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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4.09 RFPVoiceMailSystem 'f CITY CLERK File # [2][QJ[Z][Q]-C3J~ . AGENDA STATEMENT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: March 3,1998 SUBJECT: Request for Proposal for V oiceMail System (Report Prepared by Paul S. Rankin, Assistant City Manager / Administrative Services Director and Jim Slaughter) EXHIBITS ATTACHED: 1. Draft Request for Proposal RECOMMENDATION: 1. Review proposed scope of Request for Proposal and provide any ~ additional input. . l 2. Authorize an exception to the required bid procedures and direct the staff to solicit responses to the Request for Proposal. FINANCIAL STATEMENT: The 1997-98 Capital Improvement Program included $20,000 for a new V oiceMail System. . DESCRIPTION: During the last several months the current Voice Mail System, Cindi II, has crashed several times. This system was originally purchased in 1989 and has met the City needs until now. On February 23, 1998, the hard drive for the system failed. The hardware manufacturer is no longer in business. This required a two to three day shut down of the system to find a usable hard drive. There is no backup to the system so all messages to the City and the Police Department were unrecoverable. At the time of the hard drive failure, a study was being prepared for the replacement of the Cindi II Voice Mail System. After consulting with Administrative Services, Finance, Parks and Community Services, Community Development and the Police Department, the proposed guidelines for a Request for Proposal for a new V oiceMail System were developed. BACKGROUND: In Fiscal Year 1997-98, the City Council identified as a high priority the purchase of a new Voice Mail System. Funding for $20,000 has been set aside in Fiscal Year 1997-98 Capital Improvement Program to obtain a new V oiceMail System. Replacing the current system with an 8 port unit will improve City Staff telephone response time. The number of ports determines the number of simultaneous users. The current system only has 4 ports, which is sometimes inadequate for the demands required by both internal staff and external customers. The newer unit will provide backup for critical messages and triple message storage capability. System downtime also will be drastically decreased because replacement parts will be more readily available. At the present time, the voice mail application will only be coordinated with the telephone system at the Civic Center location. Staffhas determined that the telephone systems at Shannon Center, the Senior Center, and the Fire Station need to be evaluated in their entirety. The age of those systems may require . COPIES TO: ITEM NO. 4.9 -ll''' replacement in the near future. At the time that the phone system is evaluated Staff will also consider alternatives to provide voice mail capabilities where appropriate. The new Voice Mail System will be' required to fully integrate with the current NBC NEAX 2400 IMS phone system. As discussed in the RFP, staffis anticipating evaluating the proposals as to cost and effectiveness. Staff . will present a proposed contract with the successful vendor for approval by City Council at a future meeting. Process Used: Staff will present a proposed contract with the recommended vendor for approval by City Council at a future meeting. In accorcfunce with the adopted purchasing ordinance, the City Council may grant an exception to the bid procedure. An exception is allowed when the purchase is of a technical nature, such as the V oiceMail System. Staff is requesting that the City Council authorize and exception for this project. The functions of the software / hardware, support by the vendor, as well as the cost will be evaluated in selecting the recommended system. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the City Council authorize staff to distribute the RFP in accordance with the purchasing exception allowed in Section 2.36.050 of the Dublin Municipal Code. . . -J< --" -1- . . . REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL Voice Mail System I. General Descriotion The City of Dublin is seeking proposals for a Voice IVlall System to replace its existing Cindi II .: Voice Mail System. This RFP consists of: Request for Proposal - 2 pages Specifications and Proposal Forms -15 pages II. Contact Person Questions regarding this RFP may be directed to the following person: Jim Slaughter, Computer Specialist City of Dublin Second Floor, Administrative Services Department 100 Civic Plaza, Dublin, CA 94568 III. General Information 1. Five Copies of the Responses are to be received by Wednesday April 1.. 1998 at 2:00 P.M. NO FAXED INFORMATION CAN BE CONSIDERED. PROPOSALS SHOULD CLEARLY MARKED "Proposal for Voice Mail System" AND SHOULD BE DELIVERED TO: Jim Slaughter, Computer Specialist City of Dublin Second Floor, Administrative Services Department 100 Civic Plaza, Dublin, CA 94568 Proposals received after that date and time will be considered late and will not be accepted. 2. The City of Dublin reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals. 3. Prices quoted in these proposals shall remain fixed and binding through at least July 1, 1998. The City will not pay costs incurred in the proposal preparation, printing, demonstration, or negotiation process. All costs shall be borne by the vendor. 4. All responses to the RFP submitted by vendor should be deemed public documents at the time they are opened by the City. The RFP is intended to be worded in such a manner so as to not elicit proprietary information as to computer software. If proprietary information is submitted as part of the proposal, such information is to be labeled as proprietary. Any proposal, which is submitted with a blanket statement or limitation, which would prohibit or limit such public inspection, may be rejected. EXHIBIT j 6. 7. - IV. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. V. 1. 2. 3. VI. 5. It is anticipated that the successful vendor will be recommended for approval by the City Council. A consultant agreement will be developed between the vendor and the City after which acquisition and installation will occur. Any proposal may be withdrawn by written request at any time prior to the scheduled deadline for receipt of proposal. . Attach additional pages if necessary for explanation. Evaluation Criteria Ability to Meet Functional Requirements Quality of References and User Satisfaction with Product Features, Support and Training Comparable Installations in California One time and Recurring Costs Staying PowerlFinancial StabilitylSoftware Updates Minimum Content of Responses Proposals shall use the Specification Forms provided. ,. Any and all deviations from the equipment specifications detailed on the bid form shall be noted and clearly explained. . No reverse engineering or substitution of components shall be permitted. Tentative Schedule For Selection Process Event Issuance of RFP Authorized By City Council Submittal Deadline Screening of Submittals Recommendation To City Council With Agreement Complete Installation and Training Deadline 3/4/98 4/1/98 4/2/98 - 4/16/98 To Be Determined Not Later Than 6/1197 VI. City's Riaht to Accept or Relect Proposals The City of Dublin reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal and any subsequent material, either verbal or written, exclusive of a written contract. This invitation to respond to the request for proposal in no way obligates the City of Dublin to any company, supplier, manufacturer, or respondent to this RFP. . City of Dublin RFP Page 2 of 15 . REQUIRMENTS I. Voice Messaging System 1. Vendor Requirements a.._ Vendor shall be a manufacturer authorized to sell and support proposed system. Vendor may not bring in a third-party for any portion of the implementation without prior consent. b. Which system is proposed? c. How long have you sold/supported the proposed system? d. How large is your Technical Support Group? e. How large is your Installation Group? . 2. NEC NEAX 2400 a. The proposed system will fully int.egrate with NEC NEAX 2400. YES NO Comment 3. Forwarding and Reply Requirements a. If the extension is busy or does not answer within a specified number of rings on internal and external calls, the system automatically shall play the personal greeting of the mailbox associated with the extension. YES NO Comment b. The system shall have the ability to playa different greeting for internal and external callers. YES NO Comment c. Internal callers forwarded to a personal greeting should be able to leave a message with Reply options available. The caller should not have to log into their mailbox to enable the Reply feature. YES NO Comment . City of Dublin RFP Page 3 of 15 .~""J< 4. Operator Assistance . a. Callers may reach an operator for assistance at any time by dialing "0." They do not have to wait for the end of the announcement to dial "0." YES NO Comment b. Each mailbox may have the ability to route to a unique "0" destination. YES NO Comment 5. Message Notification a. Message notification should include lighting a lamp on analog sets, call out to stations which do not have message waiting lamps, and screen indications on digital sets. It is desirable to offer message total and message number countdown in the digital display. YES NO Comment b. Does the proposed system offer pager notification by time of day and day of week? Is it user controlled via touchtone? YES NO Comment c. Can users be paged on every message, urgent, and/o.~ batch? . YES NO Comment 6. User Options a. Does the proposed system provide a new user tutorial? YES NO Comment ". b. Are multiple user interfaces available? How many greetings? YES NO Comment c. What options may be controlled by the user from their mailbox? Comment .'" -" -J< City of Dublin RFP Page 4 of 15 II. System Architecture . a. Is the proposed system an industry standard design or proprietary b. system? YES NO Comment b. What type of voice boards are used? Comment c. What type of System BUS is used? Comment d. Type and amount of RAM required? Comment e. Internal or external modem and what speed? Comment f. Size, type and number of Hard Drives. . Comment g. Is voice storage controlled by means other than the size of the hard drive? What are the voice sforage increments provided by your system? How is storage upgraded? YES NO Comment h. What application modules are included with the base system? Comment i. Can application modules be added as needs change? What options are available? YES NO Comment j. State the port expansion capability. Comment k. If the needs exceed the size of the proposed system are there any expansion and migration options? Would components of the proposed system work with the larger system? . YES NO Comment City of Dublin RFP Page 5 of 15 --...... I. Does the proposed system include a complete audiotext capability which allows callers to access frequently requested and routine information? How many boxes or greetings are allowed? . YES NO Comment m. Describe the proposed system's backup capability. What is the cost for backup options? Comment III. Automated Attendant Features a. Incoming calls are answered by the Automated Attendant on the first ring, and are routed using the dialogue that has been defined for that line, day of week, and time of day. YES NO Comment b. Can the system can perform the following functions: 1. Answer calls after a specific number of rings YES NO Comment Playa specified announcement message YES NO Comment 3. Play specific greeting per trunk group YES NO Comment 2. . 4. Transfer to extension or operator at anytime YES NO Comment 5. Transfer call to operator if no entry is made YES NO Comment b. Multi-level menu trees can be configured to route callers. Is there a limit to the number of main menus and sub-menu trees? YES NO Comment c. Callers can reach frequently called departments by pressing a single key. Single digits can be entered any time before a prompt/greeting is completed. YES NO Comment d. Callers can escape from single digit menus at any time and enter another extension or reach an operator for assistance. -" -J< City of Dublin RFP Page 6 of 15 . YES NO Comment . e. Are transfers of calls supervised or unsupervised? Describe exactly what takes place when the auto attendant transfers the call. YES NO Comment f. System greetings and menu trees are password protected and can be changed from any touch-tone phone. YES NO Comment g. The system informs callers when they have entered an invalid extension and then prompts them to re-enter the extension number. YES NO Comment h. During a call transfer, the system monitors the progress tones (meaning the busy tone, ringing cadence ...) to determine if the call was unanswered or was busy. YES NO Comment i. If an extension is busy, or does not answer, will the caller have the option to transfer to the receptionist, leave a private voice message, transfer to another extension by pressing touch-tone keys in response to voice instructions. . YES NO Comment j. Does the system offer call screening and call holding? YES NO Comment k. Can the system use an overhead paging system to notify a user that they have a pending call? YES NO Comment I. Does the proposed system provide for satellite subscribers? IV. Voice Mail Features a. The following parameters are stored in the system data for each subscriber: 1. Mailbox Number YES NO Comment . City of Dublin RFP Page 7 of 15 -...... 2. Security Code not visible to administrator YES NO Comment . 3. Telephone Extension Number YES NO Comment 4. Subscriber Name (alphabetic) YES NO Comment 5. Retention Period for Messages YES NO Comment 6. Outdialing Allowed YES NO Comment 7. Extension Number for transfers to Operator YES NO Comment c. The subscriber can choose to listen to new messages or to saved messages, which will be maintained in separate queues within the subscriber mailbox. When logging on, a voice prompt tells the user the number of new messages. YES NO Comment d. The subscriber can choose to record and send a message to a subscriber or distribution list. . YES NO Comment . ' e. The subscriber may choose to record a telephone conversation by pressing a single key. The caller may be notified by a beep tone that the conversation is being monitored. YES NO Comment f. While listening to new or saved messages, the subscriber can invoke the following functions. 1. Pause/continue message playback. YES NO Comment 2. Speed up and slowdown the message. YES NO Comment 3. Save the message. YES NO Comment 4. Back up/Advance a few seconds within the message. YES NO Comment 5. Skip to the next message in the queue. YES NO Comment . City of Dublin RFP ~" Page 8 of 15 -.. 6. Redirect/forward message with or without intro. YES NO Comment . f. Time and date stamp played automatically or upon request of subscriber (programmable). YES NO Comment g. While recording any message, the subscriber can invoke the following functions: 1. Pause/continue recording. YES NO Comment 2. Erase the entire recording and prepare to re-record. YES NO Comment 3. Replay/Review the recording from the beginning. YES NO Comment 4. Mark message Urgent for priority delivery. YES NO Comment . 5. Prohibit forwarding of message to other. subscribers. YES NO Comment 6. Specify date and time for future delivery of message. YES NO Comment h. The subscriber can verify whether the recipient has retrieved each message. YES NO Comment i. Subscriber can cancel any message not yet heard by the recipient. YES NO Comment j. The subscriber can be notified immediately when new messages are received. User can control the following features. 1. Turn notification on/off. YES NO Comment 2. Notify subscriber upon receipt of any message. YES NO Comment . City of Dublin RFP Page 9 of 15 -"-" 3. Notify only when urgent messages are received. YES NO Comment . 4. Notify only at specified intervals. YES NO Comment j. Subscribers can record multiple personal greetings. Different messages may be recorded for intemal and external callers. If no personal greeting is recorded, a standard system greeting will be substituted automatically. YES NO Comment k. System shall have the ability to allow mailbox user to record a separate extended absence greeting, which will not affect his or her normal personal mailbox greeting. YES NO Comment I. The subscriber can enter a new password at any time, from any touch- tone phone. The password may vary in length. YES NO Comment V. Audiotext (Information Mailboxes) a. System supports Iisten-only mailboxes that playa single or series of messages to callers. This includes standard "greet & transfer" only mailboxes. . YES NO Comment b. Callers can enter another extension or reach an operator while in an audiotext mailbox. YES NO Comment c. How many informational mailboxes are provided? Comment d. The mailbox can be configured to accept replies from callers after they hear announcements. YES NO Comment e. Announcements may be automatically changed by time of day. YES NO Comment . '~J< ""'}I. City ofDublin RFP Page 10 of 15 . VI. Voice Fonns a. Does the system provide a voice form application that collects information from callers by asking sequential questions? Is this included in the proposed configuration? YES NO Comment b. How many questions can a voice form application include? YES NO Comment c. Can multiple callers access a voice forms application without requiring dedicated ports? YES NO Comment d. Who may receive the responses? Comment e. Can the administration manager revise, delete and insert questions without re-recording the entire voice form? . YES NO Comment VII. Administration a. Local system administration is performed using a keyboard and monitor. All administration functions are menu-driven. Are any special classes required to learn to administer the system? YES NO Comment b. System management functions can be performed while the system is in operation. YES NO Comment c. Moves, adds and changes to the system can be done remotely. YES NO Comment d. System administrator can record informational announcements and control recordings from the system monitor. . YES NO Comment City of Dublin RFP Page 11 of15 -JrJ' . f. The following standard system reports are available on request by the System Administrator. 1. System Activity YES NO Comment 2. Error Log YES NO Comment 3. User Directories YES NO Comment 4. Port Statistics YES NO Comment 5. User Statistics YES NO Comment 6. Distribution Lists YES NO Comment . VIII. Implementation a. Describe the items included in the standard voice mail installation package and any additional items that must be provided by the customer. Comment b. Provide a typical installation schedule detailing the responsibilities of the vendor and the customer. Comment c. Who is responsible for periorming the customer database design? Loading the customer-specific database into the system? Recording prompts and announcements? Creating individual announcements? Creating menus and directories? Comment . -.. --" City of Dublin RFP Page 12 of15 . . . X. Warranty (Voic~ Mail) a. Describe the warranty policy for the proposed system, including parts, labor, and software. Comment b. What responsibilities does your support personnel assume after installation? During what hours can the customer always call to have a question answered? YES NO Comment c. How are periodic software updates distributed and performed for both hardware and software? What is the approximate cost of each update? Will mandatory updates always be installed free of charge? YES NO Comment d. If you are not the manufacturer, please describe your relationship with the manufacturer, including contractual s~tus, time associated and mutual future plans. . Comment City of Dublin RFP Page 13 of 15 -"J< ATTACHMENT C - PROPOSAL FORMS To the City of Dublin: I, the undersigned vendor, having familiarized myself with the tenns of the proposal, hereby propose and agree to provide a complete V oiceMail system to the City as specified in the attached proposal and within the specified delivery time, after receipt of the notice to proceed and the completed contract I agree to provide and furnish any and all utility and transportation services necessary to perform the contract and install the automated permitting system to the satisfaction of the Community Development Director in the City's Community Development Department. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITIED, SIGNA TIJRE (Must have binding Authority To enter into Contracts) DATE NAME OF SIGNER (please Print) TITLE NAME OF CONTACT PERSON (If different) TITLE PHONE NUMBER FAX NUMBER -.. -;. City of Dublin RFP Page 14 of 15 . . . Cl COST BREAKDOWNS FOR REQUIRED SOFTW AREIHARDW AREIRELATED SUPPORT . COST FOR EACH FIRST YEAR COST SUBSEQUENT YEAR ITEM A. Voice Mail System (Hardware and Software) B. Tape Backup C. Training D. Manuals/Docwnentation E. Yearly Maintenance and Support F. Software upgrades G. Freight H. Sales Tax Total Cost for Voice Mail System C2 DELIVERY TIME . Provide a detailed installation, conversion, and training plan which outline the overall implementation of the new automated pennitting system. This plan should project time frames with goals for each. Provide infonnation concerning requirements on City staff and facilities. Attach additional pages if necessary for explanation. . City of Dublin RFP Page 15 of15 ."""~if.