S PRINGFIELD UTILITY BOARD Electric Service Center Request for Proposal Posted: March 4, 2015 After Hours Answering Service RFP No. 06.15 Proposals Due: March 12, 2015 @ 2:00 pm Technical Questions RFP Questions Russ Walters, Line Superintendent Sandi Weston, Buyer 541-744-3705, Office 541-744-3706, Office 541-501-7133, Cell electicbids@subutil.com russw@subutil.com RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 1
Table of Contents 1. INVITATION TO PROPOSE... 3 2. PREPARATION AND SUBMISSIONS OF PROPOSALS... 3 3. CLARIFICATION OR PROTESTS OF SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS... 4 4. OPENING OF PROPOSALS... 5 5. PROPOSAL EVALUATION AND AWARD... 5 6. NOTICE OF AWARD... 6 7. TERMS AND CONDITIONS... 6 8. CONTRACT PERIOD... 6 9. SCOPE OF WORK... 6 10. DEFINITIONS...7 11. SUB HOLIDAYS...7 12. REQUIREMENTS... 8 13. QUESTIONNAIRE... 9 14. REFERENCES... 11 15. EVALUATION MATRIX... 12 16. PRICE PROPOSAL... 13 RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 2
1. INVITATION TO PROPOSE Springfield Utility Board (SUB) is requesting proposals for an After Hours Answering Service. Proposals may be submitted by mail, in person, or emailed in PDF format to: Sandi Weston, Buyer RFP 06.15 Springfield Utility Board 1001 Main Street Springfield, OR 97477 541-744-3706 electricbids@subutil.com Proposals are due no later than 2:00 pm on March 12, 2015. Confirmation of delivery is the responsibility of the Proposer. Proposals shall be good for 90 days after receipt of proposal. SUB may reject any Proposal not in compliance with all prescribed Request for Proposal procedures and requirements, and may reject for good cause any or all Proposals upon a finding of SUB that it is in the public s best interest to do so. 2. PREPARATION AND SUBMISSIONS OF PROPOSALS A. Proposal Preparation Proposers are responsible for reading and understanding all portions of the solicitation documents, including attachments and addenda, if any, and to include all requirements in the proposal. To be responsible, Proposals must be submitted in the required form and contain all required documents and responses, be signed by the proposer or its authorized representative, and submitted in the manner described in the Proposal Submission. B. Correction, Withdrawal and Late Submissions A proposer may withdraw its proposal at any time prior to the deadline set forth in the proposal, and may submit a new, sealed proposal in a manner stated in the Invitation to Propose. SUB will not consider proposals received after the time and date indicated for receipt of proposals. RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 3
3. CLARIFICATION OR PROTESTS OF SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS A. Clarifications If a proposer finds discrepancies or omissions in the solicitation document, or is in doubt as to their meaning, the proposer must immediately notify the public officer designated for receipt of proposals or other person identified for submission of questions. If the public officer believes a clarification is necessary, an addendum will be issued in writing not less than seventy-two (72) hours prior to the deadline for receipt of proposals. B. Protest of Solicitation Documents Proposer protesting this procurement shall follow the procedures described herein. Protests that do not follow these procedures shall not be considered. This protest procedure constitutes the sole administrative remedy available to Proposer under this procurement. All protests must be in writing and signed by the party or an authorized agent of the Proposer. The protest must state all facts and arguments on which the protesting party is relying. All protests shall be addressed to the Springfield Utility Board, Buyer, 1001 Main Street, Springfield, Oregon 97477. Only protests stipulating an issue of fact concerning a matter of bias, discrimination or conflict of interest, or non-compliance with procedures described in the procurement document or SUB policy shall be considered. Protests not based on procedural matters will not be considered. In the event a protest may affect the interest of any Proposer, such Proposer will be given an opportunity to submit its views and any relevant information on the protest to the Buyer. Upon receipt of a protest, a protest review will be held by SUB to review the procurement process utilized. This is not a review of proposals submitted or the evaluation scores received. The review is to ensure agency policy and procedures were followed, all requirements were met and all Proposers were treated equally and fairly. RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 4
Protests shall not be accepted by SUB prior to Notice of Intent to Award. The protest must be received by SUB within three (3) business days from the date of the posting of Notice of Intent to Award. All protests not resolved by the buyer will be scheduled for hearing by SUB's Board of Directors, designated as its contract review board. Decisions of the SUB will be final. 4. OPENING OF PROPOSALS Proposals will not be opened publically. The proposals submitted will be open to public inspection after the issuance of Notice of Intent to Award, with the exception of certain information covered by public records exemption. 5. PROPOSAL EVALUATION AND AWARD A. Compliance with Laws and Minimum Requirements Evaluation of proposals will be conducted by the After Hours Answering Service Committee based on the minimum requirements established by the RFP, compliance with proposal procedures, public contracting laws, and the requirements of SUB. Each proposal will be evaluated by the Committee on the basis of how it corresponds to the factors, information, and requirements included in the RFP, and scored according to the criteria included in the Evaluation Matrix. B. In evaluating the proposals, SUB reserves the rights to: (1) Reject any and all proposals; (2) Issue subsequent Requests for Proposals for the same or similar goods and services; (3) Cancel a solicitation; (4) Waive any irregularities or informalities; (5) Accept the proposal which SUB deems to be the most beneficial to the public and SUB; (6) Negotiate with any proposer to further amend, modify, redefine or delineate its proposal; (7) Negotiate and accept, without re-advertising, the proposal of the nexthighest scored proposer, in the event that a contract cannot be successfully negotiated with the selected proposer, which may occur prior to the time a final recommendation for award is made for approval; and (8) Further question any proposer to substantiate claims of experience, background knowledge and ability RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 5
6. NOTICE OF AWARD SUB will provide written Notice of Intent to Award to proposer three (3) days before the award as well as post on SUB s website. 7. TERMS AND CONDITIONS SUB s Terms and Conditions apply. Available at www.subutil.com under Bids and Proposals section. 8. CONTRACT PERIOD SUB expects the contract period to begin early 2015. 9. SCOPE OF WORK Springfield Utility Board (SUB) seeks Request for Proposal (RFP) from Contractor to answer customer calls during SUB s non-business hours and designated hours with a live person. However, there may be rare occasions when SUB requires the ability to forward calls to Contractor during SUB work hours. Contractor shall promptly, accurately and efficiently answer customer calls. Due to emergency nature of some of SUB s services, timely emergency call-out is vital to public health and water quality. Contractor shall use a SUB-supplied call sheet to determine how to handle phone calls. Contractor must take clear and concise information from all callers. Contractor shall answer all calls using SUB s full name (Springfield Utility Board s Answering Service, how may I help you?). SUB shall provide Contractor with instructions and procedures on handling various types of calls. Contractor shall provide long term message archival and retrieval services for SUB. Contractor shall file and maintain all calls for a period of one year (1 year). At SUB s request, Contractor shall promptly provide SUB with a copy of any message taken by Contractor during the archive period. Contractor must be able to search by caller s name, address, phone number and by keywords. Contractor shall invoice SUB monthly. Contractor s invoices shall contain a description of the tasks performed during the billing period, monthly amount and itemized description of the answered calls during the incurred billing period. SUB shall have thirty (30) days after receipt of Contractor s invoice which to make payment. RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 6
10. DEFINITIONS SUB Springfield Utility Board Contractor The Contractor, business or company which is awarded the contract Weekends Saturday and Sunday Work Hours Monday-Friday, 8:30 am 5:00 pm POC SUB s Designated Point of Contact ESC SOC Electric Service Center Supervisor on Call WSC SOC Water Service Center Supervisor on Call Call Slips Documented information received from callers Media Any business, organization or individual that receives information from other sources and provides that information to others or outside sources Security Contractor SUB s Security Contractor 11. SUB HOLIDAYS New Year s Day Martin Luther King, Jr., Day Presidents Day Memorial Day Independence Day Observed Labor Day Veterans Day Thanksgiving Day Friday after Thanksgiving Christmas Eve Christmas Day RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 7
12. REQUIREMENTS Indicate Yes or No if in Compliance with Requirements Return this page with Proposal Price Sheet Item Description Yes No 1 Contractor shall answer all SUB calls with a live person on weekdays 5:00 pm to 8:30 am, weekends, holidays and designated emergency situations. 2 Contractor to contact designated SUB POC (typically ESC SOC or WSC SOC) within 10 minutes of receiving calls from customer, media, or SUB s Security Contractor. Contractor to follow SUB s Call Out Sheet. 3 Contractor shall answer calls within three (3) rings or less. 4 Contractor shall answer calls with SUB s full name (Springfield Utility Board s Answering Service, how may I help you?) 5 Once calls are answered, Contractor shall not put customer on hold for more than 15 seconds 6 Contractor shall advise affected customers of outage status. Outage information will be provided by SUB in a timely manner. 7 No later than 10 am the next business day, Contractor shall provide Calls Slips with the following information on each call. Information to be provided: Date and time of call Caller s full name, address and phone number Reason for call Name of SUB s POC and time contacted Action taken by contractor Contractor s employee handling the call Call Slips shall be emailed to: russw@subutil.com, and jeanm@subutil.com. RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 8
Indicate Yes or No if in Compliance with Requirements Return this page with Proposal Price Sheet Item Description Yes No 8 On a monthly basis, Contractor shall provide a recap of all calls, such as total calls for each Department (Water, Electric, Public Information and Customer Service) 9 Contractor shall provide training to Contractor s staff on SUB s answering protocol. 10 Contractor shall not allow SUB calls to be handled by outside source without written consent of SUB. 11 Contractor must honor Customer / Utility confidential information at all times. 13. QUESTIONNAIRE Please provide answers to these questions. Please use a separate sheet. A. Describe how your company will enhance SUB customer s call experience? B. What can your company provide that SUB is not listing above? (i.e., text messages) C. Do you offer bilingual services? D. Do you offer on-hold messages? (i.e., SUB is experiencing an outage at this time ) E. What are your staffing levels after hours, weekends and SUB s designated holidays and possible emergency situations? F. Describe your training for new employees. G. Describe how you would update your staff on changes to SUB s protocol. H. Describe what phone system you use and extra capabilities and/or features that may be of interest to SUB to provide better customer service. I. How many incoming lines is your phone system capable of handling? J. How many employees and/or lines will be assigned to SUB s calls? RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 9
K. Should your phone lines receive more incoming calls than your current staffing levels permit, how would you handle the unanswered calls? L. Describe your phone system s ability to transfer SUB calls to an outside line. M. What is the maximum number of calls per minute your phone system can handle? N. Describe how you will handle extreme emergency calls (approximately 300-400 calls per hour) during extreme electrical or water outages. O. Describe how you would handle an internal system failure to equipment designated to SUB calls. P. Describe backup procedures for handling SUB calls during a power outage at your location. RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 10
14. REFERENCES Please provide references for three (3) customers of similar nature to the work proposed during the last 12 months. Company: Services Performed: Contact Name: Contact Phone Number: Company: Services Performed: Contact Name: Contact Phone Number: Company: Services Performed: Contact Name: Contact Phone Number: RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 11
15. EVALUATION MATRIX Vendor : The decision of which Contractor to approve is under the sole discretion of the After Hours Answering Service Committee. The committee is made up of employees from many departments of SUB that have a vested interest in the system. The decision of which system to use will not be based on price alone. Items listed below will be considered in the decision. Tabletop demonstrations are/or visiting an existing installation may be required before awarded. Strength of Company Includes the financial stability of the company and the effectiveness and efficiency of customer service. Experience and Personalized Live Service This comes from the experience of answering calls similar in nature, as well as emergency situations. Compliance with Scope A complete, well organized proposal that addresses SUB s concerns and meets the specified requirements. Flexibility This includes the flexibility for emergency situations that arise for anticipated large call volume while staffing adequate employees to facilitate calls. SUB Communication This includes communication between Contractor and SUB by providing accurate and timely communication. Costs This includes the monthly cost. Possible Total 10 10 20 15 20 25 Score Total possible points: 100 RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 12
16. PRICE PROPOSAL Price Proposal 1 Price Proposal shall include: Requirements Questionnaire References Price Proposal Sample of communication that would be emailed to SUB Sample of monthly recap of calls Monthly Charge $ Proposals that do not include the above items may be declined by the After Hours Answering Service Committee. Attach documentation with an index, articulating your proposal and questionnaire. Response shall be made on the enclosed forms. Failure to do so may result in disqualification. SUB assumes no liability for availability or serviceability of facsimile machine(s). Responsibility for confirmation of delivery is solely the respondents. I attest that my company is a resident of the State of ORS 279.029. as defined in Company Name E-Mail address Phone Number Cellular Number Tax ID# Remit Address City, State, Zip Authorized Signature RFP 06.15 After Hours Answering Service Page 13