This notice serves the purpose of a pre-notice. Please order the full document from MERX
Introduction
This Request for Proposal (“RFP”) is an invitation by the University of Ottawa (the “University”) to prospective proponents to submit non-binding proposals for the provision of a campus wide Emergency Mass Notification Software (EMNS) as further described in Part 2 – The Deliverables (the “Deliverables”).
Founded in 1848, the University of Ottawa (the “University”) is located in the heart of the nation’s capital, with a population of over 48,000 students, teaching and support staff. It is the largest bilingual (English-French) university in the world, and has the largest law school in the country. It was also ranked among Canada’s top 10 research universities.
For information related to the University of Ottawa, please visit the University’s website http://www.uottawa.ca/en
The University of Ottawa recognizes the importance of being prepared against internal and/or external security threats and potentially dangerous situations that could arise on campus. It is paramount to have a swift initial response and timely updates to effectively communicate with the University community in emergency situations. As such, the University is seeking to replace and enhance its Emergency Mass Notification Software (EMNS) capabilities and services available to students, staff, faculty and guests. To ensure the safety of everyone, the University’s Protection Services and Central IT department are looking to replace the current home grown EMNS and deploy a new hosted (cloud and SaaS) solution that will be used as the single activation point during emergency situations on campus.
Project Overview and Objectives
The current in-house Drupal-based EMNS is used by Protection Services and the Communications Directorate at the University of Ottawa. This system broadcasts concurrent bilingual emergency messages to other endpoints such as: uOttawa Twitter accounts, uOttawa Facebook accounts, Alertus desktop alerts, uOttawa’s SMS provider, SecurUO mobile safety app, uOttawa’s Emergency webpage, and uOttawa’s global website banners. In addition, uOttawa uses Mitel’s BlazeCast system to communicate bilingual emergency messages through email to the uOttawa community and to mobilize responders, such as the University’s Crisis Management Team.
Furthermore, to the provisioning of technical services, the successful Proponent should support EMNS and its various units in the deployment of university-wide best practices and implement consistent, effective and efficient processes across divisions and departments. As part of providing and assisting with the implementation of the solution, the Proponents will be required to provide training and knowledge transfer to the aforementioned groups so that they can use the system/solution independently.
In general, the University would prefer easy-to-manage licensing schemes, (for example, not on per-server basis), but based on a more inclusive and auditable set of user criteria (for example, the ability to track use by division or role). Proponents should be familiar not only with the needs of the marketplace, but also with comparative market pricing for educational technologies, and price their solutions accordingly, relatively, and realistically.
Proponents should also make themselves familiar with relevant institutional policies and guidelines.
All Proposals will need to include a Business Continuity plan and proof of high availability.
Proponents are expected to demonstrate the viability of their product within the institutional network, including providing evidence of prior successful EMNS implementations.
As the University has limited technical resources to work on this type of project, we are looking for a predominantly ‘out of the box’ SaaS solution with limited effort required by the University to integrate on premise systems and endpoints.
Solution Requirements
The EMNS solution is expected to meet the Mandatory Requirements in Appendix E and Non-Technical and Technical Criteria outlined in Appendix F.
Proponents should provide technical information sufficient to demonstrate how the proposed solution can meet or exceed the above expectations.
Our expectation is that your proposal will highlight the functional and technical capabilities of your solution based on your experience with similar deployments and the requirements laid out in this RFP. Include information about additional functionality you have available that you think the University could benefit from (include any pricing information in the Rate Bid Form (Appendix C) – additional rows may be added, if needed). Highlight what makes you stand out amongst your competitors and makes your solution the best value.
Mandatory Requirements
1-System must be a SaaS solution.
2-System must integrate with multiple endpoints:
Hosted
Email
Mobile app (AppArmor or custom)
Social media (Facebook, Twitter)
Website (uOttawa Emergency webpage and web banners)
On-premise
Desktop alerts (Alertus)
3- System must be able to launch alerts to different endpoints from a single point of activation.
4- System must be in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians Disabilities Act (AODA).
5- System must meet Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) and privacy laws - The private right of action came into force July 1, 2017.
6- All end-user facing communications or interfaces must be bilingual – notifications are sent in French and English simultaneously, end-user interfaces are displayed in French or English based on end-user language preference.
7- System must have full support of major mobile platforms iOS and Android.
8- System must support major mainstream web browsers Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox.
9.System must have the ability to receive all relevant contact data information from uOttawa’s HR (Banner) and Student Information systems (PeopleSoft).
