After Hours Answering Service

The City of Tampa is requesting quotes for after-hours answering services supporting the Mobility and Water Departments under RFQ 26-P-00594, with quotes due October 15, 2026. The service must answer approximately 1,200 to 2,000 inbound and outbound calls per month during after-business hours (Monday through Friday 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m., all day Saturday and Sunday, 24 hours on holidays, and during emergencies).

The scope requires live operator coverage with no answering machines, bilingual English/Spanish support, and telecommunications relay services. Operators must determine call origin by telephone line, maintain and update weekly call-out lists of City personnel, become proficient in departmental operations (traffic signal maintenance, street maintenance, stormwater management, drawbridge operations), and route calls to appropriate on-call technicians. All calls must be handled within 15 minutes from receipt to dispatch; delays exceeding this timeframe must be documented with reasons. The City supplies department protocols, monthly updated on-call lists, and designated telephone numbers.

The vendor must maintain 60-day call record archives with retrievable audio recordings and submit daily comprehensive call reports in XML format by 8:00 a.m., detailing call date/time, customer information, service type, dispatch time, technician assignment, and contact confirmation. Non-compliance with daily reporting incurs a $25 daily deduction; five deductions within one month may trigger termination.

The price proposal includes two line items: 10,000 call transactions and 4,000 emergency services calls (planned and unplanned outages), each at bidder-determined unit rates. The City reserves the right to award by line item or aggregate total.

Bidders must demonstrate at least three years of relevant experience with three current client references, submit organizational history, detailed capability and implementation descriptions, staffing plan, and equipment inventory. The vendor must provide a dedicated representative at no additional cost and secure liability insurance prior to award. E-Verify employment verification compliance is required.