7-Attachment 9 - BPM003793 Offeror Questionnaire - Amendment 2.docx

Request for Proposal Solicitation No. BPM003444 NG911ESInet/NGCS and Call-Handling Equipment (CHE) Arizona Department of Administration State Procurement Office 100 N 15th Ave., Suite 402 Phoenix, AZ 85007

Offeror Questionnaire

Attachment 9 – Offeror Questionnaire Solicitation No. BPM003793 Network and Telephony Equipment and Services Arizona Department of Administration State Procurement Office

Request for Proposal Solicitation No. BPM002617 NG911ESInet/NGCS and Call Handling Equipment (CHE) Arizona Department of Administration State Procurement Office

Table of Contents

Available online at: APP.AZ.gov

PART 3 of the Solicitation Documents

Table of Contents

Available online at: APP.AZ.gov table of Contents

Attachment 9 – Offeror Questionnaire Solicitation No. BPM003793 Network and Telephony Equipment and Services Arizona Department of Administration State Procurement Office

Experience and Capacity Questionnaire

The Offeror shall provide a narrative response to each question, using attachments as necessary, 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. The narrative shall include a response to all elements stated or referred to in each item. If there is a question that is not applicable to the services required by the Scope of Work, you may mark it N/A.

EXPERIENCE and Capacity Questions:

Question 1: Company Profile The Offeror must include a narrative description of its organization. The narrative must include the following:

Offeror Response:

Sentinel’s response: Since 1982, Sentinel Technologies has been recognized as a premier business technology services provider dedicated to delivering the highest quality customer service and support. Sentinel has chosen to align with industry leaders: Cisco, Microsoft, VMWare, Dell/EMC, HPE, Citrix, APC and others to develop integrated technology solutions that solve business challenges for customers. Sentinel places a heavy emphasis on pre-sales discovery to gather relevant information required to develop solutions that will provide the highest value. Sentinel provides: Discovery, Design, Deployment, Support and Managed Services that allow our customers to enjoy the benefits of Enterprise solutions without the requirement of developing specialized skills across a wide range of technologies. Sentinel support and maintenance programs provide customers with flexible options that are customizable to the level of assistance they require.

Procurement of solutions from our represented manufacturers is only done through authorized distribution channels.

Professional services for customers using this contract are provided primarily by our full time Sentinel employees (70+) located in our Tempe office which has served the Arizona market since 1992. These local professionals are also supported by an overlay of 400+ engineers nationwide that can be engaged to provide further expertise and support.

System Monitoring, Hosted and Managed services are provided through our Network Operations Center (NOC). Our 24 x 7 x 365 NOC allows our customers to utilize services and gain access to one of the largest data centers in the world.

Customer support requests are initiated at our corporate dispatch center and are available twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week, 365 days a year via web ticketing or telephone at (800)-769-4343.

Sentinel has a long history of demonstrated excellence in providing services to our Customers. Our qualifications, robust full-time (not contracted) staff, resources and history, demonstrate a commitment to our Customers. We have a complete understanding of the requirements and Scope of Work detailed in the RFP. Sentinel will comply with all terms, requirements, and conditions of the resultant contract, as outlined in this RFP.

Sentinel’s services span the range of business verticals. Companies in Government, Education, Financial and Banking, Healthcare, Legal, Utilities, and Manufacturing verticals have all taken advantage of Sentinel’s ability to take either full responsibility or act as a supplemental contributor to our Customer’s most important business technology initiatives.

Sentinel is experienced in providing Network Equipment and services to our Customers. We offer a complete portfolio of technology services and solutions including requirements detailed in this RFP related to design, systems configuration, hardware and software installation, testing, maintenance, training, engineering and architecture.

Sentinel Differentiators:

Full-Time engineering staff.

Serving our Customers since 1982 and Arizona Customers since 1992.

Expertise in K-12, tribal communities, tribal entities, city, county, and higher education.

A complete portfolio of security technology services and solutions including design, systems configuration, hardware and software installation, testing, maintenance, training, engineering and architecture.

Professional Services supported by over 400 full-time Engineers company-wide with 2400+ technical certifications, over 45 holding CCIE certifications.

24x7x365 Security Operations Center (SOC) operated in the USA, owned and staffed by Sentinel Full-time employees.

24x7x365 Technical Support Help Desk, NOC and Customer Care Center operated in the USA, owned and staffed by Sentinel Full-time employees.

Continuity of service from our long tenured Employees.

Depth and breadth of expertise/team.

When it comes to achieving a tangible ROI and sustainable performance from your IT environment, Sentinel stands apart. Sentinel’s large service staff, multitude of original equipment manufacturers (OEM) certifications, a 24x7x365 Customer Care Center and a professionalism and commitment to service excellence act in combination to ensure a successful partnership. Sentinel’s Engineers, Customer Service and Support, and Project Management team’s reputation has become synonymous with high quality, cost effective solutions for our Customers.

As demonstrated within this response, Sentinel has extensive experience across multiple manufacturers including design, install and support of Networking, Wireless, Telephony, Cloud, Data Center projects as well as supporting them with Managed Services for our customers. Sentinel not only resells manufacturer maintenance but also has our HANS support services our customers. Sentinel provides support both online and remotely via our toll free technical support telephone lines, our website and with other tools appropriate to the industry. Sentinel also provides onsite support as need or requested for both install and troubleshooting.

September 1982 Private ownership

IL

Headquarters:

SENTINEL TECHNOLOGIES INC

2550 WARRENVILLE RD

Downers Grove, IL 60515

Arizona Office:

Sentinel Technologies 1241 W. Warner Road Suite 112 Tempe, AZ 85284 Please see attached Arizona org chart No conflict of interest.

Sentinel has not filed (or had filed against it) any bankruptcy or insolvency proceeding, whether voluntary or involuntary, or undergone the appointment of a receiver, trustee, or assignee for the benefit of creditors Sentinel has not had any pending Securities Exchange Commission investigations involving the Offeror Sentinel does not have any open or pending litigation initiated by Offeror or where Offeror is a defendant or party in any litigation that may have a material impact on Offeror’s ability to deliver the contracted services.

Sentinel does not have any open or pending litigation initiated by Offeror or where Offeror is a defendant or party in any litigation with a Public sector client Sentinel has not had of any Public Sector contracts terminated for cause or convenience in the past five (5) years Sentinel has not had criminal or civil offense Attached.

Sentinel has 400+ personnel who provide daily technical guidance and support services across a multitude of manufacturer solution sets for customers. The following Manufacturer Technology Certifications demonstrate Sentinel’s technical ability to provide support within the various technology disciplines included within the scope of this RFP.

HP – 698 certifications DELL – 229 certifications

Question 2: Company Experience

2.1 What market(s) are your current clients primarily in?

2.2 What experience do you have serving clients in Business Markets within the State of Arizona?

2.3 What is the range in size of your current clients?

2.4 What is your company’s vision for the future of network and telephony equipment products and services?

2.5 How long have you provided goods/services to your longest tenured client?

2.6 Have you had clients cancel contracts? If so, how many in the last three years and why?

2.7 With what relevant trade, professional, or standards associations are you involved? How does this participation give you an advantage over your competition?

2.8 What, if any, similar contracts (size, scope, content) has your company been awarded in the last 12 months?

2.9 Describe the personnel that your company has within the state of Arizona and available to support this project.

Offeror Response:

2.1 County/Local Government K-12 Education Higher Education Tribal Organizations Financial Institutions Retail Manufacturing Gaming and Entertainment Health Care Law Hospitality/Travel

2.2 Since 1992, Sentinel has been serving both public and private sector customers with our local Arizona based personnel who provide design, field deployment, project management, support and maintenance services throughout the State of Arizona.

2.3 50 users to 55000 users

2.4 As with most technologies, telephony is undergoing a transformation to include many more cloud or SaaS based offerings. Many organizations will migrate and pursue SaaS offerings while others will pursue a hybrid approach utilizing a combination of premise and cloud solutions. Organizational requirements to accommodate security, mobility and WFH requirements will lead to custom solutions frequently being needed.

With the distribution of telephony beyond standard work boundaries there are several areas of additional concern including how to support the Ray Baum Act & Kari’s Law which require accurate 911 dispatching and reporting. Compliance to these needs to be thoroughly evaluated for any of telephony solution being evaluated.

For many organizations, video has become an extension of telephony and is considered a basic requirement, the inclusion of cell phones as a business tool within an organization is an additional consideration. Telephony provides many more solutions than dial tone and voice mail. Each organization has the ability and need to create a custom solution and Sentinel technologies can assist in navigating this constantly changing solution set.

Also, as network components will continue to be needed for connectivity, more security associated with Layer 2-3 will be needed especially with the ever increasing level of remote and WFH.

2.5 37 years - Our longest customer has been doing business with Sentinel since 1984

2.6 No

2.7 Sentinel is involved in many trade, professional and standards associations that include:

SSAE 16 Service Organization Control (“SOC”) 2 Type II Member of InfraGard (partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and members of the private sector for the protection of U.S. Critical Infrastructure) Cisco Executive Exchange Cisco Partner Summit PCI Compliance

NIST

Team membership includes analysts certified in multiples of the following: GSEC, GCIH, GCIA, GCFE, GCFA, CEH, CNSP, Associate of ISC, GAWN

Sentinel’s advantage is our long standing commitment to not only the technology organizations, but also to other organizations where we provide relevance

Sentinel also participates in many industry and manufacturer programs.

Annual events include:

In the Arizona region, manufacturer monthly training sessions are attended by local Sentinel pre-sales and field engineering resources with a focus on Security, Collaboration, Network, and Data Center. There are regular meetings between Sentinel leadership and specific manufacturer leadership to ensure that there is an alignment of resources from both a presales and post sales perspective.

Sentinel also evaluates new manufacturer solutions to determine how they will address business challenges. Sentinel Leadership and technical resources conduct on-going meetings with each of these manufacturers to ensure that there is an alignment of resources from both a presales and post sales perspective.

HPE NASPO SERVER/STORAGE

GSA

2.9 Sentinel has a full-time staff of Sales, pre-sales Solution Architects, Project Managers, Engineers, administrative and support personnel and leadership to support the State of Arizona. These personnel provide design, field deployment, project management, support and maintenance services throughout the State of Arizona. Sentinel has 70+ people out of our Tempe office with support from our nationwide staff.

Question 3: Financial/Accounting Information Offeror must provide evidence of financial stability and capability to fund all costs associated with providing the services throughout the term of the Contract. The latest two (2) years audited annual financial statements including Total Revenue, Net Income, and Total Assets must be submitted with the Offeror’s proposal. If audited financial data is unavailable, explain in full the reason, and provide the latest non-audited financial information to include Balance Sheet, Income Statement, as well as Statements of Cash Flows and Change in Financial Position. Include information to attest to the accuracy of the information provided.

Offeror shall provide information regarding any irregularities that were discovered in any accounts maintained by the Offeror on behalf of others. Describe the circumstances and disposition of the irregularities.

Offeror Response:

Attached are our confidential audited Financials for 2020 and 2019

Sentinel is not aware of irregularities that were discovered in any accounts maintained by the Offeror on behalf of others

Methodology and Approach Questionnaire

Methodology and Approach Questions:

Question 1: Offeror must describe their ability to provide the equipment including related products and support services. The response to this requirement should, at a minimum include the following information:

a. Manufacturer (s) represented;

b. Type/Category of equipment offered;

c. Number and type of support personnel or other value added resources that may be employed.

Offeror Response:

and b.

Sentinel has provided within the pricing document, a percent off list price (% off list) of the manufacturers that Sentinel is representing. The list price for each manufacturer can be readily found by contacting the Manufacturer and often times can be found online. Sentinel is providing this narrative as the baseline published pricing along with the pricing level discount.

c. Sentinel has over 600 Employees (400+ Engineers) that are able to support our offerings.

Below is an overview of the number and type of support personnel available to the State of Arizona.

Over 455 Engineering/ Technical / PM Over 65 Sales Over 110 Support Personnel (administrative, finance, purchasing)

Question 2: Offeror must thoroughly describe their ability to provide value added technical services including:

a. Design services;

b. Installation;

c. Training;

d. Directly related optional services and the geographic area where the services may be provided.

Offeror Response:

Sentinel Technologies provides a consultative approach to identify technology solutions to client business challenges. Sentinel has a focus on engaging with customers through extensive (free) pre-sales consulting to gather relevant information to develop a deep understanding of a client’s environment and technology goals. Sentinel aligns with industry leaders to deliver certified design, deployment, maintenance and support solutions for governmental, private and commercial entities.

Sentinel pre-sales Solution Architects meet with clients to gather information and then develop solutions that address existing issues and provide migration and support strategies to meet client objectives. Once solutions have been reviewed with the customer and finalized via contract, these solutions are implemented via fixed price contracts, time & material engagements or a hybrid of implementation and support services that meet client requirements. Solutions may include Sentinel hosted solutions, customer premise based or cloud solutions. Sentinel has local Arizona based personnel who provide design, field deployment, project management, and support and maintenance services throughout the State of Arizona.

Sentinel Technologies’ Tempe-based office houses sales and engineering resources to serve Arizona customers. Sentinel is noted as having an unmatched level of commitment to the government and education segment in the state of Arizona by our OEM partners. We are engaged as an ongoing service vendor with many Arizona County and City government entities, K-12 school districts and other contract-eligible entities. We have completed many multi-site data networking and VoIP deployments for such customers and provide engineering resources to all parts of Arizona. Sentinel is fully-prepared and equipped to be the State of Arizona’s business partner in this technology procurement initiative.

Sentinel provides knowledge transfer on all projects in which Sentinel is the installing vendor as a part of the project. This enables our customers to take a hands on approach to understanding the solution being implemented. As an organization gains new employees, Sentinel can be engaged to provide hands on knowledge about the solution in question. Sentinel can also sell manufacturer certified training programs via a classroom setting or over the internet for optimal learning.

Sentinel has built a strong track record with companies of all sizes across Arizona through the delivery of technology designs, deployments and support across multiple industry leading platforms. Design, Procurement, Deployment and Support services will be available throughout Arizona for the use of entities entitled to utilize this Arizona state contract. Some of Sentinel’s value added optional services include our HANS and Managed Services (SPC) offerings which are detailed in Question 3 below. Sentinel has also built specific applications that speed the deployment of certain network devices, thereby saving our customers time and money.

Question 3: Offeror shall submit detailed information on how technical support is handled and controlled. Include what time frame can be expected for this service and all other additional pertinent or important information relating to this program.

Offeror Response:

Sentinel offers several different technical support and maintenance programs, including Manufacturer direct support, Sentinel High Availability Network Services (HANS), Sentinel Proactive Care (SPC), Retainer and Time and Materials (T&M) support services.

Manufacturer direct support is offered as a service provided by respective manufacturers when purchased as a manufacturer-provided extended warranty service. Manufacturer direct support, such as Cisco SmartNET, can be purchased with varying degrees of service level agreements (SLA) for response time and replacement parts availability. These create manufacturers SLA’s which are provided via remote support, telephone, email, fax, with replacement parts, when needed, based upon the purchased SLA. When manufacturer only maintenance is purchased, services are then available directly from the manufacturer.

Sentinel HANS Maintenance Services are offered by Sentinel as a value added maintenance service with manufacturer-authorization, and are also available with various SLA response and equipment replacement time periods. Sentinel HANS Maintenance Services are intended for troubleshooting, repair and recovery of covered hardware and software. HANS contracts normally exclude routine or non-critical configuration guidance.

HANS™ (High Availability Network Services) Silver - Sentinel self-supported when a manufacturer does not offer support. Pricing varies based on equipment HANS™ Gold - Sentinel support with Cisco back end support, IOS updates, and advanced HW replacement. List price 0%.

HANS™ Platinum - Sentinel and manufacturer direct support, IOS updates, and advanced HW replacement. 10+% above list or -10% list.

Sentinel Proactive Care (SPC) services include monitoring of customer equipment and circuits through the Sentinel Network Operations Center (NOC) with web-console access and proactive alerts generated to customers and to Sentinel.

Sentinel T&M services are available without a term-based commitment to services, but do not include an SLA or guaranteed response. T&M is offered as a “best-effort” service with actual time used invoiced on an hourly rate and any materials purchases required.

The following diagram helps illustrate Sentinel maintenance offerings and differences between the offerings described above.

Additional features and specific details related to each of these offerings are outlined in the table below:

Sentinel Service Call Procedure/Electronic Service Call Procedure The user or designated company representative places a service call with Sentinel’s Customer Care Department at 800-860-8060 which is available 365x24x7.

Service calls can also be placed through the Sentinel customer care web portal at: www.sentinel.com. Below are screens shots from the Sentinel Website where customer support tickets can be entered:

Customers with an active account will login here:

If a new account is required:

Service call request details are entered here:

After submitting the service request with Sentinel, a Sentinel Customer Service Agent will identify the customer location/department by the general phone number for that location. Sentinel’s agents are thoroughly trained in ascertaining information about problems and will collect pertinent specifics from customer.

The appropriate Customer Engineer (CE) for the customer will be-paged within 15 minutes. The CE will call back the individual at the customer who placed the call to gather more specific information on the problem and provide an estimated time of arrival or response time if providing services remotely.

Service Call Dispatch Procedure Sentinel owns and operates a fully automated and computerized dispatch center at our headquarters in Downers Grove, Network Operations Control Center (NOC). Sentinel employees man this state-of-the-art facility twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week, 365 days a year. When service calls are placed, either the on-site technician or an on-call technician is simultaneously contacted via alpha pager and can be dispatched remotely or be on-site if necessary. The efficiency and expertise of our dispatch center is one of the many reasons why we can provide such a high level of performance and reporting tools.

Service Call Escalation Process Sentinel’s depth of service experience is best measured by the systems and process developed to meet customer service response and restore needs. At the heart of Sentinel’s Service Call Process is the Automated Call Escalation system. This unique system guarantees service call escalation if required response and restore times are not met. The following diagram illustrates the parameters of Sentinel’s Service Call Escalation system and process.

Sentinel Tiers of Technical Support Sentinel has two levels of internal technical support available to assist its staff of technicians. The first level of technical support is the Territory Support Engineers who work within the geographic territory to which they are assigned. These individuals have no account assignments and are available solely for the purpose of providing first level technical support to Sentinel’s account engineer(s). A typical Territory Support Engineer has five or more years of practical expertise. These advanced level engineers are automatically dispatched for any major problem.

The second level of technical support available is Sentinel’s Regional Technical Support Staff. These individuals are highly skilled individuals with over 10 years of related industry experience. For technical support or issues not resolvable by Sentinel Regional Technical Support, the issue would be escalated to the manufacturer’s Technical Assistance Center for assistance in resolution. Sentinel has access to Third Level Support with its OEM partners by virtue of its Gold Status as a Channel Partner

The following is a matrix of Sentinel’s SLAs built on industry standards (ITIL) Urgency/Impact definitions.

For our NOC and SOC customers, Sentinel guarantees the following SLAs and will report on SLA performance through automated reporting and the monthly quality assurance review meetings.

All of this live data can be viewed from our “My Sentinel Portal” found on www.sentinel.com website.

Question 4: Offeror shall thoroughly describe how product catalog information, including pricing shall be communicated, maintained and updated. Information shall include whether a designated website shall be utilized, and if so, a description of the website and its features including screen prints if available.

Offeror Response:

Sentinel uses our manufacturer partner catalogs with published list prices. These catalogs can be readily found on the web. Sentinel sells as a percent off list to those published prices which are included in this response. Sentinel maintains an online store that can be used to lookup pricing, get quotes and order (https://store.sentinel.com). We also employ full time Solution Architects that design and suggest solutions to meet our customers’ needs.

Manufacturer list Prices are provided and crossed referenced with the percent off list provided within this response. Manufacturer List price information can be readily and independently validated with each manufacturer. Product Catalog pricing is provided by our manufacturer partners. This pricing is maintained and updated on our online store and from the manufacturer directly, upon request.

Below are Screeshots of Our online store:

Question 5: Describe procedures for resolving customer problems and complaints including timelines and escalation measures.

Sentinel's management philosophy embraces customer satisfaction as the primary goal of our business instead of defending the company in the face of complaints. Sentinel believes the emphasis should be on pleasing a customer and trusts front-line employees to use their judgment to produce that result. Sentinel's commitment from Top – Level leadership is to effectively manage issues and strive for customer satisfaction at all levels.

Anyone within Sentinel can open a “Quality Counts” Case in order to escalate and/or bring executive awareness to any problem. These Cases are regularly reviewed by our executive team along with remediation action plan progress. Sentinel Customer Success agents are also assigned to ensure timely deliverables.

Customers are likely to turn first to the source of their purchase as issues arise (i.e. sales). Sentinel believes that resolving complaints at this level avoids unnecessary customer frustration and preserves the direct buyer/seller relationship. Developing an initial understanding of the issue is likely to be relatively quick given the familiarity with the project. This process starts with Sentinel's Arizona based Account Managers and the involved engineering staff. Frequently, resolution is possible here.

If management involvement is required, the next step will be to include our Arizona Based leadership team. This team will engage customers with issues/complaints about OEM products and Sentinel services delivered to our customers. If a solution to the customer's issue(s) cannot be achieved at that level, then the matter is escalated to Sentinel Corporate Officers.

Below is our documented procedure:

Sentinel also escalates issues/problems on our customers’ behalf to our OEM partners where there is interconnectivity or operational issues due to the technology product itself. Any individual at Sentinel can be reached at 1.800.769.4343 as needed.

Question 6: How do you assess customer satisfaction?

Sentinel assesses customer satisfaction in several ways:

Our manufacturer partners regularly assess our mutual customers to provide a third party evaluation of customer satisfaction of Sentinel.

Sentinel performs both informal and formal customer satisfaction activities. Informal activities include the ongoing communication between our customers and our staff. Formal activities include our Customer Experience Surveys which not only target Information technology staff and leadership at our customers, but also the accounting, purchasing and business leadership. These results help us stay in tune to our customers evolving needs.

Below are the five areas of customer satisfaction that we assess.

Question 7: Submit customer satisfaction statistics or survey results concerning the quality of the products and/or services offered.

Below are our latest survey month results and statistics.

Sentinel is also assessed by our manufacturer partners. Cisco Systems is Sentinel’s largest business partner. Cisco utilizes a third party organization, Walker Information Systems, to administer customer surveys. This resulted in Sentinel being identified for the 11th consecutive year as achieving the highest customer satisfaction level from available Cisco.

Partner recognized with highest distinction in achieving Cisco Customer Satisfaction Excellence.

Question 8: Problem Resolution: Describe at least one recent situation where your Company made a major error that had potential dire consequences for a customer. Detail the error and that was done to correct the situation. To what lengths did your Company go to take care of the customer? What changes (if any) did your Company make to avoid repeating the error in the future.

Sentinel was awarded a contract by a City for data migration services. Due to uncontrollable circumstances, Sentinel was forced to change engineers in the middle of the project. The re-assigned engineer re-performed discovery of the customer environment to complete the project. The re-assigned engineer encountered errors and implemented the roll back plan to roll back the migration to avoid issues that would have negatively affected a production system. At a later, mutually agreed upon date, Sentinel completed the services. Project timelines were compromised but the City accepted this and has done additional projects since then with Sentinel. Sentinel took the missed timeline challenges very seriously, engaged executive leadership, and utilized the necessary resources to complete the project without charging the customer any additional fees.

Sentinel performed an extensive “lessons learned” analysis. These lessons were then integrated into our written blueprinting process and into our delivery process to decrease the overall risk to our customers.

Question 9: What are your hours of operation and when are key account people available to us?

Sentinel owns and operates a fully automated and computerized dispatch center at our headquarters in Downers Grove, Network Operations Control Center (NOC). Sentinel employees man this state-of-the-art facility twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week, 365 days a year.

Key account people are generally available during normal business hours, but are often responsive via phone or email after hours and on weekends as well.

Question 10: Describe any technical features that you’ve created to provide greater efficiencies for your customers.

Through the my.sentinel.com portal, our clients have access to interact with the Sentinel team via the web. Sentinel’s ServiceNow is integrated to the delivery of our services to provide visibility to your activities. This includes managing Cases for Managed Services, complete inventories of items covered and SLA levels. Interaction with engineers are done in the system for ease of collaboration as Cases are worked. A growing Service Catalog is at your fingertips to request services around the clock.

Sentinel has developed and maintains a Contract Library for our customers which contains subscription, maintenance, support level and renewal information. We understand that tracking this information can be cumbersome for our customers so we take a proactive approach to add value and ease the burden on ongoing renewals.

Sentinel maintains an Online Store so that our customers can get pricing information on specific items in the most efficient manner. Sentinel often combines the online store capability with our Solution Architect team to provide quotes to customers in the most efficient manner possible.

Sentinel has created proprietary install programs and scripts that ease the burden of repetitive tasks during an install. Not only do these programs decrease the overall install time, they also decrease the cost of projects, thereby saving our customers both time and money.

Question 11: What differentiates your Company versus your competitors?

For more than 39 years, Sentinel Technologies has been recognized as a premier business technology services provider dedicated to delivering the highest quality Customer Service and support. Even as our services have spanned generations of technology, Sentinel has stayed at the forefront of IT developments and maintained a singular focus on providing practical and innovative solutions. With single-source accountability, Sentinel’s processes and Teams can efficiently address a range of IT needs, from end-to-end solutions to targeted applications. Our proven success has allowed us to expand from our original charter of providing technology maintenance services to our current standing as one of the leading IT services and solutions provider in the U.S.

Sentinel Differentiators:

Full-Time engineering staff.

Serving our Customers since 1982.

Expertise in City, County, K-12, tribal communities, tribal entities, and higher education.

A complete portfolio of technology services and solutions including design, systems configuration, hardware and software installation, testing, maintenance, training, engineering and architecture.

Professional Services supported by over 400+ engineers Full-time Engineers company-wide with 2400+ technical certifications, over 40 holding CCIE certifications.

24x7x365 Technical Support Help Desk, NOC and Customer Care Center operated in the USA, owned and staffed by Sentinel Full-time employees.

Continuity of service from our long tenured Employees.

Depth and breadth of expertise/team.

When it comes to achieving a tangible ROI and sustainable performance from your IT environment, Sentinel stands apart. Sentinel’s large service staff, multitude of original equipment manufacturers (OEM) certifications, a 24x7x365 Customer Care Center and a professionalism and commitment to service excellence act in combination to ensure a successful partnership. Sentinel’s Engineers, Customer Service and Support, and Project Management team’s reputation has become synonymous with high quality, cost effective solutions for our Customers.

Professional services and sales for Customers are provided by full-time (not contracted) Sentinel employees.

Customer support requests are initiated at our corporate dispatch center and are available 24x7x365 via web ticketing or phone at (800)-860-8060.

Who we are:

Top-tier Business Technology Solutions and Services Provider for over 39 years and recognized by:

CRN Top 500 (Elite 150 MSP / Tech Elite 250).

Channel Futures MSP 501.

MSPMentor Top 501.

Cisco National, State, Local Government, and Education Partner of the Year awards.

Cisco Southwest/ Arizona Territory Partner of the year, 8 years in a row.

24x7x365 Technical Support Help Desk, NOC, SOC and Customer Care Center operated in the USA, owned and staffed by Sentinel Full-time employees.

Process improvement & assessments to targeted applications and end-to-end IT solutions.

Not only does Sentinel maintain leading industry certifications and expertise, we have also been attested under SSAE 16 which provides standards for reporting on controls at service organizations, essentially replacing Statement on Auditing Standards no. 70, simply known as SAS 70.

Sentinel’s Enterprise Project Management Organization has a large core of PMP certified project managers who work with our customer and the assigned Sentinel technical project team to ensure we deliver on our promise. Our PM’s have the professional certification and a strong technical background necessary to provide the management and guidance required to keep projects on time and on budget. Sentinel’s EPMO utilizes tools such as Microsoft SharePoint Portal and Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) along with basic blocking and tackling around issues like defects, root cause analysis and risk mitigation to deliver optimum results.

At Sentinel Technologies, our strategy is to partner with the best in the industry. We then obtain the highest level of solution specialization available from these key partners.

Sentinel has also been consistently recognized as a top place to work for the last 5 years in a row. Happy and productive employees provide better and more complete support to our customers.

azcentral.com Top Companies to Work for – Arizona (2017 – 2021)

Question 12: Describe any additional value added services that were not previously mentioned in your response.

Sentinel has a Business Process Consultancy Division which operates under the proven methodologies of ITIL, COBIT, Lean Six Sigma and Agile, the global standards for IT and process management utilized by the world's leading enterprises and organizations. Our top-tier, certified consultants help identify gaps in service and delivery strategies to increase customer satisfaction and compliance while lowering expenses and risks.

Sentinel also offers free workshops to help our customer identify gaps in business outcome that our customers want to achieve. Sentinel focuses on the business outcomes our customers are looking to achieve, and then designs solutions to achieve those results.

PART 3 of the Solicitation Documents

SECTION 3-B: Offer Forms

Available online at: APP.AZ.gov

Offeror Questionnaire

Available online at: APP.AZ.gov image2.emf

Cassondra Taylor Vice President of Operations

U.S. Western Region

Robert Wykoff Operations Manager US Western Region

AZ Data Center Team

AZ Route/Switch Wireless Team AZ Collaboration Team

AZ Project Management Team AZ Support Team

AZ Security Team

Scott Sibberson Manager, IT Solutions (Deployment)

Bryan Kosten IT Supervisor (Support)

Danielle Cloonan Enterprise Annuity Portfolio

Supervisor

Kevin Koski Vice President of Sales U.S. Western Region

Chris Bowen Sales Manager

Ron Bodie Sales Manager

AZ Solution Architects Team

AZ Sales Team AZ Sales Team

Sentinel Technologies Arizona Org Chart

West Org Chart 11-22-21.vsdx

Page-1 image3.emf image4.png image5.png image6.png image7.png image8.png image9.png image10.png image11.png image12.emf

SENTINEL TECHNOLOGIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARY

CONSOLIDATED AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020 AND 2019

MUELLER

Elgin/Chicago/Orland Park/Sarasota www.muellercpa.com

847.888.8600 Phone

847.888.0635 Fax

A ss u r a n c e

Certified Public Accountants – Business & Financial Advisors

CONTENTS

PAGE

Consolidated Financial Statements

Independent Auditor’s Report 1-2

Consolidated Balance Sheets 3

Consolidated Statements of Income 4

Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity 5

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows 6

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 7-19

Certified Public Accountants ■ Business & Financial Advisors Offices in Elgin, Chicago, Orland Park & Sarasota

1707 N. Randall Road, Suite 200 ■ Elgin, Illinois ■ 60123 Ph: 847.888.8600 ■ Fax: 847.888.0635 ■ www.muellercpa.com

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

Board of Directors Sentinel Technologies, Inc. and Subsidiary

We have audited the accompanying consolidated financial statements of Sentinel Technologies, Inc. and Subsidiary, which comprise the consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the related consolidated statements of income, changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the years then ended, and the related notes to the consolidated financial statements.

Management’s Responsibility for the Consolidated Financial Statements

Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America; this includes the design, implementation and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of consolidated financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair presentation of the consolidated financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.

-1-

Opinion

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Sentinel Technologies, Inc. and Subsidiary as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for the years then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Elgin, Illinois March 26, 2021

-2-

2020 2019 Current assets:

Cash and cash equivalents $ 13,894,476 2,326,900 Accounts receivable, net 49,111,268 43,882,942 Inventories, net 3,925,038 4,765,074 Current portion of prepaid expenses 12,462,496 13,463,989

Total current assets 79,393,278 64,438,905

Property and equipment, net 3,023,419 3,457,939

Other assets:

Life insurance - cash surrender value 6,821,042 6,800,364 Prepaid expenses, net of current portion 4,114,338 4,987,332 Deferred income taxes 2,471,993 3,128,397 Other assets 255,661 198,801

Total other assets 13,663,034 15,114,894

$ 96,079,731 83,011,738

Current liabilities:

Accounts payable $ 28,934,054 21,171,652 Current portion of accrued liabilities 10,627,997 9,083,938 Income taxes payable - 610,976 Current portion of unearned revenue 25,677,201 24,394,289 Current portion of deferred compensation 92,821 92,821 Current portion of capital lease obligations 211,615 205,847

Total current liabilities 65,543,688 55,559,523

Noncurrent liabilities:

Accrued liabilities, net of current portion 1,104,023 - Unearned revenue, net of current portion 6,144,001 8,069,490 Deferred compensation, net of current portion 4,057,422 4,150,239 Capital lease obligations, net of current portion 361,067 572,682

Total noncurrent liabilities 11,666,513 12,792,411

Stockholders' equity 18,869,530 14,659,804

$ 96,079,731 83,011,738

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

-3-

DECEMBER 31, 2020 AND 2019

ASSETS

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

% OF NET % OF NET

2020 REVENUES 2019 REVENUES

Revenues, net $ 229,355,991 100.0 207,506,495 100.0

Cost of revenue 175,304,777 76.4 160,955,433 77.6

Gross profit 54,051,214 23.6 46,551,062 22.4

Selling, general and administrative expenses 45,843,180 20.0 41,573,554 20.0

Income from operations 8,208,034 3.6 4,977,508 2.4

Other income (expense):

Miscellaneous income (expense) (360,427) (0.2) 978,574 0.5 Interest income 530 - 1,099 - Interest expense (41,020) - (49,294) - Loss on sale of property and equipment - - (5,879) -

(400,917) (0.2) 924,500 0.5

Income before income taxes 7,807,117 3.4 5,902,008 2.9

Provision for income taxes 2,434,373 1.1 1,213,074 0.6

Net income $ 5,372,744 2.3 4,688,934 2.3

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

-4-

ADDITIONAL

PAID-IN CAPITAL RETAINED

SHARES AMOUNT AMOUNT SHARES AMOUNT EARNINGS TOTAL

Balance, January 1, 2019 106,345 $ - $ 819,029 36,098 $ (8,299,370) $ 19,264,468 $ 11,784,127

Purchase of treasury stock - - - 3,911 (1,813,257) - (1,813,257)

Net income - - - - - 4,688,934 4,688,934

Balance, December 31, 2019 106,345 - 819,029 40,009 (10,112,627) 23,953,402 14,659,804

Purchase of treasury stock - - - 2,395 (1,163,018) - (1,163,018)

Net income - - - - - 5,372,744 5,372,744

Balance, December 31, 2020 106,345 $ - $ 819,029 42,404 $ (11,275,645) $ 29,326,146 $ 18,869,530

COMMON STOCK

-5-

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

TREASURY STOCK

Cash provided by (applied to) operating activities:

Net income $ 5,372,744 4,688,934 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by (applied to) operating activities:

Depreciation and amortization 1,281,566 1,215,122 Increase in allowance for doubtful accounts and returns on accounts receivable 242,472 24,723 Increase (decrease) in provision for obsolete and excess inventory (30,000) 20,852 Deferred income taxes 656,404 (547,339) Increase in life insurance - cash surrender value, net of premiums paid 399,123 (942,792) Loss on sale of property and equipment - 5,879 Changes in:

Accounts receivable (5,470,798) 2,386,062 Inventories 870,036 (161,223) Prepaid expenses 1,874,487 (1,716,956) Other assets (56,860) 471 Accounts payable 7,762,402 (4,247,406) Accrued liabilities 2,648,082 (702,527) Income taxes payable (610,976) 610,976 Unearned revenue (642,577) 2,794,092 Deferred compensation (92,817) (104,100)

14,203,288 3,324,768

Cash provided by (applied to) investing activities:

Purchases of property and equipment (847,046) (1,156,796) Proceeds from sale of property and equipment - 8,000 Life insurance - cash surrender value…