Monroe County

VoIP/Digital Telephone System

Request for Proposal (RFP)

Monroe County Wisconsin is accepting bids for replacing the existing EOL VoIP/Digital/Analog integrated telephone systems for 8 buildings spread out in Sparta Wisconsin, with a VoIP/Digital telephone system that will utilize existing telephone company voice circuits at each building. All of these buildings will use the County Wide metro Ethernet for VoIP/Digital traffic.

Vendors will assume that the County will have a LAN/WAN infrastructure that will support a VoIP/Digital system as specified in the RFP; however, the vendor’s proposal should include a VoIP/Digital network readiness assessment that will be conducted prior to the VoIP telephone system installation to insure that the County’s LAN/WAN infrastructure is able to support VoIP/Digital traffic within and between each building. If troubles are identified, the winning vendor will consult with the County to suggest LAN/WAN improvements, and when improvements have been implemented, provide an additional VoIP network readiness assessment to verify that the improvements were effective and that the County’s LAN/WAN is ready to support VoIP traffic. Additional information about the County’s LAN/WAN infrastructure will be provided at the bidding vendors open meeting.

To provide vendors with the opportunity to have their questions answered prior to submitting their proposals, the County of Monroe will host an open meeting on Thursday, August 17th 2017, 12:30 PM to 4:30 PM at the Monroe County Board Assembly Room, located at 112 S Court Street, Sparta, WI 54656. Prior to that meeting, questions can be emailed to john.mehtala@co.monroe.wi.us. All emailed questions and answers will be shared with all bidding vendors. If necessary, after the meeting, a site by site walkthrough will be conducted.

All submitted proposals will be considered the property of Monroe County. All proposals should include copies of product descriptions for the proposed equipment and must be submitted to the Monroe County Purchasing Coordinator via email or mail, 124 N Court Street, Sparta, WI 54656, no later than 2:30 PM, Thursday August 31st, 2017 to the following email address: lisa.hanson@co.monroe.wi.us. Vendors will document how their proposal satisfies each of the Monroe County requirements. If a requirement cannot be satisfied by the vendor, that must be documented by the vendor. Vendors that meet the criteria of the system requirements will be requested to attend a demonstration session that will be arranged by the IT Director, John Mehtala following the bid opening.

Criteria for Vendor Selection to the RFP

A number of factors will influence Monroe County’s decision in selecting the appropriate vendor. In addition to cost considerations, proposals will be evaluated on the basis of the following factors:

1. 50%: Competitive Pricing

2. 25%: Supportability

3. 25%: Available Features

Please note that Monroe County will select the vendor based upon the best overall solution and value and is not obligated to select the lowest price proposal. Additionally, vendors shall note that a response to this RFP does not commit Monroe County to any course of action resulting from its receipt. This document shall not be construed as a contract between the parties and no communication shall create such a contract with respect to the products or services specified in this RFP. Monroe County reserves the right to not select any vendor or purchase any goods and services resulting from this RFP.

Vendor Information

Completing the RFP

Please review the following sections, answer all questions, and clearly define how your system will handle all of Monroe County’s current and possible future needs. In addition to clear definitions, please list all costs inherent with each feature and need. The quality of the response to the RFP will be viewed as an example of the vendor’s capabilities.

Monroe County knows there are possible hindrances with its current network infrastructure. Please list any that arise and fully explain all possible solutions (ex: additional hardware and/or software, labor, cost, etc). Monroe County expects PSTN quality voice to be maintained at all times for any call on the network and across our private network. Voicemail messages left for staff members must be of high quality as well. Vendors are responsible for defining any potential issues that would prevent their solution from meeting these requirements.

The selected vendor will be required to sign off a performance guarantee at the time Monroe County signs off the vendor agreement. See Exhibit A for these requirements.

Telephone or voice mail systems under development, in planning, or at beta test will not be considered.

System Wide Telephone System Feature Requirements

Important Features and Needs with the New System

1. Site Independence and Survivability

a. System needs to be self-sufficient for its core functionality.

i. If a WAN connection is lost, basic call handling must still be supported.

2. Training

a. Formal training plans must be provided.

i. Sufficient training programs will provide a schedule that will slowly progress users from basic to advanced features available with the selected product.

ii. Vendors must provide an outline of the training plan for Monroe County that will include acceptable class size and the time department managers should budget for their staff to attend.

iii. Training must be updated when future changes are made by either product manufacturer or Monroe County.

iv. Training must be available to all Monroe County staff members as long as Monroe County utilizes the purchased product.

3. Mobility

a. System must allow users’ extensions to be “twinned” with mobile devices.

i. This will save staff members and customers time by having one contact number to reach mobile individuals.

4. Voicemail Features

a. Unified voicemail to email features need to be retained

b. “0” out of voicemail to a specific extension or group that is defined at the user level i. Allow the user to change the “0” out as needed

c. Multiple stored voicemail greetings to allow users to change greetings easily and rapidly d. Group voicemail for call groups to expedite return calls with the ability to notify either an individual phone or all group phones

5. ACD – Call Center Functionality

a. Users need the ability to be in multiple groups, be prioritized by area of expertise, and be able to handle multiple calls simultaneously.

b. Users need to be able to log in and out of assigned groups on demand via the phone.

c. The system should be able to support “Distributed Hunt Groups” across the private WAN.

6. Reporting (ACD or Call Accounting)

a. Proper reporting tools must be included with the new system to assist in making business decisions about communications.

i. Call Accounting solution is required.

ii. ACD solution needs to be proposed separately.

7. Marketing/Music on Hold (MoH)

a. While customers are on hold or in queue for a group, they need to hear about our organization. i. The new system must provide this ability at all locations, and the ability to play unique material for each location.

8. Caller ID and Caller History

a. Caller ID (when received) needs to be attached to the call regardless of location of initiation and stay with it to the point of termination.

b. The system needs the ability to store call history and dial out from that history regardless of location.

9. Dialing from Outlook

a. Staff currently store contact information in ROutlook Contacts.

b. The system must support “click-to-dial” to save users time.

10. Wireless Technology

a. Some employees need phones that have support for one-touch wireless headsets. i. This need is to be accomplished without a handset lifter.

b. The system must allow for analog, cordless phones to be used in emergency and support situations.

11. Centralized Call Answering and Distributed Hunt Groups

a. Call distribution must be implemented to achieve the best mix of answering “locally” and “quickly”.

i. This can be achieved by the use of hunt groups and overflow hunt groups.

ii. The selected system must allow for flexibility to meet the changing needs of the organization.

Additional Proposal Requirements and Questions

Planning, Design, Implementation, and Support Services

Planning and Design Services

Implementation and Support Services

Vendors should provide information on the software, hardware, and system-level support services offered, including:

o Response times o Parts replacement o Priority assessment o Call management o Help desk o Levels of support o Warranty o End of Life/End of Support o Hardware support o Software support o On-site and remote support o Online services self-help diagnostics o Tools and language support

General Scope of Work

The following items are at a minimum, the key services required. Please note: Monroe County IT staff will assist in the installation and configuration of all hardware and software so they will understand every detail of the new system. Despite this, vendors must quote a “turn key” solution.

Technical Training

Administrative training for two technical people focused on daily support and administration must be provided. These two internal resources will then lead and train other team members. Provide a description of vendor’s training offerings prior to cut-over of any initial deployment, including but not limited to:

Based on prior experience, suggest any advanced training classes outside of the RFP. Learning credits are of value.

General Assumptions

All vendor assumptions should be declared.

Requested RFP Pricing Model

Monroe County is looking for firm pricing that will be good for 60 days from the RFP acceptance time.

Monroe County would like to see labor breakouts by:

· Services total.

Identify all hourly post project support rates, to include travel time or travel costs.

All vendors must provide separate figures for estimated travel, lodging, food, or other related costs pertaining to completing the project.

Terms and Conditions

Confidentiality: All material submitted by Monroe County must be treated as confidential and cannot be used for any other purpose than the response to this RFP. Information submitted by any vendor will be considered confidential to Monroe County and will not be used for any other purpose than evaluating vendor responses.

Damage Liability: The successful vendor is liable and responsible for any damage to the premises (for example, floor and walls) caused by vendor personnel or equipment during installation and is responsible for the removal of all project-related debris.

Permits: The vendor shall obtain and pay for any permits and licenses required for the performance of the work, post all notices required by law, and comply with all laws, ordinances, and regulations bearing on the conduct of the work, as specified herein. On any work that requires an inspection certificate issued by local authorities, National Board of Fire Underwriters, or any other governing body, such inspection certificate(s) shall be obtained and paid for by the vendor. The chosen vendor shall procure all required certificates of acceptance or of completions issued by the State, municipal or other authorities and must deliver these to Monroe County.

Insurance: The vendor shall, at vendor expense, procure and maintain satisfactory public liability and casualty insurance to adequately protect the vendor's personnel and Monroe County against damages for bodily injury, including death, that may arise from operations under this contract, whether such operations are by the vendor or by the vendor's subcontractor, or anyone directly or indirectly employed by the vendor.

Vendor Responsibility: Unless otherwise stipulated, the vendor shall provide, and pay for, all materials, labor, tools, equipment, transportation, and other facilities necessary for the performance and completion of the work.

Terms and Conditions: The vendor shall include a copy of its standard terms and conditions as part of the system proposal.

RFP Responses: All materials submitted by the vendor in response to this RFP become the sole property of Monroe County upon receipt of the proposal. The final contract, as mutually agreed between the parties, will govern the contractual responsibilities of the vendor and may also include certain information from this RFP and the vendor response.

Key RFP Points for True IP Telephony

Convergence:

The system must be a converged system, whereby phones and computers reside on the same physical wiring plant. Example: a 24-port switch can provide connectivity for 24 computers and 24 phones. In addition, the phones and computers must be dynamically configured into distinct VLAN’s when phones are plugged in. When a phone moves from one port to another, no human intervention and/or configuration needs to take place.

Survivability:

The system must be capable of providing seamless failover and recovery from lost connectivity to the centralized call processing system. If a remote site loses connectivity, the equipment in place must be able to notice that the router connection has failed and must immediately provide call processing functionality. In addition, when the connectivity is restored, the system must revert to the centralized call processing functionality.

Call Accounting:

There must be a centralized call accounting system, whereby all call detail records must be housed in a single database for retrieval. In addition, the system must be open, so as to allow third-party access to the call detail records.

Extension Mobility:

The system must allow for users to login to a phone and obtain their call processing functionality just as if they are sitting at their desk phone. They must be able to see their speed dials, as well as see message waiting notification if they have messages waiting. This applies to all IP phones on the network in any of our facilities.

Port-level 9-1-1:

The system must at a minimum comply with local E911 laws. In addition, we would like to be capable of providing port-level emergency location services that must require no human intervention if and when users move phones and/or use the login functionality. Lastly, wireless telephony devices must be able to provide location information if and when they dial 9-1-1.

Centralization:

The system must be maintained in a centralized database, whereby the database includes users, phones and settings. This database must be capable of being backed up for resiliency in case of server failure.

Call Admission Control:

For every call on the system, the system must be able to define whether or not there is adequate bandwidth on the preferred link before setting up the call and select an alternate route if the path is unavailable.

Least cost routing:

The system must be capable of using multiple paths to the PSTN for placement of calls. Example: If a location happens to have its phone lines cut to the PSTN, that site should be able to place and receive calls to/from other facilities' PSTN connections.

Critical Security Questions:

How will security be deployed at the infrastructure, call control, endpoint, and application levels of the IP communication system?

Standard System Applications:

The telephony system must be equipped to play music on hold. Music must be played for callers in the following call situations:

o Call on hold o Call during transfer o Call parked The system must offer conference call facilities for ad-hoc conference calls and meet-me conference calls, allowing both internal and external callers to be involved.

o The ability for a user to set up a minimum of one internal and three external conference call

Mobility/ Single Number Reach:

Building Locations:

Exhibit A

Monroe County Performance Guarantee Requirements (Done Per Site)

1. Test 911 (2 Calls) and validate business, name, and phone number displayed

2. Test VoIP links across WAN and ARS (Automatic Route Selection) for toll quality calling

3. Cutover Telco circuits and test each line/trunk

4. Test call flows for each published number

5. Test critical system features (Hunt Groups, Menus, Inter-site Calls, Paging, MoH)

6. Test call quality across WAN to load the link and validate call audio quality

7. Cutover all stations and place phones

8. Test stations (Two-Way Audio Test)

9. Test peripheral equipment (Fax, Alarm Panels, Elevator Phone)

10. Monitor system to identify any configuration/quality issues

11. Assist users with feature related questions

12. Transition administration and support to Customer Help Desk

13. Provide Operator training

14. Identify and assign ownership to any additional post cut action items image2.png image1.png