20051017_1352.pdf

DECISION MEMORANDUM
TO:COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER
COMMISSIONER SMITH
CO MMISSI 0 NER HANSEN
COMMISSION SECRETARY
LEGAL
WORKING FILE
FROM:GRACE SEAMAN
DON HOWELL
DATE:OCTOBER 14, 2005
RE:2005 IDAHO TELECOMMUNICATIONS RELAY SERVICE CONTRACT
AWARD.
BACKGROUND
The Idaho Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) was established in 1992 pursuant
Title IV of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), and 47 C.R. 64.601(7). The ADA
provision established the requirements to provide access for a communications-impaired person
to send and receive messages to and from a non-communications-impaired person. The Idaho
legislature authorized the Commission to appoint a TRS Administrator to coordinate TRS
services in Idaho Code ~ 61-1301. Idaho Code ~ 61-1303 outlines the responsibilities of the
TRS Administrator. These responsibilities include: (l) consult with and receive
recommendations from the advisory committee, or a representative thereof, appointed by the
commission pursuant to section 61-1306, Idaho Code; (2) issue a request for proposals (RFP) to
providers of message relay services requesting responsive proposals to provide such services as
may be necessary for the program; (3) evaluate the responsive proposals and recommend one (1)
or more proposals to the commission for its review and approval; and (4) enter into a contract
with the provider of TRS, which contract and provider have been approved by the commission.
Hamilton Telecommunications is the current Idaho TRS service provider and its contract
will expire on December 1 2005. Consequently, the TRS Administrator, Mr. Bob Dunbar
prepared an RFP that was released on July 5 2005 with a response due date of August 31 2005.
The term of the new contract is for three years with the option of two one-year extensions. Mr.
DECISION MEMORANDUM - 1 -OCTOBER 14, 2005
Dunbar received RFP bid responses from Sprint Communications and Hamilton
Telecommunications.
EVALUATION OF THE RFP BIDS
The TRS Advisory Committee and the Administrator met on September 15 , 2005 to
review and discuss the RFP bid responses. The Committee determined that the Sprint bid was
non-responsive to the RFP. Section 11.0 of the RFP document (the Bid Response
Acknowledgement) required bidders to state that they acknowledge and understand sections
1 - 10 of the RFP. Sprint did not agree to sections 2.3 and 4.5. Section 2.7.3 of the RFP
requires that the prime contractor must handle 90% of the relay traffic from Idaho. Section 4.
of the RFP requires relay service user have access to 976 and 900 services.
Hamilton s bid price remains at the current rate of$1.31 per conversation minute with no
additional charges for the basic relay service as outlined in the RFP. Hamilton s price includes
all equipment, personnel, facilities, software, and features and services (i.e. Speech to speech
Spanish and Intrastate Spanish translations to English relay service and visa versa, True Caller
ill, Turbo Code, a complete in-state outreach program, plus all the features listed in Attachment
M of the RFP). Hamilton will round the conversation time to the nearest second in its call detail
records, and calculations for invoicing will be rounded to the nearest 100th of a minute. Time
billed to the TRS program will begin when the called party answers after the Hamilton
Communications Associate sets up the call, and it will end when the called party disconnects.
Hamilton states that if additional features or services are required or desired during the term of
the contract, Hamilton will provide pricing for those additional services to the Idaho Public
Utilities Commission.
Sprint's bid quotation was stated as $1.39 per minute if the State of Idaho applicable
access charges do not apply or if the Commission waives these charges. If the access charges are
not waived, and the charges must be born by Sprint, the price will be $1.58 per conversation
minute. It has not been the policy of this Commission to waive access charges. Therefore
Sprint's higher bid quote of $1.58 must be the accepted per minute price over the discounted rate
of$1.39.
Following the September 15 meeting, each Advisory Committee participant privately
evaluated and scored the bid response from Hamilton Telecommunications and delivered their
results to the chairman of the Advisory Committee.
DECISION MEMORANDUM - 2-OCTOBER 14, 2005
On September 29, Mr. Dunbar submitted a summary of the bid evaluations that were
completed by himself and the Advisory Committee. The evaluators' average rating of Hamilton
was 785 out of 1000 possible points and the Administrator s evaluation was 950 points. Mr.
Dunbar concurs with the evaluation results of the Advisory Committee. He recommends that the
TRS service contract be awarded to Hamilton Telecommunications.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff believes Hamilton has provided quality service to Idaho relay users and supports the
recommendation of Mr. Dunbar and the Advisory Committee. Pricing information also suggests
it is in the public s best interest to award the contract to Hamilton. Staff recommends that the
Commission approve the TRS RFP recommendation and direct Mr. Dunbar to begin negotiations
to secure a contract with Hamilton Telecommunications. The term of the contract is three years
with the option for two additional one-year extensions.
COMMISSION DECISION
Does the Commission approve the recommendation of the TRS Administrator and the
TRS Advisory Committee to award the TRS service contract to Hamilton Telecommunications?
Does the Commission wish to direct Mr. Dunbar to negotiate a three-year contract with
Hamilton Telecommunications with the option of two one-year extensions?
;Aa
Grace Seaman
udmemos/2005 TRS Contract Dec Memo
DECISION MEMORANDUM - 3 -OCTOBER 14, 2005