies, but unlike their competitor, they do not charge extra for additional characters. As previously stated, we select subcontractors with proven capability and quality. Because BPL was a new company to us, we used the RFP Exhibit art work as a basis for generating the artwork for the small bronze plaque. BPL has produced a sample of this plaque to demonstrate the quality of their work. BPL produces a wide variety of bronze and aluminum plaques. A BPL brochure is attached (Exhibit 1), showing photographs of the variety of plaques they have manufactured. Like their competitors, they have a recommended letter allowance. However, unlike their competitors, they do not charge for additional characters and have a maximum lead-time of four weeks from proof approval to shipment. As previously stated, we select subcontractors with proven capability and quality. Because BPL was a new company to us, we used the RFP Exhibit art work as a basis for generating the artwork for the small bronze plaques. The artwork we provided is in Exhibit 2. After examining the artwork, they determined that it is impossible to cast the text in the logo. They agreed to produce the casting in one week, but we had to eliminate a review of the final artwork prior to casting. Consequently, there is a mistake on the proof. The justification of "SMITH HOUSE" is not centered, as it should be. All Signs America is pleased to provide a sample, as Exhibit 3 (contained in a separate binder), to show the quality of the product we will provide. Recently, BPL has produced plaques for the City of Hermosa Beach, CA. These plaques, recognizing the City's famous surfers, are embedded in the City's pier and have held up very well under constant foot traffic. 4. Relevant Experience As a firm, All Signs America has had similar contracts in which the project components were procured from a subcontractor and we provided the management and installation of the final product. The information in this proposal is proprietary to All Signs America and is for the use of the City of Santa Ana for the evaluation of this procurement 4