NIGP 91577: Telephone Services, Long Distance and Local (Including 800, Telex, Watts Services, and Offender Telephone Systems)

NIGP 91577 Telephone Services, Long Distance And Local (Including 800, Telex, WATTS Services, And Offender Telephone Systems), an Item code, encompasses inmate calling systems, cloud-based unified communications platforms, school district voice infrastructure, and state agency telecommunications services. State and local governments are procuring turnkey inmate telephone and communication systems with integrated tablet services, mail scanning, video visitation, and call monitoring; cloud-hosted unified communications as a service (UCaaS) platforms for school districts migrating from on-premises infrastructure; districtwide managed voice networks supporting life-safety operations; and statewide voice, wireless, and satellite services for multiple state agencies. The buying universe spans county detention centers, independent school districts, state departments of criminal justice and emergency services, state agencies managing network infrastructure, and state transportation and education administrations. Greenville County, South Carolina and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice appear as repeat active buyers in the recent opportunity stream.

Recent solicitations span multiple states and service categories. Greenville County, South Carolina issued RFP 27025 for inmate telephone and communication services due October 9, 2026, seeking a turnkey system serving 1,600 average daily population inmates with debit, collect, and free calling, call monitoring, tablet services, mail scanning, and video visitation at the Greenville County Detention Center, with FCC rate-cap compliance required and anticipated award October 23, 2026. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice posted RFO 696-IT-26-O003 for an inmate technology system encompassing telephone service, tablets, digital mail, and eMessaging for approximately 149,000 incarcerated individuals statewide, proposals due September 25, 2026, with a guaranteed base term through August 31, 2034. Fort Bend Independent School District solicited proposals for districtwide life-safety managed facilities voice network and managed communication services (RFP 27007RA) due October 21, 2026. Hillsborough County Public Schools requested proposals for telecommunications services—voice covering local, intrastate, interstate, and long-distance service across approximately 280 facilities and 225,000 students, with proposals due September 25, 2026 and a mandatory pre-proposal site visit August 28, 2026. Temple Independent School District issued RFI 003-27 for fully cloud-hosted UCaaS solutions serving approximately 1,000 voice endpoints across 18 facilities with a 1,500-person employee base, responses due September 8, 2026, targeting implementation by March 2028. The State of Texas (Department of Information Resources) issued RFO DIRCPOTXA610 for cellular, wireless, pager, and satellite voice and data services for the Texas Agency Network with responses due July 23, 2026 and a bidders conference June 25, 2026. Utah County issued RFP 2026-14 for inmate communications services at the Utah County Jail in Spanish Fork, proposals due August 19, 2026, with detailed scope and terms in the full RFP document. Activity concentrates in Texas, South Carolina, and Florida with scattered activity in California and other states where school districts and state agencies manage voice and communications infrastructure.