NIGP 72553: Telephone Dialing and Answering Apparatus

NIGP 72553 Telephone Dialing And Answering Apparatus is an Item code that describes telephone answering and dispatch services for state and local government departments. The code was inactivated for new use effective March 1, 2007, with guidance to refer to NIGP 839-84; however, recent solicitations continue to issue under it for active answering-service procurements. State and local governments use this code to acquire 24-hour telephone reception, call handling, and dispatch coordination for high-volume public-facing departments such as utilities, public safety, and administrative offices. The work typically includes call answering and routing, message recording and retention, bilingual call support, real-time dispatch coordination, daily call reporting, and service-level guarantees on answer times and response windows. Issuing bodies span county procurement offices and municipal departments seeking contractor support for functions that demand continuous availability and the capacity to handle simultaneous call spikes.

The Collier County Board of County Commissioners Procurement Services Division issued ITB 26-8670 on August 13, 2026, seeking a contractor to provide 24-hour answering and dispatch services for its Public Utilities Department, with bids due the same day. The scope encompasses telephone answering for potable water, irrigation, wastewater, solid waste collection, utility billing, and capital improvement inquiries, with normal service hours 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. weekdays and 24 hours on weekends and County-observed holidays. The contractor must support up to 20 simultaneous calls during normal volumes and extraordinary volumes exceeding 100 calls per hour, provide 90-day call recording retention, deliver bilingual English and Spanish support, achieve four-ring answer-time performance, dispatch within ten minutes, and maintain a written emergency response plan. The contract term is three years with one optional two-year renewal, structured with a base monthly fee covering up to 5,000 monthly calls and overage charges beyond that threshold. Historical annual spending is approximately $60,000. A local-vendor preference applies to vendors maintaining a physical business address within Collier County with a current local Business Tax Receipt.