Aviation Telephone System & Services

The City of Austin is requesting proposals for enterprise telephony and unified communications system replacement and support services at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), with proposals due August 27, 2026 at 2:00 PM CT and a non-mandatory pre-offer conference on July 30, 2026 at 9:00 AM CT.

The scope consolidates the airport's existing Cisco Unified Communications Manager and NEC SV8500 PBX systems into a single premises-based VoIP or converged voice platform. The solution must support voice, voicemail, unified messaging, collaboration, automatic call distribution, call recording integration with NICE systems, and Microsoft Exchange Online integration. Cloud or hybrid core configurations are explicitly prohibited. Key deliverables include a network assessment report within 45 days, system design documentation within 60 days, a cutover plan at least 30 days before production cutover, comprehensive testing and commissioning per detailed Exhibit B criteria, 30-day post-go-live on-site stabilization, and full transition within 270 days of kickoff. The contractor must maintain 99.9% availability during operational hours with monthly SLA penalties of $200–$2,500 per incident. Installation work must occur between 7:00 PM and 4:00 AM unless approved otherwise.

Offerors must demonstrate a minimum of seven years designing, installing, and maintaining enterprise-grade telephony systems and must have completed at least three comparable implementations. A dedicated on-site lead or senior technician is required throughout the contract term at no additional cost. The contract includes a 12-month warranty and 24/7/365 maintenance and support covering preventive maintenance, software updates, on-site technician availability Monday–Friday 8:00 AM–5:00 PM, and spare parts inventory maintenance (minimum 10% of deployed components).

The initial contract term is 48 months with two optional 36-month extension periods. Pricing must be firm for the first 12 months; subsequent adjustments are capped at the Employment Cost Index. All directly assigned employees must meet the City's Living Wage Program requirement of $22.05 per hour minimum. The contractor must carry Commercial General Liability ($2 million per occurrence, $5 million for Air Operations Area work), Workers' Compensation, Business Automobile Liability, and Technology Errors and Omissions Insurance ($5 million per claim). Data centers must be located solely within the contiguous United States with encryption of non-public data at rest and in transit. Payment is milestone-based, released only upon written acceptance of deliverables, with percentages ranging from 5% to 15% across ten phases.

Evaluation criteria include company experience (30 points), project concept and strategy (20 points), project management and organization structure (15 points), and price (15 points), with optional local and small business preference points of up to 10 each (maximum 100 points total). Questions are due five business days prior to the proposal due date. Authorized attendee names for the pre-offer conference must be submitted by 12:00 PM on July 29, 2026, with remote participation available via Microsoft Teams.