STATE OF ALABAMA EAS APT RFP FINAL.pdf

STATE OF ALABAMA

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)

Statewide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Modernization Project

Deadline for questions: Friday, September 4, 2026 at 5:00p.m. CST Any questions related to this RFP should be emailed to rfp.questions@procurement.alabama.gov The subject line must include the sourcing project number and title. Questions and answers will be posted to the sourcing project in Alabama Buys following the question deadline.

Proposal Due Date: Monday, September 14, 2026, at 5:00p.m. CST

Proposals must be mailed or hand-delivered to Alabama Public Television in a sealed envelope or box by the date noted above. The package must be labeled with the solicitation number and proposal title. The package must include one (1) electronic copy of the proposal on a USB drive. It is the sole responsibility of the supplier to ensure submissions are received by the specified deadline.

Alabama Public Television Attn: Daniel Black, Director of Engineering 2112 11th Ave. S Ste. 400 Birmingham, AL 35205

SUMMARY

This RFP seeks a modern, resilient, statewide emergency alerting solution capable of delivering timely, reliable alerts to all residents of Alabama, with emphasis on:

• Geographic targeting

• Infrastructure redundancy

• Regulatory compliance

• Rapid deployment mailto:rfpquestions@procurement.alabama.gov

1. PURPOSE

Alabama Public Television (APT), is soliciting proposals from qualified suppliers to design, furnish, install, and support a statewide Emergency Alert System (EAS) solution for ten (10) television transmitter sites, and the ability to integrate with one (1) external alerting source.

The objective of this project is to modernize and enhance the State’s emergency alerting infrastructure to ensure reliable, resilient, and geographically targeted weather and civil emergency alert delivery to all Alabama residents.

2. BACKGROUND

Alabama is highly susceptible to severe weather events, including tornadoes and other natural disasters. The existing alerting infrastructure is largely legacy-based and may present risks such as:

• Single points of failure

• Delayed alert propagation

• Limited coverage in rural and underserved areas

APT serves as a critical Primary Entry Point (PEP) and State Primary (SP) station within the national EAS architecture. The State seeks to transition to a modern, resilient, distributed alerting system capable of maintaining operations under adverse conditions.

3. SCOPE OF WORK

The selected supplier shall provide a turn-key solution that includes:

3.1 System Architecture

• A statewide EAS network integrating:

o Central broadcast origination facility (APT’s Network Operations Center in

Birmingham) o Regional (tower-based) edge devices across multiple transmission sites statewide

• Support for zip code targeted (county-level) and statewide alert dissemination

• Ability to remotely override primary programming for geographically targeted emergency messaging

3.2 Functional Requirements

The system must:

• Enable manual and automated alert activation

• Support geographically targeted messaging by zip code, county, and statewide

• Provide failover capability at edge sites in the event of network disruption

• Continue alert dissemination even during:

o Network outages o Fiber or internet failures o Loss of upstream signal sources o Support PSIP (Program & System Information Protocol) injection and virtual channel remapping at each transmission site to maintain accurate on-screen channel identification and program guide data during and after alert broadcasts o Each edge device must be capable of extracting, modifying, and re-inserting PSIP tables (Virtual Channel Table / VCT) appropriate to that site’s transmitter assignment o Operate fully autonomously at each transmission site without any active network connection to the central origination facility – alert activation, insertion, and dissemination must continue even during complete WAN/internet outage o Support SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) protocol for real-time ingestion and processing of incoming MPTS (Multi-Program Transport Stream) alert feeds at each transmission site

3.3 Equipment & Components

The solution shall include:

• Video processing/encoding/transcoding devices

• Tower/site-based alert insertion and switching equipment

• Monitoring and control software interface

• Network monitoring tools

• Rack-mounts and integration hardware

• Any required auxiliary broadcast or encoding systems

• PSIP injection and virtual channel table (VCT) remapping hardware or integrated software capability at each transmission site o Supplier must demonstrate the ability to receive an incoming MPTS/SRT stream and accurately re-inject corrected PSIP data before retransmission at each tower site

• SRT-capable transport stream processing hardware at each transmission site for real-time decoding alert extraction, and re-encoding of incoming IP-based alert streams

4. REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

All proposed systems must meet or exceed:

• FCC Part 11 Emergency Alert System requirements

• IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert & Warning System) compatibility

• Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) v1.2 standards

• Compatibility or readiness for next-generation broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC 3.0)

• Ability to geographically target ten television transmitter sites as well as provide an inbound secure reliable transport stream 24x7x365 of one offsite alerting source.

• Compliance with:

o Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) guidelines o Alabama statewide EAS plan requirements

5. IMPLEMENTATION REQUIREMENTS

5.1 Deployment Timeline

The project shall be completed within approximately:

• 90 days (3 months) from Notice of Award

5.2 Project Phases

Supplier must include a structured implementation plan including:

1. Project Initiation

2. Equipment Delivery & Installation

3. System Integration & Testing

4. Training & Final Acceptance

5.3 Training

• Provide operator training for:

o Broadcast personnel o Emergency alert operators

• Deliver documentation including:

o System manuals o Operational procedures o Maintenance guidelines

6. SYSTEM RESILIENCY & RELIABILITY

The system must include:

• Edge-based alert processing to ensure continued operation during centralized failure

• Automatic signal switching and failover

• Redundant alert reception pathways (e.g., over-the-air and IP-based ingestion)

• 24/7 monitoring capability with alerting system faults

7. CONTRACT TERM/SUPPORT & MAINTENANCE

The term of the resulting contract will be 1 year, with options to renew for an additional four (4) years. Proposals should provide a pricing schedule for all 5 years, with the first year including costs up to the completion of installation plus continued support, maintenance, and applicable options below for the remainder of the 1st year. Pricing for subsequent years should be based on support, maintenance, and applicable options below.

• Ongoing monitoring services

• Warranty and replacement coverage for hardware

• Software updates and technical support

• Optional extended maintenance agreements (if applicable)

• A centralized web-based monitoring and management dashboard providing real-time status of all transmission sites, with automated fault detection and alert notifications o Dashboard must display per-site operational status, active alert logs, signal health, and connectivity state for all remote locations from a single interface

8. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Proposals will be evaluated by Alabama Public Television Engineering Department.

Evaluation Area Maximum Points

Emergency Override and Geotargeting Capability 30

Technical Compliance (to include workflow chart, and any white papers of proposed hardware necessary, 20

Supplier Experience and Qualifications 15

System Reliability, Redundancy, and Disaster Recovery Capabilities 15

Implementation Approach and Project Schedule 10

Cost Proposal 10

TOTAL 100

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

1. ITEMIZED LIST OF ALL NECESSARY HARDWARE

2. ANY AND ALL SOFTWARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A FULLY FUNCTIONING TURNKEY

SYSTEM AT PROJECT’S COMPLETION (NO OPTIONAL “SOFTWARE LICENSE KEYS

NEED TO BE PURCHASED” WILL BE ACCEPTED – THEY MUST BE INCLUDED WITH

THE SYSTEM)

3. AS-BUILT DOCUMENTATION ON HOW THE SYSTEM WILL INTEGRATE WITH

EXISTING APT VIDEO TRANSPORT STREAM INFRASTRUCTURE (CAD, VISEO

drawings are acceptable)

4. SUPPLIER MUST HAVE AT LEAST FIVE (5) YEARS EXPERIENCE RELATED TO

BROADCAST INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS and/or INTEGRATION and/or

COMMISSIONING, AND ABLE TO PROVIDE EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM

ENCODERS/DECODERS

5. COST SHOULD BE LISTED AS LINE ITEMS FOR EACH HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

ITEMS AS WELL AS ANY PERPHREAL EQUIPMENT (software licenses, rack mount kits, etc.) WITH A TOTAL COST PROPOSAL AT THE BOTTOM OF PROPOSAL

8. EVALUATION CRITERIA