RFP 24-200 Addenda 1_F.pdf

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

RFP 24-200

Addendum No. 1

RFP# 24-200 Unified Communications System

This addendum shall modify, clarify, change, or add information and clarification and become part of the above referenced RFP.

Questions & Answers:

Question 1: We have reviewed section 5: Scope of Services and we provide most of these services “out of the box”. Some will need to be customized per your specifications.

What we are not seeing is

- Size of project.

o Are there multiple locations?

o How many extensions?

- Asking for a quote. All we see is Exhibit 1 – certification we can perform. Is this all you are looking for at this time?

Answer 1: The Coalition’s 250 employees provide community services through 3 office locations in Palm Beach County, with centralized administrative and contractual operations. Please refer to SECTION 5: SCOPE OF SERVICES 5.1 STATEMENT OF

WORK.

Question 2: Where can I find the number of seats needed for this request? 250

Answer 2: Please see answer to Question 1.

Question 3: I noticed that the reference is to port 200 DIDs, however, there is not a mention of how many users will be configured within the platform. Can you please provide a user count?

Answer 3: Please see answer to Question 1. 250 users, 200+ DIDs

Question 4: Also, do you have a list of handsets and conference room phones that you can send over?

Answer 4: Conference room systems are on a different system, so not needed and workstations will be softphone only.

Question 5: Can you let me know which 3 locations?

Answer 5: Boynton Beach (Administrative Office), Riviera Beach (Port Office), and Palm

Springs Office.

Question 6: are your employee phones and which is the call center?

Answer 6: 95% of the users would be softphone only, 5% physical phone.

Question 7: Is there any consideration for an extension, ideally one month?

Answer 7: Unfortunately, we won't be able to extend the submittal date for the RFP. We understand your current workload constraints but must adhere to the original timeline to ensure fairness and consistency for all participants.

Question 8: The solicitation specifies a PBX which is an on-premises hardware based communication system and then in section 5.1 Core PBX Requirements, bullet point 2 states a Fully cloud based PBX. Are you looking for a private cloud version of a communication system where the system is 100% dedicated (fully private cloud) to ELC of Palm Beach or is the ELC open to a public/shared cloud (not fully private or standalone) solution that the ELC shares an instance of?

Answer 8: Cloud based Telecom Voip system. No on-premise hardware other than the handsets

Question 9: Do you prefer a cost per user per month model as typically associated with a cloud PBX solution or are you looking for a single line annual cost for the system quoted?

Answer 9: Cost per user per month model.

Question 10: Where will you host the system, will it be at the school, at the school’s data center, a third-party hosting location, or shall the system be a fully cloud as a service-based solution with backup and redundancy in no single site, but instead duplicated in multiple 3rd party data centers?

Answer 10: System should be cloud based, it should be hosted in high availability datacenter, preferably in a cluster as we ask for 99.99% uptime.

Question 11: Section 5.1 Core PBX Requirements states “must support multiple brands of handsets including softphones, conference room phones, SIP desktop phones, and mobile phones. The description seems to indicate you want different types of devices to be connected, however I want to confirm if you are looking for a solution that will be able to use any brand or multiple brands on the same system such as Cisco phones, Polycom phones, Avaya phones, Grand stream phones, Yealink phones? Are you looking to use only one brand of phone such as Cisco only, Avaya only, Polycom only phones on the system, but you want to use various types of devices from physical desk phones, conference room phones, softphones, cordless phones of the same brand on the system?

Answer 11: Would like for the system to support SIP devices, ideally have the option to select from multiple vendors if we desire at some point.

Question 12: Contact Center Requirements, how long do you want to be able to store the recordings for?

Answer 12: 7 years.

Question 13: Third Party System Integration, can you please identify the third-party systems you will be integrating with the proposed PBX system? Please also identify the integration method and who is responsible for the integration, will it be the third-party provider or the contractor providing the PBX system?

Answer 13: CRM integration is ideal. The system should have an API that developers we contract with can interface with. There should documentation on how to use this. Ideal

CDR reports and other call logs would be able to write to a record in a CRM.

Question 14: Other Features, does the system need to come equipped and programmed for these features or simply have the ability for these features and capabilities to be set up at a later time? Will future setup of these features be billable as change orders in the future?

Answer 14: ELC will program call routes, time conditions, extension creation, sound file recordings. ELC will require training on the platform on how the system works and be available for phone support.

Question 15: Will we only receive answers to questions each contractor submits, will all questions submitted by all potential contractors be posted with answers, or will all questions and all answers be distributed to each contractor directly?

Answer 15: All questions will be answered on February 19, 2024, 2:00 p.m. EST. under this Addendum No. 1.

Question 16: Can you please confirm which PBX system the ELC is using today even if the ELC feels the current system manufacturer and type is not necessary?

Answer 16: The current contractor is Dialpad, Inc.

Question 17: Would Early Learning Coalition provide respondents with an extension?

Answer 17: Yes.

Question 18: Would the Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County consider extending the deadline by 2 months?

Answer 18: Please see answer to Question 7.

Question 19: Is there an approved budget for this project?

Answer 19: The approved annual budget for this project is approximately $200,000 yearly.

Question 20: Can the bid be sent electronically?

Answer 20: Please refer to Section 4 – 4.3 SUBMISSION.

Question 21: Who is the existing UC and Contact Center vendor?

Answer 21: Please see answer to Question 16.

Question 22: Do you require 24 x 7 or 8 x 5 support?

Answer 22: 8x5 M-F.

Question 23: Will a Train the Trainer approach work for each of the call center groups? If so, how many staff need to be trained by the GTS trainer?

Answer 23: Yes.

Question 24: Can you provide the number of call flows per business unit/call center?

Answer 24: 1000 calls per day.

Question 25: On average, many queues per call flow?

Answer 25: 3.

Question 26: For the base bid how many agents do you want pricing for?

Answer 26: 35 dedicated call center agents, 180 standard users.

Question 27: Do you prefer named or concurrent licenses for the contact center agents?

Answer 27: Concurrent.

Question 28: Do all of the agents require voice, email, chat, SMS and workforce

Management?

Answer 28: Yes.

Question 29: How many business units/call center groups do you have?

Answer 29: Three queues but the same agents are on all of them.

Question 30: I would like to request an extension of the due date of this RFP from February

23rd by another two-week s to allow us proper time to respond to this.

Answer 30: Please see answer to Question 7.

Question 31: Is it mandatory to have assignment of award strictly with RFP Terms or will

Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County sign awardee contracts in conjunction?

Answer 31: The Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County will sign contracts with the awardee in conjunction with the terms outlined in the RFP, and the awardee must comply with the specified terms and conditions.

Question 32: How many UC licenses are needed?

Answer 32: 180.

Question 33; How many CC licenses are needed?

Answer 33: 70.

Question 34: How many trunks would need to be routed to the cloud platform?

Answer 34: We would need to be able to have 250 simultaneous calls going at the same time.

Question 35: Do you require a self-service IVR? If so, can you provide use cases?

Answer 35: There would multiple IVRs. callers should be able to select if they want to listen to information in Spanish and Creole. Other callers would need to be able to dial a number and select from a subset of options.

Question 36: Do you require another language other than English for the IVR?

Answer 36: Spanish.

Question 37: Are there any Contact Center integrations that you require as part of the base bid?

Answer 37: The CRM integration would be ideal.

Question 38: Do you require outbound dialing campaigns? If so, how many?

Answer 38: No.

Question 39: If you have outbound dialing requirements, do you prefer progressive, preview or predictive?

Answer 39: NA.

Question 40: Do you have a requirement for screen recording?

Answer 40: Calls to the call center would need to be recorded and retained for 7 years

Question 41: For the base bid how many UC users?

Answer 41: 180.

Question 42: How many SIP desktop phones are required as part of the base bid?

Answer 42: 12-15 phones.

Question 43: Can browser-based phones be used for all the UC users?

Answer 43: Yes.

Question 44: To be clear, RFP is for 250 phone stations for employees PLUS call center with 70 agents (20 + 50 part-time) in three locations. Is this correct?

Answer 44: 250 users in total. Please answer to Question 1.

Question 45: Are you looking for a full-featured CRM system for the call center agents, or is the PBX with call routing, group ring and call que sufficient?

Answer 45: We have an existing CRM, would just need to be able to integrate with it.

Question 46: Will the 20 + 50 call center agents work simultaneously? That is 70 agents at the same time?

Answer 46:

Question 47: Do you provide the internet?

Answer 47: The ELCPBC will provide internet connection.

Question 48: Is “Other features > Section 5” optional, or are you looking for pricing (e.g.

AI integration, natural language processing, etc.)?

Answer 48: Other Features must be included with the submitted proposal.

Question 49: Are you looking to reuse phones? Or do you want handsets included in pricing?

Answer 49: If our existing handsets are compatible then we can reuse them. They the BLF for example needs to work on the new system.

Question 50: If reusing phones, can you provide Manufacturer, Model numbers and

Quantities?

Answer 50: Polycom

Question 51: Are you looking to have different DID and Fax numbers per user?

Answer 51: No faxing at all.

Question 52: How many Concurrent Contact Center Agents required?

Answer 52: Up to 50.

Question 53: How long do the recordings need to be stored?

Answer 53: 7 years.

Question 54: Can you provide a listing of any Third-Party integrations needed?

Answer 54: Would just need an API that we can write to and read from.

Question 55: Can you please grant an extension of the solicitation due date to allow time for answers to be provided to contractors and then time to work with our manufacturer and distribution partners to finalize design, integration, and special pricing to be extended to ELC of Palm Beach? A 2-week extension would be appreciated.

Answer 55: Please see answer to Question 7.

Question 56: Will you need desktop phones?

a. If yes, please provide the quantity and use (executive, receptionist, lobby, break room, etc.)

b. If yes, please identify if you prefer rental or purchase option

Answer 56: 12-15. Prefer to Purchase.

Question 57: Do you have any toll-free numbers? If yes, how many.

Answer 57: No.

Question 58: Please provide location(s) the services will be needed.

Answer 58: Please see answer to Question 5.

Question 59: What level of support will be requested for Installation, Training, etc.?

Answer 59: Training and Q/A session.

Question 60: Will the coalition consider extending the RFP submission deadline out to allow for vendors to provide you with a more comprehensive solution offering. Request would be to have it extended to March 8.

Answer 60: Please see answer to Question 7.

Question 61: What is the existing UC platform?

Answer 61: Please see answer to Question 16.

Question 62: What is the existing Contact Center platform?

Answer 62: Dialpad, Inc.

Question 63: Can you provide addition insights as to why are people calling the contact center?

Answer 63: The Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County, Inc. (Coalition) is a 501(c)

(3), not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring quality early care and education for children in Palm Beach County. Through a variety of affordable and innovative early care and education programs, the Coalition serves more than 30,000 children age’s birth to 12 years old and their families through approximately 800 contracted child-care providers.

The Coalition also provides training and quality programs to advance the skills of early care and education providers and staff, enhancing their ability to inspire learning and prepare children for future academic success.

Question 64: How are you measuring the success of this initiative?

Answer 64: You will meet the most important criteria outlined in this RFP and will deliver

99.99% uptime and availability.

Question 65: Can you offer more detailed insight for the reason for the project? Cost savings? Missing features? Other?

Answer 65: Current contract is expected to end on March 4th, 2024.

Question 66: What challenges are you currently having today in the contact center?

Answer 66: Looking for something easy to use and software/browser should be light and responsive.

Question 67: What applications would we integrate to? Applications on the desktop etc.?

Answer 67: In house CRM.

Question 68: What metrics are most important?

Answer 68: SECTION 5: SCOPE OF SERVICES

Analytics and Reporting

•Comprehensive call tracking and reporting features.

•Agent Performance reporting.

•Ability to easily track a call through multiple transfers.

•Call reporting and recordings available for extended periods of time.

•AI based engine that will alert contact center manager how agent calls with customers are progressing or if customer was unhappy with the call.