Fire and Emergency Communications (PSAP) Post Incident Analysis and System Improvement Services

Agency:	Sedgwick County
State:	Kansas
Type of Government:	State & Local
NAICS Category:	541330 - Engineering Services 541511 - Custom Computer Programming Services 541512 - Computer Systems Design Services 541611 - Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services 541990 - All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
Posted Date:	Feb 28, 2024
Due Date:	Mar 12, 2024
Solicitation No:	24-0003
Bid Source:	Please Login to View Page
Contact information:	Please Login to View Page
Bid Documents:	Please Login to View Page

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SEDGWICK COUNTY, KANSAS

DIVISION OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT

Purchasing Department

100 N. Broadway, Suite 610 ~ Wichita, KS 67202

Phone: 316 660-7255 Fax: 316 660-1839

https://www.sedgwickcounty.org/finance/purchasing/

requests-for-bid-and-proposal/

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

RFP #24-0003

FIRE AND EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS (PSAP)

POST INCIDENT ANALYSIS AND SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT SERVICES

February 6, 2024

Sedgwick County, Kansas, (hereinafter referred to as “county”) and the City of Wichita (hereinafter referred to as “city”)

(and jointly as “agencies”) are seeking a firm or firms to provide Fire and Emergency Communications (PSAP - Public

Safety Answer Point) Post Incident Analysis and System Improvement Services. If your firm is interested in submitting a

response, please do so in accordance with the instructions contained within the attached Request for Proposal. Responses

are due no later than 1:45 pm CST, Tuesday, March 12, 2024. Joint applications made by two or more firms interested

in partnering on the project are encouraged.

All contact concerning this solicitation shall be made through the Purchasing Department. Proposers shall not

contact the agencies’ employees, department heads, user departments, evaluation committee members or elected officials

with questions or any other concerns about the solicitation. Questions, clarifications and concerns shall be submitted to the

Purchasing Department in writing. Failure to comply with these guidelines may disqualify the Proposer’s response.

Sincerely,

Joe Thomas

Purchasing Director

JT/ch

RFP #24-0003

Sedgwick County…Working for you

Table of Contents

About this Document

II. Background

III. Project Objectives

IV. Submittals

V. Scope of Work

VI. Agencies’ Responsibilities

VII. Proposal Terms

A. Questions and Contact Information

B. Minimum Firm Qualifications

C. Evaluation Criteria

D. Request for Proposal Timeline

E. Contract Period and Payment Terms

F. Insurance Requirements

G. Indemnification

H. Confidential Matters and Data Ownership

I. Proposal Conditions

VIII. Required Response Content

IX. Response Form

RFP #24-0003

Sedgwick County…Working for you

About this Document

This document is a Request for Proposal. It differs from a Request for Bid or Quotation in that the agencies are seeking a

solution, as described on the cover page and in the following Background Information section, not a bid or quotation meeting

firm specifications for the lowest price. As such, the lowest price proposed will not guarantee an award recommendation. As

defined in Charter Resolution No. 68, Competitive Sealed Proposals will be evaluated based upon criteria formulated around

the most important features of the product(s) and/or service(s), of which quality, testing, references, service, availability or

capability, may be overriding factors, and price may not be determinative in the issuance of a contract or award. The proposal

evaluation criteria should be viewed as standards that measure how well a vendor’s approach meets the desired requirements

and needs of the agencies. Criteria that will be used and considered in evaluation for award are set forth in this document. The

agencies will thoroughly review all proposals received. The agencies will also utilize their best judgment when determining

whether to schedule a pre-proposal conference, before proposals are accepted, or meetings with vendors, after receipt of all

proposals. A Purchase Order/Contract will be awarded to a qualified vendor submitting the best proposal. Sedgwick County

and the City of Wichita reserve the right to select, and subsequently recommend for award, the proposed service(s)

and/or product(s) which best meets their required needs, quality levels and budget constraints.

The nature of this work is for a public entity and will require the expenditure of public funds and/or use of public

facilities, therefore the successful proposer will understand that portions (potentially all) of their proposal may become

public record at any time after receipt of proposals. Proposal responses, purchase orders and final contracts are subject to

public disclosure after award. All confidential or proprietary information should be clearly denoted in proposal responses

and responders should understand this information will be considered prior to release, however no guarantee is made that

information will be withheld from public view.

II. Background

Sedgwick County, located in south-central Kansas, is one of the most populous of Kansas’s 105 counties with a

population estimated at more than 514,000 persons. It is the sixteenth largest in area, with 1,008 square miles, and

reportedly has the second highest per capita wealth among Kansas’s counties. Organizationally, the county is a

Commission/Manager entity, employs nearly 2,500 persons, and hosts or provides a full range of municipal services, e.g.

– public safety, public works, criminal justice, recreation, entertainment, cultural, human/social, and education.

Wichita, the largest city in Kansas, population 389,255, is the county seat of Sedgwick County; the population in the

Metropolitan Statistical Area is 647,370. As of August 2020, the city’s total land area was approximately 165.58 square

miles. Wichita’s employment includes a broad mix of business types, with a sizable base of relatively high paying

manufacturing jobs. A list of Wichita’s major private employers includes Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., Via Christi Health,

Textron, Inc., Bombardier, Learjet, Koch Industries Inc., Wesley Medical Center, Dillon Food Stores, Cargill Meat

Solutions, Johnson Controls, and Cox Communications.

This Request for Proposal seeks qualified firm or firms to provide post incident analysis and system improvement services

for Emergency Communications and Fire Department operations and performance during a fatal apartment fire incident,

from time of first call to 911 until the fire scene was released by investigators.

Historical:

In January of 1977 the Board of City Commissioners of the City of Wichita and the Board of County Commissioners of

Sedgwick County agreed by joint resolution (5-1977) and ordinance (34-795) to consolidate their Emergency

Communications and establish a Wichita-Sedgwick County Emergency Communications Department, and to establish the

Wichita-Sedgwick County Emergency Communications Advisory Board for a period of ten years. Advisory Board

membership was restricted to specific City of Wichita and Sedgwick County Public Safety officials. The responsibilities

of the Emergency Communications Advisory Board, “shall be (responsible) for determining operational policies and

procedures of the Emergency Communications Department and making recommendations on same to the City Manager

for implementation.” Annually, the Advisory Board, “shall develop, along with the Director of Emergency

Communications, an operation budget and recommend same to the City Manager who will submit it for approval to the

Board of County Commissioners and the Board of City Commissioners.”

The physical location of Emergency Communications was the basement of the Sedgwick County Courthouse to serve, “all

RFP #24-0003

Sedgwick County…Working for you

County Emergency Communications as well as City Police and Fire.” The physical relocation of Emergency

Communications, “to the consolidated center will be as soon as practical and financially feasible.” “The administrative

responsibilities of the operation and employment of consolidated operating personnel of the Department of Emergency

Communications is assigned to the City Manager of the City of Wichita.” The cost was split between the City

Commission and the County Commission 73% - 27% respectively.

In May of 1987 the City Council of the City of Wichita and the Board of County Commissioners agreed by joint

resolution (192-1987) and ordinance (39-875) to continue consolidation of their Emergency Communications and

continue the Emergency Communications Advisory Board. Advisory Board membership was restricted to specific City of

Wichita and Sedgwick County Public Safety officials. The agreement continued on the same general terms as the original

1977 agreement. The Emergency Communications Advisory Board, “shall be responsible for determining operational

policies and procedures of the Emergency Communications Department and making recommendations on the same to the

City Manager and the Board of County Commissioners for implementation. Annually, the Advisory Board, “shall

develop, along with the Director of Emergency Communications, an operation budget and recommend same to the City

Manager who will submit it for approval to the Board of County Commissioners and the City Council.” The term of the

1987 agreement was for one year commencing on January 1, 1987, but, “On December 31, 1987, and on each December

31 thereafter, this agreement shall automatically renew for another yearly term unless either the Board of Sedgwick

County Commissioners or City Council of the City of Wichita, Kansas, shall terminate the agreement.”

In December of 1993 and January of 1994, the City Council of the City of Wichita and the Board of County

Commissioners agreed by joint resolution (228-1993) and ordinance (42-252), “to modify and amend their agreement

regarding the joint operation of the communications facilities.” The two governing bodies agreed to continue

consolidation of their Emergency Communications and continue the Emergency Communications Advisory Board. This

joint resolution transferred all management, personnel, equipment and facilities and budget responsibilities and authority

to Sedgwick County. “The administrative responsibilities of the operation and employment of consolidated operating

personnel of the Department of Emergency Communications is assigned to the County Manager of Sedgwick County.”

Advisory Board membership was still restricted to specific City of Wichita and Sedgwick County Public Safety officials,

but included a new provision so that, “the County and City Managers may each name a representative to this board.”

Board “Responsibilities General – Budget” was also modified to state the Board, “shall be responsible for determining

operational policies and procedures of the Emergency Communications Department and making recommendations on the

same to the Sedgwick County Manager for implementation.” And, the Board, “shall develop, along with the Director of

Emergency Communications, an operation budget and recommend same to the County Manager who will submit it for

approval to the Board of County Commissioners.” And, “…all equipment, personal property and real property acquired

or purchased for said Department on or after January 1, 1994 will become and remain the sole property of Sedgwick

County.” The 1994 joint resolution was effective for one year commencing January 1, 1994, but, “On December 31, 1994,

and on each December 31 thereafter, this agreement shall automatically renew for another yearly term unless either the

Board of Sedgwick County Commissioners or City Council of the City of Wichita, Kansas, shall terminate the

agreement.”

Since 1994, the consolidated Sedgwick County Emergency Communications Department became the primary Public

Safety Answer Point (PSAP) for all Fire, EMS and Police departments in Sedgwick County. The Wichita-Sedgwick

County Emergency Communications Advisory Board by-laws were modified to include representation from the City of

Derby (designated as a city of the first-class November 2020) Fire and Police departments, and one representative each for

“suburban” Law Enforcement and Fire to represent the cities of the second and third class which have Police and/or Fire

departments. The Advisory Board’s members are the Sedgwick County Sheriff, the Wichita Chief of Police, the Derby

Chief of Police, the Sedgwick County Fire District 1 Fire Chief, the Wichita Fire Chief, the Derby Fire Chief, the

Sedgwick County Emergency Medical Services Director, the Sedgwick County Emergency Management Director, the

County Manager’s appointee (Sedgwick County ITS Director), the City of Wichita Manager’s appointee (Assistant City

Manager), a representative of Suburban Police Departments, and a representative of Suburban Fire Departments.

On December 5, 2023 the Wichita-Sedgwick County Emergency Communications Advisory Board held a special meeting

regarding a fatal apartment building fire that occurred in Wichita on October 13, 2023. The Advisory Board voted

unanimously to recommend to the Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners and Wichita City Council that an

RFP #24-0003

Sedgwick County…Working for you

independent third-party entity or consortium initiate and complete a comprehensive review and analysis of Emergency

Communications and Fire Department operations, training, policy, procedures, common practices and actual performance

regarding the fatal apartment complex fire incident.

The Sedgwick County Emergency Communications Department is a consolidated, primary Public Safety Answer Point

(PSAP) and Radio Shop operation with a staffing table of 108 full time equivalent employees serving people in the

unincorporated areas and in twenty-one cities with 31 Police, Fire, and EMS departments in Sedgwick County.

Emergency Communications answers about 740,000 calls with 505,000 being emergency calls, responds to about 4,500

texts to 911, and processes almost 7.5 million radio transmissions per year. Their QI program conducted performance

standard reviews of 10,509 emergency events for standards compliance in 2022. The Kansas Department of

Transportation maintains workstations in the call center to monitor highway cameras. In 2023, COMCARE embedded

qualified mental health providers in the call center to manage behavioral health calls and directly respond to 9-1-1 callers

in crisis. By November 27, 2023, Emergency Communications had achieved 92% staffing, up from a post-pandemic low

of 65% in 2021. The Emergency Communications Department has traditionally been made up of dispatchers who serve

the dual roles of caller taker and dispatcher. The Director has been advocating for, and moving toward, a dedicated call

taker / dedicated dispatcher model to the extent that staffing levels have allowed. In 2023, with the expansion and remodel

of the Emergency Communications call center and staffing levels around 90%, the dedicated call taker model has begun to

show improvements in call answer times and fewer calls answered by dispatchers. Emergency Communications is a

member agency of, and meets the standards set forth by, the Kansas 911 Coordinating Council. Department leadership

strives to adhere to industry standards as established by the National Emergency Numbers Association (NENA).

The Wichita Fire Department is a full time, professional fire service comprised of an Emergency Operations Division,

Community Risk Reduction Division, and a Support Services Division, with a staffing table of 509.8 full time equivalent

employees serving an estimated 395,000 persons in the City of Wichita from 22 firehouses. The Wichita Fire Department,

in addition to fire suppression, provides other public safety services such as medical first response, hazardous materials

response, technical rescue response, firefighter safety and wellness, fire prevention, code administration, fire

investigation, and public education programming. Operations responds to more than 55,000 calls for service each year

with nearly 70% of responses being related to low-risk medical calls.

On April 18, 2023, Sedgwick County Emergency Communications “went live” with a new computer-aided dispatching

(CAD) software solution, replacing the previous Northrup Grumman CAD software which had been in service since April

22, 2008. Between April 2, 2023 and August 14, 2023, Emergency Communications operated from its back-up location in

the Wichita-Sedgwick County Law Enforcement Training Center on the Wichita State University Campus while the

Emergency Communications call center underwent demolition, expansion and a full remodel.

The CAD replacement process began in 2018 when Emergency Communications issued a Request for Information (RFI)

seeking information on CAD, Records Management and Jail Management solutions, after soliciting input from the

membership of the 911 Advisory Board. Sedgwick County Commissioners voiced funding support of $3 million across

fiscal years 2019 through 2021 to facilitate CAD acquisition and implementation, and support of an estimated $2 million

over the same time period in support of the Sheriff’s effort to implement an RMS - JMS solution in concert with the CAD

project. The Request for Proposals launched May 8, 2019, with representatives from Law Enforcement, EMS, Fire,

Emergency Communications, and the Division of Information Technology being invited to participate in the

demonstrations, product evaluations, and selection process. An RFP review committee comprised of Elora Forshee,

Deidra Messenger, Ron Zane, and Nathan Johnson - Emergency Communications; David Mattingly, Keith Allen, Bonny

Patrick, James Convey, Kelli Wint, Kimberly Kleinsorge, Lanon Thompson, and LaShelle O'Neal -Sheriff's Office; Lane

Pearman -Wichita Fire Department (WFD); Teddy Wisely -Wichita Police Department (WPD); Kevin Lanterman -

Emergency Medical Services (EMS); Zach Buckingham - Division of Information Technology (DIT); and Josh Lauber -

Purchasing reviewed and scored all responses based on criteria set forth in the RFP.

Tyler Technologies, Inc. was unanimously recommended for award. The selection committee’s recommendation was

approved by the Board of County Commissioners on April 22, 2020.

This RFP is being released as a joint effort to achieve the project objectives of both the county and the city, referred to as

the “agencies”. Sedgwick County is acting as the Lead Agency for the administration of this solicitation.

RFP #24-0003

Sedgwick County…Working for you

RFB/RFP	Due Date	Description	Document	Pre-bid Conference
24-0003	3/12/2024 1:45:00 PM	Fire and Emergency Communications (PSAP) Post Incident Analysis and System Improvement Services	RFP Addendum #1

Fire and Emergency Communications (PSAP) Post Incident Analysis and System Improvement Services

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