Headline

Note: the following sample RFP is for illustration only; there is no reason to assume the particular features requested in this proposal are needed by everyone, or that other features not mentioned might not be more important in a different context. However, the sample should illustrate the general approach.

4. Sample Request For Proposal

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
FOR
A TELEPHONE SYSTEM
FOR
XYZ CO., INC.

To be installed at:

XYZ’s New Midwest Regional Headquarters,
Buildings Three and Four
Zlarg Industrial Park
(Rt. 63 and Maple St.)
Snerkville, IL 60XXX

Where the area and office code will be (312) 555

Please respond to:

Ms. Mary Smith:
Telecom Coordinator
XYZ Co., Inc.
318 Wells St.
New York, NY 100XX
(212) 555-1212

by May 15, 1986

to insure installation by
Oct. 1. 1986

Questions on this RFP may be addressed to Ms. Smith or to XYZ’s consultant, Ed Tomko

Communication Resources
PO Box xxxx
Town, State Zip
(xxx)-xxx-xxxx

Table of Contents
I. Introduction and Overview
II. Conditions, Scheduling and Pricing
A. General
B. Installation and Scheduling
C. Support Required of XYZ by Vendor
D. Pricing
III. Detailed Specification
IV. Proposal format and Content Requirements
V. Exhibits

Section I. Introduction and Overview

1. Introduction

XYZ CO. INC. (hereafter XYZ), a leading manufacturer of paper clips, file folders and other office products, is moving its Midwest Regional Headquarters to a new facility to be available for occupancy Wednesday, Oct. 1, 1986. XYZ is soliciting bids for a telephone system to provide advanced PBX services at this new location, Zlarg Industrial Park, Snerkville, IL 60XXX.

In addition to the usual management functions, this office has recently added a group of agents to provide telephone assistance to customers buying certain office software products on floppy disks, and a sales group who both answer incoming calls from customers and place outgoing calls to solicit new customers.

2. Present System

At its present location, 250 Industrial Park, Flark City, IL 60XXX, XYZ’s regional office is served by a Direction 400 with about 120 station lines. Most stations are conventional 2500 sets, but there are 15 electronic stations of different sizes. A console with DSS is used in a conventional fashion to service incoming calls and provide assistance to station users when necessary. The switching matrix is space division, and UCD is not available.

The Direction has been in place for four years, is rented from the local telephone company (a subsidiary of Major Tel), and can be terminated with- out cost penalty when the office is moved.

Long distance calling is supported by ARS using a mix of interstate and intrastate WATS, a specialized intrastate calling package and Chicago FXs, with only limited toll usage.

There are some data communications applications conducted over dedicated facilities separate from the telephone system. Four facsimile machines are in use but are served by individual business lines.

Interstate 800 services terminate on the console to serve two specific groups: the service group consisting of 5 agents who handle problems arriving as incoming calls, and a telephone sales group of 3 agents who respond to incoming calls and who also make outgoing sales calls.

3. New System

A new system is being sought, to be ready when the move is made into the new office space in two buildings approximately 200 feet apart in an industrial park. The PBX should be capable of supporting a variety of data communication activities, economical routing of toll calls using a variety of facilities and services, call detail recording, customer administration of station moves and changes, and should serve XYZ economically and well over the next decade.

Overall, the new system should permit the accomplishment of several objectives:

• Continuation of present features and capabilities.
   

• Improvement of existing features. For instance, an increase in the number of electronic sets, particularly where they assist flow of non-modem data (see below), and increase the ability of the customer to effect station moves and changes and concurrently update a common data base. Over the past year, an average of four station moves per month has been observed, and this activity is expected to increase at the new location.
   

• New features and capabilities. Illustratively, the ability to originate and switch data without recourse to modems; DISA (Direct Inward System Access) with suitable security provisions; DDC (Direct Departmental Calling) for the two 800 number groups, and DID (Direct Inward Dialing) for the majority of extensions. Uniform Call Distribution with a Force Administration Data System will be helpful with the DDC groups as they grow. In addition, the system design and architecture should be postured to accommodate the developing trends and technologies of the industry, so that XYZ can enjoy new and improved features and services as they become available.
   

• Growth. The system must accommodate growth as shown in Figure 1 at the end of the Detailed Specification, based on a station growth rate of 10% per year, compounded. Trunks, memory, and call handling will, presumably, follow station growth; calling rate may, however, increase more rapidly as non-voice traffic is taken over by the PBX, and the service and sales groups expand.
   

• Economy. Reduced cost is important, but “life cycle” cost over the next 5 to 7 years is recognized as being more important than the initial installed cost alone. The vendor’s maintenance contract will be given careful consideration, but the system’s capability to let the customer make moves and changes, coordinate maintenance of a data base as a result of such changes, and modify ARS patterns without recourse to the vendor are requirements which are expected to minimize overall ongoing expense.

4. Calling Overview

a. Incoming Calls. The system must accept and complete incoming calls which will arrive in several ways:

• Direct Inward Dialing from the public network.
   

• Listed number calls to an attendant. The listed number(s) may be part of the DID number group or (a) separate group(s) of trunks.
   

• DISA and DDC calls. These may arrive over local CO trunks, FX (Foreign Exchange), or 800 lines. DDC calls, in particular, are expected to increase as the sales and service groups develop.
   

• Tie-trunk calls, from other PBXs or key systems.

b. Outgoing Calls. Calls will be advanced over an economical mix of toll facilities including Foreign Exchange, tie-trunk, WATS, MTS (Message Telephone Service), OCC (Other Common Carrier), and whatever the future brings. It is anticipated that this mix will be subject to frequent change in both kind and quantity.

• To make local calls, stations will dial 9 + seven digits.
   

• For calls to the remainder of area code 312 the caller will still dial 9 + seven digits. Calls will be completed over FX lines, intrastate WATS and other special intra-LATA offerings, with possible overflow to toll (as a function of station class marking).
   

• Calls to the remainder of the United States entail dialing 9 + ten digits. Such calls will be carried over an appropriate mix of long distance facilities. The system will be expected to insert the “1” or any other codes required depending on the facility chosen.
   

• Calls to be placed via other long distance carriers, or by dialing “0+” for credit card billing shall be possible in as near the national standard form as possible.
   

• International Calls, ideally, will be originated by appropriately class marked stations dialing 9 + the country code + the telephone number and advanced on an IDDD (International Direct Distance Dialing) basis.

Call quantities are listed in Figure 1 of the Detailed Specification.

Section II. Conditions

The following terms and conditions apply:

A. General

1. It should be understood that the information provided in this specification is not to be construed as defining a specific piece of hardware or feature or solution. Rather, it is intended to state XYZ’s desired objectives in terms of system services and control.

2. It is extremely important that all sections of your proposal as outlined in Section IV of the RFP be completed as thoroughly as possible. An incomplete or uncoordinated submission can only be judged as indicative of the bidder’s capability or professionalism.

3. While XYZ intends to acquire and install a telephone system which it deems suitable to its needs, this RFP does not obligate XYZ to any such action. XYZ reserves the right to accept any bid or to reject all bids. Award may be made without discussion; and hence, your bid should be submitted initially complete and on the most favorable terms.

4. Only existing telephone systems and subsystems thereof should be proposed. Any telephone system bid must be capable of demonstration upon request, ideally, at a user’s location.

5. Support: Each bidder shall certify that he will maintain an inventory of spare parts and test equipment sufficient to maintain the system for a minimum of ten (10) years and during that time will make available craftspeople skilled in providing appropriate maintenance and support for the system.

6. Telephone Company Coordination: The successful bidder shall assume complete responsibility for all coordination with the serving telephone company, AT&T Communications, and/or other serving carriers.

7. Insurance: The successful bidder must carry insurance of at least $500,000 for public liability for personal injury including death, and $250,000 for property damage. He also shall carry workmen’s compensation in accordance with requirements of the State of Illinois.

The contractor shall indemnify and save harmless XYZ, its officers, agents, servants and consultants against all suits and costs of every kind and description,

and from all damages to which XYZ or any of its officers, agents, servants or consultants may be subjected by reason of injury to the person or property of others resulting from the performance of the work,

or through the negligence of the contractor or any sub-contractor, or through any improper or defective machinery, implements or appliances used by the contractor or any sub-contractor in the project,

or through any act of omission on the part of the contractor or any sub-contractor, or any of their agents, employees or servants;

and he shall further indemnify and save harmless XYZ, their officers, agents, servants and consultants, from all suits and actions of any kind or character whatsoever which may be brought or instituted by any sub-contractor, supplier or laborer, who has performed work or furnished materials in or about the project

or by or on account of any claims or amount recovered from any infringement of patent, trademark or copyright.

8. Laws, Ordinances, Codes, Etc.: The successful bidder shall comply with laws, codes, rules and regulations of the state, county and city applicable to the work to be performed at all premises. All permits lawfully required shall be obtained by the successful bidder at his expense.

9. Cabling Code and Regulations: The successful bidder will assume responsiblity for compliance with all appropriate codes and regulations pertaining to proper and safe cable installation, or continued use of in-place cable. If compliance requires the use of either conduit or teflon cable, the bidder should assume teflon and include the increased costs in the proposal. If cable used is later found not conform to codes, bidder will replace it at his expense.

10. Union Labor: The successful bidder shall ensure that installation and maintenance personnel assigned to this project shall provide no cause or violation which may provoke any union objection, disturbance or perturbation.

11. Assignments: The successful bidder shall not sell, transfer, assign, or otherwise dispose of the sale and/or support contract or any portion thereof, or of his right, title or interest therein, or his obligation thereunder, without written consent of XYZ.

B. Installation and Scheduling

1. Each bidder shall identify the exact tasks that must be performed by both the bidder and XYZ in order to accomplish delivery and a complete turnkey installation, specified in a timetable reflecting intervals from signing of the contract through cutover and acceptance.

2. The specific requirements for switch room space, power load (in kw), environmental conditions (including air conditioning load in BTU per hour), must be described so XYZ may develop an estimate of ancillary costs which may be involved in the site preparation and installation of the proposed system. The date by which switch room space must be available to the vendor shall be included in the timetable cited in paragraph B.1 above.

3. Delivery of Materials: The successful bidder shall schedule and coordinate delivery of all materials and storage requirements with the XYZ coordinator.

4. Installation: All work shall be performed in a professional, workmanlike manner, compatible with XYZ’s normal or unique business requirements, to the extent practical. Because installation will run in parallel with the preparation of the new office space, XYZ will coordinate with the architect, decorator and similar personnel.

5. Data Base Preparation: XYZ will provide the per-station and other information required to set up the system data base. The date when this information must be available to the vendor shall be shown on the timetable cited in Paragraph B.1 above.

6. Test and Training Period: The system, with at least 50 of the stations connected, will be installed and operating for at least two weeks prior to cutover. This will afford “burn-in” for system components, training use, testing, and time for user familiarization with the system during intercom use.

7. Time of Cutover: The actual “cutover” of the new system will be at a day and time chosen by XYZ. To minimize interference with XYZ operations, and to provide an opportunity for system testing, cutover will be scheduled for the beginning of a weekend if at all possible. The dates presently planned are Sept. 27 and Sept. 28, to insure completion and testing before preliminary groups are moved in on October 1.

8. The successful bidder will supply a complete cutover plan in writing at least three weeks before the scheduled cutover. This plan will define precisely how trunks, lines and stations will be turned up on the new system, and what will be done to detect problems, particularly those involved with trunks and ARS, before such troubles build up.

9. Cutover: Cutover is defined as the date that the system is up and operating with at least 95 of all stations and K0 of all trunks installed and working.

10. Over Facilitation: To ensure a good quality of service during cutover and the few weeks following, it is planned to slightly over facilitate the quantity of trunks, and possibly the consoles. As soon as the system has stabilized and good traffic information is available, these excess facilities and services may at XYZ’s discretion be discontinued.

The successful bidder will be expected to furnish the necessary hardware to serve these facilities on a temporary basis, at no cost to the buyer. If traffic levels indicate their need, or the buyer otherwise elects to retain them, they will then, of course, be included in the final inventory and charged for at the appropriate contract prices.

11. Correction of Discrepancies: Any discrepancies in equipment complement, defects in operation or service, or other problems discerned during final testing, cutover, inventory, and post cutover evaluation will be furnished to the vendor in writing. Resolution of these items to the satisfaction of the customer is required prior to system acceptance.

12. Acceptance: Written notice of system acceptance will be given by XYZ within 30 days after cutover provided that all discrepancies have been corrected to XYZ’s satisfaction by that time and that the system had no major failures or a total of more than 5 minutes down time in the preceding two weeks.

Final payment of no less than 25 of the purchase price, or 50 of the installation and one-time charges in the event of lease or lease-purchase, will be made upon acceptance. Continuing charges will become effective at cutover, but no payment will be required until acceptance.

13. Training: Successful bidder shall be required to provide training on the use of the new system in the following areas:

a. Station Users: After consultation with XYZ and definition of subject matter to be covered, bidder will provide training of XYZ “counselors,” who will in turn train all XYZ station users. Details of number of counselors to be trained, class size, training location(s), equipment to be used, scheduling, etc. will be mutually arranged to XYZ’s satisfaction. In like fashion, training literature, handouts, etc. will be edited and controlled to XYZ’s satisfaction.

b. Attendants: Bidder shall provide complete training for up to four (4) XYZ attendant personnel.

c. System Administration: Bidder shall provide complete training for up to four (4) XYZ personnel in making station moves and changes, feature changes, system data base maintenance, ARS table changes, etc.

d. Cutover Support: Bidder shall provide adequate support for attendants, system administration personnel, and counselors during the cutover and post cutover until XYZ is satisfied that ongoing system use and operation is stable and no further cutover support is required.

e. Continuing Support: The Successful Bidder shall assure XYZ that continuing training support will be available as needed over 10 years following cutover.

Because only certain personnel will be moved into the new location by Oct. 1, and the great majority of personnel will be moved over the weekend of Oct. 4-5, it is expected that training of counselors, attendants and telecom management personnel can take place on a working system On Oct. 1, 2 and 3» with heavy business calling starting on Monday, Oct. 6.

C. Support Required of XYZ by Vendor

1. XYZ’s Responsibility: In the proposal, bidders must define the specific actions required of XYZ during Installation (such as providing electrical outlets, air conditioning and ventilation, conduit and wiremold, plywood backboards etc.).

2. System Database: XYZ will conduct its own station survey and determine type of equipment, hunt groups, features, COS, etc., for each telephone. The bidder, however, will provide the appropriate forms to record these station configuration details, and train XYZ personnel in their use.

Additional data base material, such as that needed for ARS and CDR, Directory, etc., must be clearly identified to XYZ in the proposal so that XYZ can evaluate the cost of preparing it, and have it ready in the required form when needed.

3. Timetable: The timetable in the proposal will clearly flag the dates when XYZ will be expected to have information or facilities available to the successful bidder.

D. Pricing

1. Bidder will base all pricing on the assumption that he will provide a complete turnkey installation. The bidder is urged to offer the most favorable pricing initially; bids may be evaluated without further discussion. If XYZ accepts a bid and the vendor subsequently offers similar systems at a lower price, XYZ will expect costs to be adjusted to that more favorable value.

2. Changes in the Work: Estimated quantities are indicated in Figure 1 in the detailed specification. XYZ reserves the right to increase or decrease quantities purchased to meet particular needs as they may develop and as determined by the XYZ coordinator.

3. Change in Contract Price: The contract price may be changed only by a written change order approved by the XYZ coordinator.

Any additional costs for after hours or weekend cutover (see Paragraph B.7 above) shall be clearly identified in the bid.

Any additional costs for overfacilitation at cutover (see Paragraph B.10 above) shall be clearly identified in the bid.

4. Warranty: The successful bidder shall warrant all equipment against defective parts and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of acceptance.

5. Taxes: Prices shall include local, state or Federal taxes. Such taxes shall be shown separately from the equipment or service provided.

6. Maintenance: The bid shall include a one-year complete maintenance contract at no additional cost from the date of acceptance. A subsequent one year complete service and maintenance agreement shall be included with option to renew said contract for additional one (1) year periods. For both the warranty period and subsequent renewable periods, the bidder shall specify items covered, items excluded, time of day or day of week exceptions, and costs. Comparable information shall be provided describing terms, conditions, costs and coverage supplied on a demand or call out basis.

Regardless of service option chosen, vendor must guarantee that someone will be available to respond, on a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week basis, in the event that, in XYZ’s judgment, an emergency call is necessary.

7. Unit Pricing: Unit prices for items specified shall be set forth on the exhibits provided. These prices will obtain for any changes necessary between purchase date and acceptance date.

8. Any training costs (See Paragraph B.13 above) will be shown separately.

9. Basic Bid Price: The basic bid price will include the hardware and software necessary to support the station and trunk configuration listed in Figure 1 in the detailed specification, provide the training and services and comply with the conditions listed in Section II, and meet the /basic requirements and capabilities listed in Section III, Detailed Specifications.

10. Option Pricing: The bidder is also requested to respond to the special and optional requirements listed in Section III, and provide pricing in accord with Exhibit A-4.

11. System Wiring: Installation of “black cable” (risers and horizontals), and grey wire (station terminal to closet) will be in accord with industry standards, and bidder shall indicate whether the bid system provides for surface wiring, concealed wiring, or wiring in conduit, and to what extent existing wiring will be reused.

Wiring will be provided to all possible locations where a telephone might be located in the future. For the purposes of the bid, vendors will assume wiring will provide direct connections from wall jacks to MDF for twice as many phones as will ultimately be located on XYZ’s premises. (That is, “station prewires” will be equal to the number of stations actually to be used.)

The bidder shall also furnish an estimate of the kinds, amounts, and costs for coring, sleeving, and conduit which XYZ is expected to provide to accommodate the bid system. With proper planning to take full advantage of the preparation of the new office space, it is expected that this cost will be held to a minimum.

Section III. Detailed Specifications

The exhibits (see Section V) will, in general, provide space for certain specific required responses; however, bidders may amplify such responses elsewhere as described in Section IV, Format Requirements. A separate Exception Exhibit flags differences between the proposed system and specified requirements, and offers the vendor an opportunity to explain alternate possibilities.

1. Basic Requirements

The solicited telephone system shall meet the following standard requirements :

a. System: The system must be an electronic stored program control PBX, preferably based on time division switching using Pulse Code Modulation in the T-Carrier format. It must be capable of handling voice connections with an industry-standard 3.5 Khz bandwidth, and data connections at speeds of at least 9.6 Kbps asynchronous and 56 Kbps synchronous with a data error rate of 1 in 10**** or better. It must have the ability to handle all standard types of trunking including direct connection to T- Carrier.

b. Redundancy: Duplicate CPUs and memories are required to minimize the possibility of catastrophic failure. If other means of achieving control reliability are standard in the proposed system, describe the method used. Other levels of redundancy for other equipment should be pointed out.

c. Software Support: Bidders shall describe the software release and the support offered for the bid system, and the availability and cost associated with subsequent software releases and enhancements. Any specific constraints, terms, or conditions should be specified.

d. Traffic: As proposed, and at any level of expansion up to maximum capacity, the switching matrix shall have a minimum capacity of 25% occupancy per station (9 CCS) at P.01 grade of service. Existing calling rates for XYZ are included in Figure 1 for reference.

e. Technical Requirements: The system shall provide call progress tones, ringing signals and analog transmission capability in accordance with Bell System Standards. However, the system may use additional call progress tones, voice synthesized prompts, digital signaling, tone ringing or other capabilities that interface more efficiently with modern station apparatus or digital trunks. Distortion, cross-talk attenuation, impedance unbalance to ground, impulse noise, etc., shall be within limits established by Bell System Standards.

f. Station Equipment: The system shall be capable of supporting 2500 type sets or equivalent (DTMF signaling, power ringing, message waiting lamp). Such sets may be offered as single line sets as long as they are fully modular and have a flash button and message-waiting lamp. This does not prevent the vendor from offering single line sets of a different type that might be better supported by the PBX (using, perhaps, digital signaling, tone ringing, etc.), as long as such sets Include a version with a flash or recall button and a system-operated message waiting lamp.

To handle the features formerly supported by 1A2-type key systems, the system should support electronic telephone sets with a minimum of ten (10) buttons capable of line or feature appearances. These sets should be able to handle at least three (3) distinct conversations, each appearing on a discrete button.

g. Configuration: The system bid shall be “equipped” (quantity provided with switch at initial cutover) for the number of trunks and station lines specified in Figure 1 at the end of this section. XYZ’s growth forecast after cutover is projected at 10% per year. Bidders shall cite constraints that might prevent the system from satisfying XYZ’s growth over the next decade and explain changes needed to meet growth projections.

h. Power Requirements: Each bidder is required to supply a breakdown of the electrical load to all components and peripherals of the offered system, plus the total power drawn (in KW). XYZ will provide commercial power, but the bidder is totally responsible for defining the service required and for providing such auxiliary equipment as may be needed to make the system work (including, Illustratively, batteries, rectifier and fuse panel).

i. Heat Load: Bidder shall specify total heat load dissipation (in BTU/hr) for the proposed system including all components and peripherals. A breakdown of the total figure shall be provided in terms of cabinets, components, peripherals, etc.

j. Battery Back-Up: Adequate Batteries will be provided to power the entire system including consoles, peripherals, etc. in the event of commercial power failure for a period of four (4) hours.

k. Power Failure Transfer: The system shall be capable, in the event of power failure, of providing incoming and outgoing service to the public network for a limited number of pre-selected stations. When a system failure occurs independent of power failure, it shall be possible to activate the power failure mechanism manually.

2. Features

The PBX shall be equipped with all required features as listed in Figure 2. A description of the proposed system’s features may be appended, and alternate solutions may be presented, but required features or functions not provided must be clearly indicated. This may be done in Exhibits B-1b, B-2b, and F.

Certain of the features in Figure 2 are expanded below:

Outgoing Call Restriction: The ability to control the calling range of individual extensions, based on class of service, shall be provided.

Class Marks: These should be assignable to stations, trunk facilities, and authorization (or billing) codes to control calling range and parameters such as toll overflow with or without “expensive facility” tone. Class marks shall also be available for defining station features permitted. If possible, Class of Service (COS) for features and Class of Restriction (COR) for calling range shall be independent of each other.

Class marks shall be readily changeable by the system administrator.

Restriction Bypass: The system should permit the use of a common speed call list as a restrictor route code. If a station can access a group speed call list the user can make those calls; otherwise the station is restricted from making such calls or other calls beyond the local area when the actual number is dialed.

Automatic Route Selection: The proposed system shall have the ability to obtain the entire called number as dialed by the station user, check it against the user’s COS or COR to see if the call can be completed, select the appropriate facility, and modify the digits outpulsed as required by that facility. Minimum capability should screen on a 6-digit basis (NPA-NXX) and choose appropriate routing table.

Traffic measurement: The system shall have a traffic measuring system, independent of CDR, that can capture and present data useful in managing the system. In particular, peg-count and occupancy shall be measured for all trunk and service circuit groups on an hourly basis and either printed out or stored in a non-volatile display for viewing. Other functions such as switching matrix blocking, extension hunt groups, etc., shall also be monitored.

Call Detail Recording (CDR): The system shall be able to capture, format, and output (RS 232) a complete record for each long distance call. Call records shall include: calling extension, billing code (when used), called number, trunk used, queue delay (if any), answer time, call duration and (when appropriate) willful overflow to MTS. The similar ability to record local and intra-PBX calls, when desired, is also highly desirable.

a. Station Administration: The ability of the customer’s telecommunications manager, from a control location (console, maintenance terminal, or similar), to make station number, feature, and class mark changes, make busy, place in service, etc., without recourse to the vendor or like service function, and without interruption to call processing, is required. In the course of making station moves and changes, feature and class mark changes, etc., the concurrent changes to the data base should occur and be accessible in real time. Maintenance of a data-base by separate activity or in a separate system to permit accounting or inventory is not acceptable.

b. Facility Administration: For both incoming and outgoing facilities, the customer’s ability to add, delete, test, make-busy, and recon- figure the selection of such facilities on a real-time basis is necessary. This ability to change and update system and operating parameters, ARS tables, routes, etc., should not adversely impact normal system operation.

c. Maintenance Features: Required are alarm indication or display to administration center, with major alarms remotable. Remote maintenance and diagnostic capability with suitable security is also required. Vendor shall state the extent of RMATS-like operation he will provide.

d. Universal Wiring: The proposed system shall include a station wiring plan with whatever number of pairs are required to support all types of station equipment offered with the system (“N” pair wiring). These shall terminate in a universal jack (RJ11 or similar) to permit flexible change of station equipment without recourse to wiring change at the terminal (“mounting block”) location. Wiring will be provided initially to all locations where a phone may be required in the future, and will run from the wall-jack to the MDF without bridged taps.

e. Cabling: Bidder shall describe the wire size (gauge) which is being bid for the distribution plant (both “black” and “grey” cable) and station wiring. Note that the office is spread out over two buildings. For the purposes of this bid, station prewires are to be equal to the number of telephones ultimately required. Additional pairs provided as spares to replace broken or defective pairs will be identified.

f. Paging Access. System shall provide access (for stations appropriately class-marked) to a paging system. If, after site survey and de- tails of paging operation are furnished, the bidder has a suitable paging system to offer it should be bid as an option.

g. Six Party Conference: System shall provide the ability to establish a conference call of six parties, with any mix of stations or trunks. Please indicate whether establishment of the conference is under control of the station user, the console attendant, or either.

3. Optional Requirements

The following optional requirements should be priced separately on the appropriate exhibit. Vendor may provide information on other options available, independently.

a. CDR Recording and Processing System: An external software/hardware system is highly desirable to provide a means to allocate charges to users using any or all of the following parameters: authorization code, accounting code, originating station or trunk, time/date of call, outgoing facility, aggregate usage, “class mark,” and discount factor. An acceptable time-and-distance costing algorithm is, of course, needed, as well as the ability to make changes and updates in real time. The system should also be able to produce management reports by sorting on called number and by hierarchal sorting on calling number or billing code.

b. Traffic Presentation System: An external or built-in hard- ware/software system that accepts traffic data as generated by the system and produces traffic reports, for both incoming and outgoing facilities, on a cyclical or demand basis is highly desirable. As a minimum, this system should provide busy hour and summary data for call attempts, abandons, and completions, trunk group and individual trunk occupancy, holding times, queue times, incidence of overflow from primary group, overflow to final route (both willful and as a consequence of class mark), and ATB (All Trunk Busy) duration and denials. Additionally, summary or cumulative reports hour by hour, as well as busy hour, busy day, peaks, etc. should be available. It is also desirable that the system be able to report on station feature use, intra-PBX calls, etc.

c. Paging System: An external paging system including speakers, amplifiers, etc., and accessible from the PBX, should be quoted if available.

d. Intercept Arrangements: The ability to selectively route particular kinds of calls to discrete recordings, stations, tones, or the attend- ant. It is desired that recording content be easily changeable and that routing changes to intercept be dynamically effected.

e. Ten Digit Screening: To permit discrete blocking of individual “trash calls” or other telephone numbers.

f. Trunk Group Status: In addition to the ability of the attendant or communications manager to obtain immediate status of trunk group occupancy on an inquiry basis, the system should provide for continuous display (LED or like) of selected incoming or outgoing trunk group status.

g. Headsets: To be used alternately with the station handset to permit private, hands free communication. Quoted price should include basic telephone set as well.

h. Spare Pairs: In addition to the required station wiring, two separate pairs from the MDF (with electrical continuity) to each station location and terminated in an RJ11 jack or equivalent will be desirable. Ideally, both of these jacks would physically locate in a common “duplex” receptacle. If this option is elected, there would be “N” + 2 pair wiring to each station location, where “N” is the minimum number of pairs required to support the bidder’s complement of station equipment.

i. Directory: An internal telephone directory with a capacity of at least two thousand (2000) entries is highly desirable. The directory will be accessible by the attendants by means of an appropriate terminal, and also by administrative personnel for updating, printing, etc. If the system’s electronic sets have an alpha-numeric display, such sets should also be able to use the directory.

j. Voice Mail: A system available to 50 of all stations which permits storage, forwarding, and retrieval of voice messages is desirable. Such a system must be able to work with the PBX control in such a way that the called station’s message waiting lamp will be lit when the voice mail system has a message available.

k. Direct Inward System Access (DISA): This feature is desired so that calls from outside, placed with a DTMF telephone, can access the system through a trunk which answers automatically and returns dial tone. The caller will then dial an authorization or billing code which will (a) act as a security barrier and (b) carry a COS/COR to define the privileges available to the caller. The outside caller will then be able to use system features and services as though from an inside extension with the same COS/COR. If the proposed system offers additional security feature, they should be listed.

l. Uniform Call Distribution with Force Administration Data System (UCD, FADS): A means for bringing calls to the sales and service groups (and perhaps other groups at some future date) in such a way that the next call goes to the least busy agent is highly desirable. Calls can arrive over regular trunks on a DDC basis, DID trunks or other facilities. Agents shall have the capability to make their phones unavailable to UCD calls (as when writing up orders or reports). Calls arriving when all agents are busy or unavailable will be connected first to a recorded announcement and then put in queue for the next available agent.

The FADS package should provide information to manage both the equipment and the agent groups efficiently and effectively.

m. Authorization/Billing Codes: These will be used to control service parameters, call processing, and to permit cost distribution, not only for DISA, but also for internal calls under some circumstances. The system should be able to support a minimum of 1,000 codes of six (6) digit length. The system should permit simple addition and deletion of codes.

n. Queuing: Both off-hook queuing and call-back queuing are desired. Calls must be queued for all eligible groups in the route, not just the first choice group or last group tested.

FIGURE 2:

REQUIRED SYSTEM FEATURES

1. Direct Inward Dialing

2. Distinctive Ringing (Outside/Inside/Callback)

3. Conventional and Electronic Telephone Sets

4. Off Premises Station Capability

5. Flexible Station Numbering

6: Hunting - Circular, Terminal, Distributive, Secretarial

7. Intercept Recordings, Tones.

8. Night Answer

9. Speed Calling - System

10. Station Restriction

11. Line/Line, Line/Trunk. Trunk /Trunk Connections

12. Automatic Route Selection with 6-digit screening

REQUIRED STATION FEATURES

1. Call Forward All Calls/CF Busy/CF Don’t Answer

2. Call Hold

3. Call Pick-up - Group

4. Call Transfer - All Calls

5. Consultation Hold

6. Three Way Conference - All Calls

7. Speed Calling - Individual

8. Dial Access to Attendant

9. Executive/Emergency Override

REQUIRED CONSOLE FEATURES

1. Alarm Indication - Major and Minor

2. Attendant Transfer - All Calls

3. Automatic Timed Attendant Recall with indication.

4. Busy Verification

5. Call Hold

6. Call Splitting

7. Call Waiting with Indication

8. Selective Trunk Access

9. Trunk Identification

10. 6-Party Conference

ADMINISTRATIVE/MAINTENANCE FEATURES

1. Alarm Indication at Admin Center - Major and Minor

2. Customer Administration of Station Moves, Changes, Other Features

3. Make Busy - Stations and Trunks

4. Traffic Measurements

Section IV. Proposal Format
and Content Requirements

Submitted proposals must follow the format and content specified below. Standard brochures, system descriptions and other material may be submitted as support material but NOT as the primary proposal data. Each of the following proposal sections is to begin a new page but page numbering must be consecutive starting with Section 1 and reflected in the Table of Contents. The bidder is encouraged to include as much pertinent data and information under each section as necessary to ensure proper evaluation of the proposed PBX system.

Title Page: Identify the specific PBX system proposed, and the company offering the bid. The name and signature of the bidding company’s sales representative as well as his/her address and telephone number must be included, along with an the name and phone number of some additional person competent to answer technical questions about material in the proposal.

Table of Contents: A listing of all major and submajor topics and associated page numbers must be included.

Section 1.0 - Overview: This section is a brief description of the PBX being offered, with specific information concerning the way in which it will be particularly beneficial to XYZ.

Section 2.0 - Exhibits: The Exhibits, from Section V of the RFP, will be grouped together in the following order:

A. Pricing
B. Equipment
C. Service
D. Schedules
E. Vendor Background and Customer List
F. Exceptions

The Exhibits are intended to insure a uniform response by all vendors to the needs of XYZ. Bidders are urged to answer all questions briefly and accurately. If will be permissible to refer to information in following sections and company literature for additional explanation, as long as page and paragraph number are explicitly identified. Vague references such as “See system description” will be ignored in proposal evaluation except as they reflect on the willingness of the vendor to respond to the RFP.

Section 3.0 - This is the space for response to each item in Section II of the RFP, Conditions. Identical numbering should be used, and response should be complete enough to insure vendor understands what is required. Statements such as “we comply” are not considered adequate.

Section 4.0. - This heading covers space for response to the parts of Section III in the RFP, Detailed Specification, that are not covered explicitly in the exhibits. Again, numbering in the RFP should be followed.

Section 5.0 - Pricing: This section permits amplification and explanation of Section 2-A. If more than one pricing plan is offered, prices for each plan should be discussed separately. Contracts for each plan shall also be included in this Section. Leasing arrangements (true lease) are of particular interest, and to this end, bidders are requested to submit prices for lease terms of both 5 and 7 years.

Section 6.0 - Equipment: This section is provided to allow the vendor to amplify information from Section 2-B. Vendor shall describe in functional detail the proposed PBX system and related equipment. The description shall clearly differentiate between the basic system being bid which includes all required features and capabilities, and those items presented as options. The proposed numbering plan and the capacity of the bid PBX system with respect to station lines and trunks must be identified. In addition, the complexity of expanding the system to the projected growth size over a seven-year interval must be clearly described.

Section 7.0 - Service: This section is provided to allow the vendor to amplify information from Section 2-C. It will describe the service policies associated with the bid equipment. The address of the bidder’s local service center should also be provided and noted if these centers are available for inspection. Please indicate if the current maintenance records at these centers are available for inspection.

Present in as much detail as necessary the proposed service concept for these PBX systems. Include such items as expected response time, on-site spare parts, possible customer maintenance, etc.

Section 8.0 - Delivery and Installation: This section offers the Bidder the opportunity to expand and clarify information in 2-D. The Bidder must identify the exact tasks that XYZ must perform and/or be responsible for in order to accomplish the delivery and installation. Similarly, the exact tasks that the bidder will perform and/or be responsible for must also be identified in detail.

Ideally, a PERT or Gantt chart showing milestone events such as the delivery date, installation period by task (i.e. cable, switch, stations, etc.), training, acceptance testing, cutover, and acceptance should be provided and annotated.

The bidder shall describe in detail how the transition from the existing telephone system to the new telephone system will be accomplished, with particular attention to trunks, facilities and services to be reused.

Floor space, floor loadings, and environmental requirements for the bid system must be clearly identified. For both temperature and humidity specify desired and acceptable ranges, rate of change considerations if any, and any automatic shut down systems which may be included. Particularly cite any consequences which may obtain if system operation outside of permissible limits occurs. The minimum size opening required for equipment movement should also be listed.

A complete description of the nature and scope of training functions for attendants, customer personnel, management, etc. should be provided. A description and sample of proposed training materials should also be included.

Section 9.0 - Vendor Data: This sections permits elaboration of information in 2-E. Here the vendor may establish his credentials, both technical and financial, as well as those of the manufacturer, and indicate the extent to which the manufacturer will be responsible for XYZ’s system if the vendor goes out of business or changes product lines.

It is important that the vendor cite in his customer list customers served by the office offering the bid, and for PBXs of the type being offered. Customers for other equipment in other parts of the country are of limited interest.

Section 10.0 - Additional Material: Any brochures or descriptive functional literature that may assist in the total evaluation may be provided in this section. This section is NOT to be used to introduce new data. The previous seven sections are the sole and primary basis for all evaluations. This section can be used only for substantiating or amplifying data introduced in the preceding sections.

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Copyright 2006 Lee Goeller. All Rights Reserved.