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HomeMy WebLinkAbout30-Facilities Management CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO - REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION From: James Sharer Subject: UPGRADE AND INSTALLATION OF NEAX TELEPHONE SYSTEM Dept: Facilities Manaagement Date: November 7, 1996 OBISINA/. Synopsis of Previous Council action: NONE Recommended motion: Adopt Resolution. ;:-. .' Contact person: James Sharer Phone: (909) 384-5244 Supporting data attached: Ward: FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: Amount: $293.015.07 Source: (Acct. No.) 630-262-5703 Acct. Descri tion Communica tions Finance: Council Notes: _ Previously /llr}~ ~)?- . Res 96- 3& 7 /~~ftv ~.3b 75-0262 Agenda I terr CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO - REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION STAFF REPORT F-97-08 BACKGROUND The current City Hall telephone system is an NEC NEAX 2400 MMG. This system acts as the main switching location for all City telephone traffic. Through this system, City facilities connect to local and long distance carriers for telecommunications services. The NEAX 2400 was originally installed in 1986. There has been one software upgrade in 1991. As technology advances, so do the capabilities of telephone systems. Currently, the City has equipment designed with 1983 technology and software with 1990 programming. Due to the age of this system, malfunctions have become commonplace. Telephone Support has maintained the system to the best of its ability and budget, yet interruptions of service have risen dramatically over the past year. The climbing cost of maintaining this system is forcing the City to prepare for an increase in maintenance from $3000 per month to approximately $5000 per month. This anticipated increase is based upon discussions with maintenance vendors concerning time and materials needed to maintain the older system, and the fact that the maintenance contract expires this iJScal year. The new system win provide voicemail, automatic call routing (automated attendant), peak period call distribution, digital integration of voice and data, and the new instruments will be ADA compatible; thus increasing employee productivity while eliminating the answering service, an annual cost of $6,000. PURCHASING PROCESS The proposed purchase is for the upgrade and installation of a NEAX telephone system and voice processing system, to be utilized in daily operations by City employees. At the request of the Facilities Management Division, appropriate technical specificatious were prepared, published and furnished to area suppliers. Bid proposals were received on October 31, 1996 and reviewed by a committee comprised of John Murphy, Purchasing Manager, Jim Sharer, Facilities Manager and Bruce HiD, Telephone Systems Coordinator. Five (5) vendors supplying these services were solicited.. The City received four (4) responses. One solicitation was returned by the vendor unopened and the remaining four were reviewed, with the fonowing results. 75-0264 CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO - REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION STAFF REPORT Company Points (100 possible) Total Bid Proposal (Including Tax) $293,015.07 $292,865.80 $362,248.41 $428,606.10 Vision Communications COM-AID CMS GTE 98 95 86 74 The Telephone Support Coordinator developed a proposal evaluation criteria utilizing a point system, based upon examples supplied by the Purchasing Manager. The point system broke down as follows; Total Bid Proposal Price Compliance to Specifications Acceptance of Contractor Exceptions Verification of References 55 points 20 points 15 points 10 points Specifications and evaluation criteria have been reviewed with Facilities Management and the Purchasing Manager who concur that the bid proposal of Vision Communications best meets the specifications and requirements of the City. It is therefore recommended that the bid proposal be accepted for contract. FUNDING The funding for this proposal is included within the FlY 96/97 Telephone Support budget. A budget transfer of $35,000 from Account 630-262-5172 Equipment Maintenance into Account 630-262-5703 Communications Equipment will be required. With the purchase of the upgraded telephone system, maintenance costs will be reduced. Therefore, the $35,000 portion of the cost savings in equipment maintenance can be transferred into the upgraded system purchase. In addition to reduced maintenance costs, the debt service for the existing system has been paid off. $265,000, formerly applied to the debt service, has been allocated for the purchase of the upgraded system. Since the telephone system will be purchased, as opposed to lease purchased, there will be no debt service applied to this purchase and no additional costs passed onto Departments. 75-0264 CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO - REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION. STAFF REPORT TELEPHONE SYSTEM COSTS EXISTING SYSTEM FISCAL YEAR 1995/1996 EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE ANSWERING SERVICES DEBT RETIREMENT $ 98,600 $ 6,000 $187,000 TOTAL $291,600 EXlSTINGINEW SYSTEM FISCAL YEAR 1996/1997 EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE ANSWERING SERVICES NEW SYSTEM $ 64,500 $ 6,000 $293,000 TOTAL $363,500 NEW SYSTEM (FOR ONE YEAR AFrER PURCHASE) EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE ANSWERING SERVICES DEBT RETIREMENT $ 50,000 $ 0 $ 0 TOTAL $ 50,000 75-0264 . CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO - REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION. STAFF REPORT This resolution is being submitted for the Supplemental Agenda of November 18, 1996, due to system installation time constraints. It has been planned that the system will be installed during the City Christmas Holiday break due to interruption of service during the installation process. To meet the planned installation deadline of January 2, 1997, the equipment has to be ordered by November 22, 1996. ) / "'~~ James Sharer Facilities Manager G 75-0264 .' C i t Y o f San Entered into Record.' I It:) B e rCcwnil/ttn~elC'l\' ~tg: I11I t do Interoffice Memor~nm re Agenda Item 5-J....; To: MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL ~ Prom: JAMES SHARER, FACILITIES City ClerklCDC Secy City of San Bernardino Subject: TELEPHONE BID Date: November 18, 1996 Copies: SHAUNA CLARK, CITY ADMINISTRATOR; FRED WILSON, ASSISTANT CITY ADMINISTRATOR; JOHN MURPHY, PURCHASING MANAGER. Item S2 on the supplemental agenda is an action to approve a new telephone system for City Hall. Our recommendation is to go with VISION COMMUNICATIONS, based upon meeting the selection criteria in the RFP. COM-AID, the apparent low bidder, has notified me that they plan to come in and protest the award (see attached fax). This information is supplied to you so that you may better understand the criteria used to select VISION COMMUNICATIONS. The proposal review committee consisted of James Sharer, John Murphy and Bruce Hill. Each exception resulted in a 1 point deduction on a 100 point scale. The discrepancies listed below reference the specific sections of the COM-AID proposal that are in exception. EXCEPTIONS WITH COM-AID 1. DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE GENERAL TERMS (Section 8) . In Section 1 of the City's General Specifications, it is requested that the bidder shall attach a itemization of the specifications. 2. DISCREPANCIES IN "SERVICE GUIDELINES" (SECTION 4). The SERVICE GUIDELINES in COM-AID'S proposal lists prJ.cJ.ng for services requested as part of the one year warranty in the RFP. 3. DISCREPANCY IN "PREVAILING LABOR RATES" (SECTION 6). Pricing for labor is detailed that should have been included in the one year warranty. 4. DISCREPANCY IN COST OF ADMINISTRATIVE TRAINING (SECTION 4). Administrative training was requested as part of the RFP. COM-AID indicates training provided by the manufacturers at a cost. 5. NO IVR PORTS IN BID (SECTION 5). Interactive Voice Response (IVR) capabilities were required in the RFP. . Listed below is a comparison of the major components of the proposed system upgrade. The items in bold indicate an item given more weight in comparison. COMPARISONS VISION COM-AID TELEPHONE SYSTEM SYSTEM TYPE MDX MMG ICS IMGxh SOFTWARE LEVEL 6100 6100 PROCESSOR TYPE PENTIUM 486 PORT CAPACITY 6,144 3,072 VOICEMIAL SYSTEM SYSTEM TYPE PORTS/STORAGE FAX PORTS (FaxMemo) CENTIGRAM 120I CENTIGRAM 120I 16/55 HOURS 16/55 HOURS 4 4 IVR PORTS (Voice Gateway) 4 o The three items of the comparison that are in VISIONS favor will become vital to the City in the coming years as the City advances into data and voice integration. First, the Pentium processor is faster than the compared 486 processor in COM-AID's proposal. Second, the 6,144 port capacity becomes critical as data users access the City computer system through telecommunication lines. As data and telephones combine, the demand for more telephone system port capacity will increase dramatically. Third, the four Interactive Voice Response (IVR) ports were requested in the RFP. These ports are the connection of the two systems for the voice and data integration. As described in the proposal and the staff report, the point system for exceptions was developed by John Murphy and Bruce Hill. The system is based upon each exception costing one point to the overall score of 100 points. As demonstrated in the staff report, COM-AID has 95 points due to the above listed exceptions. Therefore, VISION COMMUNICATIONS is the recommended bidder with 98 points. Nov-14-96 04:46P P.OZ . CO,\t"AI D November 14, 1996 The City of San Bemardino Attention: Ms. Rachel Clark, City Clerk Dear Ms. Rachel Clark: It has just come to our attention that at next Monday' s Mayor and Common C, nd I Meeting, the Members of the Council will be asked to approve a Resolution which wW ward a $293,015.07 contract (Supplemental Item # S2) for upgrade of your current: EAX Telephone System to Vision Communications Services, Inc. This recommendation and intended award is contrary to the City's historical r, ml, and comes as a great surprise and disappointment to us at COM-AID. Historically, the C : ' has very consistently awarded contracts on the basis of lowest qualified bidder. That i vhy we llre so surprised by this curreut instance; COM-AID, not Vision, is the lowest ql lified bidder in response to this RFP (Bid Proposal Specification F -97-08). On numerous occasions over the past eight years COl\I-AID has lost competit ' ~ bid awards solely hecause we were nOI low bid. Tn all cases, we continued to respond to tl City's bids in good faith. We took our losses in stride and put our substantial expenditure 01 me and money toward our learning process for future projects. In this current instance, for the I,rst time, COM-AID is the low qu,\lified bid .r at S292,5211 and is now being denied this award for unknown reasons. This is especial: disconcerting since COM-AID took absolutely no exceptions to this RFP and indicated ' II compliance with, and responsibilty for, all aspects of this "turn key" implementation, ' (actly as requested. We are respectfully appealing to the Council to continue to honor the inlt! 'ily of the competitive bid process, as well as your long standing precedent of lowest. 'llllified bid awards, and deny the recommended award as placed hefore the Council; , this time. We are absolutely conrident of our ability to implement and service the City o' ';an Bernardino with excellence. Please give us that earned opportunity. Sincerely, ~ ~~a Vicc President of Sales GS/dt/bo47540 Previously II J1'l~ IJ-s~ 24971 Avenue Stanford Valencia. California 91355 (805) 257-1500_ (805) 257-1757 Fax COM.AID November 25, 1996 .' .~ ~ !:::l City of San Bernardino 300 North D Street14th Floor San Bernardino, C1\ 92418 Re: Specifications No. F-97-08 (Telecommunications System Upgrade) Dear Council Members: ". N (:) ..... :0 m (") m ;< m CJ I (") ::::i ....: (") ..... m ~ -:0: COM-AID appreciates the Council's prudent decision to continue the award of the Telecommunications System Upgrade to the December 2nd Council Meeting, pending clarification of the two finalists bids. I would like to emphasize that COM-AID's concerns are not motivateq by a "sour grapes" response to the telecommunication committee's decision. COM-AID's Engineering Group, an elite staff ofNEC Certified technicians and engineers, considered our competitor's solution in our early analysis and dismissed the MDX MMG retrofit, as currently proposed by Vision, as technically inferior and not cost effective for your particular application. Clearly, if we were confident that the selection was based on correct fact, we would wish you the best of luck and hope to work with you on future opportunities, as we have done in the past. However, there are a number of points of misinformation that need to be addressed. The "EXCEPTIONS WITH COM-AID", as indicated in the Interoffice Memorandum to the Mayor and Common Council on November ] 8th is outlined below. It is of paramount importance that these points be accurate since it is on the basis of this information that COM-AID was denied five (5) points in evaluation and therefore not recommended, even though we were the recognized low bidder. Unfortunately these points are not based upon accurate information. -;# 3D 1.1 j:J)q(p COM.AID City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 2 1. DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE GENERAL TERMS. (Sec. 8) In Section I of the City's General Specifications, it is requested that the bidder shall attach a itemization of the specifications. !:;Iarification 1. The third sentence of "1." of the General Specification No. F-97- 08 reads, "Bidder shall attach to bid proposal a complete detailed itemization and explanation for each and every deviation or variation from these specifications". (See Attachment A, General Specifications) COM-AID took no exceptions or "deviation or variation" to the request. Therefore, there was not "detailed itemization or explanation" required (see Attachment B. Letter to Bruce Hill 11/7/96). 2. DISCREPANCIES IN "SERVICE GUIDELINES". (Sec. 4) The Service Guidelines in COM-AID's proposal lists pricing for services requested as part of the one year warranty in the RFP. Clarification 2. We have included as Attachment C the COM-AID Service Guidelines that were modified in Section n to; "adhere to the City of San Bernardino's system maintenance as outlined in Section 4 of the RFP". In our statement of compliance we used the specific words of the RFP. Our oDt~..year warranty absolutely covers all parts and labor as required. (Also, See Attachment D, Sec. 4 of Specification No. F-97-08.) 3. DISCREPANCIES IN "PREVAILING LABOR RATES". (Sec. 6) Pricing for labor is detailed that should have been included in the one-year warranty. Clarification 3. COM-AID's Labor Rates are included as an accommodation to provide a benchmark for move, add and change activity, not warranty related service. COM-AID's one year warranty is for all parts and labor for the instaJled equipment provided. (Please see Attachment E: "COM-AID's Prevailing Labor Rates and Attachment F: Sales Agreement, Item 3) COM.AID City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 3 4. DISCREPANCY IN COST OF ADMINISTRATIVE TRAINING. (Sec. 4) Administrative Training was requested as part of the RFP. COM-AID indicates training provided by the manufacturers at cost. Clarification 4. COM-AID provides basic Administrative Training on the customer site at no additional cost with all our installs. However, advanced training directly from the manufacturer is available at an additional cost as was indicated. In an effort to be thoroughly compliant with the City's request, COM-AID restated practically verbatim the wording in Section 4 of The Specification No. F-97-08. (Attachment G: Training - please note paragraph 3) Attachment G: Separate "system administration" training shall be provided to specified three (3) City representatives. This "administrative" training shall include instruction on changed or added features in the new NEAX 2400 software and administration of the voice processing system. 5. NO IVR PORTS IN BID. (Sec 5) Interactive Voice Response (IVR) capabilities were required in the RFP. Clarification 5. The Centigram Voice Processing System as proposed is caDable of Interactive Voice Response. Section 8, Paragraph 5 of the RFP states: "The City intends to establish an informational interactive system which it can build upon and develop as future needs arise. The Interactive Voice Response (IVR) portion of this proposal will be designed to meet these intentions. The City did not specify any number of IVR ports in the system. We took the operative words "intend" and "future" to mean "not now". In at least one telephone conversation with a member of your committee, the IVR question was specifically indicated as a capability only with actual use not planned for possibly up to two years. The system as proposed will support and accommodate IVR. COM-AID City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 4 Pricing for IVR ports is available upon request. IVR is a function of the Centigram Voice Processor Systems - NOT the NEAX 2400 ICS IMGxh. As an additional point of clarification; this Centigram System was proposed and indicated as a 24 port + 4 fax port system in our response not a 16 port + 4 fax port system as was indicated in the committee memo of November 18th. THE COMPARISON VISIQN COM-AID 1. TELEPHONE SYSTEM A. System Type MDX MMG lCS IMGxh B. Software Level 6100 6100 (6120) C. Processor Type Pentium 486 D. Port Capacity 6,144 3,072 (6,144 with Pentium replacement processors @ $6,100) n. VOICE MAIL SYSTEM A. System Type Centigram 1201 Centigram 1201 B. Ports/Storage 16/55 Hours 24/55 Hours (16/55 erroneous memo indication) C. Fax Ports 4 4 (FaxMemo) D. lVR Ports 4 0 (Voice Gateway reqrd.) COM.AID City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 5 VISIO~ I.A.) MDX-MMG . Retrofit of existing system PIMS using older components with newer adjunct hardwarel software.(see attached room drawings) - Retrofit configuration just released 1l/96 - Two Beta test sites installed - No systems sold (as of 11/l/96) - Old Backplane (Mother-board) - Old 184 port PIM Cabinets - Old, high consumption power supplies COM-AID ICS IMGxh . New System re-employing selected existing components.(see attached room drawings) . Proven current release new system technology - Over 2,000 systems sold and installed worldwide - Over 20 systems sold and installed by COM-AID - New Backplane(Mother-board) - Current 384 port PIM Cabinets - Current, low consumption power supplies I.B.) ~ COM-AID SOFTWARE: 6100 SOFTWARE: 6120 Proposed Proposed NEC has multiple versions of 6100 software ranging from the Basic Business Package at 6110 through level 6180. Each Feature Package contains specific feature requirements particular to the application environment to which it is tailored. COM-AID proposed 6120 software which includes the Basic Business Package plus: . Common Channel Interoffice Signaling (CCIS) which allows other NEC NEAX 2400 or 2000 IVS systems with CCIS components to operate with one another as if thev are a sinf:le. contiroous PBX. COM.AID City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 6 Meaning that features such as: . Extension Dialing - Name Display . Call Forwarding . Multiple Call Forwarding - Centralized Voice Processing are transparent throughout the network. In other words, the systems interact the same way if you are in the next office or across town as long as there is a T1 capacity channel between the Host system and the node. For example, COM-AID installed and maintains an NEC CCIS Network for Kern High School District. There is a main Hub NEC NEAX 2400 ICSxh at the District office with 14 NEC NEAX 2000 IVSs linked to it on CCIS nodes. Calling patterns are seamless through the 4 digit CCIS numbering plan. Voice Processing and Call Accounting Services as well as Long Distance Calling and Least Cost Routing are centralized through the District NEAX 2400 ICS IMGxh as are the Administrative functions for move, add and change activity. . Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) ISDN is the multi-purpose digital network that defines the "intelligent network" of the future. The NEAX 2400 ICS Primary Rate Interface (PRI) connects users to this worldwide network, transparently integrating the NEAX 2400 IMS with local and long-distance public ISDN networks. Two types of interface will be provided. Primary Rate Interface (23B+D) links the NEAX 2400 IMS to the public network.. Existing Dteon terminals, as well as analog telephones, connected to the NEAX 2400 IMS can thereby access the public ISDN. Basic Rate Interface (2B+D) permits the connection of ISDN terminals as station equipment for the NEAX 2400 IMS. The ISDN terminals can then communicate with analog and Dtenn stations within the NEAX 2400 network, as well as with the public network. COM'AID City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 7 The NEAX 2400 ICS PRI confOlms to all CCITT recommendations for Primary Rate Interface. A layered protocol is used, conforming to Layers 1, 2, and 3 (Physical, Link, and Network Layers) of the seven-layer Open System Interconnect (OSI) reference model of the International Standards Organization (ISO). Since the ISDN PRI and NEC's Common Channel Interoffice Signaling (CCIS) both utilize Signaling System No. 7 Recommendations, ISDN features are transparent over NEC's CCIS networking. . Redundancy The NEAX 2400 ICS System is able to employ non-redundant and redundant systems for processors, memory, switching, bus, and power. The ICS system provides one of the highest level of redundancy and reliability offered in a PBX today. In addition, it offers the widest selection of redundancy which allows each system to be custom tailored to meet each customer's specific requirement. The redundancy levels are: D-O : No redundancy provided D-l : Power only is redundant D-2 : Processors, memory, switching & bus are redundant D-3 : Full system redundancy I.C. VISION PRQCESSOR TYPE Pentium COM-AID ~OCESSOR TYPE 486 COM.AID City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25,1996 Page 8 (From COM-AID's letter to Bruce Hill of November 7 - Requested Agenda): 2) The Central Processing Unit (CPU) as proposed is a 486. The description for this CPU is CPRD-A as indicated on our Schedule A. The Pentium processor will not be required until the line size of the NEAX 2400 exceeds 3,072 ports. At that time the system would be expanded to an IMGdxh by upgrading the CPU to a Pentium processor and providing additional expansion hardware. The Pentium processors are not recommended by NEC until the system exceeds 3,072 ports. If, for any reason, the City desires to replace the 486 processors with Pentium processors, COM-AID will fully implement the change at a price to the City of $6,100.00. This offer is binding now and for the next 48 months. The City of San Bernardino's current telephone system port configuration calls for 2,304 ports. The 486 processor is NEC manufacturer specified up to 3,072 ports. This means that with the proposed ICS IMGxh the City can add 768 additional ports (2-Port Interface Modules: PIMS) before needing the processing power of the Pentium. There is 33% growth caoacitv in the COM- AID svstem as proposed. I. D.) VISION PORT CAPACITY 6,144 COM-AID PORT CAPACITY 6,144 The issue here is not port capacitv, but how many software licenses have been ordered with the system. Both systems have the capacity of 6,144 ports. The Pentium processor is needed to empower the ports exceeding 3,072. However, if the Software License has not been ordered from NBC (that provides the software program) the additional ports cannot "talk to" the Central ProcessinlZ Unit (CPU), just as the Mayor will not recognize just "anyone" with a hand raised. The ports must be recornized by the CPU before thev can "speak" or become operative. COM.AID City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 9 COM-AID has provided 2,304 Software License ports. (Please see Attachment H: NEC Software License port Attachment). Additional Software License port attachments are needed for each additional PIM. (384 ports per PIM) Key: 6120 2304 (Software Issue) (Number of Ports Licensed) (Software License Attachment: CPE Group document) II. VISION II. II.A.). SYSTEM TYPE Centigram 1201 (Voice) CQM:AlD SYSTEM TYPE Centigram 1201 (Voice) II.B) PORTS/STORAGE 16/55 PORTS/STORAGE 24/55 1I.c.) FAX PORTS: 4 FAX PORTS: 4 11.0.) IVR PORTS: 4 IVR PORTS: 0 [TOTAL PORTS: 24) [TOTAL PORTS: 28) Note: As previously discussed, IVR ports were not requested. Only the caoability to utilize them for future, unexplained applications was required. COM'AID City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 10 We would like to address Mr. Sharer's summation: The three items of the comparison that are in VISIONS favor will become vital to the City in the coming years as the City advances into data and voice integration. First, the Pentium processor is faster than the compared 486 processor in COM-AID's proposal. While it is true the Pentium processor is "faster" than a 486 processor, the processing speed is not compatible with the port capacity of the system as requested by the City. The NEC NEAX 2400 will not process data faster than the matrix hierarchy will allow. At the line size requested by the City, 2,304 ports, and up to 3,072 port capacity, the Pentium processor IS NOT RECOMMENDED by NEC, the manufacturer, for the line size as proposed. Second, the 6,144 port capacity becomes critical as data users access the City computer system through telecommunication lines. As data and telephones combine, the demand for more telephone system port capacity will increase dramatically. Both programmed systems have an interim port capacity of6,144. This is not the issue. The issues are: . How many Software Port Licenses have been supplied? (Previously discussed) . How does the City intend to "combine" data and telephone usage? . How many IVR ports are required? . Both systems have an ultimate port capacity of over 24,000 ports. I COM.AID City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 11 The COM-AID systems as proposed can support: - Interactive Voice Response (IVR) - TCPIP Protocol - Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) - Common Channel Interoffice Signaling (CCIS) - Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) - Visual Desktop - VoiceMail, E-Mail, FaxMail Please refer to the "Products Overview" section of our proposal for detail on these items. Third, the four Interactive Voice Response (IVR) ports were requested in the RFP. These ports are the connection of the two systems for the voice and data integration. This conclusion is not factual. While the writer may have believed this to be true, the subject has been addressed in ~ of this document. The fact is that IVR J2QIll were not requested. IVR caDability was. The Centigram 1201 is IVR compatible. As described in the proposal and the staff report, the point system for exceptions was developed by John Murphy and Bruce Hill. The system is based upon each exception costing one point to the overall score of 100 points. As demonstrated in the staff report, COM-AID has 95 points due to the above listed exceptions. Therefore, VISION COMMUNICATIONS is the recommended bidder with 98 points. COM.AI D City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 12 The exceptions have been dismissed at the opening of this document. COM-AID should have received 100 points. I) COM-AID took no exceptions to the RFP. 2) COM-AID had no discrepancies with regard to service or warranty. 3) COM-AID has warranted the systems proposed for one full year - all parts and labor. 4) COM-AID will provide Administrative Training as described in the RFP at no additional cost. 5) COM-AID's Call Processing System (the Centigram 1201) is IVR capable as requested in the RFP. COM-AID should have received all 100 points. COM-AID was the low qualified bidder. COM-AID should receive this award. COM-AID would respectfully request that the Council Members for the City of San Bernardino award Spec. #F-97-08 to COM-AID. I NOl)-27":19~6 15:2;; FRO~'l COt"l-AID, INC. 805-257-1500 TO 919093845158 P.02 o .t:: E -DE ~ 0 cat.) e .Q Q) .~ CO >~ c:: g ca e Cl)i3 ..... ..... .- O~ b@ ...... a. U " c J:: .9 :aJli ~ <::~o >.Q; .~- ~Em~ ...~e41 so=!1> C"'- 'i:S.. is l!! g. E e g ~ 8 0.-::2 ca: c ~ ::J W m 0 "'" '" '" :J 0 ~Sxa cp CO.- _"Ca,.u cO> ::> -2~.siiE !c.cc:o "e,9 8 E ",,,,In li:Wi!X <::~lr:g!f ~ CI.! ":- 1! .- 0 ~'5 - ..I:~.. C m- f-~<..o In E Gl - l 0') .. " ~ Cl. ~ o 1100__ 8 ~ IS .. < ; o u . u c: 00 .5 <C -e~ caO E 0_ Q) E CQ~ .c. t:.s CU .- CI)~ '4-.>< o~ b~ . .... en 08- e a.. [0 . d ll:ilI~l , m Ql - ~ III .. Ql ~ l1. o a ~~.~ R~I~~R~~~~t~ ~ .: .e .2 E.gQltl QQ..QS t:::..."C CI) -- " 0'" . 50 ~~<.>(jl <I.l~!il;;; q Oll1..l!! u.~ o:ii ., ;!.-c; = lii s4! co ... 'u) >. i'~ [! _!:)( ::::J C ~Ql 0 o >~ ,., '" C'j e-o'l( ;I CD .] "''''.. ~Ot::~ t: Co g.- 8ec."Q, CI) Q..""lt e .- tJ)"llt 0 i5=<<i~ '7~ (IlQ. 9~ ~ 'C'll! l en g '(,,)10 . -; . . t{ itt .... iU , I~ . I i I LooH = nl l71:Ct - ':::'- ;;.l ~ = - -< :Ii o u -) - ... . C i t Y o f San B ern a r din 0 Interoffice Memorandum From: JAMES SHARER, FACILITIES To: MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL Subject: DATA INTEGRATION WITH TELEPHO Date: November 26, 1996 Copies: SHAUNA CLARK, CITY ADMINISTRATOR; FRED WILSON, ASSISTANT CITY ADMINISTRATOR As you may recall, the proposal for a new telephone system was continued to the December 2 Council meeting. Facilities Management and MIS met on November 22 to discuss the integration of the proposed telephone system with the proposed data network upgrade. Inteqration Concerns: Prior to that November 22 meeting, Janis Ingels contacted Vision Communication, the recommended bid winner, to gather information. After gathering information from the vendor, MIS had two concerns regarding the integration of the two systems. 1. THE NEED FOR IVR CAPABILITIES. IVR stands for Integrated Voice Response. This type of technology will allow citizens to access various City computer systems (building permits, for example) by phone and receive updated information regarding the status. 2. THE FUTURE NEED FOR CUSTOM IVR SOFTWARE PROGRAMMING. Along with IVR hardware, the City would need custom programming for the IVR to interface with the City computer system. Resolutions: 1. IVR HARDWARE. The initial information MIS had seemed to indicate that IVR hardware was not included in the telephone system proposal. Further discussion with Facilities Management and the vendor proved that a four port IVR system is included with the purchase of the telephone system. The staff-recommended bidder, Vision Communications, has IVR included. The other vendors, including COM-AID, do not. 2. IVR SOFTWARE. It was determined that custom programming could be purchased in the future at a reasonable cost. It is not possible to purchase programming as part of the telephone system proposal, since the City has not determined which computer systems will utilize IVR. It was further determined that training is available IIG&PDIt r-rG-ff} 30 -= . , at even lower costs, thus making it possible for City staff to customize the IVR programming. Conclusion: Because the telephone system specified is industry-standard and contains the features and capabilities needed for the future, both MIS and Facilities Management agree that the proposed telephone system establishes the foundation needed for future telephone and data system integration. .. , SPECIFICATON NO. F-97-0S . UPGRADE AND INSTALLATION OF NEAX TELEPHONE SYSTEM . . FOR ~ ~ ~ I'TI ("") I'TI <: m 9 . ("") :::j --: THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO ~ GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS " I'\,) ("") r- (:) I'TI 1. Each bid shall be in accordance with specificat~n ~o. F-97-08. All specifications are minimum. Bidders are expected to meet or exceed these specifications as written. Bidder shall attach to bid proposal a complete detailed itemization and explanation for each and every deviation or variation from these specifications. Conditional bids, or those which take exception to the specifications, may be considered nonresponsive and may be rejected. 2. The City reserves the right to accept or reject any and all bids and to award a contract to the bidder who best meets our requirements. This may include waiver of minor irregularities or discrepancies, or nonconformity to specifications in appropriate circumstances. Purchase shall be on a best buy basis after due consideration of all relevant factors, including but not limited to, workmanship, accessibility of parts and service, known evidence of maufacturer's responsibility and record, durability and known operational record of product and suitability as well as conformity to City needs and requirements. In all cases the best interest of the city shall prevail in all contract awards. 3. The City of San Bernardino reserves the right to purchase more or less than the quantities specified, at unit prices bid. 4. Bids shall be firm offers, subject to acceptance or rejection within 60 days of the opening thereof. 5. Regular dealer. No bidder shall be acceptable who is not a reputable manufacturer or dealer of such items as submitted for bid consideration. 6. All materials, workmanship and finish entering into the construction of the equipment must be of the best of these respective kinds and must conform to the character of the equipment and the service for which it is intended to be used and shall be produced by use of the current manufacturing processes. "Seconds", factory rejects, and substandard goods are not acceptable. -2- -=#:30 I~,~q (p COM.AI D .November 7, ] 996 Mr. Bruce Hill Telecommunications City of San Bernardino 300 North D Streetl 4th Floor San Bernardino, Ct\ 924] 8 Dear Bruce, Here is the additional information requested for the City's telecommunications system upgrade. ] ) Attached please find the Project Time Line, IMGxh Comparison, IMGxh 2304 Port Drawing and NEC Manufacturer's SUPP9rt Letter. Downtime for the telephone ~ystem will be ]20 minutes or less. COM-AID will.. redirect lines to be utilized for Police, Fire and Emergency 911, bypassing the switcn so that at no time will the City of San Bernardino be denied access to these emergency services. 2) The Centra] Processing. Unit (CPU) as proposed is a 486. The description for this CPU is CPRD-A as indicated on our Scliedule A. The Pentium processor will not be required until the line size of the NEAX 2400 exceeds 3,072 ports. At this time the system would be expanded to an IMGdxh by upgradmg the CPU to a Pentium processor and providiiIg additional expansion hardware. A3) COM-AID's Standard Sales Agreement was included in the prQ~osal as a point of - reference only. As with oilier municipalities with whom COM-AID conducts business, we will, at the City's discretion: A~ Alter our A~eement to meet your requirements. B Execute the Citts Agreement. C Accept the City s Puichase Order, Terms and Conditions I would like to take this opportunity to state that COM-AID is in agreement with and in compliance with all aspects of the RFP. As we have the proposed ICS IMGxh system in stock\ we are prepared to start building and configuring the system immediately upon awara of contract. COM-AID appreciates the opportunity to be of service to the City of San Bernardino and looks forwara to working WIth you to provide the CitY. with the best telecommunications ~q!lipm~t and service. Please call me directly if you have any questions or need further mformanon. Cordially, Patricia D. Pittman Director, Client Applications PDP/dctlb04754g Attachments - Proie~t Time Line . IMGxh Comparison IMGxh 2304 Port Drawing NEC Manufacturer's Support Letter . . II. . m. IV. SERVICE GUIDELINES I. Service Time and Costs During the period of the contract, routine service will be provided during your regular business hours (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.), Monday througli Friday, except COM-AID 06served holidays for 1996: Monday, Febru~ 19th (President's Day) Monday, May 27th (Memorial Dav) Thursday, July 4th (Independence nay) Monday, ~eptember 2nd (Labor Day) ThursdaYJ November 28th (Thanks~ving Day) Friday, November 29th (Day After Thanksgivmg Day) Wednesday, December 25tli (Christmas Day) Wednesday, January 1st (New Year's Day) This service will be provided by trained technicians. After hours service requests will be billed at prevailing premium rates (time and one-half standard rates, three hour minimum).. D. Remote Maintenance <R-MAn will be billed at COM-AID's prevailing labor rate in 1/2 hour increments. Response Schedule: COM-AID will adhere to the City of San Bernardino's system maintenance as outlined in Section 4 of the RFP. A. Emergency Service will be responded to within ninety (90) minutes. B. Non-Emergency Service will be provided within three (3) hours. C. Moves, Adds or Change (MAC) orders will be filled within three to five days. D. Remote Maintenance will be administered within one hour of notification. A. B. C. Preventive maintenance will be provided and is included in the monthly fee. Major Projects A. Large projects (remo4els, relocations of entire departments) will be surveyed and quoted m advance. B. A project manager will be assigned to coordinate activities. . . . the City. City representatives will maintain continuing oversight during entire system implementation process. The awarded contractor is required to prepare a detailed system test procedure to be delivered two weeks prior to installation. As appropriate, the system test will utilize actual as well as test signals. The test procedures, and any other questions or concerns, will be discussed, in detail, between City representatives and contractor representatives at the pre-installation meetings. There will be a minimum of two pre-installation meetings, with more scheduled as needed, as determined by either party (City or contractor). The City will approve acceptance of testing and overall system only after all required corrections or modifications have been completed to make the system a fully operational turnkey system. Acceptance of delivery and functionality of equipment shall not release the contractor from liability for faulty workmanship or materials that may appear even after final payment has been made. f. SYSTEM MAINTENANCE The awarded contractor shall supply full maintenance on the switching system, peripheral equipment, voice processing system and instruments for the one year under warranty. The oneyear warranty will begin the date the system is installed and accepted by the City. During the warranty period, the contractor will initiate maintenance, both routine and emergency, to any and all equipment associated with the turnkey system defined in the contractor's response to this proposal. Emergency maintenance will be described as major and minor. A major emergency shall be defined, but not limited to, one of the following: a. Failure of the operator's console which prevents the attendant(s) from handling incoming or outgoing calls; b. Failure of 20 percent or more of incoming or outgoing trunks; c. Failure of 10 percent or more of station lines; d. Failure of switch (es), its common equipment or power supplies which render it incapable of performing its intended functions; e. Indication of a major alarm condition in any of the switching or power equipment. A minor emergency shall be defined, but not limited to, one of the following: a. Failure of less than 20 percent, but more than 5 percent of incoming or outgoing trunks; b. Failure of less than 10 percent, but greater than four percent of station lines It is required that a technician duly trained on the subject equipment be able to be on site within 90 minutes of receipt of a major emergency service call during normal business hours; . . . otherwise, on site within 3 hours outside normal business hours, or for a minor emergency call. Routine service shall be defined as, but not limited to, a malfunction or failure of any equipment which is not service- affecting, such as lights, displays, buttons, transmitters and receivers. It is required that a technician duly trained on subject equipment be able to be on-site within 24 hours of receipt of service call during normal business hours. If any system malfunction is determined by contractor to be the fault of the local telephone company, the contractor shall notify said telephone company, and City Telephone Systems Coordinator, to request appropriate repairs. If it is eventually determined that the system malfunction is in fact associated with the work of the contractor or the system itself, the contractor shall pay all costs of any telephone company service call. Although maintenance of the proposed turnkey system is the sole responsibility of the successful contractor, and its subcontractors, the City also expects a high level of cooperation with its current telephone maintenance provider, CMS Communications. CMS will retain responsibility for maintenance at all City facilities. CMS will also retain maintenance of all circuits between the City Hall demarcation point of local telephone company lines and the termination point within the City Hall telephone switch room. The point of separation between CMS responsibilities and that of the successful contractor are the blocks of termination in the telephone switch room. CMS will maintain from the demarcation side of the blocks, and the successful contractor will maintain from the switch side of the same blocks into the turnkey system. The cooperation between vendors is expected to be of a level that service is not interrupted to any City facilities, and that repairs are completed in a timely manner. 5. ADDITIONAL J:Nll'ORMATION REQUIRBD PROM CONTRACTORS The contractor shall provide all pertinent and detailed information regarding any exception or deviation of specified requirements. In doing so, the contractor will clearly indentify the information with the section heading and paragraph number. The contractor shall provide a statement indicating experience in telephone systems and voice processing systems of the proposed size. Included in the statement shall be a listing of three to six customer references for the telephone system, and three to six customer references for the voice processing system. Company names, contacts, addresses and telephone numbers will need to be provided. The contractor shall provide two complete sets of instruction and operations manuals for all equipment included in the proposed turnkey system. One set will remain in the City Hall telephone switch room, and the other will be kept in the Telephone Support .OM'AID COM-AID PREVAILING LABOR RATES Effective April 1, 1996, COM-AID's prevailing labor rates for telecommunications services are as follows: Contract Customers Hourly Rate (billed in 1/2 hour increments): Trip Charge (per on-site call): $76.00 $38.00 Time and Materials Customers . Hourly Rate (billed in 1/2 hour increments): Trip Charge (per on-site call): $90.00 $45.00 On-site calls are subject to a one hour minimum. On-site calls incurred entirely outside of COM-AID normal business hours of Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and on COM-AID recognized holidays, are subject to a three hour minimum at time and one half prevailing labor rates. . COM.AID . AGREEMENT between COM-AID, Inc. ("Seller") and City of San Bernardino ("Buyer") 300 North D Street. 4th Floor. San Bernardino. CA 92418 Same ("Premises") having offices at and premises at I. AGREEMENT: Subject to the additional terms and conditions set forth herein, Seller agrees to sell the Equipment as set forth in the Equipment Summary of this Agreement, attached hereto and made a part hereof. 2. SALES PRICE: The Sales Price for the Equipment provided under this Agreement and as described in the attached Proposal dated October 31, 1996 shall be $ (inclusive of installation, one-year parts and labor warranty and applicable tax). 3. WARRANTY AND LIMITATION LIABILITY: Seller warranties that the Equipment covered under this Agreement will be free from defects in material, construction, and workmanship, provided the Equipment is not darnased by external causes and is used . according to the standard operating instructions. ThIs warranty shall be LIMITED to a period of twelve (12) months from the installation date. The warranty described herein shall be IN LIEU OF any other warranty, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED other than that particular purpose for which the Equipment is initially installed and that the Equipment IS fit for the ordinary purpose for which such equipment is normally used. The installation date will be the day all equipment is installed and operational. THE PARTIES AGREE THAT BUYER'S SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR BREACH OF ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, SHALL BE LIMITED TO REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT OF EQUIPMENT AT SELLER'S OWN EXPENSE, AND TIlE LIABILITY OF SELLER FOR CLAIMS UNDER TIllS WARRANTY IS LIMITED ENTIRELY TO THOSE SET FORTH HEREIN, AND IN NO EVENT SHALL SELLER BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES IN EXCESS OF THE VALUE OF THE DEFECTIVE EQUIPMENT OR PART THEREOF; NOR SHALL SELLER BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOSS OF PROFITS OF ANY KIND, OR LOSS OF USE OF THE EQUIPMENT. SELLER'S LIABILITY SHALL CEASE AND TERMINATE AT THE EXPIRATION OF THE ONE-YEAR WARRANTY PERIOD. THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES EXCEPT AS SET FORTH ABOVE. This Agreement provides for the warranty repair resulting from normal and usual operation of the Equipment by Buyer. It does not cover damage or destruction resulting from factors external to the Equipment. With respect to repair not resulting from the normal and usual operation of the Equipment, Buyer will pay for service and parts at Seller's then current rates. . COM'AID .ales Agreement Page 2 TITLE TO EQUIPMENT: Anything herein to the contrary notwithstanding, title to the Equipment shall not pass to Buyer, and Buyer shall not be deemed to be lawfully in possession of any such EQuipment until all amounts due and owing COM-AID under this Agreement shall have been paid in full. ENTIRE AGREEMENT: This instrument constitutes the entire Agreement between the parties and there are no understandings, representations or warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, not set forth herein. No modification shall be effective unless in writing and signed by the parties. No provisions shall be deemed waived because of previous failure to Insist upon strict performance thereof. The above terms and conditions shall prevail notwithstanding any variance with the terms and conditions. ATTORNEY'S FEES: If any party to this Agreement resorts to a legal action to enforce any provision of this Agreement, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees in addition to any other relief to which they may be entitled. This provision applies to the entire Agreement. TERMS OF PAYMENT: The total sum of $ as referenced above and described in the attached Proposal dated October 31, 1996 snall be paid as follows: 20% Upon Execution of Agreement 40% Upon Delivery of Materials 30% Upon Completion of Installation 10% Upon Acceptance This Agreement is subject to acceptance by an Officer of COM-AlD, Inc. 4. 5. 6. 7. . 8. FORCE MAJEURE: Performance of any obligation herein by Seller will be excused if prevented by Acts of God or the Public Enemy, fire or other casualty, labor disputes, or, without limiting the foregoing, any circumstances beyond its reasonable control. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have duly executed this Agreement, effective the 31st day of October 1996. Seller: COM-AID, INC. By: Title: Buyer: City of San Bernardino By: Title: Date: .Cd: 1/5/96 Date: COM'AID . TRAINING " Citv of San Bernardinj) Trainin~ Requirements The successful contractor shall be required to provide a complete and comprehens.ive trainipg pmgram qpen to all u~er.pers9nnel. The training ~II be conducted 10 a deSIgnated meeti1!lt room WIthin CIty Hall and shalf Include instruction on the use of the Series III instruments and voice processing/voice mail boxes. Eight "end user" training classes will be provided between December 9 and December 20. Four follow-up training classes will be conducted between January 6 and January 8. Separate "system administration" training shall be provided to sp-ecified three (3) City representatives. This "administrative" training shall incluce instruction on changed or added features in the new NEAX 2400 software and administration of the voice processing system. A training plan outline is provided as follows: Ooerator Traininl . Console attendant training will be conducted by COM-AID training personnel, specializing in the NEAX 2400 Console. It will include operational instruction. The primary purpose of the training is to provide each operator with the technical skills and knowledge required to be proficient in all applicable features of the NEAX 2400 Console. The actual training period shall be phased over two (2) weeks prior to and following cutover. Additional training will be provided during the warranty, if required, at our standard training rates. User Traininl The COM-AID training plan will entail sessIOns of approximately one hour, scheduled as follows: Hands on Training Question! Answer Period COM-AID will have a customer service representative on site to assist during cutover. COM-AID will set up a classroom frovided by the customer and place live equipment in this room for training 0 the station users. We will also provide a diagram of how this room should be set up, to enable )Iou to provide us with an adequate training area. Training sessions will be scheCluled to include complete shift coverage at all departments where requested. . . . COM'AID . We will provide the following aids to support in-house training programs: Station User Guides Telephone Support COM-AID will provide training for a select ~roup' of individuals to serve as "in- house" ex~rts. For large groups, COM-AID wlll arrange classes to train new employees during the warranty period at our standard training rates. Administrative Tr9ininl: Training is available from the Manufacturers for all systems. Cost varies with length of course and levels of course. COM-AID staff is also available for traming. The cost of COM-AID training can be tailored for your site or our site on a mutually agreeable basis. . . ~M.AID November 25, 1996 . 24971 Avenue Stanford Valencia. California 91355 (805) 257-1500. (805) 257-1757 Fax . .0 City of San Bernardino 300 North D Street1 4th Floor San Bernardino, Cf\ 92418 .~ ~ <: !::] ." . N ~ ::0 rTI n a! < m CI I n =i -: n .-- rTI :XJ ..,.. Re: Specifications No. F-97-08 (Telecommunications System Upgrade) Dear Council Members: COM-AID appreciates the Council's prudent decision to continue the award of the Telecommunications System Upgrade to the December 2nd Council Meeting, pending clarification of the two finalists bids. I would like to emphasize that COM-AID's concerns are not motivated by a "sour grapes" response to the , telecommunication committee's decision. COM-AID's Engineering Group, an elite staff ofNEC Certified technicians and engineers, considered our competitor's solution in our early analysis and dismissed the MDX MMG retrofit, as currently proposed by Vision, as technically inferior and not cost effective for your particular application. Clearly, if we were confident that the selection was based on correct fact, we would wish you the best of luck and hope to work with you on future opportunities, as we have done in the past. However, there are a number of points of misinformation that need to be addressed. The "EXCEPTIONS WITH COM-AID", as indicated in the Interoffice Memorandum to the Mayor and Common Council on November 18th is outlined below. It is of paramount importance that these points be accurate since it is on the basis of this information that COM-AID was denied five (5) points in evaluation and therefore not recommended, even though we were the recognized low bidder. Unfortunately these points are not based upon accurate information. . 113D IJjJjqw 1. DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE GENERAL TERMS. (Sec. 8) In Section I of the City's General Specifications, it is requested that the bidder shall attach a itemization of the specifications. Clarification 1. The third sentence of "1." of the General Specification No. F-97- 08 reads, "Bidder shall attach to bid proposal a complete detailed itemization and explanation for each and every deviation or variation from these specifications". (See Attachment A, General Specifications) COM-AID took no exceptions or "deviation or variation" to the request. Therefore, there was not "detailed itemization or explanation" required (see Attachment B. Letter to Bruce Hill 11/7/96). . 2. DISCREPANCIES IN "SERVICE GUIDELINES". (Sec. 4) The Service Guidelines in COM-AID's proposal lists pricing for services requested as part of the one year warranty in the RFP. Clarification 2. We have included as Attachment C the COM-AID Service Guidelines that were modified in Section n to; "adhere to the City of San Bernardino's system maintenance as outlined in Section 4 of the RFP". In our statement of compliance we used the specific words of the RFP. Our om~-year warranty absolutely covers all parts and labor as required. (Also, See Attachment D, Sec. 4 of Specification No. F-97-08.) 3. DISCREPANCIES IN "PREVAILING LABOR RATES". (Sec. 6) Pricing for labor is detailed that should have been included in the one-year warranty. Clarification 3. COM-AID's Labor Rates are included as an accommodation to provide a benchmark for move, add and change activity, not warranty related service. COM-AID's one year warranty is for all parts and labor for the installed equipment provided. (Please see Attachment E: "COM-AID's Prevailing Labor Rates and Attachment F: Sales Agreement, Item 3) . City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25,1996 Page 3 4. DISCREPANCY IN COST OF ADMINISTRATIVE TRAINING. (Sec. 4) Administrative Training was requested as part of the RFP. COM-AID indicates training provided by the manufacturers at cost. Clarification 4. COM-AID provides basic Administrative Training on the customer site at no additional cost with an our installs. However, advanced training directly from the manufacturer is available at an additional cost as was indicated. In an effort to be thoroughly compliant with the City's request, COM-AID restated practically verbatim the wording in Section 4 of The Specification No. F-97-08. (Attachment G: Training - please note paragraph 3) . Attachment G: Separate "system administration" training shall be provided to specified three (3) City representatives. Ibis "administrative" training shall include instruction on changed or added features in the new NEAX 2400 software and administration of the voice processing system. 5. NO IVR PORTS IN BID. (See 5) Interactive Voice Response (IVR) capabilities were required in the RFP. Clarification 5. The Centigram Voice Processing System as proposed is caoable of Interactive Voice Response. Section 8, Paragraph 5 of the RFP states: "The City intends to establish an informational interactive system which it can build upon and develop as future needs arise. The Interactive Voice Response (IVR) portion of this proposal will be designed to meet these intentions. . The City did not specify any number of IVR ports in the system. We took the operative words "intend" and "future" to mean "not now". In at least one telephone conversation with a member of your committee, the IVR question was specifically indicated as a capability only with actual use not planned for possibly up to two years. The system as proposed will support and accommodate IVR. City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 4 Pricing for IVR ports is available upon request. IVR is a function of the Centigram Voice Processor Systems - NOT the NEAX 2400 ICS IMGxh. As an additional point of clarification; this Centigram System was proposed and indicated as a 24 port + 4 fax port system in our response not a 16 port + 4 fax port system as was indicated in the committee memo of November 18th. THE COMPARISON VISION COM-AID l. TELEPHONE SYSTEM A. System Type :MDX MMG ICS IMGxh . B. Software Level 6100 6100 (6120) C. Processor Type Pentium 486 D. Port Capacity 6,144 3,072 (6,144 with Pentium replacement processors @ $6,100) II. VOICE MAIL SYSTEM A. System Type Centigram 1201 Centigram 1201 B. Ports/Storage 16/55 Hours 24/55 Hours (16/55 erroneous memo indication) C. Fax Ports 4 4 (FaxMemo) D. IVR Ports 4 0 (Voice Gateway reqrd.) . VISIOrs: I.A.) MDX-MM{! . Retrofit of existing system PIMS using older components with newer adjunct hardware/ software.(see attached room drawings) - Retrofit configuration just released 11/96 - Two Beta test sites installed . - No systems sold (as of 11/1/96) - Old Backplane (Mother-board) - Old 184 port PIM Cabinets - Old, high consumption power supplies COM-AID ICS IMGxh . New System re-employing selected existing components.(see attached room drawings) - Proven current release new system technology - Over 2,000 systems sold and installed worldwide - Over 20 systems sold and installed by COM-AID - New Backplane(Mother-board) - Current 384 port PIM Cabinets - Current, low consumption power supplies I. B.) VISION COM-AID SQEJWARE: 6100 SQ,FfWAU: 6120 Proposed Proposed NEC has multiple versions of6100 software ranging from the Basic Business Package at 6110 through level 6180. Each Feature Package contains specific feature requirements particular to the application environment to which it is tailored. COM-AID proposed 6120 software which includes the Basic Business Package plus: . Common Channel Interoffice Signaling (CCIS) which allows other NEC NEAX 2400 or 2000 IVS systems with CCIS components to operate with one another as if thev are a sin~le. conti2\lous PBX. . .OM'AID City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 6 Meaning that features such as: - Extension Dialing - Name Display - Call Forwarding - Multiple Call Forwarding - Centralized Voice Processing are transparent throughout the network. In other words, the systems interact the same way if you are in the next office or across town as long as there is a Tl capacity channel between the Host system and the node. . For example, COM-AID installed and maintains an NEC CCIS Network for Kern High School District. There is a main Hub NEC NEAX 2400 ICSxh at the District office with 14 NEC NEAX 2000 IVSs linked to it on CCIS nodes. Calling patterns are seamless through the 4 digit CCIS numbering plan. Voice Processing and Call Accounting Services as well as Long Distance Calling and Least Cost Routing are centralized through the District NEAX 2400 ICS IMGxh as are the Administrative functions for move, add and change activity. . Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) ISDN is the multi-purpose digital network that defines the "intelligent network" of the future. The NEAX 2400 ICS Primary Rate Interface (PRI) connects users to this worldwide network, transparently integrating the NEAX 2400 IMS with local and long-distance public ISDN networks. Two types of interface will be provided. Primary Rate Interface (23B+D) links the NEAX 2400 IMS to the public network.. Existing Dtennterminals, as well as analog telephones, connected to the NEAX 2400 IMS can thereby access the public ISDN. Basic Rate Interface (2B+D) permits the connection of ISDN terminals as station equipment for the NEAX 2400 IMS. The ISDN terminals can then communicate with analog and Dtenn stations within the NEAX 2400 network, as . well as with the public network. City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 7 The NEAX 2400 ICS PRI conforms to all CCITT recommendations for Primary Rate Interface. A layered protocol is used, conforming to Layers 1, 2, and 3 (Physical, Link, and Network Layers) of the seven-layer Open System Interconnect (OSI) reference model of the International Standards Organization (ISO). . Since the ISDN PRI and NEC's Common Channel Interoffice Signaling (CCIS) both utilize Signaling System No. 7 Recommendations, ISDN features are transparent over NEC's CCIS networking. . Redundancy The NEAX 2400 ICS System is able to employ non-redundant and redundant systems for processors, memory, switching, bus, and power. The ICS system provides one of the highest level of redundancy and reliability offered in a PBX today. In addition, it offers the widest selection of redundancy which allows each system to be custom tailored to meet each customer's specific requirement. The redundancy levels are: D-O : No redundancy provided D-l : Power only is redundant D-2 : Processors, memory, switching & bus are redundant D-3 : Full system redundancy LC. VISIO~ PROCESSOR TYPE Pentium COM-AID PROCES E 486 . . . City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 8 (From COM-AID's letter to Bruce Hill of November 7 - Requested Agenda): 2) The Central Processing Unit (CPU) as proposed is a 486. The description for this CPU is CPRD-A as indicated on our Schedule A. The Pentium processor will not be required until the line size of the NEAX 2400 exceeds 3,072 ports. At that time the system would be expanded to an IMGdxh by upgrading the CPU to a Pentium processor and providing additional expansion hardware. The Pentium processors are not recommended by NEC until the system exceeds 3,072 ports. If, for any reason, the City desires to replace the 486 processors with Pentium processors, COM-AID will fully implement the change at a price to the City ofS6,100.oo. This offer is binding now and for the next 48 months. The City of San Bernardino's current telephone system port configuration calls for 2,304 ports. The 486 processor is NEC manufacturer specified up to 3,072 ports. This means that with the proposed ICS IMOxh the City can add 768 additional ports (2-Port Interface Modules: PIMS) before needing the processing power of the Pentium. There is 33% growth caoacity in the COM- AID system as proposed. I.D.) VISION PORT CAPACITY 6,144 COM-AIQ PORT CAPACITY 6,144 The issue here is not port capacity, but how many software licenses have been ordered with the system. Both systems have the capacity of6,144 ports. The Pentium processor is needed to empower the ports exceeding 3,072. However, if the Software License has not been ordered from NK (that provides the software program) the additional ports cannot "talk to" the Central Processim!: Unit (CPU), just as the Mayor will not recognize just "anyone" with a band raised. The ports must be recognized by the CPU I:!"fore they can "speak" or become operative. City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 9 COM-AID has provided 2,304 Software License ports. (please see Attachment H: NEC Software License port Attachment). Additional Software License port attachments are needed for each additional PIM. (384 ports per PIM) Key: 6120 2304 (Software Issue) (Number of Ports Licensed) (Software License Attachment: CPE Group document) II. ~ II. II.A.). SYSTEM TYPE Centigram 1201 . (Voice) I1.B) PORTS/STORAGE 16/55 mM:Am SYSTEM TYPE Centigram 1201 (Voice) PORTS/STORAGE 24/55 1I.c.) FAX PORTS: 4 FAX PORTS: 4 11.0.) IVR PORTS: 4 IVR PORTS: 0 [TOTAL PORTS: 241 [TOTAL PORTS: 281 Note: As previously discussed, IVR ports were not requested. Only the caDabili~ to utilize them for future, unexplained applications was required. . City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 10 We would like to address Mr. Sharer's summation: The three items of the comparison that are in VISIONS favor will become vital to the City in the coming years as the City advances into data and voice integration. First, the Pentium processor is faster than the compared 486 processor in COM-AID's proposal. While it is true the Pentium processor is "faster" than a 486 processor, the processing speed is not compatible with the port capacity of the system as requested by the City. . The NEC NEAX 2400 will not process data faster than the matrix hierarchy will allow. At the line size requested by the City, 2,304 ports, and up to 3,072 port capacity, the Pentium processor IS NOT RECOMMENDED by NEC, the manufacturer, for the line size as proposed. Second, the 6,144 port capacity becomes critical as data users access the City computer system through telecommunication lines. As data and telephones combine, the demand for more telephone system port capacity will increase dramatically. Both programmed systems have an interim port capacity of 6,144. This is not the issue. The issues are: . How many Software Port Licenses have been supplied? (Previously discussed) . How does the City intend to "combine" data and telephone usage? . How many IVR ports are required? · Both systems have an ultimate port capacity of over 24,000 ports. . City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 11 The COM-AID systems as proposed can support: - Interactive Voice Response (NR) - TCPIP Protocol - Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) - Common Channel Interoffice Signaling (CCIS) - Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) - Visual Desktop - VoiceMail, E-Mail, FaxMail Please refer to the "Products Overview" section of our proposal for detail on these items. . Third, the four Interactive Voice Response (IVR) ports were requested in the RFP. These ports are the connection of the two systems for the voice and data integration. This conclusion is not factual. While the writer may have believed this to be true, the subject has been addressed in ~ of this document. The fact is that IVR J2QIll were not requested. NR caDability was. The Centigram 1201 is IVR compatible. As described in the proposal and the staff report, the point system for exceptions was developed by John Murphy and Bruce Hill. The system is based upon each exception costing one point to the overall score of 100 points. As demonstrated in the staff report, COM-AID has 95 points due to the above listed exceptions. Therefore, VISION COMMUNICATIONS is the recommended bidder with 98 points. . City of San Bernardino - Council Members November 25, 1996 Page 12 The exceptions have been dismissed at the opening of this document. COM-AID should have received 100 points. 1) COM-AID took no exceptions to the RFP. 2) COM-AID had no discrepancies with regard to service or warranty. 3) COM-AID has warranted the systems proposed for one full year - all parts and labor. 4) COM-AID will provide Administrative Training as described in 1M RFP at no additional cost. 5) COM-AID's Call Processing System (the Centigram 1201) is IVR capable as requested in the RFP. . COM-AID should have received all 100 points. COM-AID was the low qualified bidder. COM-AID should receive this award. COM-AID would respectfully request that the Council Members for the City of San Bernardino award Spec. #F-97-08 to COM-AID. .