2-BPM004328 Sol-Att -11 - Method of Approach_IPS.docx

Method of Approach

Solicitation No. BPM004328

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS): New Equipment, Service, Maintenance and Support Arizona Department of Administration State Procurement Office 100 N 15th Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85007

The Offeror shall provide a narrative response to each question that demonstrates their understanding of the Scope of Work requirements and describes your company’s overall method of approach for providing the service stated in this solicitation. If there is a question that is not applicable to the services required by the Scope of Work, you may mark it N/A.

Question 1: Executive Summary.

In the Executive Summary, the Offeror must condense and highlight the contents of their proposal in such a way as to provide the State with a broad understanding of the proposal in no more than five (5) pages. Offerors must provide a concise summary of the proposed products to be utilized in the performance of the project and any proposed services, and how these proposed products and services address the requirements presented in the RFP.

Offerors must present a summary of their planned approach, their past successful public sector assignments that mirror the Scope of Work and highlight the relevant public sector experience and previous projects worked jointly by all proposed key personnel included in the proposal.

Offeror Response:

Insight’s response includes UPS equipment and services from the following manufacturers:

· APC

· CyberPower

· Eaton / Tripplite

· Vertiv Insight and the Arizona Department of Administration, State Procurement Office (the State): A Growing IT Partnership Insight’s core values of hunger, heart, and harmony emphasize a deep commitment to service across all aspects of our business. In addition, our desire to create a positive impact in the lives of our clients, partners and teammates positions Insight as a world-class partner aligned with the Arizona Department of Administration, State Procurement Office’s (the State’s) strategic vision.

The greatest value that Insight can provide to the State is that we leverage our extensive capabilities and resources to properly evaluate your requirements. Our creative thinking and optimized pricing methodologies ensure the solutions we suggest drive significant business value to your organization.

Insight appreciates the opportunity to continue to build a successful partnership with the State and looks forward to next steps following the RFP process. In the meantime, please contact us regarding any further questions or requests for additional information.

Solution Summary In addition to Insight’s ability to meet the State’s requirements as outlined in the RFP, our proposed solution will exceed these requirements through continued use of the Arizona Department of Administration-dedicated Program Management Office (PMO) and its seamless integration across all of Insight’s activities.

Ordering of Devices and Bringing into Service Insight’s fulfillment methodologies meet and exceed the requirements of the RFP, providing a single point of contact for all support for both legacy and new hardware across the State. Insight is able to tightly integrate with the State’s fulfillment process and we can enhance end-user satisfaction by providing optional services.

User Friendly Ordering Options Insight will support both centralized and decentralized ordering for the State. Orders can be accepted a custom B2B integration, Insight’s user-friendly e-procurement solution at www.Insight.com, and other methods including email and phone. Prior to processing through the Insight Order Management System, Insight will validate each order for accuracy and completeness. Finally, each order and schedule will be sent though our supply chain, triggering the appropriate delivery of each product or shipment, and/or dispatch of services.

Advanced Supplier Quality Management System (QMS) Insight’s supplier quality management system (QMS) outlines all policies and procedures necessary to manage Insight’s robust supply chain on an ongoing basis. The QMS is also compliant with ISO 9001. Through regular quality audits, the Insight/State PMO will continually evaluate our ability to meet the requirements of the program, evaluating the supply chain process against our rigorous internal standards. The quality audits will focus on all aspects of the supply chain along with components including the following: shipping, receiving, material and equipment control, data systems and out-of-box audits.

Past Experience Insight has been a contract holder with the State of Arizona for over 10 years, and we have relationships with agencies throughout the state. Additionally, our headquarter office in Chandler, Arizona allows us to easily connect with our Arizona clients.

Insight has proposed multiple UPS manufacturers (APC/Schneider Electric, CyberPower, Eaton/TrippLite and Vertiv) within our response. For questions 2 through 5, Insight has provided individual responses specific to each manufacturer we have proposed.

Question 2: UPS Reliability.

APC / Schneider Electric - Offeror Response:

A. Rarely, lower single digit %.

B. Although Schneider Electric cannot comment on past, present, or anticipated litigation or claims, the number of claims and amounts paid for connected equipment losses are minimal compared to units sold.

C. There is a Surge guarantee with each piece of surge protected equipment.

D. Very high percentage, APC has been around since the early 1980’s and they have 100,000’s of customers and repeat.

CyberPower - Offeror Response:

A. Rarely. CyberPower’s factory defect rate is below .05.

B. The number of claims and amounts paid for connected equipment losses are minimal compared to units sold.

C. There is a three-year warranty on all Surge equipment D. CyberPower has been around for over 25 years, and they have 1,000’s of repeat customers.

Eaton / TrippLite - Offeror Response:

A. Rarely B. N/A C. Only if sized and spec’d properly with the help of power certified engineers (have in house at both Tripp Lite and Eaton) and never a guarantee (a lightning strike for instance can still cause issues) D. A lot of repeat business – lifecycle of a UPS is typically every 3 years or so and clients often refresh around that 3-5 year timeframe.

Vertiv - Offeror Response:

A. Confusion between the expectations of what Vertiv products can do and the reality of what Vertiv products can do can be resolved by a discussion with Vertiv engineers about questions an end user may have about Vertiv UPS systems.

B. Vertiv has not had to pay the connected equipment guarantee due to product failure in the past three years. There has been one claim against the connected equipment guarantee in the last three years, but root cause found that it was not related to the UPS.

C. Vertiv’s single-phase UPS’ do have surge suppression and brownout protection. The end user must follow best practices and instructions in manuals for these features to be effective.

D. Vertiv has a lot of large customers that buy year in and year out who have long term contracts in place for Vertiv solutions. Many customers refresh on a 5-10 year cycle and so they may not buy a Vertiv product for several years and appear as new customers. There are many customers that have been purchasing Vertiv or Liebert equipment for the past 20 plus years.

Question 3: Customer Support A. How would you describe the availability of your customer support as well as its response time in case of an urgent need?

B. Do you send people to a client’s premises or assist remotely?

C. What level of customer support is included in the original purchase price?

D. What are the differences between your paying customer support plans?

E. How do you investigate the potential failure of a UPS system to determine guarantees and reparation payments?

F. How do you handle and prioritize customer support requests during times of high volume?

APC / Schneider Electric - Offeror Response:

A. Immediate. APC has a 24/7 number to call for all instances.

B. It depends on the client’s level of service, but APC offers both solutions.

C. 24/7 call support D. Too many to list, and very product-specific. Could be onsite response, could be a body on site as a badged employee, could be MSP 24/7 monitoring and dispatch, etc. All specifics can be found on the APC website.

E. Vigorous testing of equipment before unit deployment, in both USA and abroad. Reparation payments are listed for each component on the APC website, along with product certifications.

F. 24/7 factory warranty calls are first come first served. Additional service plans are given dedicated lines for faster service.

CyberPower - Offeror Response:

A. Immediate. CyberPower has a 24/7 number to call for all instances that is based here in the US. Hold time is less than 15 seconds.

B. CyberPower assists remotely.

C. 24/7 tech support D. There is no difference in support level(s) for any customer. However, CyberPower does create separate phone and email contacts for their larger partners to ensure they are directly addressed as a priority.

E. CyberPower has vigorous testing of equipment before any unit is shipped from factories overseas. They also have product certifications listed on their website for each product.

F. See above. There is no difference in support level(s) for any customer. However, CyberPower does create separate phone and email contacts for their larger partners to ensure they are directly addressed as a priority. CyberPower also provides live chat.

Eaton / TrippLite - Offeror Response:

A. Fantastic. Dedicated post-sales support lines for customers located here in the US that usually connect directly to someone after a few seconds B. Both. Typically, Eaton/TrippLite can troubleshoot remotely.

C. Customer support varies depending on the type of product purchased.

D. Various warranty/customer support options. Eaton/TrippLite suggests that the customer look at various options online to determine what is needed (24x7, 8x5, etc.)

E. Investigations are done on an individual basis depending on the issue.

F. As the request comes in.

Vertiv - Offeror Response:

A. The Vertiv customer support team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Response time in case of an urgent case follows a first in, first served system.

B. Vertiv first tries to diagnosis on a remote basis. Remote monitoring allows Vertiv to fix quick issues. When a service technician does need to be deployed, the remote diagnosis allows the technician to make sure they have all the right materials to fix the issue the first time they are out there. If the customer is not wanting remote monitoring, Vertiv is able to send out a service technician.

C. The customer support included in the original purchase price is the standard warranty.

D. The difference between Vertiv paying customer support plans is that Vertiv has both a Monday through Friday 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. service window or they have a 7 day a week 24 hours a day support plan.

E. Investigations into each potential failure of a UPS are unique, and there is no one prescriptive way in which Vertiv determines guarantees and reparations. Each case is investigated on its individual merits.

F. During a high volume of support requests, Vertiv utilizes a first in, first served system. This system allows Vertiv to maintain their support offerings to all customers.

Question 4: Additional Features A. What features, aside from power regulation, do you offer for other comparable UPS systems (similar load support and power intensity)?

B. Are any of the additional features the main feature of another related piece of equipment?

C. Does it cost less to buy a better UPS than a lower-quality one with additional equipment?

D. How many of your clients opt for feature-rich equipment?

APC / Schneider Electric - Offeror Response:

A. There are an array of topology options to meet customer needs (step approximated, line interactive, double online). The Smart connect feature gives customers access to UPS status via the cloud for free. Unity power options are available, as well as extended run time.

B. No.

C. APC solution suggestions are a case by case, customer by customer recommendation. There are too many customer-specific environments and budget conditions to answer this.

D. A majority of clients see what APC best in class offers and tend to leverage. APC does, however, have offers that provide less features for more constrained budgets.

CyberPower - Offeror Response:

A. Topology options to meet customer needs, step approximated, line interactive, double conversion, to name a few. Remote Management feature gives customer access to UPS status via the cloud for free. Also, extended run time.

B. No.

C. That would be a case-by-case basis.

D. A majority of CyberPower clients are looking for feature-rich products to add to their existing equipment. CyberPower does also offer less features for those on a budget.

Eaton / TrippLite - Offeror Response:

A. It depends on the model. Various options offer increasingly complex attributes.

B. No.

C. Eaton/TrippLite recommends customer consults with an engineer to determine best fit for the environment.

D. There are many, especially for mission critical equipment, but again, it depends on need and solution.

Vertiv - Offeror Response:

A. The standard features that Vertiv offers in their UPS systems are standby, line interactive, and online double conversion.

B. None of the additional features are the main feature of another related piece of equipment.

C. It does not cost less to buy a better UPS than a lower quality one with additional equipment.

D. Vertiv UPS’ are already feature rich. Not every customer uses every feature on every product, but Vertiv serves a wide range of customer needs and applications, so they build a broad array of features that their customer base needs into every model.

Question 5: Maintenance A. Can our own workers perform routine maintenance? What does it entail?

B. Is long-term maintenance a necessity for the continued functionality of a UPS system?

C. Do UPS systems become significantly more unreliable over time (excluding the batteries)?

D. Are you the only provider of batteries compatible with this UPS system?

E. Do I need to disconnect equipment from the UPS to perform maintenance or swap batteries?

APC / Schneider Electric - Offeror Response:

A. Customers can self-preform maintenance on most if not all single-phase equipment. There is a list of things that can be done but 99% include battery replacement, network card replacement, resetting the UPS, and install/uninstalling. 3phase equipment MUST be handled by APC service professionals.

B. Single phase equipment, every 3-5 years. 3phase equipment should have a health check every year. Non-UPS equipment (for example PDUs or surge protectors) do not need service.

C. Theoretically, yes. There are internal components like busway that over the course of 10+ years would become more susceptible to failure.

D. There are 3rd party, not approved providers. Please use UPS manufacturer direct for all battery replacements to ensure compatibility and avoid warranty voiding.

E. Do not need to disconnect to do battery swap. If there is something internally wrong with the UPS, then you would need to disconnect. UPS systems are simple, only a few errors can occur. Typically, a battery replacement, or if there is anything wrong internally, it will need to be replaced.

CyberPower - Offeror Response:

A. Customers can self-preform maintenance on all single-phase equipment. 3phase equipment must be handled by a service professional.

B. Single phase equipment, every 3-5 years. 3phase equipment should have a health check every year. Non-UPS equipment (for example PDUs or surge protectors) do not need service.

C. Yes.

D. No. There are 3rd party battery manufacturers that sell batteries for most UPS products. However, CyberPower highly recommends replacing with a Cyberpower product to ensure proper operation.

E. No, you don’t need to disconnect to do battery swap. If there is something internally wrong with the UPS, then you would need to disconnect.

Eaton / TrippLite - Offeror Response:

A. It depends on the unit. Post-sales support is available to troubleshoot as well.

B. As long as it’s not in a harsh environment, maintenance is minimal.

C. No.

D. No.

E. It depends on the unit.

Vertiv - Offeror Response:

A. Yes, your own workers are able to perform routine maintenance on UPS systems. Detailed maintenance instructions are included in every unit’s user manual.

B. Yes, long term maintenance is necessary for the continued functionality of a UPS system. Detailed maintenance instructions are included in every unit’s user manual.

C. No, the UPS system does not become more unreliable within the warranty period.

D. Vertiv has many routes to procure battery racks and UPS systems, but Vertiv UPS’ are to have Vertiv user replaceable battery packs. Using a non-Vertiv battery on a Vertiv UPS will void any warranty.

E. Vertiv battery user replaceable battery packs are hot swappable. If there is an optional maintenance bypass, there is no need to disconnect the equipment.

Question 6: Related Goods A. What products are generally bought with this UPS? What benefits do they offer?

B. What are the advantages of buying a related good from you as opposed to another supplier with more attractive prices?

C. Are most of the products you offer compatible with one another?

D. Do you offer discounts when bundling related products?

Insight - Offeror Response:

A. A few examples of additional items purchased with a UPS include (but are not limited to): Additional battery packs to increase runtime, network management cards, DCIM software to monitor and manage your assets, PDUs to increase plug type and quantities, and additional service contracts to extend coverage or include additional support.

B. Insight is a $9.4 billion organization, and one of the largest hardware, software and related services resellers in the country. These factors permit us to remain flexible and dynamic in servicing our clients. Insight minimizes operating costs allowing us to move high volumes of equipment at low prices. In addition, costs are tightly controlled to ensure we meet our goal of being the price/performance leader in the industry. In addition, Insight works as both a service provider & an advisor to ensure a project is successfully delivered from ideation to execution. We can also extend beyond implementation to ongoing support, management and optimization. We are equipped to deliver meaningful change and a greater ROI at a global scale.

C. Yes, individual OEM products are compatible with each other.

D. Yes.

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