RFI - Water Meter Infrastructure Eval

27-01 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)
City of Kannapolis, North Carolina
Water Meter and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Evaluation
Issue Date: July 27, 2026
The City of Kannapolis, NC (referred herein as the "City" or "Kannapolis") invites qualified water
meter manufacturers, authorized representatives, AMI providers, systems integrators, and related
solution providers to submit a response to this Request for Information (RFI). The purpose of this
RFI is to help the City gather information on the available water meter technology, Advanced
Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems, and to identify vendors that may be considered for a future
Request for Proposals (RFP), demonstration, interview, pilot, or other procurement phases.
Kannapolis provides drinking water to over 23,000 metered accounts serving residential,
commercial, institutional, and other customer types across the City's existing service area. The
City currently utilizes smart water meters as an efficient ways to read and automate monthly
billings. The City realizes the age of the meters and associated infrastructure is approaching 15
years old in areas, thus replacement and upgrades are being considered. This RFI is the next
step for City of Kannapolis to start exploring future metering system upgrades, the latest metering
technologies, and continuing to seek the best offerings for the Kannapolis citizens and customers.
Should the City decide to move forward with an RFP or additional procurement means, additional
information will be supplied for existing meter inventory, data necessary for radio / propagation
studies, and exact service area.
This RFI is for information, education, and planning purposes only. It is not a request for pricing
and does not obligate the City to purchase equipment or services, issue a future solicitation, or
select any respondent. The City reserves the right to reject any and all submittals.
Scope of Information Requested
Respondents should provide concise information that allows the City to understand the
respondent team, available technologies, implementation approach, operational impacts, and
long-term support requirements. More specifically, the response should include the following
sections and information in RFI submittal:
1. Vendor/Representative Team: Identify the primary responding firm, roles in the proposed
solution, manufacturer or representative status, general key contacts, current office
locations, and any anticipated teaming partners or subcontractors.
PUBLIC WORKS 401 LAUREATE WAY / KANNAPOLIS, N.C. 28081
704-920-4200 / WWW.KANNAPOLISNC.GOV
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2. Relevant Experience: Provide municipal water utility references for projects of
comparable size and complexity, including meter quantities, AMI technology, software
platform, implementation role, deployment date, and current operating status.
3. Water Meter Technology: Describe available meter types (ultrasonic is preferred),
available sizes, registers, accuracy standards, low-flow performance, tamper/reverse
flow/leak indicators, materials of body and register, factory testing procedures, warranty,
and expected service life. General information should be provided on availability of
products and domestic percentage of such products.
4. Endpoint and AMI Network Technology: Describe endpoint capabilities, battery life,
communications method, fixed network equipment, drive-by equipment, coverage
planning, redundancy for AMI network, read success guarantees, data latency, and
upgrade path. Describe meter / endpoint routing and typical migration strategy when
deploying with existing AMI networks. Provide annual percentage of network/meter
downtime excluding scheduled maintenance for the last 3 years. Provide guaranteed AMI
system availability percentage. General information should be provided on availability of
products and domestic percentage for such products.
5. Software, Data Management, and Integration: Describe the AMI head-end, meter data
management, reporting tools, data ownership, export capabilities, and integration methods
for billing/CIS, GIS, work orders, and related City systems. Project information on available
and supported customer engagement portal or other interface options. All software or
programs needed to manage, operate, and interface with the meters and transmitters shall
be listed and described with their respective functionality.
6. Implementation and Transition Support: Describe project planning, site surveys, meter
exchange support, inventory control, installation QA/QC, photo documentation, data
migration, testing, cutover, training, schedule management, and risks requiring City
decisions.
7. Operations, Warranty, and Long-Term Support: Describe available training, technical
support, service levels, spare parts, warranty administration, software/firmware updates,
product availability, and long-term support commitments. RFI submittal shall include return
rate (classified by size, warranty, and non-warranty) for meters and endpoints based on
calendar year 2025 or the most recent information available.
8. Cybersecurity and Data Privacy: Describe hosting model, access controls, encryption,
backups, disaster recovery, incident response, audit/reporting practices, and any available
security certifications or third-party audit reports.
9. Exceptions: Identify exceptions, assumptions, or limitations of the respondent based on
the subject RFI. No pricing or cost information should be included.
Submittal Requirements
Each RFI response should be presented in the following general format:
1. Cover Letter: Designate the respondent contact person with address, telephone number,
and email. Provide summary of team and metering system being submitted. Confirm that
the response does not include pricing or cost information. Cover letter shall be a maximum
of 2 pages and does not count in total page limit.
2. RFI Submittal Organization: Respondents shall use the sections and narratives listed in
the "Scope of Information Requested" to create the RFI submittal package. Each section
should be tabbed and labeled using the Section
PUBLIC WORKS 401 LAUREATE WAY / KANNAPOLIS, N.C. 28081
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3. Submittal Page Limit: Limit the main response to 20 pages (including front and back) with
a minimum font size of 11 point. Key personnel resumes should be brief and concise
(included in the page limit). Section dividers will not count toward the page limit. Technical
data such as submittal cut sheets, product literature, and warranty information can be
included as a Supporting Materials as described below and will not count towards page
limit.
4. Supporting Materials: Respondents may include technical documentation of equipment
data sheets, product quality assurance, warranty support, detailed project references,
sample implementation schedule, sample AMI reports or dashboards, and cybersecurity
documentation as applicable. These supporting materials will not count towards the 20-
page limit and respondents are encouraged to keep all attachments concise and organized.
5. General Requirements: Submit six (6) hard copies and two (2) electronic copies on a
USB/thumb drive, in a sealed envelope labeled City of Kannapolis, NC, Water Meter and
AMI Evaluation Project, along with the submitter's name and address clearly indicated on
the envelope. Submittals must be received by the Due Date listed herein or modified by
formal addendum issued by the City.
6. No Pricing: Do not include pricing, cost estimates, fee schedules, budgetary pricing,
commercial terms, or other cost information.
7. Public Records: Responses may be subject to North Carolina public records
requirements. Clearly identify any information believed to be confidential or proprietary and
provide the legal basis for that designation.
8. Questions: All questions related to this project should be submitted in writing to the
contacts listed below by a date shown in the RFI schedule. Responses to questions may
be issued by written addendum if deemed necessary by the City.
Anticipated RFI Schedule:
RFI issue date: July 27, 2026
Deadline for written questions: August 5, 2026 by 5:00 pm
Response/addendum date: August 14, 2026 by 5:00 pm
RFI Submittal Due Date: August 24, 2026 by 2:00 pm
City review and evaluations: September 11, 2026
PUBLIC WORKS 401 LAUREATE WAY / KANNAPOLIS, N.C. 28081
704-920-4200 / WWW.KANNAPOLISNC.GOV
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Contact Information for Questions and Submittal
For Questions during the RFI advertising period:
Cailin Howe
LKC Engineering, PLLC
390 W. Pennsylvania Avenue
Southern Pines, NC 28387
phone: (910) 420-1437
e-mail: cailin@LKCengineering.com
Logan Parsons, P.E.
LKC Engineering, PLLC
390 W. Pennsylvania Avenue
Southern Pines, NC 28387
phone: (910) 420-1437
e-mail: logan@LKCengineering.com
City of Kannapolis
Attn: Alex Anderson, Director of Water Resources
401 Laureate Way
Kannapolis, NC 28081
phone: 704-920-4252
Email: aanderson@kannapolisnc.gov
All questions must be submitted by email in order to be considered. Please direct questions to
all persons listed above.
Submittals are Due at this Location:
City of Kannapolis
Attn: Alex Anderson, Director of Water Resources
401 Laureate Way
Kannapolis, NC 28081
phone: 704-920-4252
Email: aanderson@kannapolisnc.gov
PUBLIC WORKS 401 LAUREATE WAY / KANNAPOLIS, N.C. 28081
704-920-4200 / WWW.KANNAPOLISNC.GOV
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Evaluation of RFI Responses
The City intends to review responses based on qualifications, capabilities, clarity, and alignment
with the City's objectives. The City may request clarifications, contact references, request
demonstrations or interviews, shortlist vendors for a later procurement, or take no further action.
Evaluation considerations may include:
1. Relevant municipal water meter and AMI experience, including comparable utility
references and current operating installations.
2. Qualifications and role clarity of the manufacturer, authorized representative, integrator,
software provider, and support team.
3. Meter, endpoint, communications network, read performance, product quality, warranty,
and lifecycle capabilities.
4. Software, reporting, customer engagement, data ownership/export, billing/CIS, GIS, work
order integration, cybersecurity, and data privacy capabilities.
5. Implementation planning, meter exchange support, QA/QC, training, long-term support,
and risk management.
This RFI does not create a formal award process or guarantee that any respondent will be
shortlisted. The City reserves the right to reject any and all responses, waive informalities, modify
this process, or discontinue the RFI at any time.
Attachments
RFI Evaluation and Scoring Matrix
PUBLIC WORKS 401 LAUREATE WAY / KANNAPOLIS, N.C. 28081
704-920-4200 / WWW.KANNAPOLISNC.GOV
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ATTACHMENT #1
City of Kannapolis, North Carolina
Water Meter and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Evaluation
RFI Evaluation and Scoring Matrix
Reviewer: ________________________________ Respondent: ________________________________
Evaluation Category Max Reviewer Notes Reviewer
Points Score
Vendor/team qualifications and
20
relevant municipal experience
Meter, endpoint, and AMI
network capabilities and 25
warranty
Software, data management,
20
integration, and cybersecurity
Implementation, training, and
20
long-term support
Completeness, clarity,
exceptions, and fit for City 15
objectives
Total 100
Reviewers may assign partial points within each category.
Total Score: ______ / 100
Key strengths:
Key concerns / questions:
Recommended for RFP Submittal? Yes / No / Maybe