Partick Housing Association
Invitation to Tender
Telephony/Communication Solution
April 2014
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 1
Contents Page
1. Purpose of this document .......................................................................... 3
2. Introduction to Partick ................................................................................ 3
3. Background and current ICT Environment ................................................ 3
4. Current ACD Operations ........................................................................... 5
5. Requirements ............................................................................................ 6
6. Specification .............................................................................................. 8
Brief .......................................................................................................... 8
7. Business Requirements........................................................................... 10
Part A: Standard functionality ................................................................. 10
Part B: Innovative solutions .................................................................... 20
Part C: Delivery and Support .................................................................. 22
8. Evaluation................................................................................................ 26
Scoring of Tender submissions............................................................... 26
9. Instructions to Bidders ............................................................................. 28
General Instructions ................................................................................ 28
10. Form of Tender ...................................................................................... 29
11. Supporting Documentation Checklist ..................................................... 30
12. Data Protection ...................................................................................... 30
13. Terms of Appointment ............................................................................ 32
14. Timescale ............................................................................................... 33
15. Tender Selection .................................................................................... 33
16. Terms and Conditions ............................................................................ 33
Tender Return Label ...................................................................................... 34
Appendix 1 - Invoicing Process ...................................................................... 35
Appendix 2 – Scoring matrix .......................................................................... 36
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 2
1. Purpose of this document
This document sets out Partick Housing Association’s (herein the Association) requirements
and expectations of Supply Partner / Bidder(s) for the provision of a
telephony/communication solution.
This document provides information about the Association and the key criteria for this
contract. Importantly, it also contains the specific requirements that bidding Supply Partner
/ Bidder(s) are to respond to, as well as setting out the Evaluation Criteria and scoring
system that the Association will be employing to apply to Supply Partner / Bidder(s)
responses.
The tender documents include:



This invitation to tender
Certificate of Non Collusion
Form of tender
2. Introduction to Partick
Partick Housing Association is a not for profit social housing provider and is a Registered
Social Landlord operating in the West End of Glasgow. The Association provides primarily
mainstream housing.
Our vision is to be close to the community – working in partnership to deliver high-quality
homes and services.
We own and manage over 1750 social rented homes, provide factoring management
services to more than 2000 private occupiers, 30 commercial premises in and around
Partick. Our new-build homes include mid-market rented and shared equity properties.
3. Background and current ICT Environment
Introduction
The following sections provide a high level overview of the Association’s current Telephone
Infrastructure environment with some additional information about the Association’s
general infrastructure.
Partick Housing Infrastructure
In 2012 in partnership with Castle Computing Services the Association upgraded and moved
its infrastructure to a hosted private cloud. With the exception of the Association’s current
phone system all other infrastructure services are located within the cloud. The Association
have a 10Mb leased line connection to the data centre via a juniper firewall. The services
provided within the cloud are wholly managed by Castle Computing Services. Due to the
success of this move to a private cloud service, the Association intend to use cloud
technology. The Association’s users have thin client technology on their desks and we would
be interested in any proven solutions for softphones options working via a users desktop on
Citrix and USB technology from the cloud.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 3
As part of the ICT infrastructure, the Association has 12 Linux IGELS and 34 Windows
IGELs. The windows IGELs are made up from 3 x XP (2009) Embedded & 31 x Win7. Any
systems and solutions proposed must be compatible with these thin clients.
There is a mixture of UD3-730-LX and UD3-730-ES igels. The VDI solution is delivered using
Citrix. The current set up also uses XenApp.
In order to aid communication in the tender process, we request that if you require
information on the technology requirements and/or infrastructure set up that all
queries/questions should be done through the procurement portal.
Telephone Infrastructure
The telephone system operates across the network infrastructure; this includes the Local
Area Network (LAN). Currently PHA has only one site office but consideration should be
given to a solution that would work in the event the Association expanded to another site.
Breakout to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is through an ISDN 30
connection that has 10 channels at the head office.
The telephone system in use at the Head Office in Partick is an MITEL and currently uses 50
IP handsets.
At the PHA Office the LAN is based on HP 2620 switches which connect to a CAT5 cabling
infrastructure. The network switches support Power-over-Ethernet.
The system uses an auto-attendant system to direct calls to logged in agents within working
hours, with all staff also having direct dials and voicemail boxes.
Currently in place is a RedBox recorder for recording calls to and from pre chosen extensions
and agent id’s. The Association would like to maintain this function but would look to
innovative solutions as to how this would deal with non-recording of customer bank details
when taking payments over the phone and adhering to Payment Card Industry Security
Standards Council requirements.
At Head Office the LAN is based on HP 2620 switches which connect to a CAT5 cabling
infrastructure. The network switches do not support Power-over-Ethernet.
Telephone Handsets
The Association currently use a range of IP based MITEL handsets. The IP handsets have a
variety of features including call forward, speed dial, speaker phone, conference and group
pick up. Many of these facilities can be set from the phone as well as from the central
control software.
Telephone System Functionality
The telephone system provides a variety of features. Under the MITEL licencing PHA
currently have the following
Current licences are:
Mitel 3300 CX II Controller with 50 enterprise users
MITEL UCA with 50 Users
Mitel Teleworker with 5 users
Mitel CCM with 10 agents
Mitel CCM IQ with 4 ports
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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4. Current ACD Operations
The Association operates a contact centre utilising the ACD capabilities of the current system
for inbound calls.
Team
Repairs Team
Housing Team
Factoring Team
General enquiries
Location
Main Office
Main Office
Main Office
Main Office
Seats (typical usage)
3
3
2
2
The majority of inbound calls are dialed to a single telephone number, and a push button IVR
menu enables calls to be forwarded to the relevant team. Teams also have their own team
DDIs that bypass the IVR menu and forward calls directly to the relevant ACD hunt group. All
inbound calls to the main line receive a standard out of office hours which can be modified
for the hours of Wed 9-11 when the office is shut for 2 hours.
Both teams carry out some outbound work, none of which is automated.
Team Groups
The majority of other calls relate to matters concerning tenancies and rent accounts,
factoring and repairs. This is staffed from a pool of 15 people. Team members are able to log
into the ACD group from any phone as well as from their own desks. Some desks have
wireless or wired headsets depending on the users preference.
Various teams also operated group pickup and hunt group functionality from direct dialed
calls, and also for the purpose of effecting efficient call transfers from the teams picking up
through the ACD.
Direction of Travel
The Association wishes to enable its team members to work more flexibly and from a variety
of locations, with the potential for extensive future use of home working and hot desking.
In relation to its existing teams, the Association wishes to consider how agents can be
deployed at higher levels of efficiency whilst maintaining quality standards, in particular by
making more effective use of:



Contact distribution technology
Agent activity and quality reporting
Outbound and Inbound contact automation, linked to the Aareon QL Housing
Management System
Bidders are asked to consider how their proposed solution will enable this approach to be
taken forward.
The Association is giving consideration to expanding the scope of its contact handling teams
to include other channels including e-mail, web chat, texting and social media. Bidders are
asked to consider how their proposed solution will support the future introduction of these
activities
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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5. Requirements
This section aims to provide bidders with important background information to the
Association and the tender requirements.
Our ethos:
The Association sees itself as innovative and forward thinking and will be looking for similar
characteristics in its chosen supplier and solution. As a result, the Association is looking for a
suitably experienced Supply Partner / Bidder(s) to supply and install a new and innovative
telephone and communication system for the Association and its customers.
The Association wishes to take full advantage of the latest ICT and telephony technologies
and be at the forefront of communications technology that will not only improve internal
efficiencies, but also have a demonstrable affect on customer relations.
What we are looking for in a solution:
Bidders should take note of the following as a guide to the type of technologies and services
the Association seeks.
Cloud based telephony solution:
The Association requires a new telephony solution to be cloud based, whether that
solution is provided directly by the bidder or via a third party. Already being an
advocate of this technology and service with an existing private cloud solution for
most of it’s infrastructure and software, we wish to extend this philosophy to the
phone system and for it to be hosted on it’s own cloud solution.
Soft phones:
To reduce space on desks, and to realise the known benefits soft phones can bring,
we require bidders to be able to provide such a solution.
A pre-requisite therefore is that in your solution you provide soft phones for all
members of staff and that they will work on the existing infrastructure detailed
above.
CTi:
It is essential that the bidder demonstrate the ability to recommend and
then implement a solution that can integrate with the Association’s current
Housing Management System provided by Aareon UK Ltd.
The Association does not wish to undertake any bespoke development with regards
to CTI and therefore require you to confirm the approach you would take to ensure
the CTi requirements are scoped effectively. The Association is also open to the
possibility that as part of the solution, middleware software products may be
recommended.
It is expected that bidders can demonstrate experience in such integrations and can
provide a strong business case as to why their suggested solution is the best possible
fit for the Association.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 6
What we are looking for in a supplier:
It is important to the Association that we find a supplier who not only has experience in the
above solution provision but also one that like Partick is innovative in their outlook and is
willing to work with the Association to develop and deliver a service that will improve our
service delivery and help us help our customers.
Partick Housing Association reserves the right to disqualify any bidder who does not or
cannot satisfactorily demonstrate they can meet all of the following requirements.
Prerequisites table
Area
Requirement
Please confirm
with a Yes/No
answer only.
Supplementary information.
Cloud
Confirm you can provide a
cloud-based solution.
Soft phones
Confirm
your
solution
deploys soft phones.
Confirm
your
solution
deploys soft phones which
are compatible with the
thin client infrastructure
detailed above’
CTI
Confirm your ability to carry
(Integration): out integration with either
Housing
Management
Systems or similar key
operational
systems,
ensuring
maximum
improvement in Customer
Relationship Management.
Confirm your solution to
integrate is compatible with
the above soft phone and
Cloud solutions.
Failure to address any of the above will result in disqualification.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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6. Specification
Brief
The staff within your organisation nominated for this work must be of a status appropriate
to this type of work, suitably qualified and experienced, with a thorough knowledge of
carrying out installation and set up of new telephone system within an occupied office.
It is also important to note that the actual solution and systems chosen will be subject to the
Association’s available budget.
Tender Evaluation Methodology
The requirements of the Association’s telephony system are clearly stated on the following
page. Please complete all sections, ensuring you complete bidder response column and
stating that you have understood the requirements.
Assessment Criteria
1. Fitness for purpose and the quality of the solution in sections 7, A, B and C. (60% of the
overall score)
Criteria
Sub-Criteria
Weighting
Overall solution, of which:
A) Standard functionality is
Fitness for
purpose
including
quality
10%
and
B) Innovative aspects including the use of cloud, soft phones,
integration.
40%
C) Delivery and support
40%
D) Demonstrations
10%
and
2. Pricing: (40% of the overall score)
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 8
The tender is therefore split into a number of areas in line with the above evaluation criteria.
Section A: Standard functionality
This details what we expect as standard from a telephone system, including the functionality
that is deemed to be the norm in many companies.
Section B: Innovative solutions
This details what we as an association deem important in making a difference. We are keen
not just to deploy a standard phone solution, but also to make best use of technology. As
previously covered in the pre-requisites, we will focus on:



Cloud Technology
Soft phone deployment
CTI and integration to our Housing Management System.
Section C: Delivery and Support
This section of the tender looks at the implementation and on-going support.
Section D: Demonstration by Bidders
The Association will invite the top 2 bidders (based on both quality and pricing) to attend a
demonstration at the Association’s office between Monday the 30th June and Friday 4th July.
Note: The Association will only invite two bidders if difference in their Quality and Price
Score is within 10 %.
Each Bidder will be allocated a day to demonstrate their proposal, with an agenda being
confirmed prior to the demonstration.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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7. Business Requirements
Part A: Standard functionality
The association recognizes that a great deal of functionality that can be provided as part of a telephony system comes as standard, and have made
attempts to cover these in the questions below. If you feel there are any additional areas of functionality in the solution you are proposing then
please provide these details where relevant.
ID
1.
2.
3.
Requirements Detail
Please provide details of the
actual phone system you are
proposing, including all
manufacturer, model and
software information
Please detail how Direct Dialling
Inwards (DDI) to all extensions
located at any point in the voice
network can be achieved with
your proposed system.
Please detail how it would be
possible to restrict certain
external lines and groups of
external lines so that they are
available for only incoming or only
outgoing calls with your proposed
system.
Further information/guidance
Bidder Response
Understood
This should also include details on how it
would be possible to quickly reconfigure
these arrangements, e.g. if a bank of
lines fails using the system you have
proposed.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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ID
4.
Requirements Detail
Please detail how standard voice
telephony functionality is
provided in your proposed system
and what monitoring and
reporting facilities there are
available.
Further information/guidance
To help guide on this question the
Association is interested in such
areas/functions as:







Bidder Response
Understood
Different ring tones for
internal and external calls.
“Ring back when free” for
internal calls.
Call waiting allowing user to
pick up a second call.
Call divert – all calls,
unanswered calls, divert on
busy; it shall be possible to
cancel diverts at the extension
at which they were set or
remotely.
Call position in queue
Do not disturb.
Missed call tracking and call
back.
This list is not exhaustive and is only a
guide to to the type of answers we are
seeking.
Examples of expected reports may
include:





Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
peak time staffing of phones,
extended service hours,
type of enquires,
outbound calls, ‘
First point of Contact’
resolution.
Page 11
ID
5.
Requirements Detail
Please detail how your proposed
system will support standard
functionality such a rotary hunt
groups, ring groups, call pickup
groups, manager/secretary
working options and divert
overrides .
6.
Please detail how your proposed
system enables dialling
functionality to be restricted and
how certain restrictions can be
applied
Further information/guidance
Please provide detail on how these
would be managed.
Bidder Response
Understood
As an example, the following are areas
we are looking for more information on
with regards to restrictions:







Internal calls only.
Internal calls and system
directory and short code
external numbers only.
Internal and Local calls.
Internal and National calls
(01xxx, 02xx and 03xx
prefixes).
Internal, National, Mobile and
Standard rated calls (01xxx,
02xx, 03xx, 076xx-079xx,
08xx).
All calls.
calls to directory enquiry
services and to operator
services and other excluded
numbers as defined by the
organisation.
Again, this list is not exhaustive and any
further functionality is welcome.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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ID
7.
8.
9.
10.
Requirements Detail
Please confirm that your
proposed system allows Calls to
emergency services (112 and 999)
to be made from all handsets, at
all times and will provide location
information required by the
emergency services.
Please detail how your proposed
system provides music on hold
functionality for calls to
designated extension numbers
and how different music and/or
service announcements
depending on the extension
number dialled can be configured
and played.
Please detail how your proposed
system enables a service
announcement on all calls to
designated extension numbers
which is always played to callers
before the call rings.
Please detail how your proposed
system can distinguish between
internal and external calls and
how announcements can be
configured to play to external
callers only.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Further information/guidance
Bidder Response
Understood
Page 13
ID
11.
Requirements Detail
Please describe how your
proposed system provides
supervisor functionality.
Further information/guidance
As an example, the following are areas
we are looking for more information on:








Bidder Response
Understood
Moves and changes
Programming of short codes
Programming of hunt groups,
e.g. adding or removing
extensions
Call barring
Programming of quick (hot)
keys
Extension facilities
Special arrangements, e.g.
manager/secretary working
Voicemail allocation
This list is not exhaustive and any
further supervisor functionality is
welcome.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Please describe how your
proposed system provides
supervisor functionality for Least
cost routing
Please confirm that you are able
to provide support for your
overall solution and supply your
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Please provide details on the
Voice Call Recording solution you
are proposing.
Please detail how your proposed
system could record internal calls
One example of this could be: extensionto-extension.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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ID
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
Requirements Detail
Please identify how your solution
delivers speech analytics
functionality in relation to voice
recordings.
Further information/guidance
The Association is looking for
information on areas such as:
Please detail the administration
features the proposed solution
offers.
Please describe any archiving
facilities for call recordings
Please provide information on the
file format of call recordings and
how they can be used in such a
way that they are legally
admissible in court
Please describe the search
facilities for retrieving a recorded
call.
Please detail how your proposed
solution meets the PCI DSS
standard and please provide
confirmation of the products
certification.
Please detail how your proposed
solution meets compliance with
the Data Protection Act.
Please can you demonstrate how
your call recording solution is able
to record calls to staffs work
mobiles phones
As part of your response, please include
screenshots.



Bidder Response
Understood
extended silences,
keyword scanning,
crosstalk scanning
As part of your response, please provide
any minimum standard you expect,
and/or best practice.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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ID
24.
Requirements Detail
Please provide your proposals for
delivering an effective and
efficient system for managing
voicemail.
25.
Please detail the message
recording options available to
end-users.
26.
Please detail if your proposed
system can play announcements
to callers without giving the caller
the option to leave a message.
27.
28.
Please detail the options available
for managing and controlling the
announcements your proposed
system provides.
Further information/guidance
We require a voicemail solution that is
flexible, effective and user friendly that
allows the user to:
Bidder Response
Understood

Alert the use r/supervisor /
administrator voicemail
messages that have been left or
are not played:
 Allows messages to be retrieved
from any phone device and
location;
 Plays announcements to callers
As well as the basics, please also
consider whether your proposed system
allows for the recording of a temporary
announcement without erasing the
standard message.
For example, is it possible of being
changed based on time of day or day of
week, to provide different messages
during working hours, out of hours and
at weekends.
Please detail how your proposed
system can be extended to allow
voice mail messages to be
automatically passed to Microsoft
Exchange where they can be
actioned from the user’s
Microsoft Outlook client.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 16
ID
29.
Requirements Detail
Please detail if your proposed
system is capable of scripting
voice mail messages,
30.
Please detail what functionality is
available to automatically call
back a person who has left a
message.
Please detail the solution(s) you
are proposing to meet the
presence requirements.
Please detail the solution you are
proposing to meet the
Association’s telephone
conferencing requirements.
Please describe the proposed
telephone conference solutions
for meeting rooms and the device
options.
31.
32.
33.
34.
Further information/guidance
For example: prompting for a name,
then address, then phone number, then
message. This ensures that complete
messages with all the information
required can be recorded.
Bidder Response
Understood
The Association is looking for the
available options that would provide
one-to-one meetings using simple “web
cam” technology with your proposed
solution.
Please detail the underlying
infrastructure your proposed
solution requires and the
minimum amount of bandwidth
required to run your proposed
solution
Please detail the proposed Video
Conferencing hardware for both
one-to-one and meeting room
conferences.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 17
ID
35.
36.
37.
38.
Requirements Detail
The Association requires a
collaborative solution that
enables staff to work as part of a
contact centre style of working
irrespective of their location (be
that in an office or at home).
Please detail how your proposed
solution meets this requirement.
Please detail the options for
scaling the number of agents and
how quickly this could be applied
Please detail if your proposed
solution offers the option for
outbound call queuing?
Please detail how your proposed
solution allows the association to
manage equality issues.
Further information/guidance
40.
41.
42.
Understood
For example: how would we to cope
with unexpected call volumes/
workloads.
As examples, but not exhaustively, we
would be looking for the system to
effectively manage:


39.
Bidder Response
Hearing impaired functionality.
Different languages
Please detail the options available
within your proposed solution for
routing calls outside of core office
hours.
Please detail if your proposed
solution offers the ability to route
calls based upon the skills of the
agents.
Please detail the remote
administration options / features
of the proposed solution.
Please detail how your equipment
reduces potential Health and
Safety risks to staff.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 18
ID
43.
44.
45.
46.
Requirements Detail
Please detail the in-queue
messaging / options your
proposed solution provides.
Please detail if your proposed
solution offers multi-contact type
options for handling customer
enquires
Please provide details on the
automatic call distribution (ACD)
functionality of your proposed
system.
Please provide information of
how ACD can be administered in
house on an ongoing basis
Further information/guidance
Bidder Response
Understood
For example, some guidance here would
be, how does it deal with e.g. Skype
(Voice, IM & Video), SMS, Web, etc.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 19
Part B: Innovative solutions
The association is looking for a cloud based telephony solution that can utilize soft phones across all staff in its office. We are also looking to integrate
this phone system with our housing management system. As a result, we are seeking innovative solutions from suppliers in not only these identified
key areas but also in how overall the solution could improve communications throughout the association.
Note: Bidders should focus on the following areas with an equal importance!
ID
Requirements Detail
Further information/guidance
Bidder Response
Understood
47.
Cloud hosting:
Please provide details on how you
will provide the telephony system
on a cloud solution.
It is important you provide details on
how this would work with the soft
phone requirements detailed in this
tender and the thin client technology
the association is also using.
Please also provide details on hosting
contracts, and specifically who will
provide the cloud service and how
service levels are guaranteed.
Please also provide details on how
technical support will be carried out.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 20
48.
Softphones:
Please provide a full breakdown
of the available options for
softphones and headsets.
By breakdown, we are looking for any
variations
in
versions
and/or
functionality in both soft phones and
headsets. This should include options
and your preferred solution.
49.
Integration:
Please detail your approach in
ensuring your proposed solution
will integrate with the
associations Housing
Management System.
50.
51.
52.
53.
Please detail any third
party/middleware products you
aim to deploy as part of your
solution.
Please provide any previous
experience you deem relevant in
CTI implementations.
Please
P detail any Desktop o/s
requirements running on the thin
clients.
Please detail how your proposed
solution can be used for social
media scanning and the benefits it
would bring to the organisation.
Detail any methodology and/or
technologies you would employ.
Detail any specific experience you have
with working in conjunction with either
Housing Management System providers
in integrating or any other third party
software providers that provides a high
level of cooperation in developing CTI
solutions.
Information on the thin clients is
provided in Section 3.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 21
Part C: Delivery and Support
Installation and Project Management
The table below details the installation requirements.
ID
54.
Requirements Detail
Please provide your approach
and methodology for managing
the project, including an
implementation/project plan
for the installation.
Further information/guidance
Note It is recognised that a detailed project
plan cannot be constructed at this stage,
but suppliers should be able to demonstrate
initial planning details.
Bidder Response
Understood
Please include the resources you will
employ to deliver the project.
We also expect a detailed approach to user
acceptance testing of the system and
software.
55.
56.
Please detail your Quality
Assurance methodology and
how it will be applied to the
project.
Please detail your Risk
Management methodology and
how it will be applied to the
project.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 22
Training
The Association wishes to gain maximum benefit from the new Telephony Solution and therefore views training as a critical aspect of the
proposal. The Association would expect all training to be done on site, and documentation to reflect their business processes and for the training
strategy to incorporate options for delivery, e.g. e-Learning, train the trainer, etc.
The table below details the training requirements.
ID
57.
Requirements Detail
Please detail your approach to
training the Association staff
on all the components of the
proposed telephony solution.
Further information/guidance
Bidder Response
Understood
Documentation
The table below details the documentation requirements.
ID
58.
Requirements Detail
Please detail the level of
documentation you will
provide in delivering all the
aspects of the telephony
solution both during its
implementation period and
once it has gone live.
Further information/guidance
Where possible, please also provide
examples of the type of documentation
you are proposing to provide.
Bidder Response
Understood
Can you also identify if there are any
specific areas you would not provide
documentation for.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 23
Support Requirements
The table below details the support requirements for the requirements.
ID
59.
60.
61.
Requirements Detail
Please detail the type of
support desk you operate for
your existing clients and what
you are proposing for the
Association including call and
problem management
Please advise if you proposing
to use your own staff to
provide technical support
Further information/guidance
Bidder Response
Understood
As an example, do you outsource support?
Especially if you use a partner for the
system/s to be hosted on a private cloud.
State clearly if you are partnering with
another supplier(s) to deliver the
requirements, and please detail the
arrangements for delivering support to the
Association
Please detail the proposed
Key Performance Indicators
you are proposing for the
support desk service.
Should any questions within the invitation to tender seem to require an answer that duplicates a response provided for another question, please
still include your answer, ensuring that it fully responds to that specific requirement.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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FURTHER INFORMATION
The table below details further information required as part of the tender. There will be no scoring against these responses.
ID
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
Requirements Detail
Please provide an example Contract which you are proposing to
use as a basis for providing the Telephony Solution and on-going
support to the Association
Please provide CV(s) of the person(s) who will be responsible for
designing the new Telephony system, ensuring you highlight
their relevant qualifications for Telephony system design, their
experience of designing systems within a Citrix environment, and
a relevant case history.
Please detail anything which is not included in the Telephony
Requirements which you consider Partick will need for the
solution to function.
Please confirm that all your resources have been included to
project manage the implementation of the telephony solution.
Please detail the level and type of resource the supplier expects
the Association to provide to ensure the project can be delivered
within the proposed timescales.
Confirm all training will take place onsite at the Association
offices
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Bidder Response
Page 25
8. Evaluation
Scoring of Tender submissions
This scoring is split into two sections:
1) Fitness for purpose and the quality of the solution in sections 7, A, B and C. (60% of the overall
score)
and
2) Pricing: (40% of the overall score)
1) Fitness for purpose and the quality of the solution
This is based on the bidder’s responses to the Association’s Requirements: (sections 7, A, B and C) as
well as the demonstrations required by those shortlisted and the references sought.
The classification and evaluation scoring of sections 7 a, b and c is described below:
Evaluation Score
Marks
Nil response (no answer provided) or Completely fails to meet required standard or
does not provide a proposal
0
Proposal falls significantly short of achieving expected standard in a number of
identifiable respects
1
Proposal meets the required standard in most material respects, but is lacking or
inconsistent in others
2
Proposal meets the required standard in all material respects
3
Proposal exceeds expectations in all respects
4
Proposal delivers a real improvement through innovation.
5
2) Pricing
This sets out the pricing information required by the Association for evaluation and appointment of the
successful supply partner(s).
A price score shall be calculated for each tender by reference to the lowest tender, which is given a
points score of 100. One point shall be deducted from each of the other tenders for each percentage
point above the lowest in accordance with the following formula:
(a/b) x 100
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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where a = price of lowest Bidder
b = price of tender being evaluated
A maximum price ratio score of 40% shall be given to the lowest Supplier Partner / Bidder scoring 100
points. The price ratio score shall then be calculated for each other tender according to the points score
they achieve as a proportion of 100.
Supplier Partner / Bidder shall note that tenders considered to be priced very low shall be scrutinised to
ensure that this is not as a result of a failure to understand the requirements of the Contract. The Client
shall have the right to disregard any tender that it considers to be abnormally low.
Demonstration by Bidders
The Association will invite the top 2 bidders (based on both quality and pricing) to attend a
demonstration at the Association’s office (the dates and times to be confirmed).
Note: The Association will only invite two bidders if difference in their Quality and Price Score is within
10 %.
Each Bidder will be allocated a day to demonstrate their proposal. The agenda of the presentation
/demonstration is to be confirmed.
As previously highlighted, the overall breakdown of the scoring on the quality can be seen in the table
below:
Criteria
Sub-Criteria
Weighting
Overall solution, of which:
A) Standard functionality is
Fitness for
purpose
including
quality
10%
and
B) Innovative aspects including the use of cloud, soft phones,
integration.
40%
C) Delivery and support
40%
D) Demonstrations
10%
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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9. Instructions to Bidders
General Instructions
Your electronic proposal must be received no later than 12:00 on the 30/5/2014 via the Public Contracts
Scotland Portal
Three printed copies of your proposal must also be submitted in the post no later than 17:00 on Monday
2nd June
The Supply Partner / Bidder(s) shall be deemed to have carefully read and examined all the Business
Requirements before submitting their tender.
The Supply Partner / Bidder(s) shall complete the cost matrix in Appendix 2.
The Supply Partner / Bidder(s) shall complete the Form of Tender (section 10) in respect of this contract.
The Association will not be liable for any expenses incurred by the Supply Partner / Bidder(s) in the
preparation of its Tender.
Failure to comply with these requirements may invalidate your tender.
Any queries/questions should be done through the procurement portal.
A full list of any queries raised by bidders during the tender stage will be created and disseminated to all
bidders at the same time (if and when they occur).
You must provide contact details of two references that we may contact
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10. Form of Tender
Partick Housing Association Ltd
To:
Lynne Donnelly
Partick Housing Association
1O Mansfield Square
Glasgow
G11 5QP
TENDER FOR:
Telephony / Communication Solution
I / We the undersigned, having examined the specifications are willing to execute the whole of the
work required for the sum of:
Details
Upfront costs
Ongoing costs / per year
£
Company Name
_________________________________________________________________
Employee Name
_________________________________________________________________
Signature
_________________________________________________________________
Date
_________________________________________________________________
Address of Bidder
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Telephone No.
_________________________________________________________________
Email Address:
_________________________________________________________________
I / We understand that:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
This Tender shall be returned in an envelope with the label provided attached to the front so as to
reach this office not later than Friday 30/05/2014 at 12:00 noon.
There may be a further selection stage of this Tender involving a presentation and interview/meeting.
The lowest or any tender will not necessarily be accepted by Partick Housing Association Ltd, and no
allowance or payment will be made for making any tender.
We have examined and agree to the Tender, have submitted only one bid and agree to the contract
terms.
We understand that is our responsibility to ensure that the contract documents have been completed
correctly.
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11. Supporting Documentation Checklist
Please ensure that you check carefully and include with your response (uploading to the Public Contracts
Scotland portal) the following information.
Please also ensure that each document is named exactly as detailed below.
Required information
1) Contact details of two references that we may contact
2) Any documents referred to, charts, C.V.s, Certificates,
Accreditations, Programmed Works
3) Copies of company insurance documents
4) Copy of the contract to be used
5) Copy of audited accounts for the last 2 years.
6) Detail all costs in the matrix provided in Appendix 2.
7) Estimated staffing resource
8) Example service report
Name to be given to
document when uploaded
to portal.
Reference information
Accredications and
Certificates
Insurance information
Contract
Accounts
No need to rename as only
need to complete.
Resources
Service report
Please ensure that you provide 3 printed copies of your tender submission to the Association.
12. Data Protection
The appointed Supply Partner / Bidder will: Duly observe their obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 and associated Regulations to ensure
full compliance with the law relating to personal information.
In this clause references to Personal Data are to be interpreted as defined in the Data Protection Act
1998 (“DPA”) and related case law. The Supply Partner shall comply with all relevant provisions of the
DPA and do nothing, which causes, or may cause, The Association to be in breach of its obligations
under the DPA. In particular, to the extent that the Supply Partner acts as a Data Processor in respect of
any Personal Data pursuant to this Agreement, the Supply Partner shall only process such Personal Data
as is necessary to enable it to fulfil its obligations under the contract and only in accordance with
instructions from the Association. The parties hereby agree that The Association shall be the Data
Controller in respect of such Personal Data.
The Supply Partner shall:
Implement technical and organisational measures in place to protect any personal data it is
processing on The Association’s behalf against any unauthorised or unlawful processing and
against any accidental loss, destruction, damage, alteration or disclosure and undertakes to
maintain such measures during the course of this Contract. These measures shall be appropriate
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 30
to the harm which might result from any unauthorised or unlawful Processing, accidental loss,
destruction or damage to the Personal Data which is to be protected.
Take all reasonable steps to ensure the reliability of its staff having access to any such Personal
Data
Monitor and maintain the integrity of all Personal Data in full accordance with the Data
Protection Principles.
Obtain prior written consent from the Association in order to transfer the Personal Data to any
sub-contractors or affiliates to fulfil their obligations under this Contract. This is subject to the
confidentiality issues as set out in this document.
Ensure that all employees of the Supply Partner who reasonably require access to the Personal
Data are informed of the strict confidential nature of the Personal Data; and
Ensure that no employees of the Supply Partner publish, disclose, or divulge (whether directly or
indirectly) any of the Personal Data to any third party unless directed in writing to do so by The
Association
Notify The Association within 5 (five) working days if it receives:
Any complaint, enquiry or request from any person whatsoever relating to The
Association’s obligations under the DPA.
At its sole cost, promptly to provide The Association with full cooperation and assistance
in relation to any complaint, enquiry, or request made to Supply Partner which shall
include, but shall not be limited to:
a) Providing to The Association full and complete details of the complaint, enquiry or
request;
b) Complying with a data access request and within the relevant timescales as set out in
the Data Protection Legislation and in accordance with The Association’s instructions;
c) Providing to the Association any and all Personal Data it is in possession of in relation
to tenants/ residents and shall do so within the timescales required by The Association
and notified to the Supply Partner; and
d) Providing to The Association any and all relevant information requested by the
Association.
Upon reasonable notice, allow the Association access to any premises owned or controlled by
Supply Partner to enable the Association to inspect and audit its procedures and shall, upon the
Association’s request from time to time, prepare a report for the Association in respect of the
technical and organisational measures it has in place to protect the Personal Data.
Warrant that it has submitted, pursuant to section 18(1) of the DPA, a notification to the
Information Commissioner (as defined by the FOIA) and shall keep that notification correct,
complete and up to date.
Not transfer any Personal Data (whether in whole or in part) to any country outside of the
European Economic Area unless authorised in writing to do so by the Association and, where the
Association authorises such transfer, the Supply Partner shall fully comply with:
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
Page 31
a) The obligations of the Data Controller under the Eighth Data Protection Principle set out
in Schedule 1 of the DPA by the provision of an adequate and appropriate level of
protection in respect of any Personal Data which is transferred in accordance with this
and;
b) Any reasonable instructions notified to the Supply Partner by the Association.
Upon the termination of this Memorandum of Agreement for whatever reason, unless notified
otherwise by the Association or required by the law, immediately cease any and all processing of
the Personal Data on the Association’s behalf , and destroy or provide to the Association with a
copy of all such Personal Data on suitable media.
Upon receipt of any request from the Association to do so, promptly amend, transfer, or delete
the Personal Data (whether in whole or in part). Upon deletion of the Association’s data, the
Supply Partner will not be able to provide any reports or other benefits relating to any deleted
data.
When required to collect any Personal Data on behalf of the Association, ensure that the Supply
Partner provides to the Data Subjects, from whom the Personal Data is collected, with a fair
processing notice in a form to be agreed by the Supply Partner.
Comply with all reasonable requests or directions by the Association to enable The Association
to verify and / or procure that the Supply Partner is in full compliance with its obligations under
this contract.
13. Terms of Appointment
Appointment will be offered to the successful Supply Partner / Bidder on the basis of the scoring
highlighted within this document.
The contract duration is 3 years with the option to extend for a further 1 + 1 years (if terms are met).
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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14. Timescale
Submission of tenders
Friday 30th May at 12:00 noon.
Evaluation of tenders
Monday 2nd to Friday 20th June
Demonstrations
Monday 30th to Friday 4th July
Notification of intention to award
Monday 7th to Friday 11th July
Installation to begin
Monday 28th to Friday 1st August
Estimated go-live
September
This timetable is subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances
15. Tender Selection
The Association reserves the right to exclude a tender from evaluation if it does not conform to the
above Tender Response requirements or does not demonstrate sufficient capability to perform the
required work.
16. Terms and Conditions
The Association reserves the right to award a contract for all or any part of the work specified in this
invitation to tender, or not to award a contract. The Association also reserves the right to award the
contract to more than one supplier.
The successful tenderer will be required to sign and abide by the agreed Contract, and will submit
staged invoices at intervals as determined by and reports according to a prescribed format.
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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Tender Return Label
TENDER – DO NOT OPEN
Tender Title:
New Telephone System
To
Return Date:
30/5/2014 at 12 noon
Partick Housing Association
10 Mansfield Street,
Glasgow
G11 5QP
Deadline for Return: 12:00 hours
Partick Housing Association contact:
Lynne Donnelly
This label MUST be used to submit your tender
There must be no other markings anywhere on the envelope whatsoever
Date received
Time Received
It is Partick policy not to consider LATE tender submissions
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Appendix 1 - Invoicing Process
Draft Invoice Report (DIR)
The Contractor (Commercial Manager / Accounts) will submit to the Contract Administrator at Partick
HA a detailed electronic Draft Invoice Report (DIR) on a 6 monthly basis which will include a statement
of services provided in the previous 6 months. Each DIR is to be issued within 14 working days at the
latest following the end of each 6 months to which the DIR relates.
The DIR submitted by the Contractor shall include the following information:







Period for which service is provided
Net value (Invoice charge)
VAT
Gross Value
SUMM ID (this is the invoice ref. No)
Order No (Partick HA internal reference number)
Client Approval
The submitted DIR will then be checked and approved by Partick HA’s Contract Administrator or the
delegated deputy following completion of the internal approval process
The Partick HA approval process will incorporate the following checks:
 Partick HA Order Number
 Contractor Net Value
 Partick HA approval of order (Yes or No)
Draft Approval
The Contract Administrator will check the DIR within 4 working days following receipt and inform, by
email, the Contractor either that the DIR is ‘approved’ or ‘not approved’.
In the event that the DIR contains any errors in the form of overcharges, undercharges, duplicated
charges, then these errors will be brought to the attention of the Supplier, who will remove them from
the DIR and re-submit a revised DIR.
Following approval by the Contract Administrator of a complete DIR / revised DIR, the DIR will then be
signed / dated by both the Contract Administrator and the Contractor.
Copies will then be distributed by the Contract Administrator as follows:
1
2
3
Original DIR sent to Partick Housing Association Finance department
Copy given to Contractor
Copy filed
Partick Housing Association – Telephony Communication Solution – 2014
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Appendix 2 – Scoring matrix
The scoring matrix is attached as a separate spread sheet in the Public Contracts Scotland procurement
portal.
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