Burnet County RFP 26-4090-09 – Unified Phone System

BURNET COUNTY, TEXAS

Request for Proposal Countywide Unified Phone System & Desktop Application

RFP No. 26-4090-09 – Unified Phone System

Issued by:

Burnet County Purchasing Office Burnet County Courthouse

220 South Pierce Street Burnet, Texas 78611

Proposal Due Date: October 07, 2026 at 10:00 AM CT All proposals must be clearly marked “RFP 26-4090-09 Unified Phone System”

Burnet County is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs), Minority-, Woman-, and Veteran-Owned Business Enterprises are encouraged to submit proposals.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

3. Invitation to Proposers

4. Procurement Schedule

5. Instructions to Proposers

5.1 General Instructions

5.2 Questions and Clarifications

5.3 Addenda

5.4 Proposal Withdrawal and Modification

5.5 Rejection of Proposals

5.6 Public Information

6. County Background

7.1 Known Limitations of the Current Environment

8. Project Objectives

9. Scope of Work

9.1 Core Deliverables

9.2 Optional / Value-Add Items (Priced Separately)

9.3 Exclusions

10. Technical Requirements

10.1 Platform Requirements

10.2 Telephone Set / Device Requirements

10.3 Feature Requirements

11. Network Requirements

11.1 Bandwidth and Quality of Service

11.2 LAN / Infrastructure

11.3 Monitoring

12. Security Requirements

12.1 Data Protection

12.2 Access Control & Identity

12.3 Vendor Security Practices

12.4 Business Continuity of Vendor Operations

13. CJIS Requirements

13.1 CJIS Compliance Requirements

14. Microsoft 365 & Teams Integration

14.1 Required Integrations

14.2 Preferred / Optional Integrations

15. E911 / Kari’s Law / RAY BAUM’S Act Compliance

16. Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity

16.1 Requirements

16.2 Vendor Business Continuity

17. Installation Requirements

17.1 Site Survey

17.2 Implementation Approach

17.3 Change Management

18. Testing & Acceptance

19. Training Requirements

19.1 End-User Training

19.2 Administrator Training

19.3 Ongoing Training

20. Maintenance & Support

21. Service Level Agreements

21.1 Reporting

21.2 Remedies

22. Vendor Qualifications

22.1 References

23. Required Response Format

23.1 Page Limits & Format

24. Cost Proposal Forms

25. Evaluation Criteria

25.1 Evaluation Process

26. Insurance Requirements

27. Vendor Questionnaires

27.1 Vendor Assessment Questions (Attachment C)

27.2 Technical Questions (Attachment D)

28. Appendices

28.1 Glossary of Terms

Attachment A – Bidder Information Contact Attachment B – Cost Proposal Attachment C – Vendor Assessment Attachment D – Technical Questions & Compliance Matrix

Part 1 – Technical Questions (Narrative) Part 2 – Technical Compliance Matrix

Attachment E – Statement of Qualifications Attachment F – Certificate of Insurance

3. Invitation to Proposers Burnet County (the “County”) invites qualified vendors to submit proposals for the design, supply, installation, and support of a countywide Unified Phone System with integrated desktop and mobile application capability (the

“Project”). This Request for Proposal (“RFP”) describes the County’s requirements, submission instructions, and evaluation process.

The County intends to replace its current disparate and aging telephony infrastructure with a modern, cloud-based or hybrid Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) unified communications platform that improves reliability, citizen service, interoperability with Microsoft 365, and administrative efficiency across all County departments, precincts, and facilities.

Vendors may propose against any or all portions of the Scope of Work; however, the County’s preference is a single, accountable prime vendor capable of delivering a complete, turnkey solution. The County reserves the right to award to one or more vendors, to reject any or all proposals, and to waive minor informalities in its sole discretion.

Proposals must be submitted in a sealed envelope or package to:

Burnet County Purchasing Office Attn: County Purchasing Agent Burnet County Auditor’s Office 133 East Jackson Street Burnet, Texas 78611

4. Procurement Schedule The County anticipates the following procurement schedule. All times are Central Time. The County reserves the right to modify this schedule at its discretion; any changes will be issued as a written addendum posted to the County’s website and, where practicable, emailed to prospective proposers of record.

Milestone Date

RFP Release / Advertisement 9.10.26

Mandatory Pre-Proposal Conference 9.23.26 @ 10:00 AM, 133 E. Jackson St.

Burnet, Texas 78611 – Conference Room

Deadline for Written Questions 9.25.26 at 12:00 PM CT

County Response to Questions (Addendum) 9.30.26

Proposal Submission Deadline 10.7.26 at 10:00 AM CT

Proposal Evaluation Period 10.8.26 – 10.14.26

Vendor Interviews / Demonstrations (if needed) 10.15.26 – 10.21.26

Recommendation to Commissioners Court 10.27.26

5. Instructions to Proposers

5.1 General Instructions

● Proposals must be submitted in the format described in Section 23 (Required Response Format) by the deadline stated in Section 4.

● Proposals received after the submission deadline will not be considered and will be returned unopened, regardless of the cause of the delay.

● One (1) original (clearly marked “Original”) proposal to be submitted in a sealed envelope or package to the Burnet County Purchasing Office marked Attn: County Purchasing Agent at the Burnet County Auditor’s Office located at 133 East Jackson Street, Burnet, TX 78611 OR emailed to bids@burnetcountytexas.org in a PDF format. Submission shall follow the deadline stated in Section 4.

● All proposals must be clearly marked with the RFP number and title on the outside of the submission package.

● Proposals are irrevocable for one hundred twenty (120) calendar days following the submission deadline.

● The County is not liable for any costs incurred by a vendor in preparing or submitting a proposal, participating in interviews, or negotiating a contract.

5.2 Questions and Clarifications

All questions regarding this RFP must be submitted via email to the Burnet County Auditor’s Office contact identified below no later than the deadline in Section 4. Verbal questions or clarifications obtained from any County officer, employee, or agent other than through the official question process are not binding on the County.

Contact: Megan Schumann, Burnet County Auditor’s Office – Email: bids@burnetcountytexas.org – Phone: 512-756-

5.3 Addenda

Any interpretation, correction, or change to this RFP will be made by written addendum only. Addenda will be posted on the County’s official procurement webpage. It is the vendor’s sole responsibility to monitor the site for addenda and to acknowledge receipt of all addenda in its proposal.

5.4 Proposal Withdrawal and Modification

A proposal may be withdrawn or modified by written request received prior to the submission deadline. No modifications will be accepted after the deadline except as requested by the County during negotiations.

5.5 Rejection of Proposals

The County reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, to waive minor irregularities or informalities, to request clarification from any proposer, and to negotiate with one or more proposers, all in the County’s sole discretion and in accordance with applicable Texas procurement law, including Local Government Code Chapter 262.

5.6 Public Information

Proposals submitted to the County become subject to the Texas Public Information Act (Chapter 552, Texas Government Code) upon submission. Any proposal content that a vendor considers confidential or proprietary must be clearly and specifically marked as such; the County will make a good-faith effort to protect properly marked information but cannot guarantee confidentiality and will follow the process set out in Government Code Section

552.305 for third-party submissions in the event of an open records request.

mailto:bids@burnetcountytexas.org

6. County Background Burnet County offices are located in the City of Burnet, Texas. The County serves a growing population across multiple communities, including Burnet, Marble Falls, and surrounding unincorporated areas, and operates numerous departments and elected offices spanning law enforcement, judicial, public safety, and general administrative functions.

The County is governed by the Commissioners Court and is committed to providing efficient, reliable, and modern services to residents. As part of that commitment, the County is undertaking a countywide technology modernization initiative, of which this Unified Phone System project is a key component.

7. Current Environment

The County currently operates a mix of legacy premise-based PBX and analog/POTS telephone service across its facilities, resulting in inconsistent features, duplicative maintenance contracts, and limited integration with modern collaboration tools. The table below summarizes the County’s current telephony footprint for proposal-planning purposes. These figures are listed for estimation purposes only. Vendors should independently verify quantities and requirements during the site survey referenced in Section 17. Pricing shall identify all assumptions used in developing the proposal.

Facility / Department Approx. Users / Lines Analog Lines

Burnet County Courthouse (220 S. Pierce St.) 48 11

Burnet County Sheriff’s Office / Jail 42 SO / 33 Jail 8 SO / 3 Jail

County Courthouse Annex 18 8

Herman Brown Library 5 3

North Annex 60 8

South Annex 27 6

Marble Falls Library 8 3

Bertram Library 4

Public Defenders 10

AgriLife 6

Maintenance 1

TOTAL (estimated) 262 50

(Disclaimer these are just approximate numbers)

7.1 Known Limitations of the Current Environment

● Limited or no integration with Microsoft 365 / Outlook / Teams.

● No unified voicemail-to-email or transcription across all sites.

● Inconsistent E911 dispatchable location data across facilities.

● Aging on-premise hardware nearing end-of-life / end-of-support.

● Multiple, disconnected vendor support and maintenance contracts.

● Limited call analytics and reporting for staffing and citizen-service planning.

● No centralized management portal for moves, adds, and changes across sites.

8. Project Objectives Through this procurement, Burnet County seeks to:

• Deploy a single, countywide, cloud-based or hybrid Unified Communications (UC) platform with a consistent feature set for every user, regardless of location.

• Provide a modern desktop and mobile softphone application integrated with Microsoft 365, Outlook, and Microsoft Teams.

• Achieve full compliance with E911 requirements under Kari’s Law and the RAY BAUM’S Act, including dispatchable location for every endpoint.

• Meet the security and, where applicable, CJIS Security Policy requirements associated with County law enforcement and criminal justice operations (see Section 13).

• Improve system resiliency and disaster recovery through geographic redundancy and documented failover procedures.

• Reduce total cost of ownership by consolidating vendor contracts, hardware maintenance, and long-distance/toll costs.

• Provide robust reporting, call analytics, and call recording capabilities to support departmental accountability and citizen service quality.

• Ensure a smooth, low-disruption migration through phased implementation, adequate training, and a documented cutover and rollback plan.

• Establish clear, measurable Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for support, uptime, and issue resolution for the life of the agreement.

9. Scope of Work

The selected vendor shall provide all labor, materials, hardware (as applicable), software licensing, project management, and professional services necessary to design, deliver, install, configure, test, and support a complete Unified Phone System for Burnet County, including but not limited to the following.

9.1 Core Deliverables

● System design documentation, including network readiness assessment and site-by-site implementation plan.

● Cloud-based or hybrid VoIP telephone system, geographically redundant, sized for all County sites identified in Section 7 plus 10% growth capacity.

● Desktop softphone / unified communications application for Windows (and Mac, if applicable) with call control, presence, messaging, and Microsoft 365/Teams integration.

● Mobile application for iOS and Android supporting calling, messaging, and voicemail.

● Physical desk and wireless telephone hardware meeting the specifications in Section 10.

● Auto attendant, hunt group, and call queue configuration for all departments.

● Call recording, voicemail-to-email with transcription, and reporting/analytics tools.

● E911 configuration meeting the requirements of Section 15.

● Number porting of all existing DIDs and main listed numbers with no loss of service.

● Complete installation, cutover, and onboarding at every County facility.

● End-user and administrator training per Section 19.

● Ongoing maintenance, remote support, and Hardware-as-a-Service coverage per Sections 20–21.

● As-built documentation, network diagrams, and administrative runbooks delivered at project close-out.

9.2 Optional / Value-Add Items (Priced Separately)

● Contact center / advanced call queue module for high-volume departments (e.g., Tax Office, 911 non-emergency lines).

● Extended call recording retention beyond the 180-day baseline.

● SMS/MMS-enabled lines for citizen notification use cases.

● Analog gateway support for elevators, fax machines, fire/burglar alarm lines, and other analog devices that must remain in service.

● Paging system integration.

9.3 Exclusions

Unless expressly proposed as an optional item, the following are excluded from the base scope:

structured cabling replacement beyond point-of-need patch cabling, physical security systems, radio/dispatch console systems, and building electrical work. Vendors should identify any such dependencies discovered during the site survey.

10. Technical Requirements The proposed solution must meet, at minimum, all technical requirements below. Vendors must respond to each requirement in the Technical Compliance Matrix (Attachment D) indicating Comply, Comply with Exception, or Does Not Comply, with narrative explanation for any exception.

10.1 Platform Requirements

● Cloud-based VoIP telephone system that is geographically redundant across at least two (2) physically separate data centers.

● All-inclusive PBX station/user seat licensing — no tiered feature restrictions between user classes unless specifically requested by the County.

● Scalable and upgradeable to meet future growth with less than one (1) week turn-up time for new users.

● Web-based or installable Voice Solution Management Software for County administrators.

● Support for a minimum of 500 concurrent users with capacity to expand by at least 25% without platform redesign.

● 99.99% platform uptime SLA, exclusive of scheduled maintenance windows (see Section 21).

10.2 Telephone Set / Device Requirements

Device Class Minimum Requirement

Standard desktop telephone Color LCD display, minimum 3-line capability, Gigabit Ethernet pass-through, PoE

Executive / high-use desktop telephone Color LCD display, minimum 6-line capability, expansion/sidecar module support

Wireless / DECT telephone Color LCD display, minimum 1-line capability

Conference room phone 360° microphone pickup, speakerphone, 3-way conference minimum

Softphone (desktop app) Full feature parity with desk phone where technically feasible

Accessories Corded and wireless headset compatibility; sidecar/expansion module availability

10.3 Feature Requirements

● Caller ID (inbound and outbound) and Direct Inward Dialing (DID) for all applicable lines.

● Voicemail with voicemail-to-email delivery and automated transcription.

● Message Waiting Indicator and full-duplex speakerphone.

● Do Not Disturb (DND) functionality.

● Fully customizable per-user answering rules, with support for one or more unique call routes per user.

● Multiple time-of-day / day-of-week routing options per department.

● Ability to organize users by Department, Site, and Precinct.

● Unlimited auto attendants and hunt groups.

● Call logging and reporting with automatic scheduled export.

● Unlimited calling to the U.S., Canada, and Mexico with no long-distance charges.

● Call recording included and retained for a minimum of 180 days, with optional extended retention and optional transcription.

● Native mobile application for Android and iOS.

● SMS/MMS messaging capability where required by department.

● Inter-office / team messaging via web portal and mobile application.

11. Network Requirements Vendors are responsible for conducting a network readiness assessment at each County site prior to implementation and for identifying any required network remediation as part of their proposal, priced separately from the core solution.

11.1 Bandwidth and Quality of Service

● Vendor shall provide a bandwidth sizing calculation per site based on concurrent call capacity and codec selection.

● Solution must support Quality of Service (QoS) tagging (DSCP) end-to-end and provide guidance for County router/switch configuration.

● Solution must gracefully degrade or fail over (e.g., to 4G/5G backup or local survivability gateway) in the event of a WAN outage, maintaining at minimum outbound 911 calling capability.

11.2 LAN / Infrastructure

• Vendor shall identify Power over Ethernet (PoE) switch requirements necessary to support proposed endpoints and shall include any required switch upgrades as a priced, itemized option (Already in place by Burnet County Department of Technology & Cybersecurity).

● Solution must support VLAN segmentation separating voice and data traffic.

● Vendor shall document all firewall ports, protocols, and SBC (Session Border Controller) requirements needed for the solution to operate securely on the County network.

11.3 Monitoring

● Vendor shall provide, or make available, real-time network and call-quality monitoring/diagnostic tools accessible to Burnet County Department of Technology & Cybersecurity staff.

● Vendor shall proactively alert the County of degraded call quality, circuit outages, or platform-side incidents affecting County service.

12. Security Requirements Given the sensitivity of County communications, including those involving law enforcement, courts, and personally identifiable information (PII), the proposed solution must meet the following minimum-security requirements.

12.1 Data Protection

● Signaling (SIP/TLS) and media (SRTP) encryption for all voice traffic, including all calls traversing the public internet.

● Encryption of data at rest for voicemail, call recordings, transcriptions, and call detail records.

● Defined data retention and secure deletion practices consistent with County records-retention policy and, where applicable, Texas State Library and Archives Commission retention schedules.

● Documented data residency — vendor shall disclose the physical location(s) of all data centers processing or storing County data and confirm data remains within the United States unless otherwise approved in writing by the County.

● Data Ownership - all county telephone numbers, recordings, voicemails, transcripts, metadata, call records, configurations, and associated data shall remain the property of Burnet County. Upon request or termination, the Vendor shall provide such data in a commercially reasonable export format without additional charge.

● Transition Assistance - upon expiration or termination, Vendor shall provide commercially reasonable transition assistance, including number porting coordination and data export for a period of up to ninety (90) days.

12.2 Access Control & Identity

● Role-based access control (RBAC) for the administrative management portal.

● Multi-factor authentication (MFA) required for all administrative and, where feasible, end-user portal access.

● Support for Single Sign-On (SSO) via the County’s (OKTA) tenant (see Section 14).

● Detailed audit logging of all administrative changes, including user, timestamp, and change description, retained for a minimum of one (1) year.

12.3 Vendor Security Practices

● Vendor shall describe its patch management, vulnerability management, and penetration testing program, including frequency of independent third-party assessments.

● Vendor shall disclose relevant compliance certifications and attestations (e.g., SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001) and provide documentation upon request.

● Vendor shall describe its incident response plan and shall notify the County of any security incident affecting County data within the time periods in the table below according to severity:

Severity Example Customer Notification

Critical – P1 Complete loss of phone service, inability to make/receive calls, 911 impact

Within 15-30 minutes of confirmation/discovery

High – P2 Significant degradation, intermittent calling, large customer impact Within 30-60 minutes

Moderate – P3 Limited functionality or subset of users affected Within 2-4 hours

Low – P4 Minor issue with limited operational impact Same business day or within 24 hours

● Vendor personnel with access to County systems or data must be subject to background checks consistent with Section 13 where CJIS-covered systems are involved.

● Vendor shall carry cyber liability insurance consistent with Section 27.

● Upon reasonable notice, County may request documentation reasonably necessary to verify compliance with the contractual security obligations.

12.4 Business Continuity of Vendor Operations

● Vendor shall describe redundancy of its own operations (support staff, NOC, billing systems) to ensure continuity of service to the County in the event of a vendor-side disruption.

13. CJIS Requirements Certain County departments, including the Sheriff’s Office, Constables, and courts, transmit or have access to Criminal Justice Information (CJI). To the extent the proposed system will be used by, or interconnect with systems used by, these departments, the vendor must comply with the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy, as administered through the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).

13.1 CJIS Compliance Requirements

● Execute the CJIS Security Addendum / Management Control Agreement as required by the Texas DPS and the County prior to accessing any CJIS-covered systems or data.

● Ensure all vendor personnel with logical or physical access to CJI-adjacent systems undergo a fingerprint-based criminal history background check and complete CJIS Security Awareness Training prior to access, consistent with CJIS Security Policy personnel security requirements.

● Implement advanced authentication (multi-factor) for any remote access to systems that touch CJI, consistent with CJIS Security Policy Section 5.6.

● Use FIPS 140-2 (or successor FIPS 140-3) validated encryption modules for CJI in transit and at rest.

● Maintain auditable logs of access to CJI-adjacent systems consistent with CJIS Security Policy Section 5.4, retained for a minimum of one (1) year.

● Provide incident response procedures specific to CJI, including notification to the County and, as required, the CJIS Systems Agency (CSA), within the timeframe specified by CJIS Security Policy.

● Disclose all data center and cloud hosting locations supporting CJIS-covered functions and confirm such locations meet CJIS physical and personnel security requirements.

14. Microsoft 365 & Teams Integration Burnet County utilizes Microsoft 365 for email, calendaring, and collaboration. The proposed solution must integrate natively with the County’s Microsoft 365 environment.

14.1 Required Integrations

● Single Sign-On (SSO) via Okta for both the administrative portal and end-user applications.

● Outlook integration, including click-to-dial from contacts and calendar-based presence/status synchronization.

● Microsoft Teams integration — vendor shall specify whether the proposed approach is Teams Phone with Direct Routing, Teams Phone Operator Connect, or a comparable native Teams calling integration, and shall describe any Teams Phone Standard/licensing implications for the County.

● Presence synchronization between the UC platform, Teams, and Outlook (e.g., “in a call”, “in a meeting”).

● Directory synchronization with Okta / Active Directory for automated user provisioning and de-provisioning.

14.2 Preferred / Optional Integrations

● Contact-center or auto-attendant integration with Teams-based subject matter experts for call transfer/escalation.

● County’s NAS integration for call recording storage and retrieval, if proposed in lieu of the vendor’s native storage.

Vendors shall clearly describe their Teams integration architecture, any additional Microsoft licensing required (and whether the County already holds sufficient licensing), and any limitations on feature parity between the native application and the Teams-integrated experience.

15. E911 / Kari’s Law / RAY BAUM’S Act Compliance/ADA Compliance/ Civil Rights Compliance The proposed system must provide full E911 functionality in compliance with Kari’s Law (47 U.S.C. § 623) and the RAY BAUM’S Act (47 C.F.R. § 9.16), and with applicable Texas Commission on State Emergency Communications (CSEC) requirements.

● Direct 911 dialing from any station without requiring a prefix (e.g., dialing “9”) to reach an outside line.

● Automatic on-site notification of a 911 call to designated County personnel (e.g., front desk, security, facilities, or IT) via a method that does not delay the call, per Kari’s Law.

● Dispatchable location information — building, floor, and, where feasible, room-level granularity — transmitted with every 911 call, per the RAY BAUM’S Act, including for softphone and mobile application users working from a fixed County location.

● Documented process for maintaining accurate Automatic Location Identification (ALI) / Emergency Location Identification Number (ELIN) records as users, extensions, or locations change.

● Support for Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) callback in the event a 911 call is disconnected.

● Failover 911 calling capability in the event of a WAN or platform outage, consistent with Section 11.1.

● Vendor shall describe how dispatchable location is determined and updated for remote or mobile softphone/app users, if such use is proposed.

The Vendor warrants and represents that all products, services, electronic and information technology (EIT), and digital content provided under this RFP will comply with Section 504 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. §§ 794 and 794d), Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Texas Government Code Chapter 2054, Subchapter M, including Texas Administrative Code Title 1, Chapter 213. Digital platforms and software must conform to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA, or the most current adopted version. The Vendor shall promptly respond to and resolve, at no additional cost to Burnet County, any accessibility complaints related to its products or services. The Vendor must also comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act at all times while providing products or services to Burnet County.

16. Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity The County requires a resilient solution capable of maintaining critical communications, including 911 access, during regional outages, severe weather events, or vendor-side disruptions common to Central Texas (e.g., ice storms, flooding, and extended power outages).

16.1 Requirements

● Geographic redundancy across a minimum of two (2) physically separate, geographically diverse data centers, with automatic failover.

● Defined Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for platform-level outages;

vendor shall state both in its proposal.

● Local survivability option (e.g., local gateway/SBC failover) enabling basic dial tone and 911 calling at each site in the event of a WAN outage, independent of cloud platform availability.

● Documented, tested disaster recovery plan, including frequency of failover testing and the vendor’s process for notifying the County of DR events.

● Battery backup / UPS guidance for on-premise equipment (switches, gateways, ATAs) to maintain service during short-duration power outages.

● Defined maintenance window policy, including advance notice requirements for any planned downtime.

16.2 Vendor Business Continuity

Vendor shall describe its own business continuity plan, including support-center redundancy, so that County support requests can be received and triaged even during regional events affecting the vendor’s primary support location.

17. Installation Requirements

17.1 Site Survey

Prior to finalizing pricing, the vendor shall familiarize themselves of each County facility identified in Section 7 (or a representative sample, subject to County approval) to validate cabling, network readiness, PoE capacity, and device placement. Findings shall be documented in a written site-readiness report delivered to the County.

17.2 Implementation Approach

● Vendor shall propose a phased implementation plan, sequencing sites to minimize disruption to critical operations (e.g., Sheriff’s Office, courts, 911-adjacent lines) and to allow lessons learned from early phases to inform later phases.

● Vendor shall provide a detailed project plan / Gantt chart identifying milestones, dependencies, and County resource requirements.

● Vendor shall assign a single, named project manager as the County’s primary point of contact throughout implementation.

● Vendor shall coordinate number porting so that no site experiences an interruption of inbound or outbound calling, including 911, during cutover.

● Vendor shall provide a documented rollback plan for each cutover in the event of a critical failure.

● Installation shall include removal and, upon County request, environmentally responsible disposal or return of legacy equipment.

17.3 Change Management

Any changes to scope, schedule, or cost during implementation shall be documented via a written change order, signed by both parties, prior to work proceeding.

18. Testing & Acceptance

● Vendor shall develop, and the County shall approve, a User Acceptance Testing (UAT) plan for each phase/site prior to go-live, covering core calling, 911 dispatchable location, voicemail, call routing, and Microsoft 365/Teams integration.

● Following cutover at each site, a burn-in / observation period of not less than 1 month shall occur, during which the vendor shall provide heightened support responsiveness.

● Any defect identified during UAT or the burn-in period shall be logged on a punch list, with the vendor providing a remediation timeline for each item.

● Formal written acceptance of each site (or the project as a whole) shall occur only after all critical and high-priority punch-list items are resolved and 911/E911 functionality has been independently verified.

● Final project acceptance and final payment (see Section 26) shall be contingent upon delivery of all documentation described in Section 9.1 and successful completion of acceptance testing at all sites.

19. Training Requirements

19.1 End-User Training

● Hands-on training for all staff on physical handset operation, voicemail, and basic desktop/mobile application use, delivered on-site or via live virtual session at the vendor’s option, subject to County approval.

● Quick-reference guides (printed and digital) for common tasks.

● Access to an online, self-service knowledgebase and video tutorials available for the life of the agreement.

19.2 Administrator Training

● In-depth training for designated DoTC staff on the Voice Solution Management Software, including user provisioning, call routing changes, reporting, and troubleshooting.

● Train-the-trainer materials enabling DoTC to onboard new employees without vendor involvement for routine moves, adds, and changes.

19.3 Ongoing Training

Vendor shall describe what training resources (webinars, release notes, refresher sessions) are made available on an ongoing basis, and at what cost, if any, beyond the initial implementation.

20. Maintenance & Support

● Remote programming and remote support at no additional cost for the life of the agreement, including moves, adds, and changes.

● Minimum one (1) year warranty on all system components, including VoIP telephone hardware, from the date of acceptance.

● Hardware-as-a-Service coverage providing diagnose-repair-replace service on all phones for defects arising from normal use; vendor shall clearly state what is and is not covered (e.g., user-caused damage excluded unless separately proposed).

● 24/7/365 availability for reporting critical outages (e.g., total site outage or loss of 911 calling), with defined escalation procedures.

● A documented support-ticket process with severity classifications (e.g., Critical, High, Medium, Low) and corresponding response targets (see Section 21).

● A named County-facing account manager for ongoing relationship management, in addition to the technical support desk.

● Regular (at minimum, annual) account/service reviews to assess system performance, utilization, and any recommended optimizations.

21. Service Level Agreements The following minimum Service Level Agreement (SLA) targets apply for the life of the agreement. Vendor shall state in its proposal any SLA credits or remedies offered for failure to meet these targets. The failure to meet SLA requirements for three (3) consecutive months or five (5) months during any rolling twelve-month period shall constitute a material breach permitting termination for cause.

Metric Minimum Target

Platform Uptime (excluding scheduled maintenance) 99.99%

Critical Severity – Work Start Response (e.g., total outage, loss of 911) ≤ 1 hour, 24/7/365

High Severity – Work Start Response (e.g., single site/department down) ≤ 2 business hours

Medium Severity – Work Start Response (e.g., single user/feature issue) ≤ 4 business hours

Low Severity – Work Start Response (e.g., MAC request, general question) ≤ 1 business day

Support Line Hold Time (when calling support) < 30 seconds

New User Provisioning / Turn-up < 1 week

Scheduled Maintenance Notice ≥ [Insert Number, e.g., 5] business days advance notice

21.1 Reporting

Vendor shall provide the County a quarterly SLA performance report, including uptime achieved, tickets opened/closed by severity, average response and resolution time, and any credits owed.

21.2 Remedies

Vendor shall propose specific service credits (e.g., a percentage of monthly recurring charges) for each month in which SLA targets are not met, to be detailed in the Cost Proposal and incorporated into the resulting contract.

22. Vendor Qualifications To be considered responsive, a proposer must demonstrate the following minimum qualifications:

● A minimum of five (5) years’ experience designing, implementing, and supporting cloud-based or hybrid VoIP/UC systems.

● Demonstrated experience with government-sector clients (county, municipal, or state), including at least three

(3) references of comparable scope completed within the last five (5) years.

● Demonstrated experience integrating with Microsoft 365 / Microsoft Teams environments.

● Financial stability sufficient to support the proposed scope for the full contract term; vendor shall provide evidence of financial capacity upon request (e.g., Dun & Bradstreet report, bonding capacity, or audited financial statement summary).

● Adequate local or regional staffing/partner presence to meet the response-time SLAs in Section 21 for Central Texas facilities.

● Relevant manufacturer/platform certifications held by proposed project and support staff.

● No unresolved findings of default or debarment on a public-sector contract within the past five (5) years (or full disclosure and explanation if applicable).

22.1 References

Provide a minimum of three (3) references from government entities of comparable size and scope, including agency name, contact name, title, phone, email, contract dates, and a brief description of services provided.

23. Required Response Format To facilitate fair and consistent evaluation, proposals must be organized into the following tabbed sections, in the order listed. Proposals that are not responsive to this format may be deemed non-responsive at the County’s discretion.

Tab Section Content

1 Cover Letter & Bidder Information Attachment A, signed by an authorized representative

2 Executive Summary Overview of proposed solution and firm qualifications (2-page max)

3 Statement of Qualifications Firm experience, references, capacity to perform (Attachment E)

4 Technical Proposal Response to Sections 9–19, including Technical Compliance Matrix (Attachment D)

5 Implementation Plan Project schedule, staffing plan, training plan

6 SLA & Support Plan Response to Sections 20–21 (Attachment C – Vendor Assessment)

7 Cost Proposal Attachment B, in a separately sealed sub-envelope if directed by addendum

8 HUB / Subcontracting Plan Section 9 forms, if applicable

9 Required Forms & Certifications All required forms (pg. 36-65)

10 Exceptions to RFP / Sample Contract Any requested exceptions, clearly itemized

23.1 Page Format

● 8.5” x 11” format, minimum 11-point font, tabbed or otherwise clearly separated sections.

● Electronic copy shall be a single, searchable PDF mirroring the hard-copy organization, with the Cost Proposal as a separately identifiable file if directed.

24. Cost Proposal Forms Vendor shall complete Attachment B in full. Pricing shall be all-inclusive of the requirements outlined in this RFP. If the proposed solution is modular, provide per-module pricing. Provide five-year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) pricing using the format below at minimum, in addition to Attachment B. Annual recurring charges shall remain fixed during the initial contract term.

Cost Category One-Time Cost Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

Implementation / Professional Services $ — — — — —

Hardware (phones, gateways, etc.) $ — — — — —

Software / Per-Seat Licensing — $ $ $ $ $

Network Remediation (if any) $ — — — — —

Maintenance & Support — $ $ $ $ $

Hardware-as-a-Service — $ $ $ $ $

Training $ — — — — —

Optional Items (itemize) $ $ $ $ $ $

TOTAL $ $ $ $ $ $

● Identify any assumptions underlying the pricing (e.g., number of users, sites, or circuits).

● Identify any price protections/caps on annual increases for the initial term and any renewal terms.

● Describe any cost-saving opportunities or alternative pricing models the County should consider (e.g., capital purchase vs. subscription).

25. Evaluation Criteria Proposals will be evaluated and scored by a County evaluation committee using the criteria and weighting below. The County may, at its discretion, invite top-ranked vendors to provide an oral presentation and/or system demonstration prior to final scoring.

Criteria Maximum Points

Experience of the Firm 20

Prior Work Performance / References 20

Capacity to Perform / Technical Solution Compliance 25

Implementation Plan & Approach 10

Support, SLAs & Disaster Recovery 10

Proposed Cost 15

TOTAL 100

25.1 Evaluation Process

● Initial responsiveness review to confirm all required forms and attachments are included.

● Independent scoring by each evaluation committee member against the criteria above.

● Consolidation of scores and, at the County’s discretion, reference checks, oral interviews, and/or a best-and-final-offer (BAFO) round.

● The County reserves the right to negotiate contract terms, pricing, implementation schedules, service levels, and scope with one or more highest ranked proposers prior to recommendation for award.

● Recommendation for award presented to the Burnet County Commissioners Court for final approval. The award, if any, shall be made to the responsible proposer whose proposal is determined to be the most advantageous to the County, considering price and the evaluation criteria set forth herein.

26. Insurance Requirements The awarded vendor shall procure and maintain, for the life of the agreement, insurance coverage with minimum limits as follows, underwritten by insurers authorized to do business in Texas with an A.M. Best rating of A- VII or better.

Burnet County shall be named as an additional insured on the General Liability and, where applicable, Auto Liability policies, and a Waiver of Subrogation shall apply in the County’s favor.

Coverage Minimum Limits

Commercial General Liability $1,000,000 per occurrence / $2,000,000 aggregate

Automobile Liability (owned/hired/non-owned) $1,000,000 combined single limit

Workers’ Compensation Statutory limits

Employer’s Liability $1,000,000 each accident

Professional Liability / Errors & Omissions $1,000,000 per claim / $2,000,000 aggregate

Cyber Liability / Technology E&O $5,000,000 per occurrence / aggregate

Vendor shall submit a Certificate of Insurance evidencing the above coverage as part of its proposal (Attachment F) and shall provide updated certificates upon renewal for the life of the agreement. The County reserves the right to request higher limits based on final contract value.

27. Vendor Questionnaires Respond fully and in narrative form to each question below. A simple “yes” or “no” will not suffice; explain each answer. These responses correspond to Attachment C (Vendor Assessment) and Attachment D (Technical Questions / Compliance Matrix).

27.1 Vendor Assessment Questions (Attachment C)

● What are your SLAs for uptime and support response times, and what remedies do you offer if they are not met?

● Do you offer 24/7/365 support? If so, through what channels (phone, chat, email, portal), and what are typical response times by severity?

● What is your typical implementation timeline for a project of this scope, and what factors most commonly cause delay?

● How do you handle emergency changes (e.g., after-hours outage affecting 911 calling)?

● Describe your account management structure for the life of the contract.

27.2 Technical Questions (Attachment D)

● How easily can the County add or remove users, and is there a cost or minimum notice period associated with each?

● How do you handle number porting, and what steps are taken to prevent service interruption during a port?

● Do you offer both user training and administrator training? Describe the format, duration, and materials provided.

● How do you handle disaster recovery and business continuity, including RTO/RPO and local survivability during a WAN outage?

● Describe your approach to E911 dispatchable location for fixed, mobile, and remote/softphone users.

● Describe your Microsoft Teams / Microsoft 365 integration architecture and any additional licensing required.

● Describe your CJIS compliance posture and experience supporting law-enforcement or criminal-justice telephony environments.

● Describe your data center locations, redundancy architecture, and data residency practices.

● What is included versus excluded under your standard Hardware-as-a-Service coverage?

● Describe a comparable government implementation of similar size and complexity, including lessons learned.

28. Appendices The following appendices are included or referenced as part of this RFP:

● Appendix 1 – Attachment A: Bidder Information Contact

● Appendix 2 – Attachment B: Cost Proposal

● Appendix 3 – Attachment C: Vendor Assessment Questionnaire

● Appendix 4 – Attachment D: Technical Questions & Compliance Matrix

● Appendix 5 – Attachment E: Statement of Qualifications (vendor-provided)

● Appendix 7 – Site List & Current Environment Inventory (to be finalized by County IT)

● Appendix 8 – Sample / Standard County Contract Terms (to be attached by County Attorney)

● Appendix 9 – Glossary of Terms

29.1 Glossary of Terms

Term Definition

ALI Automatic Location Identification

CJI / CJIS Criminal Justice Information / Criminal Justice Information Services (FBI)

DID Direct Inward Dialing

DR/BC Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity

HUB Historically Underutilized Business

MFA Multi-Factor Authentication

PSAP Public Safety Answering Point

QoS Quality of Service

RTO / RPO Recovery Time Objective / Recovery Point Objective

SBC Session Border Controller

SLA Service Level Agreement

SRTP Secure Real-time Transport Protocol

SSO Single Sign-On

UC Unified Communications

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol

Attachment A – Bidder Information Contact

Bidder Legal Name

Federal ID Number (EIN)

SAM.gov Unique Entity ID (UEI)

Mailing Address

Physical Address

Primary Contact Name / Title

Email Address

Phone Number

Texas HUB Certification Number (if applicable)

By signing below, the undersigned certifies that they are authorized to submit this proposal on behalf of the bidder named above and that all information provided in this proposal is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge.

Authorized Signature

Printed Name / Date

Attachment B – Cost Proposal Pricing shall be inclusive of the requirements outlined in this RFP. Vendors should respond with typical costs for a project of this size and scope, broken down for implementation, maintenance and support, hardware, and application/software licensing (initial and ongoing). If the proposed solution is modular, provide typical costs for each module offered. Describe any suggestions for opportunities to reduce cost. Provide annual costs after implementation.

Attach the completed Section 24 (Cost Proposal Forms) five-year TCO table to this Attachment.

Line Item Description Cost

1 Implementation / Professional Services (one-time) $

2 Hardware – Desktop Phones (per unit x qty) $

3 Hardware – Wireless/DECT Phones (per unit x qty) $

4 Hardware – Conference Room Phones (per unit x qty) $

5 Hardware – Gateways / SBCs / Ancillary Equipment $

6 Software / Per-Seat Licensing (annual) $

7 Network Remediation (switches, cabling, etc., if any) $

8 Maintenance & Support (annual) $

9 Hardware-as-a-Service (annual) $

10 Training $

11 Call Recording – Extended Retention (optional) $

12 Contact Center / Advanced Queue Module (optional) $

13 Other (itemize) $

TOTAL

FIRST-YEAR

COST

TOTAL

ANNUAL

RECURRING

COST (Years 2+)

Attachment C – Vendor Assessment Please address each of the following questions in narrative form. A simple yes or no will not suffice — please explain each answer.

Question 1: What are your SLAs for uptime and support response times?

Question 2: Do you offer 24/7 support? If so, what channels (phone, chat, email)?

Question 3: What is your typical implementation timeline?

Question 4: How do you handle disaster recovery and business continuity?

Question 5: Describe your experience with CJIS-covered or law-enforcement telephony environments, if any.

Attachment D – Technical Questions & Compliance Matrix

Part 1 – Technical Questions (Narrative) The following issues should be fully addressed in the proposal in concise narrative form, referenced and presented in the order below.

● A. How easily can the County add or remove users?

● B. How do you handle number porting?

● C. Do you offer user training and administrator training?

● D. How do you handle disaster recovery and business continuity?

● E. Describe your Microsoft 365 / Teams integration approach.

● F. Describe your E911 / Kari’s Law / RAY BAUM’S Act compliance approach.

● G. Describe your CJIS compliance approach, if applicable to any County lines.

Part 2 – Technical Compliance Matrix For each requirement below, indicate Comply (C), Comply with Exception (E), or Does Not Comply (N). For any “E” or “N” response, provide a narrative explanation in an attached exceptions log referencing the item number.

# Requirement (see RFP Section) C / E / N

10.1 Platform Requirements

10.2 Telephone Set / Device Requirements

10.3 Feature Requirements

11 Network Requirements

12 Security Requirements

13 CJIS Requirements (if applicable)

14 Microsoft 365 & Teams Integration

15 E911 / Kari’s Law / RAY BAUM’S Act Compliance

16 Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity

17 Installation Requirements

18 Testing & Acceptance

19 Training Requirements

20–21 Maintenance, Support & SLAs

Attachment E – Statement of Qualifications Insert the vendor’s Statement of Qualifications, addressing firm experience, prior work performance, references, and capacity to perform, consistent with Section 22.

[ INSERT DOCUMENT HERE ]

Documents are to be submitted as outlined in this RFP. The remaining documents are for the information of the RESPONDENT and will form the Contract Documents between the successful RESPONDENT and the

OWNER.

LEGAL NAME OF CONTRACTING COMPANY

CONTACT NAME TITLE

MAILING ADDRESS E-MAIL ADDRESS

CITY STATE ZIP CODE

PHONE NUMBER FAX NUMBER

SIGNATURE PRINT SIGNATURE

The undersigned acknowledges receipt of the following addenda:

Addendum No. 1 dated _________________ Received ______________________ Addendum No. 2 dated _________________ Received ______________________ Addendum No. 3 dated _________________ Received ______________________

THIS FORM MUST BE SIGNED AND RETURNED WITH YOUR RFP

CIQ Page 1 of 2

THIS FORM MUST BE SIGNED AND THE ORIGINAL RETURNED WITH RFP RESPONSE

CIQ Page 2 of 2

BURNET COUNTY

RESPONDENT AFFIRMATION

This sheet must be completed, signed, and returned by RESPONDENT

NOTE: FAILURE TO SIGN AND RETURN THIS FORM WITH THE RFP DOCUMENT

MAY RESULT IN THE RFP BEING REJECTED OR THE TERMINATION OF

ANY RESULTING CONTRACT OR PURCHASE ORDER.

1. The undersigned agrees this RFP becomes the property of Burnet County after the official opening.

The undersigned affirms he has familiarized himself with the local conditions under which the work is to be performed; satisfied himself of the conditions of delivery, handling and storage of equipment and all other matters which may be incidental to the work, before submitting a RFP.

The undersigned agrees, if this RFP is accepted, to furnish any and all items/services upon which prices are offered, at the price(s) and upon the terms and conditions contained in the Specifications. The period for acceptance of this RFP Proposal will be sixty (60) calendar days unless a different period is noted by the RESPONDENT.

2. RESPONDENT affirms that they are duly authorized to execute this Contract, that this company, corporation, firm, partnership or individual has not prepared this RFP in collusion with any other RESPONDENT, and that the contents of this RFP as to prices, terms or conditions of said RFP have not been communicated by the undersigned nor by any employee or director to any other person engaged in this type of business prior to the official opening of this RFP.

3. RESPONDENT hereby assigns to purchaser any and all…