Request for Proposal (RFP) Internet, Phone, and TV Services

pdf for printing

Issued by:

Waterman Communities, Inc. / DBA Waterman Village 250 Brookfield Ave, Mount Dora, FL 32757

Date: January 31, 2025

Timeline: Schedule of Events and Deadlines

• Bid Release Date: February 3, 2025
• Site Visits/Necessary Discovery: February 10 – February 28, 2025
• Question Submittal Deadline: March 3, 2025, no later than 2PM EST
• Q&A Responses: March 10th, 2025 (Answers will be posted on a continuous basis during the response period up to this date)
• Submission Deadline: March 14, 2025, no later than 5PM EST
• Evaluation Period: March 15 – March 31, 2025
• Announcement of Finalists: April 1, 2025
• Finalist Presentations and Negotiations: April 1 – April 11, 2025
• Tentative Award Date: April 12, 2025
• Effective Date: TBA

Executive Summary

Waterman Village seeks a qualified vendor to deliver reliable, comprehensive Internet, Phone, and TV services for its residents. This service will support the daily lives and well-being of our residents across two communities, The Oaks and Lakeside, and aligns with our commitment to providing the highest level of care and connectivity. This RFP outlines the requirements, timeline, and a preliminary questionnaire, aiming to partner with a vendor who shares our values and dedication to resident satisfaction.

1.  Overview

Waterman Village, a Multi-Service Level Retirement Community in Mount Dora, Florida, invites proposals from qualified vendors to deliver comprehensive Internet, Phone, and TV services across our two communities: The Oaks and Lakeside. This RFP aims to secure an upgraded, reliable service to replace our existing contracts, which are nearing the end of their terms. The awarded contract is expected to commence in August 2025, with an initial term of three years and options for renewal. If significant cost savings can be achieved with a longer-term contract, we invite vendors to provide pricing for multiple terms and contract durations.

2.  Background

Waterman Village supports a diverse resident community with a range of living options, including Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, Skilled Nursing facilities and Common Area spaces

Community Scope:

Lakeside

• • Independent Living – 159 residential addresses consisting of multi-story and single-story homes
  • Memory Support – 24 units and common space
  • Lifestyle Center – Common area space

The Oaks

• Independent Living – 259 residential addresses consisting of single-story duplex and quadraplex homes
• Assisted Living – 77 units in multi-story building with common space
• Skilled Nursing – 120 beds and common space
• Lodge – Common area space

Stable, high-quality Internet, Phone, and TV services are essential for resident engagement, telehealth access, and social connectivity.

3.  Project Scope and Objectives

The selected vendor will deliver stable and high-quality Internet, Phone, and TV services that ensure residents can seamlessly connect with family, access telehealth services, and participate in digital activities. This partnership aims to elevate the quality of life within our community through reliable connectivity solutions that prioritize user experience and responsive customer support. Existing infrastructure to be discussed during site visits to identify future use by the selected vendor.

4.  Expected Challenges and Solution Requirements

The current system has experienced frequent interruptions and response delays. Waterman Village requires a solution that mitigates these issues through robust technical infrastructure, reliable service level adherence, and dedicated customer support. The selected vendor must demonstrate proven experience in managing large-scale, multifaceted residential communities.

5.  Questionnaire

All responses must include the following questions restated and answered completely and directly to the best of your ability. Any omission or intentional misrepresentation will result in disqualification from this proposal process. If any company has a nonprofit service for residential nursing facilities or any agreement with a different company that offers it, please disclose this below as well.

5.1.  Company profile

1. Provide a company overview to include accomplishments, pertinent news releases, key executives’ bios, and accreditations.
2. Briefly describe the history and organization of your
3. Describe the firm’s experience in successfully providing the different types of services offered and how they meet the needs of Waterman Village.
4. What are the types of organizations your clients represent?
5. Do you have experience working with retirement communities of this type or at this scale? Provide examples and a description of how the solution rendered may be similar to what you will propose for Waterman Village.
6. What are your minimum and typical contract duration terms?
7. Describe your onboarding and implementation process and approach if you were selected. Please include a proposed relative
8. Describe your support teams and support
9. How will Waterman Village residents contact support? Describe your typical service level agreements for this level of support.
10. Are you prepared to articulate your service model, process and procedures to support individual needs?
11. How will Waterman Village staff contact support? Are there alternate contacts and escalations for service tickets unresolved in a timely manner? If so, please
12. Please provide 3 references, to include contact names, phone numbers, email addresses, number of years of service, type of industry and a summary of services
13. Provide letters of recommendation (if available).
14. What differentiates your organization from your competitors in the marketplace?
15. Where are support centers and support staff located?
16. What are the terms for on-site response to single-node, multiple-node, and complete service outages? In-person and virtually?

Voice Services

1. Can you provide an overview of the server architecture you use for delivering your voice services?
2. How does this ensure scalability, reliability, and performance? How is it optimized for voice communication tailored to large residential communities, such as retirement homes or senior living facilities?
3. Describe the key technical specifications of the servers that support your voice service platform (e.g., CPU, memory, storage, network bandwidth)?
4. Describe how these specifications impact service
5. How do you handle server redundancy and failover to ensure high availability for voice services? What measures do you put in place to minimize
6. Can you describe the security protocols implemented on your servers for voice service delivery, particularly for data privacy and protection?
7. How do you ensure compliance with industry standards such as GDPR, HIPAA,
8. What monitoring and management tools do you use to ensure optimal server performance for voice services? How do these tools help prevent service disruptions?
9. How do you scale your server infrastructure in response to growing demand or increased traffic for voice services?
10. Describe your strategy for dynamic scaling and resource
11. Can you provide an outline of your backup and disaster recovery plans for the voice service servers? How do these plans ensure minimal service interruption.
12. How do you ensure compatibility between your voice servers and third-party equipment or platforms (e.g., SIP phones, PBX systems)? Explain the process for integration and
13. Do you provide any custom configurations or dedicated servers for large-scale enterprise voice service deployments? Provide options available for customization and respective benefits.

TV Services

1. What type of server infrastructure do you use to deliver TV services (e.g., streaming, broadcast, cloud-based)?
2. How does your infrastructure support seamless content delivery tailored to large residential communities, such as retirement homes or senior living facilities?
3. Can you detail the bandwidth and storage capacity of the servers that support your TV services?
4. How do resources ensure high-quality video
5. How do you manage server load balancing to ensure consistent quality of service for your TV services, especially during peak usage times?
6. How do you mitigate potential service degradation?
7. Can you explain the process for scaling the TV service server infrastructure to meet increasing subscriber numbers?
8. How you adjust server capacity dynamically based on user demand?
9. Do you provide any specialized servers or configurations for on-demand TV content delivery (e.g., VOD)? How do these servers differ from those used for live streaming? If an alternative solution is recommended, provide that here.
10. How do you integrate content delivery networks (CDNs) into your server architecture to improve TV service performance?
11. How do CDNs enhance the user experience?
12. Do you support DVR recording capability? If so, for up to how many programs simultaneously and for how many approximate hours of storage per resident?

Internet Services

1. Can you provide a detailed description of the bandwidth options available in your Internet service offerings tailored to large residential communities, such as retirement homes or senior living facilities?
2. How can these bandwidth options be scaled to meet both current and future customer needs?
3. How do you manage and allocate bandwidth to ensure consistent service quality, especially during periods of peak demand?
4. Describe the mechanisms you use for load balancing and traffic
5. What measures do you have in place to ensure that your network infrastructure can handle increasing bandwidth demand as customer usage grows?
6. Outline your strategy for upgrading and expanding your network infrastructure over time and how you anticipate future requirements and design your network upgrades to accommodate them.
7. How do you plan to keep up with technological innovations (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi 7, fiber optics, etc.) that could drive demand for higher bandwidth in the future?
8. How are you incorporating new technologies into your service offerings?
9. How do you handle network congestion and throttling, particularly during high-traffic periods or in areas with dense populations? Describe your approach to managing congestion and ensuring optimal speeds.
10. Can you provide insight into how your infrastructure is prepared for the anticipated growth of data-heavy applications such as streaming, IoT, and cloud computing?
11. How are your current bandwidth capabilities adaptable to support the demand trends?
12. What is your strategy for network optimization and handling increasing demand for high- speed, low-latency services, especially in industries like gaming, telemedicine, and remote work going forward.
13. How do you ensure quality of service (QoS) for high-bandwidth applications while maintaining affordability for all customer tiers?
14. Can you explain your approach to providing scalable bandwidth solutions for residential customers as they adopt increasingly bandwidth-intensive services?
15. How do your offerings cater to both individual residents and the larger enterprise’s needs?
16. What are the minimum and maximum Internet speeds your service supports for large communities like retirement homes or senior living facilities? Explain how these speeds accommodate typical usage, such as video conferencing, streaming, telemedicine, gaming, and general browsing.
17. What speeds do you recommend for typical residential units within a retirement community, considering that residents will use the Internet for activities like streaming, virtual fitness classes, stock trading, telemedicine appointments, gaming and online social engagement?
18. Outline the key determinants for appropriate speeds based on different types of usage?
19. Do you offer scalability and higher-speed options for residents who may require more robust bandwidth for gaming or data mining? Explain the level of flexibility

IX.   Inquiry Period and Site Visits

• Inquiry Period Start Date: February 10, 2025
• Inquiry Period End Date: March 3, 2025

All questions related to this RFP must be directed to Blander Brioso at RFP2025@watermanvillage.com. To ensure an organized and efficient inquiry process, vendors are requested to submit questions with the following format in the subject line: Waterman Village RFP Inquiry – [Vendor Name]. Responses to all inquiries will be provided by March 10, 2025.

• Site Visits/Necessary Discovery: February 10 – February 28, 2025. Schedule and coordinate site visits with Blander Site visits during this time are to be strictly done for the purpose of discovery and to gather the information necessary to complete a bid. Finalists will have an opportunity to present their solutions to the appropriate team.

X.  Submission Instructions

Submit your proposal by email in PDF format by March 14, 2025, to:

Waterman Village Retirement Community

Attn: Blander Brioso, 150 Waterman Ave, Mount Dora, FL 32757 Email: RFP2025@watermanvillage.com

XI.   Decision Date

The selected provider will be announced on April 1, 2025. Waterman Village reserves the right to award this in-part, in-full, or not at all to the bidders to this RFP and is not liable for any cost incurred in the pursuit of any prospective bid.

XII.  Post-Award Obligations

The selected vendor will be required to conduct quarterly reviews with Waterman Village’s appointed liaison to assess service quality, address issues, and evaluate opportunities for service improvements.

XIII.   Disclaimer

Waterman Village reserves the right to modify, suspend, or terminate this RFP at any time. Issuance of this RFP does not obligate Waterman Village to award a contract, nor does it commit to reimburse vendors for any costs associated with preparing or submitting proposals.

XIV. Additional Information

For further details, please contact Blander Brioso at RFP2025@watermanvillage.com. All communication regarding this RFP must be directed to the point of contact specified. Attempts to contact other staff members may result in disqualification.