Telephone System Maintenance

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is in search of contractors who can provide maintenance for five Fujitsu 9600 PBX telephone switches with ancillary equipment. The sites are located in Philadelphia, PA; Wilkes-Barre, PA; Falls Church, VA; Chicago, IL and Kansas City, MO. Four of the sites will require the services of an experienced, on-site, manufacturer certified technician. The Wilkes-Barre site will not have an on-site technician but will allow for on-call service. The equipment at the five sites includes approximately 2,000 telephones of various types, an ACD system, a voice mail system, a system management tool (SMT) and a battery back-up (UPS). Except Falls Church, all the SMT require a software licensing agreement with the present maintenance provider. Contractors who cannot obtain such an agreement from the existing contractor must provide a comparable replacement on-site management system for each of the other sites with the exception of Falls Church. The SMT system installed at these sites must provide real time updating of all systems associated with the telephone system via a single entry in the system management terminal. These systems shall at a minimum consist of, the PBX, voice mail, call accounting, cable plant and trouble ticket/work order system, inventory management etc. The system/system's administrator must not be required to manage multiple databases, log into multiple systems or implement multiple actions to make a change etc. The present contract will be expiring on September 05, 2009 and SSA is looking for interested contractors to provide maintenance on the Fujitsu PBX and all adjacent equipment for one base year and four (4) one-year options The maintenance and on going services will include but not be limited to managing system operations, preventative, remedial and routine maintenance, inspections, on going monitoring, installation services, add, move and change services, system programming, technical design, and technical consultative services and user training services. The contractor shall keep the equipment operating at peak efficiency in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications, practices and benchmarks and provide ongoing telecommunications services. The contractor shall guarantee a supply of spare parts sufficient to fulfill the requirements of the contract. The contractor shall provide all spare and miscellaneous parts required for the maintenance of all equipment under the scope of this contract and for the duration of the contract. The Government shall not purchase parts for the purpose of having them stored on site to facilitate maintenance. If the contractor feels that storing parts on site is the proper way to meet the required response times, then the contractor may do this. Waiting for parts delivery is not an acceptable reason for the delay of repairs. The contractor shall provide remote monitoring, diagnostics and repair services for assisting the dedicated on-site technician during trouble calls. The contractor must be able to identify their current resources, level of experience, and capabilities for providing replacement parts and maintenance service. The contractor shall also have standard escalation procedures for maintenance required after hours or weekends. Basic Requirements: All maintenance and support for telephone systems shall be accomplished without interruption to existing service during normal business hours (8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday). However, the Principal Period of Maintenance (PPM) will be 8:00 am - 5 pm within each perspective time zone. Reporting of maintenance related problems shall be via a contractor's toll free number, which is available 24 hours a day, seven (7) days a week. Maintenance shall include travel, mileage, parts, materials and labor. The contractor is required to attend monthly technical meetings at the SSA's Headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland to discuss on-going matters of importance and concerns relative to the telephone maintenance contract, if requested, and to participate from the contractor's remote site in any telephone conference call with SSA staff and SSA Regional staff to discuss matters of mutual importance regarding the telephone maintenance contract. Contractors Response: Contractors responding to this Request for Information (RFI) should be made aware that this is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation or Request for Proposal. This RFI is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government and responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by SSA to form a binding contract. SSA does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or pay for any information provided as a result of this RFI. SSA will not recognize or reimburse any cost associated with any RFI submissions or follow up information that is requested. SSA is requesting the following information in the contractors response: 1) Contractors ability to provide maintenance for five Fujitsu 9600 PBX telephone switches with ancillary equipment. 2) All applicable North American Industry Classification Code(s) and Small Business Status 3) Contractor capabilities to provide parts and technical expertise to support the aging systems or alternative process to maintain systems 4) Indicate whether all or none of their services/products is available on GSA Federal Supply Schedules or any other Government-Wide Agency Contract (GWAC). Information received will be considered solely to make informed decisions regarding a potential procurement. Interested sources must provide responses in an electronic format (compatible with MS Office 2003) via e-mail to the Michele.tubman@ssa.gov. Faxed information will not be considered. The file size limitation for e-mail attachments is 5 megabytes. The Government will not consider simple marketing information, incomplete responses, or references to contractor websites. Please reference SSA-RFI-MT004 in the email subject line. Electronic responses must be received by March 20, 2009 at 10:00 am EST. Questions concerning this notice must be received in writing via e-mail to Michele Tubman@ssa.gov no later than March 13, 2009.