REQUEST FOR INFORMATION STATE OF FLORIDA Florida Statewide NG-911 Routing Services RFI NO.: DMS-12/13-002 I. INTRODUCTION The State of Florida, Department of Management Services (the Department ), hereby issues this Request for Information ( RFI ) seeking information from interested parties who can provide statewide Next Generation 911 routing services. The goal of this RFI is to provide the Department with the latest information on National Emergency Number Association ( NENA ) i3 standard compliant Next Generation 911 routing services. The information requested is intended to determine potential vendor s development status, offerings and compliance with NENA recommendations, requirements, and standards. Please do not provide any specific cost or pricing information at this time; this is not a solicitation for an offer. However, general pricing information may be provided (e.g., price ranges and variable factors that impact the price). After the Department receives responses to this RFI, and at the sole discretion of the Department, one or more respondents may be selected to demonstrate to the Department the respondent s products and services relating to the information submitted in the RFI response. The purpose is to learn about the most current solutions available. Subsequently, the Department anticipates releasing a competitive solicitation. II. PURPOSE OF AN RFI Rule 60A-1.042, Florida Administrative Code, provides that an agency may request information by issuing a written RFI. Agencies are authorized to use an RFI in circumstances including, but not limited to, determining whether or not to competitively procure a commodity or contractual services, determining what solicitation process to use for a particular need, or researching general, special, and/or technical specifications for a solicitation. A vendor s response to a RFI is not an offer and the agency may not use the vendor s submission to justify a contract with that vendor without otherwise complying with Chapter 287, Florida Statutes (F.S.) and Rule 60A-1.042, F.A.C. Vendors submitting a response to an agency s RFI are not prohibited from responding to any related subsequent solicitation. Any future purchase of the services will be conducted in accordance with chapter 287, F.S. III. DEFINITIONS a. E911 means Enhanced 911, a telephone system service which includes network switching, database and Public Safety Answering Point premises elements capable of providing automatic location identification data, selective routing, selective transfer, fixed transfer, and a call back number for 911 calls. The term also includes any enhanced 911 service so designated by the Federal Communications Commission. (NENA) b. ECON means Emergency Call Originating Network, The network of the call origination provider that is used to process and deliver 911 calls to the 911 provider s network. c. ESInet means Emergency Services IP Network, an IP-based inter-network shared by all agencies which may be involved in any emergency. (NENA) d. CPE means Customer Premises Equipment, communications or terminal equipment located in the customer s facilities terminal equipment at a PSAP e. IETF means Internet Engineering Task Force, the lead standard setting authority for Internet protocols. (NENA) f. IP means Internet Protocol, the method by which data is sent from one computer to another on the Internet or other networks. (NENA) RFI No.: DMS-12/13-002 Page 1 of 8
g. MyFloridaNet means the statewide IP network provided by the Department. h. NENA means the National Emergency Number Association. i. NENA i3 means the capability to receive IP-based SIP signaling and media for delivery of emergency calls and for originating calls conformant to the NENA standards including NENA 08-003. j. NG-911 means Next Generation 911, the next advancement in Enhanced 911 systems designed to handle voice, data, and video developed on a standardized managed IP based platform for routing and delivery of 911 emergency requests (calls or messages) from a variety of devices and services, including text messaging and telematics, to the appropriate PSAP and resolve interoperability issues to provide the capability of an emergency communications network. k. PSAP means Public Safety Answering Point, a public safety agency answering center that receives incoming 911 calls and dispatches appropriate public safety agencies to respond to the calls. l. QoS means Quality of Service, as related to IP data transmission a measurement of latency, packet loss and jitter. m. SIP means Session Initiation Protocol, an IETF defined protocol (RFC3261) which defines a method for establishing multimedia sessions over the Internet and is used as the call signaling protocol in VoIP and NENA i3. (NENA) n. Sub-state Routing System means an existing IP capable NG-911 routing network in Florida. These systems are typically provided to one or more county. o. SUNCOM means the brand name used by the Department to provide voice, data and conferencing telecommunications services for government pursuant to section 282.702, Florida Statutes. p. Vendor means the individual submitting the response to this RFI. q. VoIP means Voice over Internet Protocol, the element that provides distinct packetized voice information in digital format using the Internet Protocol. The IP address assigned to the user s telephone number may be static or dynamic. IV. BACKGROUND The Department of Management Services, through the Division of Telecommunications, is tasked with ensuring the reliability and consistency of the state s E911 system plan. With a stable E911 system in place statewide, the recent focus of the Department has been on improving the ability of PSAP s to process E911 calls between counties and incorporate new types of communications from citizens throughout the state. The inability to receive and process emergency text messages, images, and video presents new challenges. The Department is developing strategies to implement a state NG-911 NENA i3 compliant routing network through its SUNCOM MyFloridaNet Network to accommodate these NG-911 media. The Department seeks to develop an ESInet providing IP routing of landline, wireless and VoIP 911 calls and requests for assistance through MyFloridaNet network connections incorporating routing directly to counties or through the existing Sub-state Routing Systems that were funded by grants provided by the E911 Board. The anticipated competitive solicitation, in conjunction with the State E911 Plan, will provide the framework requirements for the new SUNCOM service. All NG-911 functional element equipment, software, databases, services, and data centers are to be included in the system for a complete NENA i3 standard compliant system. The diagram below provides a functional illustration of the NG-911 NENA i3 system. Definition of the functional elements and components in the diagrams are included in the NENA standards and the glossary is available on the NENA website at http://www.nena.org/?page=standards. RFI No.: DMS-12/13-002 Page 2 of 8
The network design should be capable of delivering 911 calls and requests for assistance from all ECONs including all legacy service providers providing service in Florida. Call termination functionality varies throughout the state and the design should be capable of connecting to Sub-state Routing System and external state or federal agency ESInets, and PSAPs with legacy and new equipment capable of IP network connectivity. The Department s desire is to obtain a dedicated NG-911 routing system located at data centers within Florida but will entertain the use of dedicated partitions of currently available commercial NG-911 routing systems. The objective is to obtain an economical service with the performance characteristics needed to support a statewide 911 public safety infrastructure. With either method, read-only access is required to all dedicated components and partitions for the state. The design needs to address QoS, and high-level security-applications including the latest border control function equipment. Protections for the routing system are required, including a minimum of next generation firewalls at all perimeter connections. RFI No.: DMS-12/13-002 Page 3 of 8
The diagrams provided above and below provide a functional illustration of network layouts, and illustrate how 911 calls and data will flow through the network. Network diagrams are simply illustrative, and do not include all call flow processes detailing the various wireline, wireless, and VoIP 911 call origination and terminations. RFI No.: DMS-12/13-002 Page 4 of 8
V. REQUESTED INFORMATION The Department intends to use responses to this RFI to prepare a competitive solicitation bid document. The Department requests information from your organizations as specified below. Please reprint each request with your response. Tab 1 - Introduction a. Please provide a cover letter and primary point of contact for information. Tab 2 Description of Services a. Provide a description and supporting information regarding products, services, and options that are offered by your organization that are relevant to the NG-911 services discussed above. b. Explain in detail how products and services offered by your organization can help the Department to provide NG-911 NENA i3 service through SUNCOM utilizing MyFloridaNet circuits via a geographically redundant NG-911 routing system meeting 99.999% availability. Include information on supporting an end-to-end IP based application and intermediate devices which may be required to accommodate legacy wireline and wireless origination networks and PSAPs. c. Provide information on the differences between dedicated equipment versus dedicated partitioning, including the pros and cons of each. d. Specifically explain how products and services offered by your organization will facilitate the ability to interconnect legacy equipment utilizing IP version 4 with new technology utilizing IP version 6. RFI No.: DMS-12/13-002 Page 5 of 8
e. Specifically explain how products and services offered by your organization handle congestion caused by either multiple or simultaneous 911 requests. Include information on how to accommodate queuing, overflows, default routing and alternate routing. f. An additional item that is being considered is requiring a vendor provide a turn-key, end-to-end hosted service solution for the PSAP call taking and call handling equipment. Describe all options for a facility hosted solution running NG-911 PSAP remote CPE within the PSAPs. Full diversity and redundancy of hosted solutions should also be addressed. g. Provide a list of all billable units that will be required by the state to complete implementation of your NG-911 NENA i3 service. The list should include each billable element of the service, such as customer support, technical support, training, and system maintenance. h. Provide suggestions for chargeback through a government enterprise aggregator, like SUNCOM, where services are bought in bulk, paid for through a single vendor invoice and rebilled to other government entities. The chargeback units should be repeatedly countable and attributable to the user entity. They should also be equitable (charges should correspond to costs) and incentivize government entities to be frugal. Tab 3 Scoring and Methodology a. Provide a copy of, or a hyperlink to, one or more governmental solicitations in which your organization was a respondent. b. Provide copies of other recent procurement documents for statewide NG-911 NENA i3 routing services that you believe were facilitated through an open, fair, and competitive procurement. Tab 4 Contract Performance and Guarantees a. Provide a copy of one or more existing contracts for NG-911 i3 routing services offered by your organization. b. Provide a list of actual contracted performance metrics and service level guarantees that are being used to measure the quality of NG-911 i3 routing services offered by your organization. Tab 5 Additional Information a. Please provide additional information you think should be considered. VI. TIMELINE Listed below are important dates / times on which actions should be taken or completed. If the Department finds it necessary to update any of the dates/times noted it will be accomplished by an Amendment to the RFI. All times listed below are daylight saving times in Tallahassee, Florida. DATE TIME 08/27/2012 Monday Release of RFI 09/03/2012 Monday 5:00 p.m. Questions are due to the Procurement Officer 09/10/2012 Monday Answers to questions received are posted to VBS 09/17/2012 Monday 3:00 p.m. Responses are due RFI No.: DMS-12/13-002 Page 6 of 8
09/19/2012-09/25/2012 TBD Meet with vendors VII. AMENDMENTS TO THE RFI The Department will post amendments on the Florida Vendor Bid System (VBS) at http://vbs.dms.state.fl.us/vbs/search.criteria_form. Each Vendor must monitor VBS for new or changing information. VIII. RFI QUESTIONS AND CONTACT WITH THE STATE Please submit questions about this RFI in writing by e-mail to the Procurement Officer, identified in Section XII of this RFI, by the date and time specified in the timeline or as amended by the Department. Questions will not be answered via telephone. Please monitor the Florida Vendor Bid System for new or changing information. IX. SUBMISSION LAYOUT Responses shall be submitted in portable document format ( PDF ) on a compact disc ( CD ) labeled with Vendor s organization s name and the RFI number. Submit responses to the Procurement Officer noted below within the required date and time. The cover sheet of the PDF must reference RFI No.: DMS-12/13-002, Florida Statewide NG-911 Routing Services. Please organize your responses to this RFI by including the information requested in a corresponding tab for each subsection (e.g., the information requested in section V must be placed behind the respective tabs of Vendor s response, etc.) as follows. Tab 1 Introduction Tab 2 Description of Services Tab 3 Scoring and Methodology Tab 4 Contract Performance and Guarantees Tab 5 Additional Information X. SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS Any person requiring a special accommodation at Departmental Purchasing because of a disability should call Departmental Purchasing at (850) 413-7190 at least five (5) workdays prior to the scheduled event. If you are hearing or speech impaired, please contact Purchasing by using the Florida Relay Service at (800) 955-8771 (TDD). XI. CONFIDENTIAL, PROPRIETARY OR TRADE SECRET MATERIAL If Vendor considers any portion of any documents, data, or records submitted to the Department to be confidential, proprietary, trade secret or otherwise not subject to disclosure pursuant to chapter 119, Florida Statutes, the Florida Constitution or other authority, Vendor must simultaneously provide the Department with a separate redacted copy of it s the information it claims as Confidential and briefly describe in writing the RFI No.: DMS-12/13-002 Page 7 of 8
grounds for claiming exemption from the public records law, including the specific statutory citation for such exemption. This redacted copy shall contain the Contract RFI name and number, and shall be clearly titled Confidential. The redacted copy should only redact those portions of material that the Vendor claims is confidential, proprietary, trade secret or otherwise not subject to disclosure. In the event of a public records or other disclosure request pursuant to chapter 119, Florida Statutes, the Florida Constitution or other authority, to which documents that are marked as Confidential are responsive, the Department will provide the Vendor-redacted copies to the requestor. If a requestor asserts a right to the Confidential Information, the Department will notify the Contract such an assertion has been made. It is the Vendor s responsibility to assert that the information in question is exempt from disclosure under chapter 119 or other applicable law. If the Department becomes subject to a demand for discovery or disclosure of the Confidential Information of the Vendor under legal process, the Department shall give the Vendor prompt notice of the demand prior to releasing the information labeled confidential (unless otherwise prohibited by applicable law). Vendor shall be responsible for defending its determination that the redacted portions of its response are confidential, proprietary, trade secret, or otherwise not subject to disclosure. Vendor shall protect, defend, and indemnify the Department for any and all claims arising from or relating to Vendor s determination that the redacted portions of its response are confidential, proprietary, trade secret, or otherwise not subject to disclosure. If Vendor fails to submit a redacted copy of information it claims is Confidential, the Department is authorized to produce the entire documents, data, or records submitted to the Department in answer to a public records request for these records. XII. PROCUREMENT OFFICER Christina Espinosa, Procurement Officer Departmental Purchasing 4050 Esplanade Way, Suite 380.9z Tallahassee, FL 32399-0950 Telephone No.: (850) 410-2404 E-mail to: christina.espinosa@dms.myflorida.com This contact person is the only authorized individual to respond to RFI comments and questions. RFI No.: DMS-12/13-002 Page 8 of 8