Proposer Questions & Answers
For Dispatch Software/Mobile Data Terminals/Automated Vehicle Location Solutions For RFP No. 2016-01
Q. What is the budget for this project? A. We do not disclose that information.
Q. What days of the week is Charlevoix County transportation in operation? A. Monday-Friday 6am-7-pm and Saturday 8:30am-4:30pm ET
Q. Do the current vehicles have any existing MDT’s in them? If so, what is the Make/Model?
A. We do not currently have MDT’s.
Q. How many inbound calls per day are anticipated? A. Approximately 250-350 calls per day.
Q. What languages should be supported by the callflows? A. English is the primary language supported.
Q. Are notifications via email desired?
A. We expect to be able to use a variety of methods for passenger contact including email, text, and voice messaging.
Q. Are notifications via SMS desired? A. See above
Q. Is the Passenger call and arrival notification an option for the project and not a specific need? A. Passenger notification system is part of the requested package and not to be considered an option for later inclusion.
Q. Does CCT have a preferred cellular carrier? If not, which carrier provides the best cellular coverage in the CCT operational area, including Beaver Island?
A. There are several cellular carriers available in this area including AT&T and Verizon. Parts of Beaver Island have no cellular coverage.
Q. Within the specifications it was stated that “The software must be able to generate a variety of reports and add new reports as needed by transit staff without added cost” Would Charlevoix County Transit consider having approximately 50 ad-hoc reports and report building tool
sufficient? Some reports are custom reports and would require additional cost and time to create depending on complexity.
Q. You request MDOT reporting requirements. Can you further define those reports and their content?
A. It is expected that we could easily retrieve the following types of reports that will assist us in providing reports to MDOT and others as needed:
Passenger Counts (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual) Passenger Origin/Destination Reports
Trip Type Reports Fuel Reports No Show Reports
A variety of Travel/Route Reports Group or Contract Reports
Other reports that would help us monitor the efficiency and health of the transit system.
Q. Please supply examples of all required reporting, especially the necessary MNDOT required reports and any billing reports
A. See above
Q. In regards to the Web Portal Technology requested, is Charlevoix County transportation requesting 24/7 technical support for a) clients booking their own trips b) Charlevoix County Transportation members c) both to have access to 24/7 support?
A. CCT, as owner, will require 24/7 technical support for its entire software system.
Q. Does the CCT currently utilize any Wi-Fi access points in their vehicle parking area? If so, can proposer’s assume the MDT’s will have access these while the vehicles are in the yard?
A. Currently our wi-fi is accessible through 2/3 of our garage/parking facility. We are working with our IT vendors to extend the range.
Q. Please provide examples of billing calculations required.
a. When billing hourly, how is that rate applied: to the events on the route, for specific trips, for revenue time only, etc?
b. Who are the bills being sent to?
c. Does Charlevoix only need billing reports or does it require billing functionality to manage billing periods and balances within the system?
A. We must be able to track all data in order to bill for a variety of situations such as individual/group/contract trips, no-shows, travel time, etc.
Q. Does Charlevoix require a notifications system to automatically notify passengers of upcoming rides?
There was only one requirement that relates to passenger notifications:
Passenger call to notify the day before and or the bus is about to arrive (i.e. 10 minutes) time when pickup takes place. This also notifies the passenger if bus is running late due to weather or other reason.
A. Passenger notification is a requirement of the RFP. This notification system should be able to handle a variety of situations and be customizable.
Q. With respect to the installation of the MDTs on the vehicles:
a. Does CCT plan to self-install the mobile data terminals, or are proposer’s to include the cost of installations in their bids?
b. If Proposer’s are responsible for the installations:
i. What is the minimum and maximum number of vehicles available for installations per day? ii. What is the location where installations will take place?
iii. During what hours will the vehicles be available for installations (i.e. weekdays or evenings/weekends)?
iv. Will a driver be provided to move vehicles for installation and testing purposes?
A. Installation will take place at the CCT facility in Boyne City, MI. CCT has a team of skilled maintenance personnel, however the level of involvement will be completely dependent upon how complex the installation of the MDT’s are. Normal business hours are M-F 6am-7pm (vehicle schedules vary), Saturday 8:30am-4:30pm (only 3 vehicles used). CCT will work with the vendor to determine installation schedules and involvement of CCT personnel.
Q. Will vendors be required to provide the installation services for the MDT equipment? A. See above
Q. Would CCT accept bids for a Cloud/Hosted solution?
Q. Can you please provide more information on the 36 month lease option? - would you make
- 1 payment on the lease at the start of the 36 months?
- 3 payments, the first on installation and the next 2 on the anniversary dates? - 36 equal monthly payments?
Q. Relative to the hardware, at the end of the 36 months, are you looking to - return it to the vendor
- purchase it for a fixed amount - own it outright
Q. relative to the software, at the end of the 36 months, are you expecting to
- purchase new software, either from the same vendor or a different one, as if you were a new client?
Q. have the option to continue to use the software at the same rate or a reduced rate? i.e. what are the implications, if any, of the 36-month lease on your use of the software beyond the 36 months?
A. In response to the above questions regarding lease option, CCT will evaluate all payment and lease proposals and determine what will best fit into the monthly and annual budget for CCT.
Q. Software Maintenance
Please elaborate on what is to be included in software maintenance. Are you looking for the price to include:
- bug fixes only
- all newer versions of software purchased during the term of the contract?
e.g. if you purchased Microsoft Office 2013, you might be entitled to software fixes for that version, but not entitled to Microsoft Office 2016.
A. All software updates pertaining to the operation of the proposed dispatch/scheduling software and associated modules, as well as any “bug fixes”, are expected to be included in annual software maintenance costs.
Q. Hardware maintenance - Do you want vendors to quote on accident protection for the hardware and if so, should this be an option or included in the base price?
Please confirm that protection from loss or theft will be covered by your insurance policy, not by the vendor.
A. The RFP requests a 100% inclusive proposal and calls out items to be shown as options. Loss and theft is covered under the agency’s insurance.
Q. How many CCT users would require access to the Dispatching Software? (Either for a Cloud solution and/or non-Cloud solution)
A. The proposed solution should support as many six (6) concurrent users.
Q. CCT did not state a specific DBE goal, has a DBE goal been established and will there be any added scoring evaluation towards DBE content?
Q. You state that Charlevoix County Transit is currently using a software system from PCTrans and that a vendor requirement is to import existing data from that system. Can you verify that all the required data items you list export from PCTrans? Can you define the export data format(s) that will be available for import to the new software chosen?
A. All the data from PCTrans is in a MS SQL database and all data is available.
Q. You have an indication for the future possible addition of a vehicle maintenance component or module. Can you supply a list of Charlevoix County Transit's vehicle maintenance tracking requirements similar to those that you have for the dispatch.MDT components? Or is that not pertinent in this RFP to that level of specificity?
A. This module will have the ability to track general maintenance such as pre-trip, post-trip, fuel, oil, pmi intervals, etc.
