Board of County Commissioners Allegany County, Maryland Request for Proposals: Allegany County Voice Over IP Phone System February 15, 2016 Introduction Thank you for participating in Allegany County Government s Request for Proposals process. It is critical for Allegany County Government to maintain an integrated communications platform to continue its successful growth strategy and provide the high levels of service our constituents expect. We have developed this Request for Proposals to outline the minimum system specifications and provide an opportunity for you to highlight your solutions advantages and benefits. This is not for the acquisition of local, toll or data services. However, your ability to integrate those services will be critical to the success of this project. Should you have any questions about the format of this Request for Proposals or the specifics of the equipment or features we are seeking, please feel free to use the email contact point identified in this document. We will be holding an informal vendor meeting, on Thursday, February 25, 2016 at 2PM at the Allegany County Office Complex - 701 Kelly Road Cumberland, Maryland. Again, thank you for your time and efforts in helping us better serve our community. Beth Thomas, ITIL CIT Allegany County Government 701 Kelly Road Cumberland, Maryland 21502 Office: 301.777.2438 Mobile: 240-580-6178 1. Current Standard and Environment Allegany County Government (owner) is soliciting bids from qualified Firms to enter into a Design-Build Agreement with the County to provide services for the design and installation of a Voice over IP (VoIP) Phone System at the Allegany County Office Complex. This VoIP Phone System shall include, but will not be limited to: Redundant Call Controllers, Find Me/Follow Me capability, Long Distance Call Accounting, Voicemail System, and Web-Based System Administration for adding, moving, and changing phones. Allegany County Government is
seeking only Firms that have VoIP and Converged IP Communications experience and the capability to be a single point of accountability to provide the necessary services for the design and installation of the VoIP Phone System. These services shall include: Project Management, Solution Preparation, Solution Design and Development, Solution Deployment, and the Education and Knowledge Transfer for System Administrators and End Users. Only Firms meeting this requirement will be considered for this project. This project will replace a 3COM NBX supporting (1) PRI, 120 DIDs, 12 Analog lines, 5 Polycom Conference Sets, 209 telephone sets, 7 Department specific Auto Attendant Greetings, 6 Page Zones and 18 Hunt Groups. The cable plant for the facility is Cat5 and approximately 15 years old. At a minimum, the system must support 150 telephone extensions, two (2) T-1 s and 10 Central office lines. The system shall be of current standard production of the manufacturer at the time of installation and modular in design. The software supplied will be of the latest version at time of installation. The following tables are provided to document the basic configuration for each of the telephone sets in operation. It is not a final count, but will be used to compare features and expandability across multiple vendors. The final configuration will be based on a site visit with the awarded vendor and Allegany County Government. The column definitions shall be as follows: Equipped: Quantities of stations and trunks installed and operational at cutover. Expansion Capability: System contains capability to expand from equipped to expansion quantities of stations and trunks without server or processor upgrade. The only expense to achieve full expansion capability would be additional telephone sets and licenses. The following telephone set definitions are a minimum configuration: Staff Set: IP telnet, Digital Display (alphanumeric), full duplex speakerphone, auto line selection, selectable ring identification, minimum of two distinct DID extensions and/or lines. Integrated headset jack that does not require a handset to be lifted to activate Call Coverage Set: IP telnet, Digital Display (alphanumeric), DSS / BLF for a minimum coverage of eight executive and staff extensions, full duplex speakerphone. Minimum of two distinct personal DID extensions and/or lines. Conference Rooms: Shall include an IP telnet or conference station with an integrated full duplex speakerphone and integrated mute key with visual identification. Courtesy Set: Simple, intuitive, single line set for lobby courtesy phones, break rooms, copy rooms, or secondary office sets.
Console Position: PC or other terminal, which allows automatic lookup and transfer of calls to extensions based on number or name. Calls shall queue with a delay notification and secondary announcement if delay exceeds the Allegany County Government s set criteria. Console operators must be able to transfer directly into voicemail boxes as well as extensions. Visual notification of busy, do not disturb, recalled and parked calls is required. MIN. REQUIRED Operations Center EQUIP. Expansion Capability Console Position 1 3 Staff Sets 120 150 Call Coverage Sets 6 10 Courtesy Sets 1 4 Small Conference Room Full Duplex Conference Sets Large Conference Room Full Duplex Conference Sets Analog Ports (modems, fax, FXO or other analog loop start devices) 3 2 12 2. Acquisition Milestones Activity Date RFP Issued Monday, February 15, 2016 Bidder Conference Thursday, February 25, 2016 Last date for email questions Thursday, March 17, 2016 Vendor Responses Due System Installation Complete Tuesday, March 22, 2016 on or before 2 p.m. EST 30 days post award
3. REQUIREMENTS: 3.1 Mandatory Vendor Requirements: 3.1.1 Provide a local presence within 20 miles of the Cumberland, MD area with the necessary training, expertise and access to spare parts to support and troubleshoot any issues with the IP phone system. 3.1.2 Currently maintain a support infrastructure capable of providing both onsite and remote telephone support 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Provide a maximum four-hour response for on-site support of any critical issues with the system reported if asked for. 3.1.3 Have a proven history of successful on-time and on-budget implementations of the proposed solution with the functionality required by the County. And provide 3 similar sized system references. 3.1.4 Provide a Project Manager, technical and functional staff with 3 to 5 years of experience performing similar work. The Project Manager will coordinate with County and other service providers (including Verizon and Lumos) to arrange movement, installation or removal of lines/equipment as necessary and minimize service interruptions and outages. 3.15 The bidder must install the product and NOT use a business partners. 3.16 The Bidder must use same manufacturer for their corporate VOIP system. 3.17 The bidder must provide 1 year onsite warranty on the original installation. 3.18 Manufacturer support must allow end user to call in for support 24x7x365 3.19 Support after year one must have option of excluding phones. 3.19b The bidder must submit a system that has N+1 built into the systems architecture and configure N+1 for voice communications. Excluding the PRI interface Bidder must provide a manually redundant PRI in the event the primary port fails. 3.19c The bidder must submit a system able to encrypt LAN/WAN traffic via the SRTP protocol. 3.2 Mandatory Solution Requirements: The proposed solution provided by the Vendor must meet these requirements: 3.2.1 Phones must have capability to pass-through network connection to computer. 3.2.2 Support 3 or 4-digit extension dialing to every facility and desk.
3.2.3 Maintain current extension numbering plan. Implement DID for all extensions as stations are upgraded to new phone system where applicable. Implement Hunt Group, Pick up and Paging Groups. 3.2.4 Customizable outgoing caller-id. 3.2.5 Full access to all voicemail functions at every business handset as well as off-site retrieval. 3.2.6 Voicemail system includes integration with Microsoft Outlook and/or Google Mail. 3.2.7 Desktop call-manager client that runs on Microsoft Windows 7/8 and Windows 10. 3.2.8 Ability to use existing wireless and fiber WAN links for voice traffic between facilities. 3.2.9 Use of Quality of Service to prioritize voice traffic if/where needed. 3.2.10 Ports available for analog POTS devices. 3.2.11 Ability to integrate with building PA systems (where applicable) or utilize paging through the phone handsets. 3.2.12 Handsets can accommodate wired and/or wireless headsets without extra amplification equipment. 3.2.13 Handsets designed appropriately for any public phone locations. 3.2.14 Wireless handsets available for short-range and Wi-Fi connectivity. 3.2.15 Wi-Fi wireless handsets, when logged in, will maintain the user s DID and caller-id information. 3.2.16 Multiple greeting tables available for all facility/departmental auto attendants. 3.2.17 All phone system administrative functions can be accessed through a web-based administration portal. 3.2.18 Support/maintenance agreement costs cover handset replacement but not mandatory. 3.2.19 Training will be provided for all employees. 3.2.20 Include on-site personal training for all I.T. Department Staff who will be configuring, managing, maintaining and troubleshooting the entire system.
3.3 Desired Solution Features: The proposed solution provided by the Vendor would ideally have these features: 3.3.1 Adhere to the County standards for hardware, software and networking equipment manufacturers as specified in Current Standards and Environment. 3.3.1.2 Any significant substitutions may adversely affect the score of the proposal during evaluation by the County. 3.3.2 Allow the new IP phone system to interact with other currently installed system located within the system with respect to three or four-digit extension dialing between facilities. 3.3.3 Record phone conversations into voicemail or some other centralized storage location, and allow administrators to retrieve them. The audio files must be in a standard format such as MP3, WAV, etc. 3.3.4 Handsets that include a pass-through gigabit Ethernet speed capability. This can be listed as an add-alternate in the system pricing. 3.3.5 Six-way conference calling. 3.3.6 Ability to receive faxes on all DID lines and route those faxes to the appropriate email address. 3.3.7 Ability to send faxes directly from the desktop workstations through the phone system. 3.3.8 Option to pair Bluetooth-compatible headsets directly with the handsets and use them as a wireless headset. 3.4 Additional Solution Features: 3.4.1 The proposed solution by the vendor can also have additional features and capabilities not mentioned above. The Vendor may include a list of any such additional features and capabilities they feel are important to the evaluation process. The Vendor-provided list should contain descriptions of the functions and benefits of those features and capabilities. 4. PROJECT DELIVERABLES: 4.1 An integrated, multi-site capable IP phone system with voicemail completely implemented, configured and tested to the satisfaction of Allegany County. 4.1.1 This includes all hardware, software and licensing necessary for the system to function according to the specifications contained in this RFP. Training for I.T Department Staff who will be configuring, managing, maintaining and troubleshooting the entire system.
4.3 End-user training for Allegany County employees, including both electronic and on-site personal training. 4.4 Detailed documentation and other software, in electronic format on physical media (CD, DVD, or equivalent storage), to include: 4.4.1 As-built drawings. 4.4.2 Vendor-provided configuration sheets, detailing how the entire system (hardware, software, network and security configuration, including any passwords) is configured at the close of the project. 4.4.2.1 This includes a master dial-plan, preferably in Microsoft Excel format, showing all relevant information about PRI lines, POTS lines, rollovers, hunt groups, all IDs and all extensions programmed into each system at each facility. This document must give a clear indication of the current physical location of each phone extension (office number or reasonable location description), and which extensions/dids are available for future use. 4.4.3 Backup copies of all programming code and/or configuration files necessary for the full recovery of the system. 4.4.4 All relevant manufacturer documentation for the system and all its components. 4.4.5 End-user and administrator training documents and presentation materials. 4.4.6 All configuration, client and administrator software necessary for operation and disaster recovery of the system. 5. Evaluation and Selection Criteria Proposals will be reviewed and rated by a County selection team, each member of the team will do an independent evaluation, and then the team will discuss their selection (s) as a group. Each of the items listed in the Submission Requirements will be rated. The selection will be based on qualifications, experience, understanding of the project and ability to design, deploy, and maintain a Voice Over IP Phone System. Vendor selection will not be based solely on low bid the County reserves the right to select a submission which is in the best interest of the County.
6. Submission Requirements: The following information must be included in your submission. Vendors who fail to furnish this information will be disqualified. The information submitted will be reviewed by the County to determine if the vendor is qualified to do the work. Only submissions from vendors deemed qualified on the basis of this information will be considered. A Project Worksheet is included to assist in completion. 1. Letter of Introduction Include a recent Financial Statement and Proof of Insurance 2. Company Background a. How long has your company been in the telecommunications/wireless business? Provide a brief description of your company. b. How long has your company been a vendor? List level of certifications. c. What are the brand names/manufactures that your company represents? d. How are your technicians/installers trained or certified? e. List the people that will be involved with the project. List their qualifications / certifications. f. Do you have a technical support center that can do remote maintenance? What hours are they available? g. Where are the service personnel based? h. Where are repair parts inventoried for service to the new system? i. What is the service response time for major outages, minor repairs, and remote access? j. Name and contact information of person(s) who may be contacted for any clarifications that might be required. 3. Previous Project Experience: a. Include 3 examples of VoIP projects of similar scope, using the proposed equipment and software, completed within the last (2) years. b. Include customer name, contact name, and contact telephone number. c. Local government institutions (including schools) are of particular interest. 4. Describe the System: a. Enumerate the mandatory and requested features supported by proposed system. b. Provide detailed equipment list with costs assuming no changes will be needed at the cable plant level. Equipment and price lists will be used to determine a vendor understanding of the project. Vendors will be selected based on qualifications, experience, understanding of the project and the ability to design, deploy and maintain a Voice over IP Phone System. c. Provide a list of equipment (and prices) for future expansion of the VoIP Phone System by the County to remote locations. 5. Describe the project management, installation and deployment process. 6. Indicate the installation timeframe 7. Describe any financing options that you could provide for the County, including:
a. Outright Purchase b. Lease Purchase c. Other Financing Plans 8. Describe Training Provided 9. Describe the Maintenance and Warranty information. Please include vendor information if any portion will be subcontracted. This includes all installed equipment. a. Maintenance A complete maintenance and warranty contract must be included as part of this proposal, including all options available for extended coverage, service contracts and full pricing details for each level of coverage for 60 months. This should include pro-active upgrades and repairs. Service will be included in bid to provide 4 hour response on voice and network outages. b. Warranty The system and all associated equipment in the proposal must be warranted by the vendor and by the manufacturer to be free of defects in equipment, software and workmanship for a period of at least one year from system cutover. c. Extended Warranty Vendor must provide a schedule of any future labor cost increases for engineering, programming, service and maintenance of the proposed system. Costs to Allegany County Government Bidder must propose all costs to be incurred by Allegany County Government. Permits and Fees The bidder must include the cost of any permits or fees in this bid, where law requires such permits and fees. Freight Charges All charges are F.O.B. job site. Contract The proposer shall submit a sample contract and state the ability of the proposer to modify the submitted contract to meet the concerns of Allegany County Government. Your responses to this RFP must be a major part of the purchase agreement, without exception. Acceptance Allegany County Government will have final approval and acceptance authority. Allegany County Government will pay twenty percent (20%) of the purchase price upon written acceptance; sixty percent (60%) will be paid upon final installation, cutover and training. The remaining twenty percent (20%) will be paid upon final inspection and acceptance.
Bidder Liabilities The successful vendor must assume all risk of loss or damage to equipment or work performed and all liability for death, personal injury, or property damage as a result of the work being performed under this contract. As Built Drawings The successful vendor shall relinquish a complete copy of as-built drawings to Allegany County Government's assigned personnel. This information shall include, but not be limited to, the following: VISIO drawings of network topology, IP assignments or equivalent that Allegany County can update and modify as necessary Equipment dimensions and rack space requirements Floor Loading as applicable Electrical (number/type/location of outlets, voltage, amperage and consumption of kilowatts) Air conditioning, humidity and heat outlets Illustrate placement of cabinet(s), battery back-up, power supplies, punch down terminations and modems (if applicable) System Design The successful vendor shall individually interview all designated personnel and determine the ideal utilization of the telephone switch s capabilities and implement the same. Comfort Letter Please provide written documentation from the manufacturer (and proposer if different) that the proposed system, as installed, will be fully supported, including telnet availability, software, programming, engineering and support for a minimum of 5 years. No Changes in Electronic Documentation The responder shall not change or reword any question in this document or the final RFP. Any modifications discovered at any time, even after award, shall nullify any contract and allow Allegany County Government to recover damages. Explanation of Exceptions and Differentiation Please detail your exceptions to specifications explicitly outlined in this RFP. Begin each exception with the section number to which the exception applies. Please detail the major features, advantages and benefits of your proposed system. White papers, critics, comparative analysis and market share information or any other information you would like us to have available in the evaluation of your proposal.
Project Worksheet Vendor Information (Please fill-in the blanks below for your organization) Company Name Street Address City State Zip Account Executive Telephone Number Fax Number Email address Terms and Conditions Please check one of the following statements: We accept and agree to all the following terms and conditions We do not accept the following terms and conditions; we have included our exceptions.
Requested or Mandatory System Features The following features are identified as mandatory or requested. We would like to know if the features are available, not available or optional at additional cost. Please provide the appropriate responses in the columns provided. Feature Description Included, Optional Not Available Price N+1 Architecture (Mandatory) Direct-Inward Dialing (Mandatory) The system shall support DID services provisioned through analog DID trunk cards, D4 framed T1 s or PRI circuits. The system shall include all software and hardware. Dialed Number Identification Service (Mandatory) The system shall support DNIS service provisioned through D4 T1 s or PRI circuits. The system shall include all software and hardware. System must support a full 10 digit DNIS or any subset. Caller Identification (Mandatory) The system shall provide full caller ID in the alphanumeric display of telsets and on the call control block in soft phones both upon ringing and after call pickup Caller Name Display (Requested) The system shall present the caller name on the alphanumeric displays where such information is available from the network provider. 4-Digit Dialing (Mandatory)
Station Classes (Mandatory) Ability to have different COR, COS based on extension, login; number received (ANI) or dialed DTMF Transparency (Mandatory) The ability to pulse out DTMF from the keypad after call setup. This is necessary to operate voicemail systems, auto attendants, and other tone driven devices Dial Call Pick-Up (Mandatory) This feature allows a user who is programmed into a call pick-up group to retrieve a call directed to another station in the same call pick-up group. Distinctive Ringing (Mandatory) With this feature the switch creates different types of call ringing patterns, to help the user distinguish different types of calls, i.e. outside incoming calls from internal intercom calls. AKA: Discriminating ringing, Distinctive alert Line Preference (Mandatory) This feature allows the user, upon going "off-hook", to select, automatically, the type of line preference programmed for that instrument without depressing a CO line key. There are many types of line preferences such as idle (not in use), ringing (line ringing at station) and prime (line pre-assigned to station) line preferences. Call Forwarding External (Requested) When activated, this feature allows a station user to have all incoming calls routed to an alternate external number even if the number is in a different location. In some systems, this feature re-routes calls when the intended station is busy or does not answer. Strictly limited by password or classof-service.
Max Parties in a Conference Call (Requested) Please identify the maximum number of concurrent internal and external lines that are supported by the conference call feature. Internal: Six External: Six Total at one time: Six Conference Bridge (Requested) The completed system must include a managed conference bridge for a minimum of 20 people in up to three groups. The system shall be full duplex, with automatic level compensation, meet-me-conference capability and web based management control. Speed Dial to Branches (Mandatory) Vectoring (Requested) The ability to develop an individual path through the switch based on a dialed number (DNIS, DID or ANI). Remote System Administration (Mandatory) System administration shall be performed with personal computer, modem and through the Internet. Toll Fraud, Teleabuse, International and 911 Access (Mandatory) The successful vendor must assure that all access to 900, 976, and other unauthorized toll access is restricted via class-of-service. International calling can be blocked by class-of-service at both stations and trunks. When any agent or telnet position dials 911 or 9911, the call shall be routed to an outside line and emergency response. The successful vendor shall verify ALLEGANY COUNTY GOVERNMENT's 911 and 9911 routing on all paths and all locations. Provision for 911/E911 Service (Mandatory) The system must successfully and accurately pass extension number and location details. Describe the solution currently offered.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance (Mandatory) Provide a list of disability compliance guidelines that your solution(s) meet. System Wide Coverage (Requested) Can the system simultaneously ring at call coverage points in multiple locations? Night Mode (Requested) This feature allows all telsets to ring at all locations simultaneously in night mode. Shall be selectable by system or department. Voicemail System (Mandatory) Please provide the price for a complete integrated voicemail system. Include all associated switch hardware and software. Please provide an answer to the following capabilities. The finalists will need to provide additional information on their proposed voicemail systems. The system shall allow a single mailbox for multiple extensions. (Requested) The system shall light message-waiting notifications on multiple telephone sets across multiple locations. (Requested) The system shall be able to record-on-demand (Requested) Unified Messaging (Mandatory) The system shall be able to notify mobile phones. (Mandatory) Directory lookup (Mandatory) Auto attendant (Mandatory) Announce Only Information Boxes (Mandatory)
Selectable Dial 0 by telephone position and/or department (Mandatory) Separate greetings for internal and external originated calls (detectable even after a transfer). (Requested) Calls can be forwarded directly to voicemail without having to transfer through the associated extension (bypass) (Requested) Single button voicemail retrieval (Requested) Interview Box or Forms capability using query / response capability (Requested) Purchase Price Pricing Please provide the base system pricing as proposed. As part of the evaluation methodology, we will add the selected available and optional feature pricing to this base price. Basic purchase price (Complete, including installation, warranty, voicemail, transparency over IP networks, training, Call Accounting) County Office Complex (incl. Voicemail) $ Three Year Cost of Ownership (Base System) In order to compare the true cost of ownership, please provide pricing for the following expansion scenarios. Note: The following table will be considered the primary cost comparison tool between systems. The final three-year cost of ownership should include all costs including license fees (recurring and non-recurring) Non-recurring charges Base Price County Office Complex $ $ Year One 48 hours of MAC + maintenance contract $ $ Year Two 48 hours of MAC + maintenance contract $ $ Year Three 48 hours of MAC + maintenance contract $ $ Three year cost of ownership $ $ Maint.
Guaranteed Component Pricing Allegany County Government may experience growth in the next year. Also, the configuration may change prior to installation. The following pricing guideline will be used to add and delete positions as necessary. Please provide your guaranteed price for the following individual items: ITEM Operator Console Call coverage telsets Staff telnet Courtesy telnet Licenses (describe as appropriate) telsets staff Administrators Ports Guaranteed Installation PRE-CUT POST-CUT (YR. 1) Please state the number of days from project award until you would be able to guarantee complete installation (cutover): working days Maintenance & Warranty (Mandatory) Support Please provide your standard maintenance agreement. Include first year maintenance in the price of the system and provide guaranteed maintenance costs for years 2 and 3. Include a copy of your maintenance contract. Identify manufacturer maintenance costs and VAR costs separately as necessary. YEAR ANNUAL COST 2nd Year Maintenance (and how it was calculated) 3rd Year Maintenance (and how it was calculated)
Annual Licenses Provide all annual or recurring license expenses and a description of how the costs were calculated. Support Any configuration changes, programming changes, MAC's and questions regarding the switch, will be performed/answered within a reasonable time frame as dictated by the assigned representative(s) of Allegany County Government, and at no extra charge for the first 90 days after final acceptance of the new switch. Additionally, the successful vendor will provide Allegany County Government an escalation list, which will include the service request point of contact name(s) and telephone number(s), including an emergency point of contact and telephone number. Also the vendor will meet the service response time as outlined by Allegany County Government. Labor Costs Please identify the labor costs for technical labor including moves, adds and changes, new line installations, etc. (Please fill in the following table) Business Hours Outside Business Hours Hourly Labor Rate Trip Charge (if separate)
Guaranteed Response Times (Please fill in the following table) Guaranteed Response Times In Hours Weekday (8am to 6pm) Non weekday, weekends, holidays Major Outage Minor Outage Definition of Major Outage Please provide your definition of major and minor maintenance triggers: