2:00 PM Pacific Time on Thursday, March 9, 2023

CITY OF SEATTLE
NOTICE TO CONSULTANTS
Request for Proposals (RFP) for

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NICE Software Development & Support Services
SPU RFP/Contract# 22-262-S

The City of Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is requesting proposals from qualified Vendors to provide:
1. Automation development services to develop new automations for SPU using the NICE advanced process automation application.  Services shall encompass NICE automation development using the NICE Automation Studio, implement SQL queries that gather data from Oracle and SQL server databases in Automation Studio, read and write data to/from Excel and Word documents, send email using Outlook, creating attended and unattended automations, perform unit testing, participate in QA and UAT testing, deploy automations to DEV, UAT and PROD environments, create requirements and automation design documents, be generally fluent in English to participate in meetings with SPU staff. 

2. Production support for the NICE advanced process automation application DEV, UAT and PROD environments. Support shall encompass troubleshooting and fixing automations that are not working, NICE component installations, applying NICE patches when available, monitoring environments for issues, restoring applications when they fail, deployment of automations to servers, robot machines, and end users (attended automations). Support also includes upgrading the DEV, UAT and PROD environments to the latest NICE versions once during the contract period. Basic server administration such as operating systems and hardware are the responsibility of SPU.

Customer Information System (CIS) Users using the Customer Care and Billing (CCB) system have challenges navigating complicated flows in the CIS, causing slow response to requests and inaccuracies if requests are submitted incorrectly.  CIS users access multiple distinct applications often and must be knowledgeable on each system with which they interact. There are many options users must choose from for some workflows. These challenges are causing significant call backlogs, long call times, very slow responses, and overall poor customer satisfaction.  Seattle Public Utilities and Seattle City Light have been using NICE Advanced Process Automation for over two years. Eight workflows have been automated to date and over 60,000 transactions have been processed by these automations saving over 18,000 labor hours during that time.  SPU has built a solid automation foundation and is looking to partner with a Vendor that can provide long term support and development to continue and implement new automations.

Interested consultants are encouraged to review the RFP, background documents, and any RFP addenda online at https://seattle.procureware.com/home. You must log in to register for Bid Events and to view Bid Question and Response information.

The deadline for submitting Proposals is 2:00 PM Pacific Time on Thursday, March 9, 2023, electronic only via e-mail to SPU_SolicitationResponses@seattle.gov.

SPU PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE:  An optional pre-proposal conference will be held on Thursday, February 9, 2023 from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM Pacific Time, via Microsoft Teams Meeting ID: 232 960 932 870, Passcode: oEg5Ks at URL:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_N2ZhYmQxZjQtMjIzOS00ZThlLTk3OTgtNjljYTYyMTdkMmJi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2278e61e45-6beb-4009-8f99-359d8b54f41b%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%228b196d23-a6bf-4741-9ff6-47d95d532d1c%22%7d
or join by phone: +1 206-686-8357, Phone Conference ID: 831 135 526#. SPU will review the scope of work, consultant expectations, and answer questions from the prospective bidders. Although attendance at this meeting is not mandatory, attendance is highly encouraged.

Written questions related to this RFP are encouraged and shall be directed to Sherry Shaffer, Contract Administrator & SPU’s designated contact person, at sherry.shaffer@seattle.gov. To facilitate preparation

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