Lincoln Electric System Procureware #114-26

LES enterprise VoIP phone-system and contact-center replacement or upgrade

Lincoln Electric System (LES) is seeking proposals to evaluate replacing or upgrading its enterprise phone system and contact center. - Government buyer: Lincoln Electric System (LES), a City of Lincoln utility; procurement office: LES Procurement Department, Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska. - OEM identified: Cisco, manufacturer of LES’s existing on-premises VoIP system. No replacement OEM, product model, or part number is specified. - Other named prospective bidders/vendors: ALLO Communications; AlxTel Inc.; BCS, LLC dba Business Communication Systems; High Point Networks; Kidwell Companies; SevenOutsource; Sterling; Total Communications, Inc.; and TRC Companies. Their inclusion in the bidder listing does not indicate selection or endorsement. - Requested solution and scale: - Evaluate upgrading Cisco hardware or adopting a more cost-effective, less complex alternative requiring less administration; proposals may use cloud, on-premises, or hybrid deployment. - Support up to five office locations, coexistence with the current LES system during migration, and integration with existing networks and legacy systems. - Provide a contact center for 30 agents, scalable to 50; accommodate approximately 350 calls per day and validate sizing for up to 300 concurrent outbound calls. - Include desk phones, softphones, mobile applications, voicemail, call recording for desk phones and softphones, and at least seven-year recording retention. No quantities or part numbers are provided for equipment or licenses. - Important technical requirements: target availability of 99.999%; geographically redundant SIP/VoIP connectivity with at least two carrier uplink locations; a high-availability and failover design covering single points of failure, failover method and timing, and call impact; E911; and Azure AD/Microsoft Entra ID single sign-on. - Required telephony and operational capabilities include core call handling and contact-center functions; call blocking, groups, forwarding, transfers, park/pickup, intersite extension dialing, toll-free support, calendar-based routing, monitoring, reporting, call-quality diagnostics, centralized administration, migration and number porting, rollback planning, training, documentation, and support/escalation procedures. - Legacy compatibility must address elevator emergency lines, fire alarm panels, gate controls, DS1/T1 connections for analog devices, and other third-party analog systems. Respondents must identify supported gateways/adapters and limitations. - The attached Nebraska LB1300 material concerns technology-related contracting restrictions. Contractors may need to certify that they are not scrutinized companies and do not use scrutinized subcontractors; the material addresses technology, surveillance, LiDAR, and communications products and related certification/procurement processes. - No contract duration, annual subscription term, or product quantities are specified. Implementation is anticipated in 2027.

Description

Lincoln Electric System is seeking proposals to evaluate upgrading the hardware for its existing Cisco VoIP phone system or choosing an alternative that is more cost-effective, less complex, and requires less administration. The proposed solution must support up to five office locations, a hybrid cloud and/or on-premises deployment, and a greenfield option as well as coexistence and migration with the existing LES system. Requirements also include a contact center supporting 30 agents and scalability to 50, approximately 350 calls per day, and up to 300 concurrent outbound calls. Proposals are due November 3, 2026, at 2:00 PM Central Time, and LES expects to pursue an option in 2027.

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