ESBD_524993_1782740423619_Cloud-Based Phone Svcs RFP-Addendum 02 06.29.26.pdf

Addendum # 02 Date: June 29, 2026 From: Clarissa Bueno-Director of Purchasing Solicitation ID: 26_00002 RE: Inquiry about WCJC-RFP Cloud-Based Phone System

Microsoft Teams Integration & Licensing

1. Softphone Environment: Does the College require these softphones to operate entirely within the native Microsoft Teams environment, or can they function as part of a standalone cloud phone system application integrated with Teams? It can be a standalone cloud phone system with teams integration or native teams, either one.

2. Teams Architecture: If the College prefers a native Microsoft Teams phone environment, does WCJC intend to utilize Microsoft Teams Direct Routing, Operator Connect, or Teams Phone Mobile? If it is native teams then yes we would utilize these.

3. M365 Licensing: Does WCJC currently possess the necessary Microsoft 365 licensing (e.g., E5 or Teams Phone add-on licenses) for these users, or should the required licensing costs be fully bundled and included in the vendor’s pricing proposal? We currently have A3 for faculty for users so if a higher license is required then required licensing costs should be included.

Existing Inventory & Deployment Scope

4. Endpoint Clarification: The background section mentions an existing legacy environment consisting of approximately 550 physical phones, including Shoretel 230, Mitel IP420(g), Mitel IP480, and Shoretel 655 devices. Does the "655" number referenced indicate a specific equipment model, or does it impact the overall count of the 550 desk phones requested for evaluation? 655 is the Shoretel IP655 model.

5. Wireless/Cordless Phones: The Scope of Work requests an investigation into utilizing wireless phones for areas where multiple phones are installed. Could you clarify the exact quantity of wireless handsets needed, and confirm if the college is looking for DECT cordless hardware or Wi-Fi/LTE-enabled mobile handsets? We are not looking for any wireless phones at this time just the option for soft phones.

Classroom Emergency Solutions & E911

6. Classroom Emergency Hardware: For classrooms operating without physical desk phones, does the College have a preferred hardware standard to enable emergency calling compliance (e.g., dedicated wall-mounted panic phones, wireless panic buttons)? We do not need a separated solution for classrooms without a phone.

7. Emergency Device Support: What type of endpoints does the College intend for faculty/staff to use for the broader emergency calling solution (e.g., personal cell phones via an app, school-issued cell phones, tablets, or laptops)? Personal cell phones via an app.

Faxing & Fax Lines

8. eFax vs. Physical Faxing: The documentation notes fewer than ten existing legacy fax lines.

Is the College actively open to transitioning to a completely digital cloud eFax solution, or is there a strict preference to maintain physical fax machine connections via analog telephone adapters (ATAs)? We are looking at another service for faxing.

Does the college require a one-button or no-login emergency option? Not currently Who should be able to initiate an emergency call (faculty, students, substitutes, or any occupant)? Anyone Should the system automatically identify the specific classroom or location when a call is placed? The physical phones should be capable of this yes.

What are the availability expectations during power outages, network outages, or internet disruptions? Option to use work number with an app via personal cell phone is fine during local outages.

Should emergency calling function during lockdowns, evacuations, or after-hours events? Yes.

Should the solution integrate with existing systems such as SIS, access control, cameras, paging, intercom, or notification platforms? No Can you provide additional detail on “Implement Unity and single dial reachability for users” within the scope of work? WCJC desires to maintain internal extension dialing functionality across all campus locations and seeks a solution that provides seamless internal calling and user reachability. Meaning we would like 4 digit dialing like we are used to for our internal users.

Please confirm whether all 911 calls should be routed only to on-campus emergency services, rather than local police, fire, or EMS. The calls should be routed to local police, fire, or EMS with the option to notify certain individuals when a 911 call is made.

1. Analysis of current phone system environment that may include and not be limited to the assessment of existing on-premise Mitel System; an evaluation of approximately 550 physical phone models and their configurations and the identification of areas where physical phone scan be replaced with alternative solutions.

a. Can you provide more guidance on the scope of the Mitel System Analysis in particular? Is the purpose here more focused on configuration translation to our proposed solution? More focused on the configuration translation to the proposed solution.

2. Implement a means for classrooms to make emergency calls without physical phones.

a. Is the expectation that this solution will be apart of the same cloud-based solution or is this something that can be separate (i.e. panic buttons with SIM cards that aren’t reliant on building power). This would be a part of the same cloud-based solution for the phones that are placed in classrooms.

3. Investigate the feasibility of utilizing wireless phones for areas where multiple phones are installed.

a. Can you provide some context or a use case where wireless handsets will be needed? For example, are these intended to be used as common area phones, or for emergency services only, etc. This is for softphone capabilities not necessarily wireless handsets.

4. Physical handset procurement/installation.

a. Is it WCJC’s expectation that the service provider will procure and install the handsets, or will WCJC handle installation with internal resources? The expectation is the service provider will help in tandem with internal resources.

5. Physical handset reduction

a. Do you have a target regarding the number of physical handsets that you would like to reduce is there a specific job function that you would like to retain physical handsets for, i.e.

receptionists. We would like to keep the same 550 physical handsets for now with the option of soft phoning for any user that wants it.

# Category ConnX Inc – Clarification Question RFP

Reference 1 Scope / Sites Please confirm the complete list of sites/locations in scope for this project, including whether El Campo is also part of the telephony migration scope or only a teaching location.

We have 4 campus locations that would be involved.

Sugar Land - 14004 University Blvd, Sugar Land, TX 77479 Richmond – 5333 FM1640, Richmond, TX 77469 Wharton – 911 E Boling Hwy, Wharton, TX 77488 Bay City - 4000 Avenue F B, Bay City, TX 77414

Sections 1–3

2 Scope / Sites Please provide the site-wise address / building list for each campus/location in scope for implementation, cutover, support, and E911 mapping. We have the 4 campus locations answered in question 1 with each campus having one building except for Wharton which has 15.

Sections 1–3

3 User / Endpoint Inventory

Please provide the site-wise count of current users/extensions/phones across Wharton, Sugar Land, Richmond, Bay City, and any other in-scope locations.

This is the breakout of phones per campus:

Bay City – 31 Wharton – 295 Richmond – 146 Sugarland – 78

Section 2 / Section 3

4 User / Endpoint Inventory

The RFP mentions approximately 550 physical phones. Please provide a detailed inventory by location showing handset model, assigned user/common area use, and whether the device is active/inactive. This information would be provided after choosing of the vendor.

Section 2 / Section 3

5 User / Endpoint Inventory

Please provide a count of fax lines, analog devices, courtesy phones, lobby phones, conference phones, elevator phones, emergency phones, security phones, paging devices, and door/intercom devices currently in use. We have 4 fax lines currently in use. 3 in Wharton and 1 in Richmond.

Section 2 / Section 3

6 Classroom Emergency Calling

Please provide the number of classrooms requiring emergency calling capability without physical phones and clarify whether this applies to all classrooms or only selected rooms/buildings.

This is only for classrooms with physical phones.

Section 3

7 Classroom Emergency Calling

For classroom emergency calling, please clarify whether calls must route to public 911 only, on-campus police/security, or both. 911 only, with an alert to campus security and other individuals when a call is made.

Section 3

8 Emergency / E911

Please provide the College’s E911 location requirements by campus/building/floor/room level and clarify the expected emergency response workflow for Ray Baum’s Act / Kari’s Law compliance. Fixed desk and common-area phones (classrooms, labs, offices): building, floor, and room or nearest identifiable space.

Nomadic endpoints (softphones, desktop/mobile clients):

location must be determined dynamically for on-campus use. Vendors should describe their supported approach.

On any 911 call, the call should be routed to local police, fire, EMS with notifications via email sent to campus security and other individuals as requested.

Section 2 / Section 3 / Section 8

9 Current Environment

Please confirm the current phone platform architecture for the existing Mitel/ShoreTel solution, including system versions, licensing, voicemail platform, auto-attendant setup, and any contact center/attendant console applications in use.

We use an on-prem Mitel Connect Director server with Shoretel T1k and SG90 switches at each location. We do use auto attendant, hunt groups, pickup groups, and paging groups through Mitel Connect Director.

Section 2 / Section 3

Current Environment

Please confirm whether the existing environment includes any SIP trunks, PRI/analog circuits, fax gateways, paging integrations, door phones, alarm lines, or third-party integrations that must be retained or migrated. We currently have SIP trunks and PRI through GTT that would need to be ported.

Section 2 / Section 3

DID /

Numbering

The RFP references a block of 1000 DIDs. Please provide the current DID inventory and identify how many numbers are actively assigned, reserved, used for fax/alarms, or available for rationalization. 554 are currently being used. 550 for phones and 4 for fax.

WAN /

Network

Please provide the current WAN topology between campuses and identify the available bandwidth, internet circuits, and redundancy at each site/location.

Available bandwidth for Bay City and Sugar Land are 1Gbps and Wharton and Richmond 10Gbps. Richmond and Wharton act as hub sites with a redundant circuit between the two. Bay City and Sugar Land feed from Wharton or Richmond location.

Clarification required for implementati on planning

LAN /

Network Readiness

Please confirm the LAN switching environment at each site, including PoE availability, voice VLANs, QoS readiness, and switch capacity for supporting the proposed cloud telephony solution. We use Meraki for our LAN environment with PoE availability at all sites, no voice VLAN or QoS, and current capacity will meet the needs of a 1:1 replacement of current phones.

Clarification required for implementati on planning

Wi-Fi / Wireless Phones

The RFP requests investigation of wireless phones in certain areas. Please identify the locations/use cases where wireless phones are required and confirm whether the existing Wi-Fi coverage and capacity are sufficient for voice use. This was in regards to softphone capabilities only.

Section 3

Internet / Remote Work

Please confirm the expected remote/hybrid work user count and whether remote users require softphone access only or both desktop and mobile calling capability. The count would be under 20 and users would require desktop and mobile calling capability.

Section 1 / Section 2 / Section 3

Microsoft / Teams

The RFP requests soft phone solutions utilizing Teams for remote associates. Please clarify whether WCJC expects Microsoft Teams Phone/native Teams calling, or whether a cloud telephony platform integrated with Teams is acceptable. A cloud telephony platform integrated with teams is acceptable.

Section 3

Microsoft / Licensing

Please confirm whether WCJC already has Microsoft 365 / Teams licensing in place for the intended users and, if so, share the applicable license types relevant to telephony integration.

We currently have A3 for faculty licenses for our users.

Section 3

Solution Architecture

Please confirm whether WCJC is seeking a fully cloud-hosted telephony solution only, or whether hybrid approaches are also acceptable for certain services/endpoints. We are seeking a cloud-hosted solution only.

Section 1 / Section 4

Handset Strategy

The RFP notes the College may reduce the number of physical handsets. Please confirm whether WCJC expects the proposer to recommend a right-sized handset count, and whether all current handsets are assumed to be replaced unless otherwise proposed. All current handsets, 550, are assumed to be

Section 2 / replaced with the option for future soft phone use as requested by users.

Handset / Device Scope

Please clarify which device categories are expected to remain as physical endpoints versus which users/areas may be considered for softphone-only or wireless alternatives. All current physical handsets, 550, are assumed to be replaced with the option for future soft phone use as requested by users.

Section 2 / Section 3 / Section 4

Auto Attendant / Call Flow

Please provide current or desired auto-attendant/call-routing requirements, including main numbers, business hours routing, after-hours routing, department menus, and campus-specific call flows. We have an auto attendant menu tied to our main 979- 532-4560 that is set to auto attendant after business hours and regular hours forwarded to an operator. We utilize 20 hunt groups for departments that are either ring all at one time or set to ring next in line.

Section 3

Voicemail / Unity / Reachability

The RFP requests Unity and single dial reachability. Please clarify the expected functional scope for these features and whether this is intended to replicate current functionality or implement a new target design. We would like to keep 4 digit internal extension to extension dialing if possible.

Section 3

Implementati on / Migration

Please confirm whether WCJC prefers a phased migration by campus/building or a broader cutover approach, and whether there are any academic calendar blackout periods or testing windows that must be observed. We would like to do a broader cutover if possible. Blackout periods would be the first two weeks of December 26 and first two weeks of January 27.

Section 4

Number Porting

Please provide the list of current carriers/service providers and confirm whether all current DIDs, fax numbers, and service numbers are expected to be ported to the new platform. GTT is the current service provider and we would like all DIDs ported to the new platform for now.

Section 4 / Section 3

Support / Operations

Please clarify whether WCJC expects the selected vendor to provide fully managed day-2 operations (MACDs, admin support, reporting, troubleshooting, carrier coordination), or only platform support under SLA. We would expect a higher support level in the beginning 2 months with platform support under SLA fine after implementation and initial go live period.

Section 1 / Section 8

Security / Compliance

The RFP requires TX-RAMP certification. Please confirm whether TX-RAMP certification of the proposed cloud platform itself is mandatory, and whether all related services/sub-processors must also meet this requirement.

Our solicitation states that you must be TX-RAMP certified.

Section 3 / Section 4 / Section 8

Security / Compliance

Please confirm whether WCJC has any additional cybersecurity, data residency, retention, logging, or MFA requirements beyond those listed in the RFP that must be addressed in the proposed solution. Data residency would need to be in the US.

Section 4 / Section 8

Support /

SLA

Please clarify the expected severity definitions, response times, resolution targets, and reporting cadence under the required SLA model. Assuming Critical is a system wide outage then a 1 hour SLA would be ideal. For anything else a 2-4 hour SLA would be fine. Reporting cadence can be on a quarterly basis.

Section 8

Commercial / Pricing

Please confirm the preferred pricing structure for the response, including whether pricing should be broken down per site / per user / per device / per service type, in addition to the required split of recurring, one-time, optional, and licensing costs. An annual pricing structure would be ideal for everything included. Initial implementation can be a separate quote for any one time costs.

Section 4

Commercial / Maintenance

The RFP requests a post-warranty 3-year maintenance proposal. Please clarify whether this should be provided as a separate optional line item or incorporated into the base contract commercial model. Incorporated in the base contract.

Section 3

Insurance / Contracting

Please confirm whether a statement of ability to meet insurance requirements is sufficient at proposal stage, or whether any additional insurance declarations/forms are expected with the bid submission. See pg. 9 of the RFP

Section 8 / Vendor Checklist

Forms / Compliance

Please confirm whether Attachment C – Form 1295 is required at proposal submission or only from the awarded vendor prior to contract execution, if applicable. In accordance with Texas Government Code §2252.908, the awarded vendor may be required to submit a completed Certificate of Interested Parties (Form 1295) prior to contract execution. The form must be filed electronically with the Texas Ethics Commission and submitted to WCJC as required by law.

Attachment C / Vendor Checklist

Site Survey / Discovery

Please confirm whether WCJC will permit or arrange a discovery workshop / site survey / technical review session with the selected or shortlisted vendors prior to final implementation planning. The selected vendor will get access to a discovery workshop/site survey prior to final implementation planning.

Section 3 / Section 4

Existing Documentati on

Please share any available network diagrams, dial plan, DID inventory, site floor plans, emergency location mapping, and current telecom billing records to support accurate solution design and pricing.

Clarification required