Telecommunications Relay Services

The Vendor is required to provide telecommunications relay services (TRS) allow persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, or have speech disabilities to communicate by telephone in a manner that is functionally equivalent to telephone services used by persons without such disabilities.
- Requirement:
1. Technical, functional mandatory minimum commission standards
•    Vendor shall comply with and meet or exceed all operational, technical and functional mandatory minimum standards in commission rules and order governing telecommunications relay service (TRS) - 47 CFR §64.604, subpart f, telecommunications relay services emergency calling requirements - 47 CFR §subpart e, and TRS customer proprietary network information - 47 CFR §subpart EE unless a waiver of specific regulations has been adopted by the commission.
2. Commencement
•    Vendor shall commence the uninterrupted availability of TRS no later than 12:01 a.m. Est on Wednesday, July 1, 2026
3. Business continuity or contingency plan
•    Develop and maintain a business continuity or contingency plan to maintain or minimize disruption or downtime in the delivery of TRS, to the maximum extent possible, in the event of force majeure, pandemics, epidemics, fire, riot, acts of god, terrorist acts or other acts of political sabotage, or war. 
•    Vendor shall provide a copy of the business contingency plan to department upon request. 
•    Vendor shall ensure proposer’s TRS centers are equipped with redundant systems for power, using a combination of battery backup, commercial uninterrupted power supply, or auxiliary generator to supply uninterruptible power supply to the TRS centers for a minimum of eight (8) hours. 
•    Redundant systems for power include automatic call distributor and telecom switching equipment, call processing servers, data network servers and local area network gear.
4. Upgrades and downtime
•    Vendor shall report significant scheduled TRS network upgrades at least two (2) business days prior to the event for any changes to the TRS platform. 
•    If vendor knows in advance that the event will negatively impact consumers or the provision of TRS, vendor shall notify department as early as practical, but not less than two (2) business days to assist in identifying options for mitigating impact and notifying consumers. 
•    Vendor shall notify department within one (1) business day if a major problem occurs, i.e., disruption or downtime of TRS that lasts more than fifteen (15) minutes. 
•    Vendor shall file a succinct report that includes at a minimum the following information:
o    Explanation of issue, 
o    How and when the issue occurred, 
o    What was required to rectify the issue, and 
o    Date and time TRS returned to full operation.
5. Interstate TRS fund annual state data request
•    Pursuant to commission order 07-186, vendor shall provide division with the data for interstate TRS fund state annual data request. 
•    Vendor shall submit the TRS fund annual data request to division two (2) weeks prior to the due date set by the commission each year.