CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the award of RFP 22-091, Emergency Notification Alert System Services, to Everbridge, Inc., for an amount not to exceed $214,744.33 and for a four-year term
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DEPARTMENT: City Manager’s Office
SUBMITTED BY: Linda LaCloche, Director of Communications
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
In 2013, City staff issued an RFP for an emergency mass notification system to provide emergency and community notifications to Naperville residents, businesses, and visitors through phone calls, text messages, emails, an app, and TTY. The City entered into a contract with Everbridge, Inc. to provide its mass notification platform, which the City branded as Naper Notify.
Together with publicly listed telephone data that allows the City to reach over 84,500 contacts, the City has seen continual growth in opt-ins over the past decade, with more than 33,500 persons enrolled as of August 2022 due to successful marketing and use of the system. Naper Notify is also used internally by City staff to perform public safety overtime, emergency, and snow team callouts more easily; send all-employee notifications during inclement weather when warranted; and quickly conference bridge directors for efficient decision making.
System implementation has increased satisfaction in City efforts to provide information during emergencies by 23%, per the 2016 Citizen Survey. Over the last 10 years, Naper Notify has also been credited with helping public safety personnel locate three missing individuals.
Following the initial five-year agreement, City Council approved the award of a three-year extension to Everbridge. In 2021, due to the emergency nature of this service, coupled with ongoing uncertainties around the Covid-19 pandemic, the City awarded a one-year extension; in 2022, another one-year extension was granted in tandem with an RFP to provide appropriate time to evaluate RFP responses and ensure continuity of service and adequate training opportunities should a different vendor be chosen.
DISCUSSION:
In March 2022, the Communications Department issued RFP 22-091, Emergency Notification Alert System Services. Staff issued this RFP to evaluate technological enhancements and functionality, pricing models, and market innovations in the mass notification sector.
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Advertisement Date: |
March 3, 2022 |
Notices Sent: |
45 |
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Opening Date: |
March 24, 2022 |
Plan holders: |
17 |
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Proposals Received: |
4 |
Proposals were received from the following vendors:
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Blackberry |
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Everbridge, Inc. |
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Genasys Inc. |
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OnSolve |
A selection team comprised of staff from Communications, Police, and Fire (Emergency Management Services) evaluated the proposals, which were scored based upon the criteria outlined in the RFP:
1. Capability, Capacity, and Qualifications of the Offeror (20%)
2. Suitability and Quality of the Software (30%)
3. Suitability and Quality of the Approach (30%)
4. Deliverables (15%)
5. Outcomes to be Achieved (5%)
After reviewing and scoring the proposals, the selection committee invited the second-highest scorer, OnSolve, to conduct a demonstration and answer the remaining selection team questions. The vendor with the highest qualification score, Everbridge, Inc., is recommended for award. The table below provides a summary of the final qualification scores:
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Vendor |
Qualification Score |
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Everbridge, Inc. |
78.60 |
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OnSolve |
71.35 |
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Genasys, Inc. |
55.25 |
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Blackberry |
52.25 |
Everbridge has proven to be a qualified and capable partner over the past decade, including limited product downtime and extreme responsiveness to staff requests. This award would go into effect May 6, 2023, after the one-year contract extension approved by Council in April of this year. The difference in price between year one and years two through four accounts for set-up fees for the Resident Connection service noted below. The pricing offered by Everbridge for the lifetime of this award, including for the three two-year option terms, is the GSA government rate, which is highly favorable and would provide optimal, static pricing through 2033 should the option years be exercised.
With the mass notification system industry moving in recent years to a credit usage model that charges per text and phone call received and delivered, adequate additional credits were included in the award. In addition, staff negotiated a GSA government rate for the addition of the new Resident Connection Life Safety product for state and local governments. This offering will allow publicly available wireless phone data (non-opt-in information) to be used to communicate with the public only in the event of an imminent threat to life and safety.
Finally, on a technical level, the continuity of subscriptions will be maintained through continued service with the existing product vendor. Naperville’s use of optional, non-emergency community notifications is unique; other vendors could not provide assurances that data transfers would maintain current customer subscriptions for the City’s seven notification categories. With almost all 33,500 opt-in customers having at least one community notification subscription, this award provides service continuity to the public.
The term of the contract is May 6, 2023, through May 5, 2027, with three two-year options to extend.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Emergency Notification System subscription cost is expensed to the Software & Hardware maintenance account listed below. Staff has submitted a total of $53,000 for this service in the 2023 budget, which is currently in review. The remaining cost for future years will be budgeted accordingly during each budget cycle. Pending Council approval and adoption, the requested award is expected to be within budget.
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Account Number |
Fund Description |
Total Budget Amount (Projected) |
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11391100-531312 |
General Fund |
$170,300 |