The FY2022 Capital budget includes $171,600 to upgrade the Village's phone system. In 2018, the manufacturer NEC stopped supporting several key components making the system difficult to maintain, and vulnerable to failure.
The phone system serves Village Hall, Police, Fire Station Headquarters, Public Works, and the Vail Parking Garage. The facilities are either connected with rented T-1 circuit or the Village's fiber network. The project was designed to upgrade the NEC SV8500 and NEC 8700 applications server. This upgrade also includes new phones, which will provide necessary modern technologies and improvements, such as cellular call forwarding, voicemail to email, etc.
The NEC System has proven itself to be very robust and reliable. Only certified vendors are eligible to work on an NEC System. The Village Staff pursued proposals from six different qualified vendors, due to the nature of the system. Of those vendors, four contacted Village Staff expressing interest in this project. Finally, two vendors provided proposals based on the requirements outlined in the project specifications. Both vendor's references were verified, and staff has confirmed that both are qualified and experienced in this type of work.
Requests for pricing were advertised on March 7th, and publicly read aloud on Thursday, March 31st.
Forerunner of New York proved to provide the lowest most responsible pricing. Due to the unique and specialized nature of this project, a request for proposal process was pursued. This process ensures contractor qualifications and credibility, and allows Staff to negotiate pricing and project scope, after pricing is received. Initial pricing provided for this project was as follows:
BIDDER TOTAL BID
Sound Inc. $497,393.78
Forerunner $275,375.00
Staff worked with the lowest, responsible proposal, and through scope changes and discussions with the vendor, we were able to reduce the overall cost of the project to $205,553.77.
Staff and the Village's phone consultant, Wade Communications have reviewed the proposal, along with the references provided. Staff also verified Forerunner's accreditation, and confirmed that they have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. Therefore, Staff recommends award as provided.
Funding for this upgrade is available in Account No. 401-7101-571.50-20 (EQ2101).
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Village Board award the contract for the Village Phone System Upgrade to Forerunner of New York, in an amount not-to-exceed $205,553.77 and authorize the Village Manager to execute the necessary documents.