Emergency Alert System

The City of New Bedford Purchasing Department is requesting proposals for an Emergency Alert System to deliver timely emergency and critical notifications to residents, employees, and designated users through text, email, and voice calls, with proposals due November 10, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. via BidNet Direct.

The system must support geographic and group-based targeting, contact management, message scheduling and templating, multilingual capability, delivery reporting, database management, and integration with the 911 call database. The vendor must implement the system, provide training, deliver technical support and maintenance, and supply software licenses for the full three-year contract term. All-inclusive pricing must cover implementation, training, support, maintenance, and system operation and remain firm for sixty days from proposal opening. The City is exempt from federal excise taxes and Massachusetts sales tax; vendors must not include these in quoted prices.

The vendor must carry workers compensation, general liability, automobile, umbrella, and pollution liability insurance with minimum limits of $1 million to $2 million depending on coverage type, naming the City as additional insured. If the system becomes unavailable during the contract term, the vendor must reimburse the City on a per-day basis calculated from the contracted amount for each day of unavailability.

Proposals will be evaluated on system functionality and features, implementation and training approach, security and reliability, vendor experience and qualifications with similar municipal systems, and overall cost value. The City reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and to request background checks, additional information, and interviews. Award is anticipated within sixty days of the submission deadline. Questions are due October 30, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. Final addendum was issued November 3, 2026. Submitters must include a Non-Collusion and Tax Compliance Form, corporate authorization documentation, and acknowledgement of all addenda with their technical proposals. No pre-bid conference will be held.