TN Relay Services - UPDATED

The purpose of this bid is to provide intrastate and interstate English TRS; as well as, other non-English Relay (Spanish) as directed by the State or based on changes in the States demographics which warrant the availability of such service.

Relay Contract Specifications 2024 A.1. The Contractor shall provide all service and deliverables as required, described, and detailed by these specifications and shall meet all service and delivery timelines specified by these specifications section or elsewhere in the contract. A.2. Type of Calls Intrastate and interstate calling. The Relay service shall be established to provide access for the community disabled to the intrastate telecommunication network which is functionally equivalent to that enjoyed by individuals who are not disabled. The Contractor will be designated to only accept calls that originate or terminate from a Relay telephone. Such calls shall originate and/or terminate in the state of Tennessee. The Relay service will be capable of accepting calls placed across state lines which, would be considered local intrastate calls. Individuals who use the Relay service will be able to call or be called by any business or residence that has a standard telephone service in Tennessee. The intrastate Relay system will be required to provide interstate calling. However, the intrastate Relay system calls must be accounted for separately from interstate calls and shall not be billed pursuant to this contract. Spanish and Other Non-English Relay The Contractor will provide intrastate and interstate Spanish Relay services. The Contractor will also provide other non-English Relay as directed by the State or based on changes in the States demographics which warrant the availability of such service. Emergency Calls The Contractor will process emergency calls. Directory Assistance Calls The Contractor will caption calls made to directory assistance without additional charges to the caller, unless otherwise notified by the State. A.3. Access to Relay Calling Center Access to the Relay service shall be provided directly and automatically through the Relay phone as well as a toll-free number. The toll free number(s) shall be universally available and shall be uniform throughout the state. While Contractors are not restricted to utilizing only one toll-free number for the Relay service, the State urges the Contractor to propose as few numbers as possible for access to the service to eliminate confusion and to promote easy and frequent utilization of the service. A.4. Relay Call Limitations The Relay service must be capable of handling any call normally provided by common carriers. Only those calls that are incapable of the service due to lack of existing technology are exempt for handling by the Relay service. However, where possible, the Contractor must establish a future handling date to provide Relay services when new technology becomes available. The Contractor has identified and will continue to identify as technology changes, those calls that are incapable of Relay usage due to lack of available technology. Only calls that are incapable of Relay service due to lack of existing technology may be so identified. Any submitted proposal will identify the infallibility of handling these calls and shall, where possible, establish a future handling date. The State is committed to achieving full compliance with FCC requirements for all types of calls to be accessible and the Contractor is required to adhere to these standards. A.5. Special Calling Services The Contractor will provide its users with conference and three-way calling and other custom calling features as they become available in this state and to the extent technically feasible. Charges assessed to such Relay users shall not exceed the charges assessed by the local exchange company (LEC) serving the exchange from which the call is being placed. Additionally, charges for ancillary services not traditionally provided by the local exchange company must not exceed the rates assessed to those persons without communication disabilities. The Contractor will caption calls to numbers delivering recorded messages unless the speed of transmission of such messages impedes effective and intelligible message transmission. The Contractor will also caption recorded messages on telephone answering machines. A.6 Relay Equipment The Relay equipment will only be distributed by the Telecommunications Devices Access Program (TDAP) within the State, unless otherwise appointed or approved. Questions about TDAP can be directed to Monique Brazelton at (615) 770-6879. A.7. Relay Technical Standards The Contractor will provide Relay service for all telephone exchanges 24 hours a day, every day, including holidays. There will not be restrictions on duration or number of calls placed by callers through Relay service. Transmission circuits will meet or exceed interexchange performance standards for circuit loss and noise. The Contractor will have a sufficient number of Relay operators, circuit trunks and other facilities to achieve the standards of service required by the contract. The Contractor must provide access to each user's interexchange carrier (IXC) of choice, and to all other operator service, to the same extent that such access is provided to voice users as specified in the FCC mandate requiring IXC participation. A.8. Relay operators shall adhere to the following standards: The operators will not intervene or interject personal comments, judgments, or additional information when relaying calls. The operators will be as transparent as possible to the users of Relay. They shall avoid the use of the third person and shall not intentionally alter the content of relayed calls. The operators will adhere to the Code of Ethics for Interpreters of the Deaf or similar code to be approved by the State. The operators will caption all calls regardless of the obscene or illegal nature of the call. The operators will not discuss the contents of captioned calls, any caller identifying factors, calling points, or other information about relayed calls other than what is necessary to train other operators. Such training shall never refer to specific individuals, places, or content that would disclose to a trainee, or other person, confidential information. All communications made by or to a person with a communications disability is a privileged communication and is not subject to disclosure in any court proceeding or otherwise pursuant to T.C.A. 24-10-210. A.9. Call Rating Local Call Rating The calling or called parties using the Relay service will not be charged for calls originating and terminating within the same toll-free local calling area despite the fact that these calls may be routed through a Relay center located outside the toll-free are. Intrastate Long Distance Call Rating. All toll calls placed through the Relay service will be rated to the users of the service at the hearing-impaired discount rate applied by the State. These calls will be rated as if the calls were placed between the originating and terminating call points instead of routed through the Relay service center. The timing of the call for billing purposes will begin immediately upon pick-up at the called number. If a caller requests a person-to- person toll call, the timing begins only after the requested person has answered the call. Calls to 900, 976, or 900-like services or other pay-per-call services will not be subject to the hearing-impaired discount. A.10. Billing Requirements The Contractor will include a method of providing sufficient billing and collection information to allow calls to be billed accurately by the designated billing agent, i.e., Local Exchange Carrier (LEC), Interexchange Carrier (IXC), etc. within 30 days of the date such service was supplied. The record must contain the telephone number or credit card number for all end user billable calls, i.e., local or toll, originating and termination numbers, date of the call, the billing start and end time, automatic number identification (ANI) , the called number, type of call, i.e., person-to-person, etc. and preferred IXC for interlata calls. The contractor will not do any customer billing. Information local calls will be retained by the contractor for service monitoring, auditing and contractor reporting purposes. Conversation Minutes The time on a relay call when both the calling party and the person called are on the line. Pricing is based off conversation minutes The state will be invoiced monthly based upon per minute usage in the above paragraph. A.11. Facility Requirement There may be one or more center locations so long as service quality levels are maintained uniformly. The center will have adequate equipment, furniture and facilities, either owned or leased, to provide Tennessee's Relay service for all possible center call volumes. If the center is located in a facility offering other services, the Relay service will be isolated appropriately to assure confidentiality standards are upheld. A.12. Auditing Requirements The Contractor will report monthly to the State on the activity of the Relay service. Such report shall include the total number of calls relayed in that month, the number of calls initiated by non-impaired (voice) and hearing-impaired parties, the average duration of the call, the average speed of answer time, the daily average number of calls in queue, the blockage rate, and the average length of time a call is in queue to be answered. The Contractor will report annually to the State and/or the fund administrator on the operations and traffic patterns of the center. On the first day of the new contract year in each year after the contract is awarded, the Contractor will submit its annual report to the State which will include a summary of all charges to date submitted to the contractor for payment, the monthly call volume for that year, the average call duration in each month, and the average monthly cost per call or minute. As a part of the report the Contractor will submit the number of personnel stationed in and serving each Relay call center at that time as well as percentage of Tennessee call volume served at each center. A.13. Relay Outreach and Education The Contractor will engage in outreach activities, promotional campaigns, and other means of educating the public as to the benefits of Relay service. The Contractor will, with the approval of the State, develop promotional materials, brochures, and educational tools to explain Relay. The minimum annual cost to be incurred by the Contractor for outreach and education will be $50,000, such expenditure shall be at no additional cost to the state above the per minute rate. The Contractor will maintain records of consumer comments and complaints about Relay service during the contract period. A monthly report will be sent to the State which briefly describes the date, the nature of the complaint or comment and the service providers resolution or action taken.

The Relay service shall be established to provide access for the community disabled to the intrastate telecommunication network which is functionally equivalent to that enjoyed by individuals who are not disabled. The Contractor will be designated to only accept calls that originate or terminate from a Relay telephone. Such calls shall originate and/or terminate in the state of Tennessee. The Relay service will be capable of accepting calls placed across state lines which, would be considered local intrastate calls. Individuals who use the Relay service will be able to call or be called by any business or residence that has a standard telephone service in Tennessee. The intrastate Relay system will be required to provide interstate calling. However, the intrastate Relay system calls must be accounted for separately from interstate calls and shall not be billed pursuant to this contract.