Criminal Justice Text Message Reminders

Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners and the Criminal Justice Commission issued Request for Proposal No. 21-033-LI on February 10, 2021, for a Criminal Justice Text Message Reminders system, with proposals due by March 15, 2021, at 4:00 p.m. local time. The procurement seeks a contractor to develop and operate a text-based reminder system serving four criminal justice agencies: the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Clerk of Court (50,644 court dates from November 2018 through January 2021), Florida Department of Corrections Circuit 15 (6,495 felony probation individuals), Professional Probation Services Inc. (misdemeanor probation), and Palm Beach County Pretrial Services Department (1,001 individuals). The selected contractor must send two automated text message reminders per participant—one seven days before and another twenty-four hours before scheduled court dates or appointments—with opt-out provisions included in each message, and must update appointments as dates are cancelled or changed. The contractor will receive daily data transmissions from the Showcase records management system containing defendant names, identification numbers, cell phone numbers, zip codes, charge codes, court date information, and status updates. Proposers must demonstrate a minimum of three years of experience providing similar criminal justice text notification services, submit a minimum of three relevant references from the past five years (with preference for court date and criminal justice appointment experience), and identify key personnel; experience with municipal government entities and non-judicial law enforcement notifications is also acceptable. Monthly reports detailing message delivery statistics are required beginning forty days after project initiation. The Selection Committee meeting is scheduled for March 31, 2021, with potential oral presentations on April 7, 2021, a Notice of Intent to Award on April 13, 2021, and contract execution and commencement on May 14, 2021. The initial contract term runs seven and one-half months through December 31, 2021, with four optional twelve-month renewal periods at the County's discretion.

No specific set-aside designations or restrictions limiting response to particular organization types are mentioned in the RFP documentation. The contractor must maintain commercial general liability insurance of at least $1,000,000 and register with the County's Vendor Self Service system prior to contract award, and all amendments to the RFP must be acknowledged with a signature from an authorized agent and submitted with the proposal, or the proposal will be deemed non-responsive. The contract is funded through the MacArthur Foundation's Safety and Justice Challenge grant, which provided initial funding of $2,000,000 in October 2017 and renewal funding of $1,400,000 in December 2019. The anticipated budget range is $18,000 to $25,000, though Palm Beach County notes this is not a target or ceiling and proposers should submit appropriately competitive pricing based on the scope of work; pricing shall be submitted as an all-inclusive monthly flat fee with separate line items for any applicable set-up fees and other costs. No incumbent vendor or existing contractor is identified in the documentation, nor are details provided regarding integration with existing technology systems beyond the daily data transmission protocol from the Showcase records management system.