Phone and Circuit Services

Haralson County
Haralson County
Request for Proposal
Phone and Circuit Services
ISSUED DATE: SEPTEMBER 25, 2026
SUBMISSION DEADLINE DATE: OCTOBER 27, 2026 12:00 PM EST
RFP COORDINATOR:
JULIA WATSON
HARALSON COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
(770) 646-2002
155 VAN WERT STREET
BUCHANAN, GA 30113
WWW.HARALSONCOUNTYGA.GOV
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Haralson County
Table of Contents
1 Request for Proposal (RFP) 3
2 Introduction to Haralson County 3
3 Overview of Current Haralson County Technical Environment 3
4 Service Requirements 4
6 Response Contents and Format 5
7 Information Requirements 5
7.1 Corporate Information 5
7.2 Proposed Approach and Solution 6
7.3 Support 6
7.4 Financials 6
8 Communications and Response 6
9 Notification of Intent to Respond and Clarification Questions 7
10 Response Delivery Instructions 7
11 Vendor Questions 7
12 Key Dates (all times are EST) 7
13 No Obligation 7
14 Agreement of Non-Disclosure 7
15 No Guarantee 7
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Haralson County
1 Request for Proposal (RFP)
Haralson County Board of Commissioners invites you to respond to this Request for Proposal (RFP). The focus
of the RFP is to select an organization to work with the county's managed IT vendor to provide managed phone
services/support to Haralson County local government over a three-year period, beginning on January 1, 2027 and
ending no later than January 1, 2030. This MUST be a fixed cost proposal, with exceptions for large or unplanned
projects.
The proposal format on the sealed envelope must be as follows:
Title: Phone RFP 2026 Proposal
Company Name: XXX
Point of Contact: Name and phone number
2 Introduction to Haralson County
Haralson County is a vibrant county in west Georgia. With a population of over 29,000 the county is located
approximately one hour west of Atlanta, Ga, and borders Carroll County and Paulding County. The county
values its excellent resources for public education, sustained growth, and quality of life of its residents, small-
town atmosphere, and close-knit low crime communities. There is a professional staff of 267 full-time
employees.
3 Overview of Current Haralson County Technical Environment
Who oversees the environment? - Julia Watson, County Clerk and a vCIO, Cabot Howell
Firewall is Fortigate 100F located at 911 center - one live and one cold backup spare are in
place
Infrastructure is designed for redundant transport of voice services over a primary circuit via ATT fiber with
backup utilizing Parker FiberNet. All web activity, other than phone traffic, is over the Parker FiberNet fiber
circuit centralized at the E911 center. Dark fiber is utilized in connecting all the office buildings back to the
E911 center building but for the Sheriff's Office/Jail as it traverses another vendor along the railroad on Hwy
27, handled by Parker Systems. Secure wireless access points in every government building for government
business only utilizing Cisco Meraki wifi. Fax over IP for 12 traditional fax machines.
* Switches
911 Center - 1 48 port live, 1 48 port hot spare - 1 10 port switch live , 1 10 port switch hot spare -
o
1 12 port aggregate switch live, 1 12 port aggregate switch hot spare
Commissioners Office - 1 48 port switch live
o
Tax Assessors Office - 1 48 port switch live
o
Tax Commissioner's office - 1 48 port switch live
o
Public works - 1 48 port switch live
o
Recreational Center - 1 48 port switch live
o
Animal Control - 1 48 port switch live
o
District Attorney - 1 48 port switch live
o
Fire Station - 1 48 port switch live
o
Court house - 3 48 port switches live, 2 10 port switches live
o
Sheriff's office - 2 48 port switch live - 1 24 port switch live
o
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Haralson County
WAPS x 25
o
Phone Service:
* Phones extensions (Office seats) x 165
* DIDs x 62
* Fax Service x 12
* SMTP Relay
* 100Mbps internet connection at 911 center for phone service and as a redundant data path
Number of handsets:
Device Type Count
Polycom SoundPoint IP 335 90
Polycom VVX3xx 39
Polycom VVX4xx 15
Polycom SoundPoint IP 450 14
Polycom SoundPoint IP 650 3
Panasonic Cordless 2
4 Service Requirements
As part of this RFP, the following services are the current priority items for Haralson County:
Phone system and phone support -
a. Provide a dedicated circuit for voice traffic outside of existing fiber, for which the
existing fiber circuit will be used for redundancy
b. Must include any and all devices required to terminate dedicated primary circuit
c. Have redundancy plan in place with documentation
d. Provide plan and system to manage call flows
e. Must be capable of preparing customer service record (CSR) and local service request
(LSR) for phone-number ports
f. Must work with IT provider to configure routers and switches for voice and data
network presently consisting of at least 13 VLANs
g. Must include CPE for quality control and traffic prioritization
h. Must be able to support existing Polycom handsets or provide a creative solution
i. Provide ATA devices for continued use of existing analog fax machine
j. Auto Attendant for multiple departments
k. Hunt groups for multiple departments; at least 20 hunt groups
l. Presence feature capable
m. Long Distance charges included estimated 3000 min/month
Fax over IP - IP based fax offering for 12 fax machines - provide the hardware and service for
such ATA devices that translate analog into digital.
Implementation planning and guidance - Assistance in deployment planning and execution.
Architectural Documentation - Any changes made, and new implemented systems/policies
will be documented.
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Haralson County
Coordinated support system - The phone system vendor shall be required to work
collaboratively and coordinate directly with the County's designated IT provider throughout all
phases of the project, including planning, design, implementation, testing, training, support, and
ongoing maintenance. The vendor must demonstrate a willingness and ability to partner with
the County's IT provider to ensure the proposed phone solution is properly designed, securely
integrated, and aligned with the County's existing technology infrastructure, network
environment, cybersecurity requirements, operational needs, and long-term strategic goals.
Failure or refusal to coordinate effectively with the County's IT provider may be
considered a material failure to meet the requirements of the RFP and may affect
proposal evaluation, award decisions, or contract continuation.
5 Selection Criteria
Haralson County will use multiple criteria to select the most appropriate partner. Respondents are encouraged to
be as aggressive and creative as possible in their proposals. The following list summarizes the major qualitative
areas that will be evaluated, along with their overall weighting.
Industry expertise and experience
Demonstrated customer service quality and support
Previous relevant experience
Phone system offering and phone support
Reporting capabilities
Financial considerations
Creative solutions for Value-Add offerings
Backup, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plans
6 Response Contents and Format
Please complete all sections of the RFP. If additional material is required for one or more questions, please label
attachments clearly and reference them in your response. Your response to this RFP will serve as the basis for the
consideration of your potential as a partner.
7 Information Requirements
For the purposes of understanding more about your company and your ability to successfully fulfill this important
Haralson County requirement, please provide the information below as part of your response, clearly referencing
each specific question.
7.1 Corporate Information
1. Give a brief overview of your organization's involvement in providing IT value added services in the
marketplace.
2. How long has the organization been in this business and what is your current market share?
3. Provide your organization's annual sales volume?
4. Indicate the number of employees in your organization. How many of those are dedicated to account
management and/or technical support?
5. How many are full-time vs. contract?
6. What differentiates your organization from your competitors in the marketplace and how will
this be relevant to us?
7. Please describe your organization's experience in transitioning clients to public or private cloud
technology from more traditional IT service models.
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Haralson County
8. Please provide details of at least two current customer accounts that are similar in scope and
requirements to those of Haralson County.
9. May want to contact customers and verify services (contact info of two current customers)
7.2 Proposed Approach and Solution
1. Please provide a proposed work plan for a migration to your organization as a Haralson County
preferred vendor. Specifically, provide the following information:
i. Key activities
ii. Timing
iii. Information/resource requirements from Haralson County
iv. Deliverables
v. Key milestones, checkpoints, and other decision points
2. If we elect to move forward with your organization, what Haralson County resources would
you require (e.g., information, data, staff resources, communication) during the course of
migration and on an ongoing basis?
3. Please identify the team that will be assigned to the account and describe how you plan to
interact with us and any third party providers that may provide services to Haralson County.
4. Please describe in detail a phone system and phone service install your company deployed for an
organization of 150 users or more.
7.3 Support
1. Describe fully your technical support options including the assistance request process, escalation
process, support hours, response times, staffing levels, staff expertise, and physical location of
the help desk.
2. Please provide details on your standard reporting capabilities.
3. Describe any documentation and support (e.g., user manuals, online help, interactive demos, web-
based seminars, and online knowledge base) that will be available, both from the technical perspective
and the end user perspective.
4. How do you monitor customer satisfaction and quality assurance on an ongoing basis and how
might Haralson County benefit from this process?
5. The Haralson County user base varies considerably in its level of technical sophistication. Please
describe your experience in successfully supporting users that may be remote and possess limited
technical skills.
7.4 Financials
1. Describe the pricing model(s) that you typically employ for your standard services.
2. Do you offer service bundles and if so, describe the effect of this bundling on pricing.
8 Communications and Response
Julia Watson is the designated Haralson County representative for this initiative. For any information, relative to
this RFP, please direct all inquiries to her contact information is as follows:
Julia Watson, County Clerk
Haralson County Board of Commissioners
155 Van Wert Street
Buchanan, GA 30113
Juliawatson@haralsoncountyga.gov
(770)646-2002
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Haralson County
9 Notification of Intent to Respond and Clarification Questions
Please indicate your intention to respond, by email, to the above email address by the Intent to Respond and Questions
Due date outlined in the Key Dates table below. In addition, please provide the contact details of the individual
responsible for coordinating your RFP response. Answers will be provided to all respondents by the Answers
Provided date.
10 Response Delivery Instructions
Please submit a sealed bid of your proposal to the address indicated in the Communications and Response section
above. No email submissions will be accepted. All responses must be received no later than 12:00 pm ET on the
Sealed Proposals Due date indicated in the Key Dates section below. Please DO NOT bind the proposal. It is
preferred that the proposal be clipped or loose leaf in a folder.
The proposal format, on unbound paper, on the sealed envelope must be as follows:
Title: Phone RFP 2026 Proposal
Company Name: XXX
Point of Contact: Name and phone number
11 Vendor Questions
A question-and-answer virtual meeting is scheduled for 10/02/2026 at 10 am. All interested vendors must attend
this Q&A meeting for clarification. Any pertinent information can be requested at this meeting. A virtual meeting
invitation must be obtained by email from Julia Watson at juliawatson@haralsoncountyga.gov by 5 pm EST on
09/30/26. All bidding vendors must provide intent to respond to the RFP by the date below.
12 Key Dates (all times are EST)
RFP Issued 09/25/2026
Mandatory MS Teams meeting 10/02/2026 at 10:00 AM EST
Questions Due by 10/06/2026 by 5:00 PM EST
Answers by 10/13/2026 by 5:00 PM EST
Intent to Respond Due 10/16/2026 by 5:00 PM EST
Sealed Proposals Due 10/27/2026 by 12:00 PM EST
13 No Obligation
The submission of a proposal shall not in any manner obligate Haralson County to enter into a contract or to
be responsible for the costs incurred by your organization in responding to this request.
14 Agreement of Non-Disclosure
This document is proprietary and shall not be disclosed to any other party. It is designed, developed, and
submitted to potential partners of Haralson County solely for the benefit of Haralson County.
15 No Guarantee
Haralson County makes no guarantee of future volumes and offers volume information for directional
purposes only, to assist vendors with proposal preparation.
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