STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA REQUEST FOR INFORMATION NO. 54-JC- 20141125 Department of Transportation Due Date: December 23, 2014 Purchasing Issue Date: November 25, 2014 Refer ALL Inquiries to: Jeff Conken Telephone No. (919) 707-2630 Description: Request for Information for Mass Notification and Messaging Services E-Mail: jaconken@ncdot.gov Using Agency Name: Transportation MAILING INSTRUCTIONS: Mail only one Request for Information (RFI) per envelope. Address envelope and clearly note RFI number as shown below. It is the responsibility of the vendor to have the RFI in this office by the specified time and date of opening. Vendor must return all the pages of this solicitation in their response. Vendor must also submit one (1) signed, executed electronic copy of its response on USB Flash Drive or read-only CD/DVD(s). The files should not be password-protected and should be capable of being copied to other media. DELIVERED BY US POSTAL SERVICE DELIVERED BY ANY OTHER MEANS RFI NO. 54-JC-20141125 RFI NO. 54-JC-20141125 N. C. Department of Transportation N. C. Department of Transportation Purchasing Section Purchasing Section 1510 Mail Service Center 1 South Wilmington Street, Room 412 Raleigh, NC 27699-1510 Raleigh, NC 27601 NOTICE TO VENDOR Request for Information (RFI) will be received at this office at 1 South Wilmington Street, Room 412, Raleigh, NC 27601 or via email attachment to jaconken@ncdot.gov until 2:00 P.M. EST on the due date and then opened. QUESTIONS Written questions will be received until 12:00 noon (EST) on December 2, 2014. Questions must be sent via email to jaconken@ncdot.gov or faxed to (919) 733-8743. Please insert “RFI 54-JC-20141125 Questions” in the subject matter of your e-mail. A summary of all questions and answers will be posted to the Interactive Purchasing System (IPS) as an addendum to this RFI on or about December 5, 2014. The origin of questions will not be reflected in any addendum issued. EXECUTION VENDOR NAME: E-MAIL: STREET ADDRESS: P.O. BOX: ZIP: CITY & STATE & ZIP: TELEPHONE NUMBER: TOLL FREE TEL. NO: TYPE OR PRINT NAME & TITLE OF PERSON SIGNING: FAX NUMBER: AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE: DATE: NCDOT Request for Information Central Plate Issuance and Print on Demand RFI Procedures A. Schedule Respondents will have four weeks to prepare their submissions to this RFI. Responses must be received by the date, time and the location specified on the cover sheet of this RFI. Respondents may be requested to come to Raleigh, NC to present and discuss their submissions. Respondents will be contacted to determine a specific date and time at least two weeks in advance of their presentation. B. Response The State recognizes that considerable effort will be required in preparing a response to this RFI. Please note, however that this is a request for information only and not a request for services. No award will result from this RFI. The Respondent must bear all costs associated with the compilation and submission of a Response to this RFI. B.1. Content and Format The State expects concise, detailed, point-by-point responses to each of the RFI response items identified in Section 3 of this RFI. The State is not interested in brochures or “boilerplate”. The State will consider responses to specific portions of Section 3 of this RFI if the solution can be integrated with other components to provide a complete system. Any issues or exceptions to NCDOT’s desired functional requirements should also be identified and explained. Where appropriate the response should also include diagrams, clarifying where each of the components in the proposed solution would be located and how those components would be interconnected. A comprehensive, detailed equipment list including equipment, software and operating system requirements for the proposed solution should be provided. While the State will require a pilot installation of any final solution adopted, the State is not interested in participating in any field trials of new equipment or software. The response should also spell out all services that would be required by the proposed solution including such items as:     Training Business Process Reengineering Documentation Data Conversion B.2. Multiple Responses Multiple responses will be accepted from a single Respondent provided that each response is comprehensive, meets all of the State’s requirements and is truly unique. Please place in separate envelopes and clearly mark responses as “RFI No. 54-JC-20141125 Response #1”, “RFI No. 54-JC20141125 Response #2”, etc. i NCDOT Request for Information Central Plate Issuance and Print on Demand B.3. Format and copies Each response should be submitted in the form of one electronic copy and optionally one paper copy. Electronic responses delivered via email should be in Portable Document Format (PDF), saved as a certified document, and allow the State to add annotations and to copy text but not to change text. Electronic responses delivered on physical media should be on CD or permanently write-protected USB flash drive, and may be in PDF (preferred, with the same options as above) or as a document (or documents) readable by the Microsoft Office suite of applications. C. Proprietary information Trade secrets or similar proprietary data which the Respondent does not wish disclosed to other than personnel involved with this RFI will be kept confidential to the extent permitted by 01 NCAC 05B.1501 and N.C.G.S. § 132-1.3 if identified as follows: Each page shall be identified in boldface at the top and bottom as "CONFIDENTIAL". Any section of the RFI that is to remain confidential shall also be so marked in boldface on the title page of that section. Cost information may not be deemed confidential. In spite of what is labeled as confidential, the determination as to whether or not it is shall be determined by North Carolina law.   URL for NCAC reference inserted here URL for G.S. reference inserted here In addition to the above, the State undertakes to keep every Response received confidential as a whole until such time as an RFP has been awarded or cancelled (the "Confidentiality Period"). After the expiration of the Confidentiality Period, all Response information will be subject to the normal confidentiality provisions of the State as set out above. Exception: Respondents expressly acknowledge that the concepts, methods, equipment and procedures presented in a response may be wholly or partially incorporated into an RFP. D. RFI conditions The State will not be bound by any RFI Procedure qualifications or any additional conditions included by a Respondent in a response. E. Communication All communication regarding this RFI is to be addressed to the contact person identified on the RFI Cover sheet. F. Vendor Information Name of Company Contact Person and Title/Position Address, Telephone Number and Email Address Brief history of the company (length of time in business) including a listing of government agencies the company has successfully implemented their solution. Include a list of references from past implementations that includes contact name, company and/or government agency, phone number and email address ii NCDOT Request for Information Central Plate Issuance and Print on Demand Specify what kind of statistics, documentation, information, etc. would be necessary for NCDOT to furnish Vendors in a future RFP and what significance or criticality that information would have on the success of a procurement? Include a list of references from past implementations. This should include:   Name of the Agency; Contact information for the business and technical representatives for the Agency, including email and telephone number; iii NCDOT Request for Information Central Plate Issuance and Print on Demand Table of Contents RFI Procedures .............................................................................................................................................. i Section 1: Overview ............................................................................................................................... 1 Section 2: Current Environment……………………………………………………………………………..1 Section 3: Information Requested ……………………………………………………………………………1 Attachment 1…………………………………………………………………………………………………………3 1. System Overview ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3 2. System Capacity/Reliability……………………………………………………………………………………. 3 3. System Technology……………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 4. Features ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 5. Data Requirements……………………………………………………………………………………………. .4 6. Call Send Process……………………………………………………………………………………………... 4 7. Implementation/Training/Support…………………………………………………………………………….. 4 8. Security…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4 9. Pricing……………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 10. Vendor Observations/Comments……………………………………………………………………………..5 iv NCDOT Request for Information SDV 2.0 Section 1: Overview The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), Division of Motor Vehicles (Division) is seeking information to establish a stand-alone notification/messaging system that is capable of issuing emergency communications to our 2,400 plus employees at the License Plate Agencies (LPAs), Driver License Offices, License and Theft Offices and State Owned Offices across the state. Available devices to be enrolled into the system will include cell phones, fax, email, instant messaging, voice mail, land-line phone, digital advertising flat screens, pagers, etc…) This Request for Information (RFI) is intended to solicit information from vendors of mass notification/messaging services, to educate the Division about the state of mass notification services technology available today, their features and functionality, approximate costs, factors to be considered when comparing services, and other information that will assist the Division in determining how it will procure, implement and manage the services. After responses to the RFI are reviewed, the Division may release a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the acquisition of mass notification/messaging services. We are using the RFI to gather additional information to help the Division understand the capabilities of a Mass notification/messaging environment including all aspects of network, geo-based impacted areas, and location information distribution .Furthermore, we are offering this RFI to identify qualified vendors who might be able to meet our future requirements. The Division intended purpose we be to use the information collected in assisting the production of a concise and balanced RFP process should we wish to proceed with acquisition. To this end, the vendor community is encouraged to include observations regarding what elements a successful RFP would have. Include these observations within the response section “Observations/Comments” . The Division is open to alternative ideas. Respondents are encouraged to provide information about alternatives that can assist the Division better define its requirements and obtain a solution that meets its needs. Section 2: Current Environment All current emergency communication/messaging to LPAs are through traditional email, telephone and broadcast messaging (through the Division’s mainframe). The problem with the current methods is that LPAs do not receive imperative system failure messages in a timely manner. Section 3: Description of Information Requested All vendors with an appropriate service or product relating to the requirements set forth in the Request for Technologies (Attachment 1) attached hereto are invited to submit a capability statement and contact information. The capability statement should discuss the service or product’s capabilities to meet the potential requirements, how the system will be hosted, the service or product’s system requirements, the product’s integration specification (if available), and any other specific and pertinent information that would educate the Division about the service or product, and allow it to gain an understanding of the information submitted by the respondent along with an estimate of cost (include on-going costs, operating and maintenance costs) for such service/product being offered. Additionally, the Division will need to know how much and what can be contained or not contained in messages being broadcast. 1 NCDOT Request for Information SDV 2.0 We recognize that not all requirements may be met by a single solution. Please indicate in your response which capabilities can be provided via commercial off the shelf solutions versus customized applications. For requirements that are met by commercial off the shelf software, please include the product name, release number and release date of the software. 2 NCDOT Request for Information SDV 2.0 ATTACHMENT 1: REQUEST FOR TECHNOLOGIES 1. System Overview The State of NC is subject to multiple climatic conditions, including tornado/snow/ice that would benefit from the addition of a Mass Notification/messaging System. The system should be capable of warning for other non-climatic events and have the ability to segment areas of the Division such as but not limited to by site notifications, geographic area and county-wide. 2. System Capacity and Reliability Explain issues of capacity with regard to notification. Please include calls per minute or other metric that allows an understanding of the maximum population that can be reached for any fixed period of time. Include such metrics for both wireline and wireless technologies. Include any limitations or barriers to call completion that are known regardless of the source of such blockage. Indicate any known limiting conditions that may exist with various providers (provider being a LEC, ALEC or Wireless entity). Discuss any limitations that may exist for a long-term event. A long term event may be considered one that spans multiple consecutive days. Describe the method of delivery. Can the solution provide for voice, email and textual notification? Indicate any limitations of any delivery method(s). Reliability – Describe system redundancies which exist to ensure notification delivery, such as telecommunications providers and/or parallel delivery streams. 3. System Technology Fully describe your solution regarding equipment, placement of such equipment, software and any additional phone lines (including broadband with estimated bandwidth) required to utilize your solution. Is your system capable of unattended, automated and secure citizen based data uploads? Discuss how citizen data is processed and retained? 4. Features Discuss ability to send voice messages to multiple types of devices (land phone, cell phone) and text messages to multiple types of devices, including e-mail, TTY, PDAs, SMS. Describe your systems ability to provide on-line system management results of indicating notification results as well as other reports, such as monthly usage. 3 NCDOT Request for Information SDV 2.0 Will your system allow for call back numbers allowing customers to “replay” a message they have just received? What are the limitations of groups and any subgroups? Describe if your system can be pre-loaded with specific scripts for alerts and other anticipated events. Describe the methods of defining an alert area. Indicate the actions that are taken when a message fails to deliver. 5. Data Requirements Explain the process of obtaining and maintaining phone numbers from the various providers. Include any existing relationships you may have with any provider. Discuss your method of registering individual phone numbers that may wish to be notified of an event regardless of their physical location. Indicate any potential pitfalls involved with the process of data acquisition and maintenance. 6. Call Send Process Please describe as a step-by-step process, mass notification/messaging setup, initiation, monitoring and any specific networks that would be required during an actual event. 7. Implementation, Training and Support Indicate your process of implementation, training and ongoing support of your mass notification system. Should you have tiers of support please indicate such. 8. Security Please indicate your security processes as they relate to system security. Prevention of unauthorized use or malicious attacks will be appreciated. Should your service include a 24x7x365 service center describe the security management profile including any certifications that may be applicable. If not otherwise described, indicate the client logon process and how it applies to verification of alerts being generated by the Division. 4 NCDOT Request for Information SDV 2.0 9. Pricing Please provide your Government pricing structure. 10. Vendor Observations and/or Comments The Division welcomes the vendor community’s input to this process and technology. We ask that you comment freely on issues of the technology or acquisition process used to procure this service. 5