MPC_Server_Backup_RFP_Sept012026.pdf

RFP for Server Backup Services

Chatham County - Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission 110 East State Street, P.O. Box 8246

Savannah, Georgia 31412-8246 Phone 912-651-1440 www.thempc.org

Date: September 01, 2026

REQUEST FOR

PROPOSALS

RFP NO. 2026-01

Qualified Proposers are invited to submit sealed proposals, subject to the conditions and instructions specified herein, for the furnishing of:

SERVER BACKUP SERVICES

GENERAL SCOPE The Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) is requesting proposals from qualified firms to assess, design, implement, document, monitor, and support a reliable backup and recovery solution for 25 production and/or business-critical servers. The solution must include local and secure off-premises backup capabilities, protect covered workloads and Microsoft 365 data, provide documented recovery procedures, and support agreed recovery, security, reporting, and administrative requirements.

DUE DATE October 01, 2026 at 3 p.m.

Proposals must be received and date/time stamped on or before the due date by MPC at 110 East State Street, Savannah, Georgia 31401. Late submissions shall not be accepted.

INSTRUCTIONS

TO OBTAIN RFP

SPECIFICATIONS

THIS SHEET DOES NOT REPRESENT

COMPLETE RFP SPECIFICATIONS

The complete solicitation and any addenda will be available at: https://www.thempc.org/IT/Rfp2026 .

To request specifications by mail, complete the information below and mail the request to MPC, Attn:

Pamela Everett, Assistant Executive Director.

FedEx Account No.:

______________________________ UPS Account No.: ______________________________ Company Name:

_________________________________ Attention of:

Complete Mailing or Delivery Address:

Email: ______________________________ Phone Number: __________________ Fax Number:

Specifications may also be picked up from MPC's offices between 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.

https://www.thempc.org/IT/Rfp2026

COMMUNICATION ONCE AN RFP HAS BEEN ISSUED

All questions, requests for clarification, and communications concerning this solicitation shall be submitted in writing by email to Pamela Everett, Assistant Executive Director, Compliance & Operations at everettp@thempc.org. MPC will not orally or telephonically address questions or clarifications concerning the specifications or procurement procedures. A Proposer who visits or calls MPC with such questions will be instructed to submit them in writing.

All contact concerning this solicitation, unless otherwise directed in writing, shall be made through Pamela Everett, Assistant Executive Director Compliance & Operations. Proposers shall not contact department heads, technical staff, members of the Planning Commission, or other MPC personnel concerning this solicitation. If technical questions require a response, MPC will issue a written addendum containing the questions and responses on the solicitation webpage: https://www.thempc.org/IT/Rfp2026 . MPC will not respond individually to questions when the response could affect competition or the interpretation of the solicitation.

If it becomes necessary to revise any part of this solicitation, a written addendum will be posted on the solicitation webpage. It is each Proposer’s responsibility to review that webpage for new information and addenda.

MPC is not bound by oral representations, clarifications, or changes made by MPC personnel. Only written addenda issued by MPC shall modify this solicitation.

Any request submitted after proposals have been opened and while an award is pending must also be made in writing to the Assistant Executive Director.

https://www.thempc.org/IT/Rfp2026

CHATHAM COUNTY-SAVANNAH

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION

QUESTIONS/CLARIFICATION FORM

DATE: ____________________________________________

TO: Pamela Everett, Assistant Executive Director Compliance & Operations Email: everettp@thempc.org

RE: RFP NO. 2026-01

Server Backup Services

I have the following concerns/questions about the specifications:

(Add additional pages as necessary)

From:

Company Name: ________________________________________ Website:

Representative: _______________________________________ Email Address:

Complete Address:

City: _________________________________ State: __________ ZIP Code: ___________________________ Telephone Number: ______________________________ Fax Number:

CHATHAM COUNTY-SAVANNAH

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION

GENERAL PROVISIONS FOR REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Server Backup Services

The Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) is requesting proposals from qualified firms to provide server backup and recovery services as described in this RFP. The selected Proposer will be responsible for implementation and ongoing services for the initial term, subject to the terms of the resulting contract.

The anticipated award date, project start date, and implementation deadline is November 2, 2026.

A. PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL DATE

THE SEALED PROPOSALS ARE DUE October 01, 2026 at 3 p.m. at the location below. Submit five (5) paper copies of the proposal and one (1) electronic copy in PDF format. The electronic copy shall be included on a USB flash drive or other media accepted by MPC. For proper identification, the Proposer’s complete name and address shall appear on the exterior of the proposal package.

The proposal shall be hand delivered or mailed to the following address:

Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission RE: RFP No. 2026-01, Server Backup Services

Attn: Pamela Everett, Assistant Executive Director, Compliance & Operations Mail: P.O. Box 8246, Savannah, Georgia 31412-8246

Delivery: 110 East State Street, Savannah, Georgia 31401

If a proposal does not reach MPC on or before the stated due date and time, it shall not be considered and may be returned unopened. The Proposer is solely responsible for ensuring that its proposal is mailed or delivered and received by the deadline. MPC shall not be responsible for proposals delayed by the U.S. Mail or any courier.

MPC shall not be liable for expenses incurred by a Proposer in preparing or submitting a proposal or participating in presentations, negotiations, demonstrations, or site visits. MPC reserves the right to award this project, reject any or all proposals, waive informalities, or discontinue the procurement when determined to be in MPC’s best interest.

B. RECEIPT OF PROPOSALS

Unless otherwise stated in this RFP, MPC will accept one proposal per firm. If multiple firms respond as a team or joint venture, one firm shall be identified as the prime contractor. The proposal shall be submitted in the name of the prime contractor, and correspondence concerning the RFP will be between MPC and the prime contractor.

C. SUBCONTRACTING

If the Proposer intends to subcontract any part of the work, the names, addresses, roles, and responsibilities of all proposed subcontractors must be identified in the proposal. The prime contractor shall be responsible for each subcontractor’s compliance with the RFP and contract. MPC shall not be responsible for payments to subcontractors.

D. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RFP

Communication concerning this solicitation must occur in writing through Pamela Everett, Assistant Executive Director, as described in the section titled “Communication Once an RFP Has Been Issued.”

E. PUBLIC INFORMATION

All information and materials submitted will become the property of MPC and shall be subject to the Georgia Open Records Act and other applicable law. To the extent permitted by law, a Proposer should clearly identify information it considers confidential or proprietary and provide the legal basis for that designation.

MPC does not guarantee that marked information will be exempt from disclosure. Applicable portions of the successful proposal may be incorporated into the contract and maintained as a public record.

F. ADDENDA

The Proposer shall acknowledge receipt of each addendum in its proposal and should include an initialed copy of each addendum. It is the Proposer’s responsibility to obtain all addenda, including when the RFP was received from a source other than MPC.

G. SELECTION PROCESS

MPC will appoint a Proposal Review Committee to evaluate responsive proposals based on the criteria stated in this RFP. The Committee may request clarifications, demonstrations, reference checks, interviews, or presentations. The use and scoring of interviews or presentations is set forth on page 20. The Committee will provide a ranking or recommendation to the appropriate MPC authority.

H. NEGOTIATION

After proposals have been evaluated, MPC may negotiate with the highest-ranked Proposer. To facilitate negotiations, the Proposer may be asked to submit clarifications, a detailed scope, cost breakdown, hourly rates, service-level commitments, licensing details, or revised pricing. If MPC cannot reach an agreement with the highest-ranked Proposer, MPC may close those negotiations and negotiate with the next highest-ranked Proposer. MPC may continue this process until an agreement is reached or may cancel the solicitation.

I. CONTRACT AWARD

A written acceptance or notice of intent to award does not constitute a binding contract unless and until a final written agreement is approved and executed by all required parties. The negotiated contract will bind the Proposer to provide the services, software, licensing, support, and deliverables described in the contract. The contract file may include the solicitation, addenda, proposal, clarifications, negotiation documents, and the basis for award.

The successful Proposer shall not assign, transfer, convey, or otherwise dispose of the contract, or any right or interest in it, without MPC’s prior written consent.

J. NON-COLLUSION

The Proposer affirms that its proposal has not been made in connection with another Proposer submitting a proposal for the same services and that the proposal is bona fide, fair, and without collusion or fraud.

K. INDEMNITY

The successful Proposer agrees, by entering into a contract, to defend, indemnify, and hold MPC harmless from claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and causes of action arising from or under the contract, except to the extent caused by MPC’s sole gross negligence. The Proposer shall, at MPC’s option and with appropriate counsel, defend MPC and bear applicable costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising from the Proposer’s performance.

L. SPECIFICATION DESCRIPTIONS

The specifications represent the quality and capabilities required by MPC. Reference to a particular process, service, product, or brand is intended to facilitate description of the desired capabilities and is not intended to restrict competition. Veeam products are identified because of MPC’s requirements and current planning assumptions; however, a Proposer may offer a non-Veeam equivalent or superior enterprise backup platform.

The proposal must clearly identify deviations and demonstrate equivalency. Determination of equivalency rests solely with MPC.

M. TAXES

MPC is exempt from Georgia State Retail Tax. Proposed costs shall be exclusive of such taxes. Tax Exemption No. 6541648-IV; O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3; Federal ID No. 58-6005252.

N. DRUG-FREE WORKPLACE

In compliance with applicable federal and state Drug-Free Workplace requirements, MPC has adopted a drug-free workplace policy. A Proposer providing goods or services to MPC must comply with all applicable requirements.

O. FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAWS

All Proposers and subcontractors shall comply with applicable federal, state, and local laws, ordinances, rules, and regulations relating to conducting business and performing the services. Ignorance of applicable requirements shall not relieve a Proposer or subcontractors from responsibility for compliance.

P. INSURANCE

The successful Proposer shall maintain and, upon request, provide evidence of the insurance described under General Requirements, Section II, Insurance, for the duration of the contract.

Q. TERMINATION OF CONTRACT

1. Default. If the Proposer refuses or fails to perform the contract with such diligence as will ensure timely completion, fails to satisfy contract provisions, or commits another substantial breach, MPC may provide written notice. Except as otherwise provided below, if a breach that is capable of cure is not cured within ten (10) days, or such longer period as MPC may state in writing, MPC may terminate all or part of the contract. MPC may procure replacement services, and the Proposer may be liable for excess costs attributable to the default.

Time-Sensitive Obligations. The notification deadlines, emergency-response obligations, and hurricane backup requirements established under Section T are time-sensitive material obligations. Failure to satisfy a time-specific obligation within the required period cannot be cured retroactively merely by performing the missed obligation after the applicable deadline. Accordingly, MPC shall not be required to provide an additional ten-day cure period as a condition to exercising contractual remedies for the missed time-sensitive obligation.

Any underlying or continuing condition giving rise to the failure shall nevertheless be promptly corrected or remediated by the Proposer. MPC may, in its discretion, permit corrective action or a remediation period without waiving the original breach or any right or remedy arising from that breach.

MPC may exercise remedies appropriate to the severity and consequences of the failure, including termination where MPC reasonably determines that the failure materially jeopardized backup integrity, recoverability, continuity of service, or security, or where substantially similar failures are repeated.

2. Compensation. Payment for completed services and accepted deliverables will be made according to the contract. MPC may withhold amounts reasonably necessary to protect against outstanding claims or to reimburse excess costs arising from a default.

R. TIME FOR CONSIDERATION

Proposals must remain valid for at least ninety (90) days after the proposal due date unless a different period is stated in an addendum.

S. REQUEST FOR EVALUATION RESULTS

In accordance with applicable Georgia law, proposal and evaluation records will not be disclosed before contract award to the extent disclosure is prohibited or deferred by law. After award, requests to inspect records shall be processed in accordance with the Georgia Open Records Act.

T. SERVICE CONTINUITY, INCIDENT NOTIFICATION, AND HURRICANE BACKUP

REQUIREMENTS

1. Loss of Remote Backup Capability. The successful Proposer shall notify MPC immediately upon discovery of any loss or material degradation of: (a) the ability to transmit, perform, or complete backups to the remote, cloud, or other off-premises backup destination; or (b) the Proposer’s ability to remotely access, administer, monitor, or support the backup environment when such loss or degradation affects the backup or recovery service.

2. Extended Service Unavailability. If the successful Proposer knows or reasonably expects that any material component of the backup or recovery service will be unavailable for more than twenty-four (24) consecutive hours, the Proposer shall notify MPC as soon as the Proposer becomes aware or reasonably expects that the outage will exceed twenty-four (24) hours. In all cases, such notification shall be provided no later than twenty-four (24) hours after the unavailability begins.

For purposes of this requirement, service unavailability includes any condition that materially prevents or impairs backup or recovery services, including failure or unavailability of the backup software or platform, cloud or off-premises repository, communications path, monitoring service, or vendor-managed infrastructure.

3. Emergency or Significant Incident Notification. The successful Proposer shall notify MPC no later than twenty-four (24) hours after becoming aware of any emergency, significant incident, or other event that materially affects or reasonably threatens the availability of the backup or recovery service; the integrity or recoverability of backup data; the ability to perform backups or restores; or the security, availability, or integrity of protected backup systems, repositories, credentials, or related service components.

Such incidents include, as applicable, backup data loss or corruption, inability to perform backups or restores, ransomware or other malicious activity affecting the backup environment, compromise or suspected compromise of backup credentials or repositories, material infrastructure or communications failures, significant cloud or service-provider outages, and other events that would reasonably be considered significant under generally accepted enterprise backup, recovery, cybersecurity, or managed-service practices.

For any continuing outage or significant incident, the Proposer shall provide status updates to MPC no less frequently than once every twenty-four (24) hours and upon any material change in status until the incident is resolved. Following resolution, the Proposer shall provide a written incident report describing the cause, impact, corrective actions taken, and measures implemented or recommended to reduce the likelihood of recurrence.

4. Notification Method and Contact. Notifications required under this Section shall be made by both email and telephone to:

Pamela Everett Assistant Executive Director, Compliance & Operations Email: everettp@thempc.org Telephone: 912-651-1465, attention Pamela Everett

MPC may designate additional or replacement operational contacts or telephone numbers in writing during the term of the contract. Initial notification shall include, to the extent known at the time, the nature of the event, affected systems or services, time of discovery, known or anticipated impact, corrective actions underway, and estimated time to restoration or resolution.

When more than one notification requirement under this Section applies to the same event, the shortest applicable notification period shall govern.

5. Hurricane Preparedness and Full Backup Requirement. When a hurricane is approaching and may reach or materially affect MPC’s location or operations, the successful Proposer shall proactively initiate and ensure completion of a complete/full backup of all data, systems, applications, Microsoft 365 workloads, and other workloads protected under the resulting contract. The Proposer shall not wait for the regularly scheduled backup cycle when this requirement is triggered.

This requirement shall be triggered when one or more of the following occurs: (a) an official hurricane watch or warning applicable to Chatham County is issued by an appropriate governmental weather or emergency-management authority; (b) an official forecast reasonably indicates that a hurricane is expected to reach or materially affect MPC’s location or operations; or (c) MPC IT directs that the hurricane backup procedure be initiated.

The complete/full backup shall be successfully completed no later than twenty-four (24) hours before the earliest reasonably anticipated time at which the hurricane is expected to reach or materially affect MPC’s location or operations, based upon the most current official information reasonably available.

Either MPC IT or the Proposer may initiate or trigger the required backup process; however, the Proposer shall remain responsible for ensuring that the required backup is initiated, successfully completed, verified, and documented.

If sufficient notice is not available to permit completion at least twenty-four (24) hours before the anticipated impact, the Proposer shall initiate the complete/full backup immediately upon becoming aware of the condition and shall use commercially reasonable efforts to successfully complete and verify the backup before the anticipated impact.

Upon successful completion, the Proposer shall provide MPC with written confirmation identifying the completion date and time and confirming the successful completion and verification of the required backup.

Any failed, incomplete, or excluded backup component shall be immediately disclosed to MPC, together with the affected workloads, corrective action being taken, and current status.

NOTICE TO PROPOSERS

MPC prohibits any business owned by a member of the Planning Commission, employing a Planning Commission member or MPC staff member, or in which a Planning Commission member has a substantial financial interest, from submitting a proposal for goods or services to MPC when prohibited by applicable law or ethics requirements.

Likewise, a business owned by a Chatham County employee or Commissioner, a member of a board, authority, or commission, or a business in which such a person has a substantial pecuniary interest may not submit a proposal when the proposal pertains to that public entity and the submission is prohibited by applicable law or ethics requirements.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS PROJECT SCOPE

Server Backup Services

RFP NO. 2026-01

Background and Purpose MPC relies on approximately 25 production and/or business-critical servers to support its operational, administrative, and information technology functions. MPC seeks a qualified Proposer to design, implement, monitor, and support a reliable backup solution that protects critical systems and data, supports recoverability, and is managed according to approved recovery objectives, security requirements, retention requirements, and reporting expectations.

The desired solution will provide both local backup capability for rapid recovery and routine technician maintenance and secure off-premises backup capability for resilience. MPC will provide the on-premises backup equipment or storage to be used for the local component. The selected Proposer will assess that equipment and identify any limitations, configuration requirements, or additional dependencies in its proposal.

Project Objectives

• Protect the 25 covered servers and applicable Microsoft 365 workloads through a documented and supportable backup architecture.

• Establish reliable local and off-premises recovery capabilities, including encryption, access controls, monitoring, and ransomware-resilient safeguards.

• Define and implement appropriate backup schedules, retention policies, Recovery Point Objectives

(RPOs), and Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs).

• Provide monitoring, failure remediation, periodic restore testing, reporting, documentation, and administrator knowledge transfer.

• Maintain MPC ownership and administrative control of cloud tenants, subscriptions, repositories, accounts, credentials, and recovery access while permitting delegated vendor access.

Scope of Services

• Provide backup services for 25 production and/or business-critical servers.

• Assess the current server environment, backup requirements, data volumes, retention needs, recovery priorities, available local backup equipment, network constraints, and dependencies.

• Design and configure backup schedules, backup jobs, retention policies, storage targets, alerts, reporting, role-based access, and administrative access.

• Support full, incremental, differential, synthetic full, or other appropriate backup strategies based on the proposed platform and workloads.

• Implement a dual backup approach consisting of an MPC-provided in-house backup component and a secure cloud/off-premises backup component.

• Monitor backup completion, investigate failures, and remediate issues according to the proposed and accepted service-level commitments.

• Conduct periodic restore testing to confirm backup integrity and recoverability.

• Provide implementation documentation, system design documentation, reports, administrator training, and knowledge transfer to designated MPC technical staff.

Technical Requirements

• The solution must support the operating systems, applications, databases, physical servers, virtual environments, and workloads hosted on the 25 covered servers. Detailed environment information not available in this RFP shall be validated during the assessment.

• The Proposer may propose Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam Data Platform, another appropriate Veeam product, or a non-Veeam equivalent enterprise backup platform. This is not a sole source designation. References to a specific manufacturer, brand name, model number, or catalog designation are intended only to establish a standard of quality, performance, and functional requirements. Products determined by the MPC to be equal in all material respects will be considered. Proposers offering an alternate platform or product must provide sufficient documentation demonstrating that the proposed platform or product meets or exceeds all stated requirements. The Proposer shall supply, procure, license, and support all required software for the applicable service term and clearly identify all licensing assumptions.

• The Proposer shall supply, procure, license, and support all required software for the applicable service term and clearly identify all licensing assumptions.

• The Proposer shall supply, procure, license, configure, and manage the cloud backup services and assets needed for off-premises storage and recovery, including storage, repositories, subscriptions, tenant resources, support entitlements, and related service components.

• The cloud tenant, subscriptions, repositories, administrative accounts, user accounts, and related cloud assets shall be owned by MPC. The Proposer will receive delegated access appropriate to its responsibilities. All credentials, ownership records, support information, and recovery-access procedures shall be documented and supplied to MPC.

• Backup data must be encrypted in transit and at rest, including data stored in cloud and off-premises repositories.

• The solution must support role-based access controls, secure administrative practices, and separation of duties appropriate to the proposed platform.

• The solution must include alerting for failed, missed, delayed, or incomplete backup jobs.

• The Proposer shall recommend retention periods for daily, weekly, monthly, annual, and long-term backups. The final matrix must support applicable MPC records-retention obligations, including the Georgia Archives Local Government Records Retention Schedules adopted under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-92 and, when covered data constitutes Federal award records, 2 C.F.R. § 200.334. Backup retention is not a substitute for records-management requirements.

• The Proposer shall define RPO and RTO options for critical and non-critical systems and identify technical, licensing, bandwidth, storage, and cost dependencies for each option.

• The solution must support documented full-server, file-level, application-level, database-level, and Microsoft 365 recovery where applicable.

• The Proposer shall describe ransomware-resilient capabilities such as immutability, protected repositories, isolated credentials, multi-factor authentication, or equivalent safeguards. The final controls will be selected during evaluation and implementation.

• The solution shall support backup and recovery for approximately 30 to 35 licensed Microsoft 365 users, including applicable Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams data. The exact protected workloads and data volumes shall be confirmed during the assessment.

Service Levels and Support Service Area Expected Requirement

Monitoring Weekly backup service for one year, including backup operations, monitoring, issue remediation, and service reporting.

Failure Response The Proposer shall propose remediation response times for failed backup jobs, including escalation and after-hours handling where offered. Proposed service levels may exceed, but shall not reduce or supersede, the mandatory notification requirements established in Section T of the General Provisions.

Restore Support The Proposer shall propose restore-response targets according to priority, business impact, and recovery type.

Reporting Monthly reporting on backup success rates, failures, storage utilization, restore testing, open issues, licensing status, capacity, and recommendations.

Escalation The Proposer shall provide named escalation contacts, escalation procedures, after-hours escalation methods, and critical-incident communication procedures that meet or exceed the mandatory requirements established in Section T.

Service Continuity / Incident Notification The Proposer shall comply with the mandatory requirements in Section T concerning loss of remote backup capability, extended service unavailability, emergency or significant incidents, continuing status updates, and post-incident reporting.

Hurricane Preparedness The Proposer shall maintain operational procedures sufficient to satisfy the hurricane backup requirements established in Section T, including proactive initiation, successful completion and verification of a complete/full backup, exception reporting, and written completion confirmation.

Service Term Initial one-year term, renewable annually for up to four total years, subject to annual approval, appropriation of funds, and applicable Georgia law. Services shall be billable in annual installments.

Deliverables

• Backup assessment and implementation plan.

• System design documentation for all 25 servers and covered Microsoft 365 workloads.

• Backup architecture diagram showing MPC-provided in-house components, MPC-owned cloud/off-premises assets, data flows, encryption points, management components, network dependencies, and restore paths.

• Backup schedule and retention matrix.

• Licensing and subscription inventory, renewal calendar, support-entitlement documentation, ownership records, and administrative credential handoff.

• Restore runbook, escalation procedures, incident-notification matrix, extended-outage response procedures, and documented hurricane backup procedure consistent with Section T.

• Initial backup-completion report.

• Restore-test report following implementation and subsequent periodic test reports.

• Monthly operational reports.

• Administrator training for designated MPC technical staff covering administration, monitoring, restores, reporting, escalation, and routine maintenance.

Assumptions and MPC Responsibilities

• MPC will provide a current list of the 25 servers, including hostnames, IP addresses, operating systems, applications, data volumes, and criticality ratings when available.

• MPC will provide required administrative access, network connectivity, firewall rules, maintenance windows, and technical contacts.

• MPC will provide the in-house backup equipment or storage and will identify available capacity and current configuration during the assessment.

• MPC will identify applicable compliance, legal, business, and records-retention requirements before final implementation approval.

• The Proposer and MPC will jointly review backup schedules to minimize impact on production operations.

• Additional servers, applications, storage, licensing, cloud consumption, or specialized recovery requirements may require a written change order.

Contract Term and Pricing Structure The contract shall consist of an initial one-year term and may be renewed annually for up to three additional one-year terms, for a maximum of four total years. Each renewal is subject to MPC approval, availability and appropriation of funds, satisfactory performance, and applicable Georgia law. The proposal shall separately identify one-time implementation costs, first-year recurring costs, cloud consumption assumptions, software licensing, support, training, and optional annual renewal pricing. Services shall be invoiced in annual installments unless otherwise negotiated in the contract.

Estimated Schedule Milestone Date/Time

Request for Proposals Announced September 01, 2026

Deadline to Submit Questions 10 Days Before Deadline.

Deadline for MPC Responses/Addendum 5 Days Before Deadline.

Deadline for Proposal Submittal October 01, 2026

Proposal Review Period TBD

Interviews/Presentations TBD

Selection and Notification TBD

Project Start TBD

Required Implementation Completion TBD

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

I. FIRM QUALIFICATIONS

The Proposer and its subcontractors shall demonstrate knowledge and experience with enterprise server backup, cloud backup, disaster recovery, Microsoft 365 protection, encryption, ransomware-resilient backup design, restore testing, monitoring, licensing, and public-sector or similarly regulated environments. The Proposer shall be properly authorized to conduct business in Georgia and shall not be suspended or debarred from contracting with a federal, state, or local governmental entity.

II. INSURANCE

The successful Proposer shall provide a Certificate of Insurance for each applicable category below and maintain the coverage for the duration of the contract:

1. General liability property damage insurance.

2. General liability bodily injury insurance.

3. Automotive/truck insurance covering owned, hired, and non-owned vehicles used in performance of the contract.

4. Workers' compensation insurance.

5. Employer's liability insurance.

6. Professional Liability Insurance - $1,500,000 per occurrence.

III. PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

The complete proposal shall contain the information listed in the Requirements for Proposal section and shall be submitted in that order. The proposal is not subject to fixed narrative page limits; however, a proposal that fails to address each required section may be deemed non-responsive or incomplete.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PROPOSAL

The proposal shall be complete, organized in the sequence below, and divided with clear electronic bookmarks and/or identifying tabs. Pricing shall be included in the main proposal unless MPC issues an addendum directing otherwise. No fixed page limit applies.

Section 1: Transmittal Letter Submit a signed transmittal letter on company letterhead introducing the firm; identifying ownership, complete address, telephone number, and website; naming the authorized contact for the RFP; confirming acceptance of the solicitation requirements; and identifying any exceptions.

Section 2: Company Background and Qualifications Describe the firm’s history, ownership, organizational structure, relevant backup and recovery experience, manufacturer and cloud partnerships, support capabilities, and authority to conduct business in Georgia.

Identify proposed subcontractors and their roles.

Section 3: Relevant Experience and Key Personnel Describe similar engagements involving server backup, cloud/off-premises protection, Microsoft 365 backup, restore testing, monitoring, security, and ransomware resilience. Provide an organization chart, roles, responsibilities, availability, and resumes for key personnel.

Section 4: Technical Approach and Proposed Architecture Describe the proposed platform, software, licensing, local and cloud architecture, data flows, encryption, access model, backup methods, monitoring, Microsoft 365 protection, restore capabilities, ownership and credential model, and all required components. Include a proposed architecture diagram.

Section 5: Implementation Approach and Timeline Provide the assessment, design, implementation, migration, testing, acceptance, documentation, training, and transition-to-operations plan. Include a detailed schedule, maintenance-window assumptions, dependencies, risks, and customer responsibilities.

Section 6: Backup, Retention, RPO, and RTO Recommendations Provide recommended backup frequencies, retention periods, storage assumptions, RPO options, RTO options, criticality tiers, capacity projections, restore-testing frequency, and the basis for each recommendation.

Section 7: Security and Ransomware Resilience Describe encryption in transit and at rest, key management, role-based access, MFA, privileged access, credential separation, logging, immutability or equivalent protections, repository hardening, monitoring, incident response, and any security dependencies.

Section 8: Service Levels, Monitoring, Reporting, and Support Provide proposed service levels for monitoring, failed-job remediation, restore support, escalation, after-hours support, reporting, health checks, and periodic restore testing. Proposed service levels may exceed, but shall not reduce, qualify, or supersede the mandatory notification, service-continuity, incident-response, and hurricane backup requirements established in Section T of the General Provisions.

The proposal shall describe how the Proposer will satisfy the requirements for immediate notification of loss of remote backup capability; extended-service-outage notification; emergency and significant-incident notification; continuing incident status updates; post-incident reporting; and proactive hurricane backup initiation, verification, and completion confirmation. Include proposed escalation contacts and procedures.

Section 9: Administrator Training and Knowledge Transfer Provide the proposed number of sessions, delivery format, intended attendees, agenda, training materials, hands-on activities, post-training resources, and knowledge-transfer approach.

Section 10: Pricing and Licensing Provide itemized one-time implementation pricing, annual service pricing, software licensing, cloud subscriptions and storage, support entitlements, Microsoft 365 backup costs, training, optional services, usage assumptions, renewal pricing for up to four total years, and any price-escalation provisions. Explain the annual installment structure.

Section 11: Assumptions, Exclusions, Dependencies, and Exceptions Identify all technical, operational, licensing, capacity, bandwidth, customer, and schedule assumptions.

Identify exclusions, dependencies, proposed exceptions, and circumstances that could result in additional charges or change orders.

Section 12: References Provide at least five client references for similar services when available. Include entity name, address, description of services, contact name, telephone number, and email address. Identify any relationships or conflicts that could affect performance.

Section 13: Insurance and Certifications Provide evidence of required insurance or a commitment to provide certificates before contract execution.

Complete Appendix I, Affidavit of Certification, and Appendix II, Notice of Non-Discrimination. Both forms must be notarized.

Section 14: Addenda Acknowledgment Acknowledge receipt of each addendum and include an initialed copy or completed acknowledgment form for each addendum issued.

RFP EVALUATION

MPC will evaluate responsive proposals using the criteria below. MPC may request clarifications, demonstrations, references, or best-and-final offers. Whether interviews or presentations will be conducted and how they will affect final scoring is currently to be determined.

Criteria Weight

Technical fit and backup capability 30%

Security, encryption, and ransomware resilience 20%

Service levels, monitoring, and support model 20%

Implementation approach and timeline 10%

Cost and overall value 15%

Provider experience and references 5%

Each criterion may be assigned a rating of 1 through 5 by each evaluator. The weighted proposal score will be calculated by applying the criterion weight to the assigned rating according to MPC’s evaluation procedure.

Rating Description

1 Poor

2 Fair

3 Average

4 Good

5 Excellent

Appendix I

Affidavit of Certification

I, ________________________________________, being duly sworn, state that I am ______________________________ (title) of ______________________________________________ (firm), and hereby certify that I have read and understand the information presented in the attached proposal and its enclosures and exhibits.

I further certify that, to the best of my knowledge, the information submitted in response to this Request for Proposals is full, complete, and truthful.

I further certify that the Proposer and any principal employee of the Proposer has not, in the immediately preceding five (5) years, been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude or a felony offense, nor had a professional license suspended or revoked, nor been subjected to disciplinary proceedings, except as fully disclosed in the proposal.

I further certify that the Proposer has not, in the immediately preceding five (5) years, been suspended or debarred from contracting with a federal, state, or local government agency and is not currently under consideration for suspension or debarment, except as fully disclosed in the proposal.

I further certify that the Proposer has not, in the immediately preceding five (5) years, defaulted on a federal, state, or local government contract and is not currently under a notice of intent to default, except as fully disclosed in the proposal.

I acknowledge and authorize MPC to verify the accuracy and truth of information provided by the Proposer and to contact individuals or entities named in the proposal for verification.

I acknowledge that all information in the proposal is submitted for the purpose of inducing MPC to award a contract. A materially false statement or omission may be grounds for rejection, suspension or debarment, contract remedies, and any other remedies available under applicable law.

Signature: ________________________________________________ Printed Name and Title: ___________________________________ Date: __________________________

Sworn and subscribed before me this ______ day of __________________, 20____.

NOTARY PUBLIC: ___________________________________________

My Commission Expires: ___________________________________

NOTARY SEAL

Appendix II

Notice of Non-Discrimination

Non-Discrimination Statement The Proposer certifies that:

1. No person shall be excluded from participation in, denied the benefit of, or otherwise discriminated against on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or any other status protected by applicable law in connection with a proposal submitted to MPC or performance of a resulting contract.

2. It is and shall remain the policy of the company to provide equal opportunity to businesses seeking to contract or otherwise do business with the company, including minority-owned and women-owned businesses.

3. The company understands and agrees to take appropriate affirmative steps to provide such businesses with practicable opportunities to do business with the company.

4. The promise of non-discrimination is continuing in nature and shall remain in full force and effect throughout the procurement and any resulting contract.

5. These promises are incorporated by reference into any contract or portion of a contract obtained through this solicitation.

6. Failure to satisfactorily discharge these commitments may constitute a material breach and may entitle MPC to exercise applicable rights and remedies, including termination, suspension or debarment, and withholding or forfeiture of compensation to the extent permitted by law.

Signature: ________________________________________________ Title: ____________________________________________________ Company: _________________________________________________ Date: __________________________

NOTARY PUBLIC: ___________________________________________

My Commission Expires: ___________________________________

NOTARY SEAL

Non-Discrimination Statement