1-Phone RFP Ellwood City SD .pdf
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- Solicitation number
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- Lawrence County, Pennsylvania
About this file
This is a Request for Proposal issued by the Ellwood School District in Pennsylvania for the provision of dial tone and trunking services to support inbound and outbound calling for faculty, staff, and administration. The District is soliciting proposals for either traditional PRI circuit services or SIP trunking/IP-based voice services to replace or renew existing telecommunications infrastructure. The current environment consists of one Primary Rate Interface (PRI) circuit, approximately thirty Direct Inward Dials (DIDs), and six analog fax lines requiring T.38 protocol compatibility. The RFP was issued on March 31, 2026, with a deadline for vendor questions on April 10, 2026, and proposals due by 2:00 PM on April 17, 2026. Vendor selection and award notification is scheduled for April 29, 2026. Submissions must be made electronically via PennBid.
Vendors may bid on Option A (Traditional PRI Circuit Services), Option B (SIP Trunking/IP-Based Voice Services), or both options. Pricing must be submitted for 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year contract terms and should include monthly recurring costs, non-recurring costs for setup and installation, DID porting fees, estimated taxes and surcharges, and hardware costs if applicable. The evaluation will prioritize cost effectiveness, technical compliance with fax and DID requirements, vendor experience with K-12 school districts, and the quality of the Service Level Agreement guaranteeing 99.9% or higher uptime. The District requires 24/7/365 US-based technical support with seamless DID porting and minimal downtime. No incumbent vendor is identified in the procurement materials, and no specific budget range or award value is disclosed.
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Request for Proposal (RFP) for Telecommunication/Phone Services Organization: Ellwood School District
RFP Issue Date: March 31, 2026
Proposal Due Date: April 17, 2026
Contact Person: Matthew Lentz
Contact Email: mlentz@ecasdk12.org
1. Introduction and Executive Summary The Ellwood School District (hereafter referred to as "the District") is seeking proposals from qualified telecommunications providers for the provision of dial tone and trunking services. The District is looking to evaluate cost-effective and reliable voice solutions to support inbound and outbound calling for our faculty, staff, and administration.
Important Notice to Vendors: The District owns, operates, and maintains its own Private Branch Exchange (PBX) and physical telephone endpoints. This RFP is strictly for circuit/trunking services. No physical IP phones, handsets, or Hosted PBX/UCaaS platforms are required. Proposals that quote physical phone hardware or full UCaaS platforms will not be considered.
Vendors are invited to submit proposals for either a traditional PRI replacement/renewal or a migration to Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking/IP-based services.
2. Current Environment To assist vendors in understanding our network footprint, our current infrastructure consists of:
● Circuit Type: One (1) Primary Rate Interface (PRI) circuit delivering dial tone to our on-premise PBX.
● Phone Numbers: Approximately thirty (30) Direct Inward Dials (DIDs).
● Fax Requirements: Six (6) analog fax lines.
● Protocol: Currently utilizing T.38 protocol compatibility to ensure reliable fax transmission over the network.
3. Scope of Work and Technical Requirements
The District is open to evaluating two primary network architectures. Vendors may bid on Option A, Option B, or both. The primary deciding factors will be overall cost, reliability, and the seamless integration of our required fax lines.
Option A: Traditional PRI Circuit Services
● Provide one (1) PRI circuit to deliver inbound and outbound voice traffic to the District's existing PBX.
● Maintain and port the existing ~30 DIDs.
● Must guarantee full T.38 compatibility to support the District’s 6 existing fax machines.
● Include any necessary demarc extensions or hardware required to hand off the circuit to the District's PBX.
Option B: SIP Trunking / IP-Based Voice Services
● Provide SIP Trunking services scaled to support the District's concurrent call path needs, handing off to the District's existing PBX.
● Maintain and port the existing ~30 DIDs.
● Crucial Fax Requirement: Provide a highly reliable trunking solution that supports the 6 existing physical fax machines. If native SIP T.38 is not recommended, vendors must include required hardware (e.g., Analog Telephone Adapters/ATAs configured for T.38) to bridge the physical fax machines to the SIP service.
● Detail any bandwidth requirements, Quality of Service (QoS) recommendations, or dedicated internet access required to support a reliable SIP handoff.
General Requirements (Applies to both options)
● Number Portability: Seamless porting of all existing DIDs with zero-to-minimal downtime.
● Reliability & SLA: Provide a Service Level Agreement (SLA) guaranteeing 99.9% or higher uptime.
● Support: 24/7/365 US-based technical support and clearly defined escalation procedures for circuit outages.
4. Proposal Submission Requirements Vendors must include the following in their proposal:
1. Company Overview: Brief history, size, and experience, particularly providing trunking services to K-12 educational institutions.
2. Proposed Solution: A detailed technical description of the proposed service (PRI or SIP), the specific handoff method to our PBX, and how it addresses the District's specific T.38 faxing needs.
3. Implementation Plan: A projected timeline for the transition, including DID porting and circuit testing.
4. Pricing Structure: * Monthly Recurring Costs (MRC) for the PRI or SIP trunks.
○ Non-Recurring Costs (NRC) or one-time setup/installation/porting fees.
○ Estimated taxes, surcharges, and compliance fees.
○ Hardware costs (e.g., ATAs for faxing or handoff gateways), if applicable.
○ Pricing should be provided for 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year contract terms.
5. Evaluation Criteria The District will evaluate proposals based on, but not limited to, the following criteria:
● Cost Effectiveness: Overall total cost of ownership (MRC, NRC, and fees) for the trunking services.
● Technical Compliance: Ability to reliably support the 6 fax lines, port the 30 DIDs, and hand off properly to our existing PBX.
● Vendor Experience: References and past performance with similar school districts.
● Service & Support: Quality of the SLA, implementation plan, and ongoing technical support for the circuits.
6. Timeline of Events
● RFP Release: March 31, 2026
● Deadline for Vendor Questions: April 10, 2026
● Proposals Due: April 17, 2026 2PM
● Vendor Selection/Award: April 29, 2026
Submission Instructions:
Please submit on PennBid by 2PM on April 17, 2026
| Request for Proposal (RFP) for Telecommunication/Phone Services |
| 1. Introduction and Executive Summary |
| 2. Current Environment |
| 3. Scope of Work and Technical Requirements |
| Option A: Traditional PRI Circuit Services |
| Option B: SIP Trunking / IP-Based Voice Services |
| General Requirements (Applies to both options) |
| 4. Proposal Submission Requirements |
| 5. Evaluation Criteria |
| 6. Timeline of Events |
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