Water Account Monitoring Portal RFP.pdf

Request for Proposals (RFP)

Water Account Monitoring Portal

City of Owosso, Michigan

Issue Date: Sept 22, 2025

Due Date: Oct 21, 2025 @ 3:00 PM

Section I: General Information

A. Introduction The City of Owosso (the “City”) is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to provide a cloud-based water account monitoring portal. The solution must allow the City to collect, present, and notify residents about water usage data, bill presentment, leak alerts, and payment options in an equitable, transparent, and user-friendly manner.

B. Description of City Owosso, Michigan, incorporated in 1859, has a population of approximately 14,500 residents and operates under a Council-Manager form of government. The City seeks to enhance its engagement with residents by deploying an online water account monitoring portal that integrates with the City’s Customer Information System (CIS), Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI/MDM such as Itron), and electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) systems.

C. Project Goals

- Broaden access to account information beyond in-person or phone support.

- Provide data-driven insights into customer consumption and anomalies.

- Ensure equitable access via ADA/WCAG-compliant, mobile-friendly interfaces.

- Increase transparency through clear usage, billing, and alert history views.

D. Public Records All responses submitted will become public record, subject to Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

E. RFP Coordinator Nathan Henne, City Manager City of Owosso 301 West Main Street Owosso, MI 48867 Email: Nathan.henne@ci.owosso.mi.us Phone: (989) 725-0568

F. RFP Schedule

- RFP Issued: 9/22/2025

- Deadline for Written Questions: 10/10/2025

- Responses Issued: 10/17/2025

- Proposals Due: 10/21/2025 @ 3 PM

- Vendor Selection and Council Approval: 11/3/2025

- Kickoff Meeting: TBD

Section II: Proposal Evaluation The City will evaluate proposals based on:

1. Responsiveness to RFP – clarity, completeness, compliance.

2. Ability to Perform – experience with municipalities, especially in Michigan.

3. References – quality of service and support.

4. Cost Proposal – overall value over a 3-year lifecycle.

Section III: Proposal Response Vendors must submit proposals in the following format:

1. Cover Letter / Executive Summary

2. Table of Contents

3. Company Profile and Qualifications

4. References

5. Functional Requirements Response (matrix provided in Section IV)

6. Technical Requirements Response

7. Cost Proposal (detailed 3-year projection)

8. Implementation Plan and Timeline

9. Signature Page

The desired information in each of these sections is described below.

Cover Letter / Executive Summary The cover letter should contain the name of the proposing Company, the business address of the proposing officer(s), and the contact individual to whom questions shall be submitted. Contact information should include telephone number, fax number, mailing address, and email address. The cover letter must be signed by a person or persons authorized to bind the proposer.

The proposer shall include a brief summary that includes the factual aspects of the response, experience and qualifications of the proposer, staff, consultants and sub-consultants and/or suppliers.

Table of Contents The contents of the proposal shall be included in an index at the beginning of the proposal and should include all contents and attachments.

Company Profile and Qualifications Please respond to the following company profile questions; be as concise as possible.

1. Provide the full name and principal address of the company, as well as the distance of your nearest office to Owosso City Hall and the location that will support the City. Include the state in which the Company is incorporated and the date of incorporation. Give a brief overview of the general background and services provided by your firm, including size of organization, description of organization structure, number of years in business and experience in implementing water account portals or utility customer engagement software for governmental entities.

2. Provide the address of the location that will support the City for the program implementation. List the staff at that location committed to the product and the phone support and on‐site support available. Provide staff resumes with job descriptions and other detailed qualification information for staff likely to be involved in the implementation of the product at the City.

3. Indicate if any affiliates, including subcontractors or sub‐consultants, will be used to fulfill the contract requirements.

4. List municipal government clients of the vendor in Michigan who are using your product.

5. Discuss the Vendor first‐tier customer support and how second‐tier support is provided.

Include the hours first tier support will be available, after hours support available and documented response time for critical issues and non‐operational impacting issues. Include a description of Tier 2 support and the documented response times back to the Vendor for a client issue that has been promoted to the Second-Tier support entity resolving the issue.

6. If your company is selected, please be prepared to show your financial strength by providing a copy of your company’s financial statements for the past two years.

References Provide a minimum of three (3) client references of similar sized and/or municipal accounts which the proposer has served over the past two years and/or is currently serving. Provide a contact person, telephone number, and email address for each reference customer.

References in Michigan would be most relevant. Also include a list of all Vendor’s municipal projects in the last five (5) years and the timeliness in which they were completed and any other relevant information.

Section IV: Functional Requirements The Vendor shall be responsible to furnish, install, integrate, data transfer, train and maintain a software system that will meet the requirements defined in this RFP and in the Functional Requirements.

Please submit a detailed description of the software and integrations. This description should address user onboarding, account linking, usage visualization, notifications, leak detection workflows, security, reporting, search options, auditing, and integrations with CIS (billing), AMI/MDM (e.g., Itron), and EBPP/payment providers.

Please address the following Functional Requirements criteria:

(Key: M=mandatory, D=desired, O=optional)

A. Portal Features Req # Priority Description Base/Add-

On/Custom Comments

1 M Utility-specific portal branding (logo, colors, fonts, contact details), banner messages, feedback widget.

Base

2 M Usage presentment

(AMI/MDM

reads) and bill analytics with prior month/year comparisons.

Base

3 M Bill presentment (PDF) and bill history with export.

Base

4 M Leak alerts and high-usage notifications;

configurable thresholds.

Base

5 M Account transactions view (bills, payments, adjustments).

Base

6 M Payment integration and one-time payment option

(EBPP).

Base Additional scoping may apply.

7 M Multilingual support (English and Spanish).

Base

8 M CSR/Admin portal for user management, reporting, and customer support shadowing.

Base

9 D Service request/smart forms (short and long forms).

Add-On

10 O Tips/ways-to-save content integration.

Add-On

B. Equity & Accessibility Req # Priority Description Base/Add-

On/Custom Comments

11 M ADA/WCAG 2.1

accessibility compliance;

screen reader support.

Base

12 M Responsive design for mobile and desktop.

Base

13 D Plain-language notices and multilingual content support.

Base

14 O Optional SMS/email notifications configuration for users with limited broadband.

Add-On

C. Analytics & Reporting Req # Priority Description Base/Add-

On/Custom Comments

15 M Real-time dashboards for usage, leaks, and notifications.

Base

16 M Export reports to Excel, CSV, or

PDF.

Base

17 D Anomaly detection (e.g., continuous flow patterns).

Base

18 D Aggregated consumption analytics by time period.

Base

D. Transparency & Public Access Req # Priority Description Base/Add-

On/Custom Comments

19 M Public-facing outage/maintenance notices page.

Base

20 D Project updates and knowledge base/FAQs.

Base

21 O Email notification signups for service updates.

Add-On

E. Security & Privacy Req # Priority Description Base/Add-

On/Custom Comments

22 M Data encryption in transit and at rest.

Base

23 M Role-based access for City staff; least-privilege configuration.

Base

24 M Audit logs for administrative actions and user access.

25 D Single sign-on

(SAML/OIDC)

and MFA support.

Add-On

26 M Compliance with

GDPR/CCPA-

style data privacy protections.

Base

27 M Documented data retention and deletion policies.

Section V: Technical Requirements

- Cloud-based SaaS solution.

- Supports concurrent logins across multiple departments.

- Works seamlessly on iOS and Android mobile devices.

- Requires no client-side installations.

- Provides uptime SLA of 99.9%.

- Vendor-managed hosting, patches, and upgrades.

- Must integrate with the City’s website, CIS/billing, AMI/MDM (Itron), and EBPP/payment systems.

Section VI: Cost Proposal Vendors must provide:

- Setup and onboarding costs.

- Licensing costs (per seat vs enterprise).

- Annual maintenance and support costs.

- Optional module/add-on pricing.

- Three-year total cost of ownership.

Section VII: Implementation Plan Vendors should include:

- A proposed project plan with milestones.

- Training plan for City staff.

- Support model (helpdesk hours, escalation process).

- Typical implementation timeframe for municipalities of similar size.

Section VIII: Terms and Conditions

- The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals.

- All proposals must remain valid for at least 90 days.

- The successful vendor must enter into a professional services agreement with the City.

- The City will not reimburse costs for preparing or submitting proposals.

SIGNATURE PAGE

On behalf of , I hereby submit this proposal for OWOSSO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PLATFORM RFP for your consideration. The undersigned acknowledges that this proposal is subject to the General Conditions and the General Specifications included in the contract documents. In submitting this proposal, it is understood that the right is reserved by the CITY to reject any and all proposals and waive any irregularities in the bidding process. The CITY may award this contract based on any combination of the total bid and/or alternates.

Bid proposal by (Name of Firm):

Please check the appropriate box and USE CORRECT LEGAL NAME.

� Corporation State of Incorporation:

� Partnership List of names:

� DBA State full name:

� Other Explain:

Name, Title, Email of Contract Signer:

Signature of Bidder:

Print Name and Title:

Address:

City, Zip:

Telephone:

Email Address(Bidder):

Signed this Day of 2025

Bidder acknowledges receipt of the following Addenda:

ADDENDUM NO: BIDDER’S INITIALS:

Signature page