Jail Resident Communication Services (Phone, Tablet, & Visitation)

Dane County is requesting proposals for digital resident telephone, tablet, and video visitation system and services at the Dane County Jail under RFP 2026-RFP-051-PR, with proposals due August 5, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. and a mandatory vendor conference on July 9, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. A 5-point local-vendor preference applies to evaluation scoring.

The scope covers three facilities (City-County Building Jail with 368-bed capacity, Public Safety Building Jail with 504-bed capacity, and Dane County Courthouse with 85-bed capacity) and requires a minimum of 168 fixed resident telephones, 70 kiosks, approximately 600–800 tablets scaled to average daily population of 649 residents, and 64 non-contact visitation handsets. The system must provide 24/7 phone service, tablet-based communications including voice and video visitation, and integrate with the existing Dane County Records Management System and resident banking system operated by Summit Group/CBM Managed Services at no additional cost to the County. The vendor must supply all installation, maintenance, and technical support services at no cost to the County, with four-hour response time for support requests.

The contract term is five years from January 1, 2027, through December 31, 2031, with renewal terms subject to mutual agreement. The incumbent contractor, Global Tel*Link Corporation d/b/a Viapath Technologies, currently operates under a phased extension through October 31, 2026. Pricing must cover all labor, materials, equipment, installation, and maintenance costs and are subject to FCC maximum rate caps: $0.07 per minute for local, intrastate, and interstate calls (regardless of format), and $0.12 per minute for remote video visitation. Vendors may propose creative pricing structures and subsidized services pending post-award negotiation. Usage data for 2025 shows 732,677 phone calls consuming 7,472,878 minutes, 1,492,332 tablet video-visit minutes, and 22,941,879 total tablet minutes across 22 service categories.

Evaluation is weighted: Organization Capabilities 20 points, Staff Qualifications 15 points, Project Timeline & Implementation Plan 15 points, Technical Requirements, After Sales & Support 30 points, Cost 20 points, and Local Vendor Preference 5 points. Questions are due July 22, 2026. The Dane County Purchasing Division is the sole point of contact. All vendor representatives attending the site visit must complete background screening including FBI, DOT, warrant, and criminal-history checks; registration is due July 2, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. to rogan.megan@danecounty.gov.