Housing Authority of the City of Hartford, 180 John D Wardlaw Way, Hartford, CT 06106

1 of 6 Hartford Housing Authority Addendum Form 2-2020

ADDENDUM #1

RFQ # 1998-25 Cloud Hosted VoIP Phone System

Original Notice of RFP Issued on: 9/24/2025

Response Due Date: Thursday, October 23, 2025 @ 2:00 pm

To All Prospective Respondents:

The purpose of this addendum is to provide answers to a questions raised by a potential respondents.

1. Microsoft 365 Licensing – Could you please confirm the exact type and quantity of Microsoft 365 licenses currently in use (O365/M365 G1, G3, or G5), if applicable? This will help us recommend the most cost-effective Teams Phone configuration. Business premium

2. Contact Center – Is there a requirement for a Contact Center (Call Center) solution as part of this project? If yes, how many users would need to be enabled for Contact Center capabilities? Please provide details of this feature to confirm whether the agency may be interested in.

3. Call Recording – Does the Housing Authority require call recording functionality? If so, should this apply only to Contact Center users or to all users? Yes, All users.

4. Analog Devices – The RFP notes the need to support analog devices. Could you please confirm the total number of analog devices (fax machines, security systems, paging units, etc.) and their specific types? Not sure about this. Analog devises were listed on the RFP?

5. Paging – Are there existing paging solutions that must be integrated? If yes, how many devices would require analog connectors for paging? Please provide details of this feature to confirm whether the agency may be interested in.

6. Phones – The RFP indicates 74 physical phones are in use. Could you please confirm whether any conference phones or video conferencing phones are required in addition to desk phones? Yes, conference phone.

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7. Email Hosting – Where are Housing Authority emails currently hosted (Microsoft 365, Exchange on-premises, or another service)? Microsoft 365

8. Telecom Provider & Porting – Who is the current telecom provider, and how many phone numbers will need to be ported into the new solution? CCI

1. Can you please clarify the number and type of user licenses requested? Full

a. Our solution uses a full-featured license for users vs. a basic license for other needs.

b. In the Summary Table listed under “Response Format” on page 4 of your RFP document it asks for “Hosting cost based on 85 extensions and 109 DIDs” . Page 3 shows the current number of phones at each site as 59 and “Total physical devices” is listed as 74.

c. Using the total of 85 extensions, can you provide a breakdown of the number of these extensions that will be assigned to a person or position vs. the number that will be used for common areas ALL i.conference phones ___________ ii.common area phones not requiring features other than dial tone ______ iii.Fax Machines ______ iv.Any others ________

2. How many of each telephone type do you currently have? This will help us provide similar telephone models or do you desire all users to have the same telephone model? Estimated

a. Digium D70 ________ 20

b. Digium D50________ 25

c. Digium D40 ________ 10

d. Polycom IP-6000 _____3___

3. Under “Optional Add-ons you ask for e-fax, would this be to replace existing fax machines or for users to send and receive faxes from their desktop computers? Send fax from desktop computers

4. For training, do you desire onsite training or is live-instructor web-based sufficient? Online

5. Would you like annual or monthly pricing for the 5-year agreement term? Annual

6. Would you like a one-time purchase price for telephone devices or a monthly lease price?

7. Is full-time recording of all phone calls desired or just ah-hoc call recording? Ad-Hoc

1. On page 3 you list all your current phones with a summary, total count 74 devices.

2. On page 4 you have a response field that asks for 85 ext's. So do you want 85 user lic's? Yes

3. Also you have several different phone models listed and no quantities, What do you want for as a set of features for the phones to meet?

4. Do you want a new conf phone or reuse what you have? Reuse if possible 5.and lastly can you give us a set of features for each user as a minimum? I noticed that you want softphone apps for pc's but that is the only mention of features that I see!

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Core Calling Features Call Forwarding: Automatically reroutes calls to another number or device.

Call Transfer: Allows users to transfer an active call to another extension or person.

Call Waiting: Alerts users when another call is incoming.

Caller ID & Call Blocking: Displays caller information and allows blocking of unwanted calls.

Three-Way Calling / Conference Calling: Enables multiple parties to join a single call.

Voicemail: Records messages when a user is unavailable.

Voicemail-to-Email / Voicemail Transcription: Sends voicemail audio or text to your email inbox.

Softphone / Mobile App Access: Make and receive calls using a computer or mobile app.

Video Conferencing: Integrated video meetings with screen sharing.

Presence Indicators: Shows whether users are available, busy, or away.

Administrative Features Auto Attendant / IVR (Interactive Voice Response): Automated menus that direct callers to the right department.

Call Queuing: Manages high call volumes with wait times and hold music.

Call Recording: Records calls for quality assurance or compliance.

Call Analytics & Reporting: Provides data on call volume, duration, missed calls, etc.

Extension Management: Allows VOIP Administrator to easy setup and control of user extensions.

Security & Reliability Encryption (TLS/SRTP): Protects call data and voice packets from interception.

Failover / Redundancy: Automatically reroutes calls if the internet or server goes down.

Quality of Service (QoS): Prioritizes voice traffic to maintain clear call quality.

6. When will answers be provided by?

7. is your current provider Sangoma? CCI

8. Upon reading thru again it looks like you want to reuse your existing phones, I don’t think we can reuse them on most of the platforms we represent. Please advise. Please recommend options__________________________________________________________________________

1. Could you clarify the scope and level of detail expected for the “ongoing managed services” requirement?

Ongoing Services

Provide secure hosting of the VoIP platform on dedicated or cloud-based servers.

Ensure high availability and redundancy of core VoIP infrastructure.

Monitor server health, performance, and uptime.

Perform regular system backups (configuration, voicemail, call records).

Provide technical support for VoIP Administrator.

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Assist VOIP Administrator to troubleshoot call quality issues, extension changes, forwarding updates, dropped calls, registration errors, or voicemail problems.

Coordinate with HACH IT for support with desk phones, softphones and mobile apps.

Offer remote or onsite support if required.

Apply patches, security updates, and firmware upgrades on a scheduled basis.

Monitor call logs, error reports, and QoS metrics to proactively resolve issues.

Maintain and update call routing tables, auto-attendants, IVRs, and voicemail systems.

Ensure data retention and archiving policies are met.

Provide documentation and user training following major updates.

Implement system upgrades to newer VoIP software versions and firmware.

Conduct testing prior to deployment to minimize downtime or service interruption.

Evaluate and integrate new VoIP features (e.g., conferencing, call analytics, call recording).

Monitor for unauthorized access or suspicious call activity.

Maintain encryption protocols and secure authentication policies

Provide monthly or quarterly reports on system uptime and incident logs. Call quality metrics

(latency, jitter, packet loss).

Usage statistics and capacity planning insights

2. Will you require extension-to-extension dialing functionality to be retained across all sites once migrated to the new provider’s hosted solution? Yes

3. Please confirm the total number of extensions required under this solicitation. 85

4. Who is the current hosted VoIP service provider? CCI

5. Please elaborate on this requirement: migration of all configuration and user data (call recordings, call logs, voicemail, and other essential information) to the cloud-hosted environment. We need to be able to retain our logs

6. Where is the current data stored (on-premises vs. hosted)? Approximately how much historical data must be migrated to the new cloud platform? Hosted, at least 30 days

7. The RFQ states that “cost plus pricing is absolutely prohibited.” Could you clarify the Authority’s definition of cost plus pricing?

8. Could you provide more detail on expectations for PSTN services?

1. On Page 4 - the dates seem to be different than page 1 timeline dates: “Quotations are due via email to bids@hartfordhousing.org later than 2 p.m. on Monday, August 23, 2026. All mailto:bids@hartfordhousing.org

5 of 6 Hartford Housing Authority Addendum Form 2-2020 bids are due no later than 2 p.m. on Thursday, August 26, 2021. Submissions must include this entire solicitation form filled out and signed.” Response to solicitation 1998-25 is due on October 23, 2025 at 2:00. Last date for questions is October 16,2025 by 2:00

2. Page 4 Response Format Item list calls for 85 extensions and 109 DID’s – Page 3 indicates 59 extensions and 74 devices and no quantity of DID’s

a. Do you have a breakdown of extension type are all 59 including voicemail or are they in places that do not require voicemail like a conference room or breakroom or other common area phone not assigned to a user. All extension should have same feature

b. Do you have a count breakdown of each existing phone model, for instance you show Ip-6000 which is a conference phone. This is significant as there are multiple replacement models to choose from and quantity would be needed.

1. Long distance – we define as domestic US calling not international calling. US, Canada & Puerto Rico

2. Accidental Damage to phones – what do you mean exactly? We would not normally cover accidental damage.

3. Our lawyer seems to think that Under General Indemnity – 13. (f) Contractor shall pay any Litigation Expenses that HA incurs in connection with defense of the Claim before

Contractor assumes the defense of that Claim, except with respect to any period during which HA fails to timely notify Contractor of that Claim. Contractor will not be liable for any Litigation Expenses that HA incurs in connection with defense of a Claim after Contractor assumes the defense of that Claim, other than Litigation Expenses that HA incurs in employing counsel in accordance with subsection (d), which Litigation Expenses Contractor shall pay promptly as they are incurred.

A. We would take exception to the “Before Contractor assumes the defense of that Claim” phrase. We will touch on this when the contract is awarded

1. As we have not yet received responses to our initial questions, will you be providing an extension to the deadline to incorporate answers to our proposal response? NO

2. Is there a timeline for when responses to questions will be sent out to vendors? Prior to October 23

We see a total of 133 users, all needing a softphone and only 79 will need an actual handset. Is that correct? 85

Will you need power bricks for any of the handsets? No. POE or power adapter

Are there multiple DID's assigned to any extensions? Not sure

6 of 6 Hartford Housing Authority Addendum Form 2-2020

All other terms and conditions of the RFP remain the same.

Kim Cotharin, Contracting Officer Housing Authority of the City of Hartford bids@hartfordhousing.org mailto:bids@hartfordhousing.org

Response Due Date: Thursday, October 23, 2025 @ 2:00 pm