24-Hour Answering Service

The City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department is requesting sealed proposals for 24-hour inbound call answering services under a five-year contract commencing January 1, 2027, with proposals due September 10, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) certifications and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Small Business Participation Plan compliance are mandatory; the solicitation is subject to federal and local DBE participation requirements and annual reporting obligations through the City's Certification and Compliance System.

The vendor must operate a professional bilingual call center available 24 hours per day, seven days per week, including holidays and weekends, to handle approximately 100 calls per month regarding park incidents, public safety observations, and general concerns. Core deliverables include structured data collection using specified fields (caller name, phone number, email, park name, location, date, time, observations, descriptions of persons/animals/items, and prior observation history); secure data storage with 24-month records retention; real-time database access; searchable reports exportable in Excel or CSV format; quarterly and annual summary reports with analytics; and technical support. The vendor must also provide a mobile-accessible reporting platform. Offerors must demonstrate a minimum of three years in operation, provide relevant project descriptions, client references, and staff resumes. Standard risk-level background screening is required for all contract workers who require facility access or may handle sensitive information.

All prices must be firm and fixed for the initial one-year contract period. Annual price increases are permitted thereafter if submitted in writing with 60 days' notice and supporting documentation; price decreases are allowed at any time without documentation. Payment is made upon invoice submission in PDF format to invoices@phoenix.gov, including purchase order number, itemized descriptions, quantities, pricing, applicable taxes, and delivery address.

Evaluation criteria are experience (300 points, 30%), metrics and reporting capabilities (275 points, 27.5%), capacity (250 points, 25%), and price reasonableness (175 points, 17.5%). A non-mandatory pre-offer conference is scheduled for August 20, 2026; written inquiries are due August 25, 2026. The City reserves the right to award to a single contractor or multiple contractors and may conduct best and final offer negotiations. Contract effectiveness is contingent upon City Council approval, signature, and recording by the City Clerk's department per Phoenix City Code.