REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL 2018-027-1300005 After Hours Answering Services INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS This is a Loudoun Water Request for Proposal to establish a contract through competitive negotiations for the requested services. This is not an order. Submittal of Responses: Proposals may be mailed or delivered to the reception desk at 44865 Loudoun Water Way, Ashburn, Virginia 20147 no later than 2:00PM on the date listed in Table 1. All times listed in this RFP are Eastern Standard Times. No other distribution of the proposal shall be made by the Offeror. Late proposals will not be accepted under any circumstance. Inquiries: Please direct all questions concerning this solicitation to the Loudoun Water Procurement Office at kclark@loudounwater.org. Unauthorized contact with other Loudoun Water staff regarding the RFP may result in the disqualification of the offeror. Any changes resulting from inquiries that are received prior to the deadline stated in Table 1 shall be addressed in writing with an Addendum. Addenda can be downloaded from www.loudounwater.org. June 7, 2018 June 20, 2018 June 22, 2018 June 29, 2018 2:00PM Table 1 RFP Issued Questions due to the Procurement Office Issue Addendum addressing questions received Responses to RFP due RFP CONTENTS I. Background II. Scope of Work III. Proposal Submittal Instructions IV. Evaluation and Award Criteria V. Terms and Conditions Request for Proposal Page 1
I. BACKGROUND The purpose of this RFP is to solicit sealed proposals to establish a contract for After-Hours Answering Services for the Field Services, Maintenance, Inspections and Water Quality departments. LW uses answering services for holiday, after-hours and emergency call handling. Calls from Loudoun Water (LW) customers are placed to 1 of 4 after-hours lines and routed by the answering service to Loudoun Water s appropriate on-call staff depending on the nature of the service need. Loudoun Water s office hours are Monday Friday 8:00AM to 5:00PM excluding Virginia state observed holidays. After-hours answering services is critical to Loudoun Water s ability to serve its customers. Highly reliable and effective call services combined with excellent customer service to our account are critical to the success of this contract. Additionally, events such as winter storms, freezing conditions and broken pipes can cause disruption in a customer s water supply and require superior situational handling by the answering service. In such event, a higher than normal call volume will be expected. Loudoun Water received approximately 5,000 after hours calls from May 1, 2017 to May 1, 2018. Loudoun Water is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As an authority, Loudoun Water makes no profit and its operations and finances are independent of the County s tax-supported services. Loudoun Water provides public water and wastewater to over 72,000 connections serving more than 200,000 people. Its service area is predominantly in eastern Loudoun County, and is comprised of more than 2,000 miles of water and sewer pipelines. Loudoun Water also operates several small community water and wastewater treatment plants. II. SCOPE OF WORK The following sections describe the functionality and services that must be provided by the contractor. Offeror is required to address each item in detail with their proposal. A demo of the web portal may be required as part of the RFP process. 1. Account Management & Reports. The contractor shall provide the following: a. Live Support i. A dedicated account manager for day to day account support. The account manager must be responsive to email and phone communication. ii. A supervisor available on-call 24/7/365 to respond to requests during emergency scenarios with the authority to make changes to our account as needed. There should not be a scenario where we cannot reach account support and a supervisor. iii. Excellent customer service to our account and quick communication. b. Reports contractor shall provide the following: i. Annual report that lists total call volumes per line. ii. Monthly report that lists total call volumes per line. iii. Daily report that details each call received. The daily report must be emailed to LW managers by 8:00AM EST each day. Report must include a list of all calls placed during after-hours, the time of the call, the full name, phone number and address of the caller, a description of the reason for the call and the LW staff member that was contacted after the call. Request for Proposal Page 2
2. Web Portal a. The service must include an online account management portal available 24/7/365 for LW staff to manage the account. b. LW rotates on-call staff on a regular basis. This requires changes to the on-call tree that call center will see after hours. LW staff must be able to manage the on-call contact info through the web based portal. c. Portal must show an on-call tree listing the contacts assigned for each department. The on call tree will be a hierarchy of contacts, for example contact 1, 2 and 3 called in order until a LW staff member acknowledges. d. Message board: The portal should include a message board for LW staff to post notes to the answering service agents. For example, if there is a water main break that will generate extra call volume, LW staff would post details helpful info to the online messaging board. e. Contractor must provide multiple login credentials to allow LW staff from various departments access to the portal with rights to change call trees. f. Describe the different levels of rights available to different user types in your system. For example, super-users with full admin rights as compared to users with no admin rights. g. Integration with our existing call board is required. h. Portal functionality and reliability shall be managed by the contractor s service desk with asneeded support services included. 3. Call Service Features a. Call recording: The contractor shall record and provide access to all after-hours calls to LW management for at least 30 days. b. Record of events: The contractor must be able to provide a time-stamped record of events that catalogue the interaction between the customer and the call service for at least 30 days after the date of the call. In the event of a customer complaint or customer service issue it is helpful to LW staff to have this record of events to have a complete history of the issue. c. Text reply: When LW staff receive a call from the answering service, field personnel must be able to text reply confirming they have received the call. d. Spanish services: Call center must provide at least one agent fluent in conversational Spanish and available to answer LW calls at all times of service. e. Loudoun Water needs to retain our existing telephone numbers. Please address this issue in your proposal. f. Text and Email Service Requests: Loudoun Water receives after-hours calls from Miss Utility VUPPS (811) for emergency utility location. These calls must be responded to by Loudoun Water staff within 2 hours. 811 also offers auto-text and auto-email notifications that can be sent to the answering service for dispatch to LW staff. Please describe your capabilities for receiving auto-text or auto-email notifications to your call center. g. Call Volume: Describe the amount of call volume that the call center can handle during normal operations. Also describe your capability for providing excellent answering services in the scenario described below. i. Example of a high call volume period: In January 2018 Loudoun Water received 2,427 after-hours calls. Many of the calls were from customers reporting that their meters had frozen an issue that prevents water supply to the customer s home. Some days during this weather event generated over 400 calls to the answering service. Although these ice events don t occur every year the contractor must always be capable of processing this amount of call volume for our account. During severe weather events, the contractor must be able to coordinate with LW Request for Proposal Page 3
managers to provide hourly summaries of calls instead of the standard approach of processing each call to LW staff. This will require excellent coordination between the contractor s account manager and LW managers. 4. Training & Rollout of Services a. Contractor shall provide training on using the web portal, running reports and any other areas necessary. Provide a detailed description of your training plan. b. Offeror must include a work plan with their proposal to describe their approach to transferring call services from the existing provider as well as other areas of rolling out new services to LW. US Based: The call center must be in the United States. Off shore answering services will not be considered for award. III. PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS General Proposal Requirements Offerors must submit 1 digital copy on thumb drive and 6 print copies, 1 with original signatures All appendices and addendums must be included Proposals must be: Shipped or hand-delivered in a sealed package Clearly marked with the RFP number from page 1 and in ATTN to the appropriate Procurement Technician Proposals shall be signed by an authorized representative of the Offeror. Proposals which are substantially incomplete or lack key information may be rejected. Proposals should include a table of contents and be organized per the tabs shown in this section below. All pages of the proposal should be numbered. Proposals that are not organized in this manner risk elimination from consideration if the evaluators are unable to find where the RFP requirements are specifically addressed. Each copy of the proposal should be bound or contained in a single volume printed front and back of paper where practical. All documentation submitted with the proposal shall be contained in that single volume. All proposal preparation costs incurred are the responsibility of the Offeror. Interviews/Demonstrations: Offerors may be required to attend an interview and/or provide a demonstration of their products/services offered. This provides an opportunity for the Offeror to clarify or elaborate on their proposal. This is a fact finding and explanation session only and does not include negotiation. The Loudoun Water Procurement Official will schedule the time and location of the interview and/or demonstrations. Request for Proposal Page 4
Specific Proposal Requirements: Proposals should be as thorough and detailed as possible so that Loudoun Water may properly evaluate your capabilities to provide the required services. The Offeror is required to submit a complete proposal organized into the following categories and section tabs: Table of Contents number all pages of the response consecutively. Tab 1: Company Experience Describe the company s past record of performance for at least 3 similar accounts for which your company has provided services. Include a short description of the services, active dates of the service, client contact name and phone number for each reference. Highlight specific experience in the areas of after-hours answering services, web portal offerings and periods of high call volume as they apply to our requirements. Tab 2: Account Management and Reports Address each item from Section II.1. Describe how you will meet the requirements and ensure excellent account management. Provide a sample monthly report showing at a minimum the level of detail required. Tab 3: Web Portal Address each item from Section II.2. Describe how you will meet the requirements and provide a highly reliable online portal. Fully describe your customer portal, its functionality, tech support, etc., and include screenshots of the portal s main landing page. Tab 4: Call Service Features Address each item from Section II.3. Tab 5: Training and Roll-out of Services Address each item from Section II.4. Also include the requested work plan. Tab 6: Price Provide a pricing proposal to include all related costs, fees and expenses with service startup and ongoing monthly recurring charges. Provide a description of how Loudoun Water will be charged for the Services requested in this RFP. RFP Attachments All attachments to the RFP requiring execution by the firm are to be completed and returned with the proposal. The following forms must be included: Appendix A.1 - Offeror s Data Sheet Appendix A.2 Proof of Authority to Transact Business in Virginia Appendix A.3 Proprietary Information IV. EVALUATION AND AWARD CRITERIA: Evaluation Criteria: Proposals shall be evaluated by Loudoun Water using the following criteria and weighting: Maximum Points Evaluation Criteria 20 Tab 1: Company Experience 15 Tab 2: Account Management and Reports 15 Tab 3: Web Portal 15 Tab 4: Call Service Features 15 Tab 5: Training and Roll-out of Features 20 Tab 6: Price Request for Proposal Page 5
Award of Contract: Selection shall be made of two or more Offerors deemed to be fully qualified and best suited among those submitting proposals based on the evaluation factors above. Negotiations shall be conducted with the Offerors so selected. After negotiations have been conducted with each Offeror so selected, Loudoun Water shall select the Offeror which, in its opinion, has made the best proposal, and shall award the contract to that Offeror. Loudoun Water may cancel this Request for Proposal or reject proposals at any time prior to an award, and is not required to furnish a statement of the reasons why a particular proposal was not deemed to be the most advantageous. Should Loudoun Water determine in writing and in its sole discretion that only one Offeror is fully qualified, or that one Offeror is clearly more highly qualified than others under consideration, a contract may be negotiated and awarded to that Offeror. The award document will be a contract incorporating by reference all the requirements, terms and conditions of the solicitation and the Contractor's proposal negotiated. V. TERMS AND CONDITIONS: The General Terms and Conditions may be viewed here: https://www.loudounwater.org/sites/default/files/loudoun%20water%20purchase%20order%20terms%20and%20conditions. pdf Announcement of Award: Upon the award or the announcement of the decision to award a contract as a result of this solicitation, results will be available on Loudoun Water s website (http://www.loudounwater.org/business-customers-and- Partners/Bids/Closed/Closed-Bids/)for a minimum of (10) days. Cooperative Clause: Offerors are advised that the resultant contract may be extended, with the authorization of the offeror to other public bodies in accordance with 2.2-4304 of the VPPA. Contract Documents: The Contract entered by the parties shall consist of the Request for Proposal, the submittal by the Offeror, Loudoun Water s Purchase Order, the Offer, Terms and Conditions, all of which shall be referred to collectively as the Contract Documents. Offerors are advised that Loudoun Water does not sign standard contract forms which may be used by the Offeror. Your submittal certifies the Offeror is an agent or officer authorized to bind the company to the terms and conditions of this solicitation. The term "Contractor" means the person, firm or corporation named as such in the contract and includes the plural number and the feminine gender when such are named in the contract as the Contractor. The term "Subcontractor" means only those having a direct contract with the Contractor and it includes one who furnishes material work to a special design but does not include one who merely furnishes material not so worked. Escalation Clause: Pricing can be negotiated upon contract renewal in relation to the CPI-U for Services in Washington- Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted for U.S. city average Series Id: CUURS35ASAS as published by the BLS for the most recently available month preceding the renewal month. No increase in price shall be more than 3% above the preceding contract period. Laws and Regulations: The Contractor shall give all notices and comply with all laws, ordinances, regulations and lawful orders of any public authority bearing on the performance of the work. This contract and all other contracts and subcontracts are subject to the provisions of the Code of Virginia relating to labor unions and the "right to work," and all Contractors and Subcontractors, whether residents or nonresidents of the Commonwealth, who perform any work related to the project shall comply with the said provisions. The provisions of all regulations governing safety as adopted by the Safety Codes Commission of the Commonwealth of Virginia, issued by the Department of Labor and Industry under the Code of Virginia shall apply to all work under this contract. Prime Contractor Responsibilities: The Contractor shall be responsible for completely supervising and directing the work under this contract and all subcontractors that he may utilize, using his best skill and attention. Subcontractors who perform work under this contract shall be responsible to the prime Contractor. The Contractor agrees that he is fully responsible for the acts and omissions of his subcontractors and of persons employed by them as he is for the acts and omissions of his own employees. Request for Proposal Page 6
Proposal Acceptance Period: Any offer in response to this solicitation shall be valid for (90) ninety days. At the end of the (90) ninety day period, the offer may be withdrawn at the written request of the Offeror. If the offer is not withdrawn at that time, it remains in effect until an award is made or the solicitation is canceled. Protection of Persons and Property: The Contractor expressly undertakes, both directly and through its Subcontractors, to take every precaution at all times for the protection of persons and property, including Loudoun Water's employees and property and its own. Receipt and Opening of Proposals: It is the responsibility of the Offeror to assure that the proposal is submitted to the place designated for receipt of proposals prior to the time set for receipt of proposals. No proposal received after the time designated for receipt of proposals shall be considered. All times listed in the Loudoun Water Solicitation are Eastern Standard Time. Renewal: This contract will be for a base period of one (1) year from execution with six (6) optional annual renewals. Renewals must be mutually agreed to in writing. Withdrawal or Modification of Offers Prior to Due Date: Offers may be withdrawn or modified by written notice received from the Offerors prior to the time fixed for offer receipt. Request for Proposal Page 7
OFFEROR S INFORMATION: OFFEROR S NAME: MAILING ADDRESS: APPENDIX A.1 OFFEROR S DATA SHEET COMPANY OFFICERS: TELEPHONE: FEDERAL ID NUMBER: WEBSITE ADDRESS: FAX: E-MAIL: GENERAL INFORMATION: 1. Number of years business has been in operation? Number of employees? Total number of call center agents 2. Number of years experience providing same or similar goods/services? 3. Number of call center locations for this business? 4. Addresses of these service locations? (Please attach detailed address list.) BUSINESS CLASSIFICATION Asian-American African-American Hispanic-American Native-American Woman-Owned Service Disabled Veteran-Owned SMALL BUSINESS CERTIFICATION: Yes, as defined in the Code of Virginia, 2.2-4301. REFERENCES Submit three (3) references of recent and relevant projects for similar services requested in this solicitation 1) Name of Firm: Address: Contact Name: Title: Contact Data: Ph: Fax: E-Mail: Goods/Services Provided: No Start and Completion Dates: 2) Name of Firm: Address: Contact Name: Title: Contact Data: Ph: Fax: E-Mail: Goods/Services Provided: Request for Proposal Page 8
Start and Completion Dates: 3) Name of Firm: Address: Contact Name: Title: Contact Data: Ph: Fax: E-Mail: Goods/Services Provided: Start and Completion Dates: Company Name Printed Name/Title Date Authorized Signature Request for Proposal Page 9
APPENDIX A.2 PROOF OF AUTHORITY TO TRANSACT BUSINESS IN VIRGINIA THIS FORM MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH YOUR PROPOSAL. FAILURE TO INCLUDE THIS FORM MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR PROPOSAL Pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2-4311.2, a bidder/offeror organized or authorized to transact business in the Commonwealth pursuant to Title 13.1 or Title 50 of the Code of Virginia shall include in its bid/proposal the identification number issued to it by the State Corporation Commission ( SCC ). Any bidder/offeror that is not required to be authorized to transact business in the Commonwealth as a foreign business entity under Title 13.1 or Title 50 of the Code of Virginia or as otherwise required by law shall include in its bid or proposal a statement describing why the offeror is not required to be so authorized. Any bidder/offeror described herein that fails to provide the required information shall not receive an award unless a waiver of this requirement is granted by the Procurement Office. If this bid/proposal for goods or services is accepted by Loudoun Water, the undersigned agrees that the requirements of the Code of Virginia Section 2.2-4311.2 have been met. Please complete the following by checking the appropriate line that applies and providing the requested information. A. Bidder/offeror is a Virginia business entity organized and authorized to transact business in Virginia by the SCC and such bidder s/offeror s Identification Number issued to it by the SCC is. B. Bidder/offeror is an out-of-state (foreign) business entity that is authorized to transact business in Virginia by the SCC and such bidder s/offeror s Identification Number issued to it by the SCC is. C. Bidder/offeror does not have an Identification Number issued to it by the SCC and such bidder/offeror is not required to be authorized to transact business in Virginia by the SCC for the following reason(s): Legal Name of Company (as listed on W-9) Authorized Signature and Date Print or Type Name and Title Request for Proposal Page 10
APPENDIX A.3 PROPRIETARY INFORMATION Ownership of all data, materials, and documentation originated and prepared for the Owner pursuant to the REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL shall belong exclusively to Loudoun Water and be subject to public inspection in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Trade secrets or proprietary information submitted by an Offeror shall not be subject to public disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, however, the Offeror must invoke the protections of Section 2.2-4342F of the Code of Virginia, in writing, either before or at the time the data or other material is submitted. The written notice must specifically identify the data or materials to be protected and state the reasons why protection is necessary. The proprietary or trade secret material submitted must be identified by some distinct method such as highlighting or underlining and must indicate only the specific words, figures, or paragraphs that constitute trade secret or proprietary information. NOTICE OF PROPRIETARY INFORMATION Confidentiality References Protection in Accordance with the Code of Virginia, Section 2.2-4342F Section Title Page Number Reason(s) for Withholding from Disclosure INSTRUCTIONS: Identify the data or other materials to be protected and state the reasons by using the codes listed below. Indicate die specific words, figures, or Paragraphs that constitute trade secrets or proprietary materials. A- This page contains information relating to "trade secrets', and "proprietary information" including processes. Operations, style of work, or apparatus, identify confidential statistical data, amount or source of any income of any person (or) partnership. See Virginia Public Procurement Act. Section 2.2-4342F. Unauthorized disclosure of such information would violate the Trade Secrets Act 18 U.S.C. 1905. B- This page contains proprietary information including confidential, commercial or financial information which was provided to the Government on a voluntary basis and is of the type that would not customarily be released to the public. See Virginia Public Procurement Act, Section 2.2-4342F; 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4); 12 C.F.R. 309.5(c)(4). C- This page contains proprietary information including confidential, commercial or financial information. This disclosure of such information would cause substantial harm to competitive position and impair the Government's ability to obtain necessary information from contractors in die future. 5 U.S.C. See Virginia Public Procurement Act. Section 2.2-4342F; 552(b)(4); 12 C. F. R 309.5(c)(4). Contractor Name Signature Date Title Name (Printed) Request for Proposal Page 11