After Hours Answering Services

The vendor is required to provide from experienced and qualified suppliers with a proven and documented track record of providing telephone after-hours answering services for multiple departments within county.
- Contractor shall have sufficient staffing and supervision in place to handle the volume of services of this contract.
- Contractor shall have reliable internet access for routine correspondence.
- Contractor shall follow multiple after-hours call routing procedures for departments, which is associated with multiple functions of work.
- Contractor shall have at least one (1) incoming line with multiple roll-over routing capabilities.
- Contractor shall have a disaster plan for providing services to the county if a major storm or other emergency impacts the company’s ability to provide services.
- The contractor shall receive incoming calls from citizens who will be reporting emergency services or situations to the appropriate county department.
- Upon receiving a call, the vendor's operator shall obtain as much information as possible from the caller relative to the situation
- After being advised of the situation and assessing the nature of the call, when required, the operator shall immediately contact the designated county staff member to address the situation
- Immediately contact the designated county staff member to address the situation. callers not reporting an emergency shall be informed that they should call the appropriate department on the next business day.
- The event it is determined that a designated county staff member is to be contacted, and the individual cannot be immediately reached or is unable to respond, messages may be texted or left on voicemail and answering machines; however, the contractor’s operator shall continue to contact other county staff members from the contact list until an available person is reached.
- Provide a person(s), not a machine, to answer multiple calls from citizens during the designated hours of service needed by the county.
- The contractor shall be prepared at any time to provide continuous service on a 24-hour basis, 365 days per year during the contract period if deemed necessary by the county.
- The frequency of this change shall be at the discretion of the county. call lists or contact numbers of designated staff shall not be provided to citizens.
- The contractor shall provide answering services utilizing clear and effective communication skills in both english and Spanish
- The contractor shall ensure that all incoming calls are handled immediately (no more than five rings).
- The vendor shall have present at all times adequate, efficient, and courteous operators to effectively accommodate all calls and provide the required service. incoming calls shall not be placed on hold for an excessive period (over one (1) minute) continually
- The contractor shall maintain and archive an audio recording of each call with the ability to easily retrieve the recorded call and email to the appropriate county staff upon request.
- Call recordings and documentation must remain archived for a minimum of 60 days.
- Calls that require county personnel to respond shall be achieved by utilizing the standby call-out log for the appropriate department which will be provided by the county.
- The call order shall be as follows:
• Call 1st contact on their primary number, leave a message, wait five (5) minutes for a callback.
• Call 1st contact on their secondary number, leave a message, wait five (5) minutes for a callback
• Call 2nd contact on their primary number, leave a message, wait five (5) minutes for a callback
• Call 2nd contact on their secondary number, leave a message, wait five (5) minutes for a callback then (if no 2nd number wait ten (10) minutes
• Call 3rd contact on their primary number, leave a message, wait 5 minutes for a callback
• Call 3rd contact on their secondary number, leave a message, wait 5 minutes for a callback then (if no 2nd number wait 10 minutes)
• Repeat until a representative is reached  - The contractor shall maintain a log of all incoming and outgoing phone calls consisting of the following information:
1. Incoming calls
• Person taking call
• Full name of caller
• Address
• Telephone number
• Reason for call
• Type of service needed
• Action taken
2. Outgoing calls
• Date and time of outbound call
• Person placing the call
• Name of county’s staff member/designee on duty
• Name of county’s staff member/designee call was relayed to
• Number of times the county’s staff member/designee was called
• Confirmation of verbal contact with county staff member/designee
3. Outbound text messages
• Date and time of outbound text
• Operator sending the text
• Name of county’s staff member/designee on duty
• Name of county’s staff member/designee text was sent to
• Confirmation of text message received by county staff member/designee
- Call reports shall be submitted in a format that is easy for the department to read and understand.
- Reports shall consist of the following information:
• Date call was taken
• Time call was received
• Type of service required
• Time call relayed to county staff member/designee
• Customer name
• Customer address
• Customer telephone number
• Details of call (action/service requested and location)
• Information provided to customer
• Name of any other county personnel on the call list who were contacted but were unable to respond, and the order in which they were contacted
• Confirmation of verbal contact with county personnel
- Public works division
• Road and bridge (potholes, pavement issues, items in roadway)
• Drainage and stormwater (flooding, blocked stormwater pipes and ditches)
• Forestry and mowing (downed trees, branches, long grass in right-of-way)
• Sign and signal (traffic lights out, missing signs, signal timing)
• Mosquito control  - Water resources department
• Water and wastewater treatment facility operations
• Monitoring and laboratory functions
• Maintenance of the distribution and collection systems
• Customer service (billing, collections)
• Field services to customers for water/sewer services provided by the water resources department  - Schedule and hours of service
1. The contractor shall receive phone calls according to the following schedule:
• Monday through Thursday: each day from 5:00 pm – 8:00 am the following day.
• Friday through Monday: continuously from 5:00 pm Friday until 8:00 am Monday.
• Holidays as specified: continuously for 24 hours.
• Services may be required during daytime hours for call overload periods.
• Communication will be sent via email by customer service and support management 24-hours in advance.
• Services may be required during emergencies and major storm events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, or other emergencies.
- Pricing and invoicing
• The contractor shall provide the cost of a one-time set-up fee per department to establish account set-up and handling of the telephone switch forwarding activities.
• The contractor shall provide a monthly base rate for each department assigned.
• Monthly base rate shall cover fees associated with administrative costs and inclusive of an initial 500 minutes for that month.
• Initial 500 minutes shall be inclusive of incoming calls received, outgoing calls placed, and text notifications made.
• The contractor shall provide a “per minute” rate for each minute over 500.
• The contractor shall invoice each department once per month and shall include the monthly report.
- Contract Period/Term: 3 years