Bid protest RFP LK 25026 Inmate Tablet Program

2:03:53Thank you so much. Thank you both. All right, now we're gonna take up the other uh Time Certain. Time certain. R thirty six. R thirty six.

2:04:05Good morning, Carrie Roberts, Purchasing Director for the County. We're here today to discuss the protest for the bid protest denial by the County Administrator for Smart Communications with the award to Inmate Calling Solutions LLC, RFP LK 25026 for the Inmate Tablet Program and Offsite Mailing System. There's no funding required here. So the basics of the protest is that we had put out an RFP for an inmate mailing system and we had four submissions. We had inmate calling solutions, NICI Inmate

2:04:35Communications, Securist Technologies, and Smart Communications. After we did the ranking, we had Inmate Calling Solutions as the top-ranked performer and Smart Communications was the number two. We held evaluation committees. Once we issued the notice of intentional award, we did get a protest from Smart Communications. And the basis for the protest is that they do not feel that Inmate Calling Solutions will be doing all the work themselves. They said that they believe. that they would be outsourcing a portion of the work.

2:05:05So we got together with the County Attorney's Office and contacted Smart Communications and verified through a signed motorized affidavit that they are doing all of the work themselves. So today we are here because Smart Communications has asked us to bring this before you. Any questions for me? We have presentations from both Smart Communications and InMake Calling Solutions.

2:05:25Um I have no questions. I've met with you and got the lowdown on this. Yes ma'am. All right, let's let's you need to listen to the comments. We have to we have to we have a presentation coming. Ten minutes on each side. Yes ma'am. That's why I was trying to move on in the morning. Got it. So

2:05:41Unaware of that as

2:05:42well. Yeah. Okay.

2:05:46All right, uh good morning everyone. Appreciate your time. Uh I've been here for two hours now. I see that you're engaged and passionate. Uh Uh County Attorney. Um however the integrity of your procurement um is in question. And if the bid award to IC Solutions stands, yes, go ahead.

2:06:04I'm sorry, I was waiting for your intro and we need your name and address and who you represent. Please.

2:06:08I apologize. Uh my name is John Logan. I'm the owner and founder of Smart Communications. Uh we are a Tampa Bay based inmate communication. Uh provider, we employ 180 people here in the Tampa Bay area. This is Guy Mosteller, who is the regional director that would be over the implementation of services at your facility.

2:06:28Thank you very much and proceed.

2:06:30Um I put a PowerPoint together to prove the facts because that's all that really matters here is it is the rules, the requirements, and the facts. So I'm gonna run through this real quick and try and make this as least painful as possible. Um this is an inmate tablet and mail program RFP. So if you look IC Solutions has zero experience actually giving tablet and mail services themselves. I know this because we partnered with them in the past to provide the services.

2:07:00They're a phone company. They're providing these services through third parties. They have done that historically, and they have never provided any of these services themselves. In fact, if you look, the requirements of the service is a single web based administrative platform. That means a single platform to operate the tablet and mail system.

2:07:20And it says no subcontracting will be accepted or allowed. If you look at the experience requirements to double down on this because five years experiments experience requirements is required for these services. And it says per proposer shall provide a list. Well, IC Solutions only provided three references. Even though they have over 200 customers, they only provided three references. However, All three references, they're not the provider of tablets, and

2:07:51they're not the provider of mail services. None of them. Collin County, Texas. Reference number one. If you look on Colin Collie's website It says the mail service is provided by Text Behind. That's a Maryland company. That is not IC Solutions. If you look at the tablets at Collin County, Texas, they're provided By GTL. If you notice the Getting Out app, if you go to Getting Out app, it takes you to GTL's website. That's reference number

2:08:21one. If you go to reference number two, you have Macomb County, Michigan. If you look, it says the services provided inmate telephone system, video visitation system, inmate tablets. However, Tablets are provided by GTL, not IC solutions. There is no mail service at this account. There is no mail service. And yet it's a reference for mail services. If you go to their third and final reference, Again. Inmate telephone system, video visitation, inmate

2:08:51tablets. That's Tularic County, California. No mail service. You see the mail goes directly to the agency. Tablets are provided by GTL, right on GTL's website. Tablets private by GTL, not IC Solutions. All three references intentionally misled Pasco County to believe that these somehow represent IC Solutions products. And instead they represent subcontractors. All three. Do not meet the

2:09:21mandatory five year requirements. as a single platform. and his services not subcontracted. to an outside vendor. If you look even on IC Solutions own website, they say we are a Core business is inmate telephones. We provide through our trusted corrections industry partners other services. All other services besides inmate phones is provided by companies like Text Behind and GTL. IC Solutions

2:09:51has never done these services ever, anywhere. And if you look, IC Solutions response to a proposal just a year ago said, Tech's behind is our mail service provider. Well, they're supposed to have five years of experience and yet Just last year there were Yuma County RFP, they responded text behind processes their mail. If you look at Text Behind's website, Text Behinds acknowledged that they partner with IC Solutions for mail services. If

2:10:21you go to the proposal that I see solutions submitted to you Their own screenshots show tech friends. Tech Friends is a company out of Arkansas that is a known supplier of these communication products to vendors like IC Solutions.

2:10:38Pasco County reached out to IC Solutions to verify do they comply with these services? And it was just a simple question. And they gave a misleading answer. It says the mail service will be performed by ICS employee on our equipment located in our corporate office. Well, that will be the first time in history that that would ever happen, which essentially means that IC Solutions is saying we're going to start a whole new line of business, and Pasco County is going to be the very first site we provide these

2:11:09services for, essential services for communication that are protected by federal laws to your most vulnerable people, people that are incarcerated, and families of those people. Yeah. And Mike Kennedy, who's here today, you're going to hear next. I hope you ask these questions directly. What agency has IC Solutions processed mail for? It's never happened. He signed an affidavit saying they're going to do it, but that isn't the requirements. The requirements are you have five years experience doing just that. So, if you look,

2:11:39they have not accepted the RRP requirements. They have no experience in providing these direct services, and they apparently claim they're going to start the service themselves and Pasco is going to be their first beta site.

2:11:53Smart Communications, on the other hand, invented inmate mail scanning, delivered electronically on tablets, approved electronically by staff, and we implemented it here in Pasco County first in 2016. It is now a triple patented service. We were ranked second somehow to a company that's never done it. Uh that's the end of my presentation. Yielded four minutes left. If you have any questions, happy to answer.

2:12:17Well for me my question's gonna be for the next company. So

2:12:21how many c how many uh counties are you in in the state of Florida?

2:12:25Twenty two. Um we do Polk County, Hernando County, we Penellas, we used to do Pasco.

2:12:36And we're in 29 states with around 200 clients.

2:12:42I appreciate everyone's time. Thank you. Okay.

2:12:44I mean you're still gonna be here if we have more questions. We'll we'll have the other presentation.

2:13:02Let's say good afternoon. Thank you. I'm Mike Kennedy. I'm the Vice President of Sales and Marketing Park. IC Solutions. Address is 2200 Danbury Street, San Antonio, Texas. I personally live in Jacksonville, Florida. But I run the sales and RFP process from across the country.

2:13:21As a matter of fact, We've been serving Pasco County 21 years yesterday in some uh some former fashion. So I want to address obviously what smart communications is is talking about, but at the same time, uh I want to focus on what our bid says to you and the services that we offer. The protest that I read talks about uh that and the supplemental protest that Smart put out said essentially that we're subcontracting

2:13:53Our services out to another provider. And that's not true. They try to throw some stuff saying that our tablet is a third-party subcontracted tablet. Again, that's not true. Like a lot of people in this market, like all providers in this market, we do specialized hardware providers. The tablet manufacturer that we use, TechFrint. Had a tablet. We approached them about a year ago. We came to them and we had very specific uh software applications, needs, interfaces,

2:14:24uh hardware specs, uh, and and various other billing, those types of things, and how it became uh and how we wanted it. We signed a specialized MSA agreement with them. And they make that tablet to our specs. They don't make it for anybody else. It's our tablet. We buy it, we own it, we're the prime. We take essentially end-to-end all responsibility from suit the nuts. We install it, we provide all the service for it. One breaks, we replace

2:14:54it. Those types of things. So we are the prime. We do have a lot of experience. And that's just in the last year. Yeah you got a question?

2:15:03I do. Uh when we're talking about mail, are we talking

2:15:05about

2:15:05email and not snail mail?

2:15:07Uh y yes. Well it's it's essentially mail comes into a a location, it's scanned, and then it's essentially provided on the tablet or other devices that an email can look at. So you're keeping the contraband out of the jail. Oh, right. Okay. So just

2:15:23if we're gonna stop when we

2:15:27Sure.

2:15:27So it says we need five years experience of doing this.

2:15:30Yes.

2:15:31But on your three references GTL is mentioned three times.

2:15:34Why

2:15:35is GTL in there whatsoever?

2:15:37Well we again GTL before Tech Friends was our specialized MSA provider and tech and TecheHon is a company that exclusively does mail scanning and OCR recognition, some other things that we contract with them. But again, we're the prime. We control the relationship. Yeah, the mail goes to them, but we pay the bills, we do the quality assurance, text for ancers come to us. Right? So we recognized there was a couple bids out in California

2:16:07that that talked about not being a third-party provider. So we're based out of San Antonio, and we recognize that we're going to one day, it's pretty rare. But one day need to be uh the provider of the mail service. And that's what we have set up in San Antonio. Now essentially what we did

2:16:29let me just stop for a second. But it says you got five years experience doing it. Do you

2:16:34have

2:16:34five years experience doing the whole thing?

2:16:36Yes. All right. Well and he and here's why I'm saying this because mail scanning is done two ways, on-site and remote. Remote that goes to a a different office, not on site. We've been doing mail scanning at on-site businesses for many years where we have we supply full-time employees. They're usually called a site administrator or now because tablets are so prevalent they're called a tablet administrator. But part of their duties is to do mail scanning on site. We've

2:17:06taken that essentially those scanners, of course we got bigger ones, faster ones, and we've moved those operations into our headquarters into San Antonio. And Pasco will be one of the first ones to do it, but because Pasco's asking for it to be not outsourced to another provider. So essentially we're committing and that affidavit, I'm 21 years with a company, I'm one of three officers in the company. If I lied on the affidavit and it's determined that I lied, I

2:17:37would be fired. So I'm not gonna put my job up. Uh you know, for saying that I'm lying. I'm very, very confident we meet the spec. There's a re oh, go ahead, Matt.

2:17:46Do you physically take the mail and send it to San Antonio?

2:17:49Uh no the mail the the families are notified and the mail is sent to San Antonio. So they're

2:17:55they're given the San Antonio San

2:17:57Antonio

2:17:57address if they're doing a hard a snail.

2:18:00Exactly. And so ultimately what happens is is that messaging is available on in the uh on the tablets and so eighty eighty five percent of your mail goes away and the families turn to messaging because of its obviously much much speedier than yeah snail

2:18:16right. Madam Chairman Mariano I think a straight a str solid answer. Do you have five years experience doing both ends of the business? Five years experience.

2:18:27Yes. Yes, we have to do it on site and we do it

2:18:31without any Uh sub uh outsourcing. You do

2:18:35the

2:18:35whole thing.

2:18:36No, no, we we do outsourcing on most

2:18:38contracts. But I think but we think what we're saying is we wanted five years of you're doing it completely, no outsourcing at all. Do you have five years experience without any outsourcing of of this process?

2:18:49I I do. I do. I do. And I can get that I can get those for you if you don't.

2:18:54Why didn't they get submitted?

2:18:55Yeah, I don't know. I have to talk to the team and see if they're thinking and the time and the rest

2:18:59I'm not sure. So is it a requirement that when you do a submission that you put all that information in, you're not entitled to uh put it in after the fact?

2:19:07I that's a legal question.

2:19:09Well yeah, I'm I'm saying if you want clarification I can provide it. That's all I'm saying. I stand by what we got in the RFP.

2:19:16I know but I've had other RFPs in the past where if they didn't have all the details in front, when submitted, you can't go add them in afterward. They have to be done at the point in time.

2:19:26Yeah. So I I have a question. How many how many count I'm gonna ask you the same question? How many counties are you in in the state of Florida?

2:19:33I wanna say I believe it's eight. We have uh the closest one. Well we've obviously we've had Pasco for twenty-two years. We've got uh Volusia, we've got Monroe County, we've got Flagler, we just won that one. Uh we've got two or three in the panhandle, and we've got there's another one, Washington uh County, Florida.

2:20:01So you've been doing our county for

2:20:04Yes, for twenty one years.

2:20:06Okay.

2:20:09Um Well I have a I have a legal question. Um what are and I don't know if it's to you or to our head of purchasing 'Cause I think Commissioner Mariano brings up a point if they were required to show a relationship for five years with someone and they put

2:20:40Well I mean I I've uh all the good stuff we've we pretty much talked about. I I was pointing out I d had a couple of slides based upon some of the claims that were made in the initial RFP. And it was talking about how we're not a single platform Well we are. You literally sign in one time and you get access to all the services and functions of the mail and and the tablet uh system. Uh all supporting applications are essentially controlled by us uh separately. We've uh Uh

2:21:11there was a a claim and the that we don't we're not a prime contractor. We absolutely are a prime contractor. There was a mention that we utilize Text Behind. We haven't utilized Text Behind in over a year. The RFP that was stated earlier uh where over a year ago said we used Text Behind. Uh summer of twenty twenty four was the last time we used Text Behind. So we recognized, you know, we gotta do some of this stuff ourselves. And uh it's become mail

2:21:41scanning has become more and more prevalent, it's more and more common, and and we've recognized that, that's why we believe we have uh uh be able to respond positively uh to this RFP and others.

2:21:58A board Mr. Oakley, Mr. Wheaton, any any other questions?

2:22:07Okay, then I think then we then we go to my question and who answers it?

2:22:13Um you can start with the purchasing director and then if she needs assistance, Mr. Hale is right behind her.

2:22:21Thank you. So our question Can we sit down?

2:22:23Oh, all

2:22:23right. Well I think standard. Well this is a generic question. Okay. Um if the board

2:22:30Well are you done with your presentation? Yeah, yes I am. Then you can sit down unless the board has further questions. All

2:22:35right, fantastic.

2:22:36So I guess, you know, legally did ICS answer Put the correct information on the bid when you evaluated it.

2:22:50Yes, ma'am, we feel that they answered the do you have five years experience by with their subcontractors. And and that is industry standard. You don't have to necessarily do it yourself if you have the experience in the overarching contract. However, in this case, once we looked at the affidavit, it the it seemed like they were just doing everything in-house themselves. The affidavit was very specific that it said in-house by your employees. So we are at a loss as well right now. Wait.

2:23:20So so ICS is complying with what you're re you request?

2:23:26Their their subcontractor experience can count towards their five years experience. Okay, so then what

2:23:35I don't know, I got lost there. So

2:23:39Robert Hale, assistant county attorney. So To answer your first question, yes, we we counted uh the work that subcontractors did for the five years. Um I think the the second issue that Ms. Roberts is raising is that that some of the answers that were just given don't seem consistent with what are in the affidavit that was provided to the county. Okay,

2:24:04that's

2:24:05and and that's what we wanted to bring to the courts or to the sorry to the courts to the board's attention.

2:24:11We are quasi judicial. Um

2:24:14So i it's it's the affidavit was very clear.

2:24:18Yeah, they listed the three.

2:24:21So it's it's not only that it's not only that it's the the prime contractor, but it's that none of these none of this propos or the DPS the DPMS, which is the offsite mail service, uh and services will not be performed by a subcontractor, third party or affiliate. And that seemed inconsistent with what you just heard.

2:24:42But which he but he said he could correct it, but that shouldn't that's what should have been in the affidavit, not Is that my right? Am I missing something?

2:24:52Well typically typically we're not gonna consider information that's not submitted in the original RFP. Especially this late.

2:25:03Did you wanna say something, Chad?

2:25:06I don't know whether it's a little bit more than a Whether you want to point

2:25:12So the issue that the purchasing director and you you have are the the second part of the affidavit that says inmate calling solutions is the prime contractor of the D PMS proposed and services will not be performed by a subcontractor, third party or affiliate, and you believe that Mr. Kennedy's testimony to the board is inconsistent with that portion of the affidavit. Correct.

2:25:38Can I say something? That's not what I said.

2:25:44You have to be at the microphone if you would like for him to speak.

2:25:46We will do the DPMS in San Antonio with San Antonio ICS based employees. That's what I said a few minutes ago.

2:25:54I know, but is that what you put on your application and your affidavit?

2:25:58That's what I definitely put in my app the in the affidavit. I as you want to read it. We are not gonna subcontract or third party that that service.

2:26:09Is it in the application though?

2:26:12Is it in the RFP? Yeah, I'm sure it is. Yeah.

2:26:18Sure. Yeah. Thank this is for purchasing Mr. Hamble. So

2:26:26Both companies seem fully capable, in your opinion, I think, to do this work. And uh one is a long standing relationship with the county, so kinda know how each other work. And the new one is local down in Tampa and they have an extensive resume. Um

2:26:45I don't know if it's appropriate in this case or not, but I think you go back and negotiate them with either company and get a best and final. And um to me that's probably the best best way to go here. If there is uh some level of a of a discrepancy, one's obviously better priced than the other. My opinion both are fairly qualified and go back negotiate and do a best and final if that's an option for you.

2:27:15Um

2:27:15Commissioner Oakley, but I don't know if that's legal or

2:27:17not. Yeah. I would not recommend that. That what is before the board is whether or not I see whether or not the protest filed by Um The other company. Systems uh is valid. Is correct. And if it is, that would disqualify inmate inmate calling solutions. If it's not, you would affirm the purchasing director's decision to award.

2:27:47No Chair. Yeah. So let's g when was this RFP sent out?

2:27:52This Janu January. I

2:27:56mess with staff.

2:28:03It was released in December.

2:28:05December twenty fourth.

2:28:07Yes sir.

2:28:09When the when Mr. Kennedy says that that the have just ended their relationship with Text Behind haven't used them since last summer. it tells me that there's all those years where they've been using Text Behind as a subcontractor. So how can you tell me that you only ended the relationship in July? When you're supposed to have five years of not How how does that I mean that right there alone should tell me that They haven't they haven't either submitted improperly? because of the data that

2:28:39shows what the first presentation showed, that he hasn't done it for five years. And that's what Seems like you've asked for it. And he just even said he only ended the relationship in July. So I don't see how You don't step in to say, you know what? We missed it, we didn't see it. I understand how we missed it. He had to dig in to find it. But I think you've been shown that you were told you had five years, but from what he's just said and the other guy shoot before He's not doing it right. He's not he doesn't have

2:29:09the five years experience.

2:29:10But did you say you consider subcontractors with it as valid for those five years? Yes ma'am that's the issue. He's allowed to use have used them for the five years. They don't just they didn't say They they didn't say Only you, right? Yes,

2:29:27ma'am.

2:29:28So he's allowed to put text whatever there.

2:29:32If I could maybe help clarify this real quick.

2:29:43rules of how the service works.

2:29:47And due to that You know, you had two responsive bidders. If subcontracts what in my opinion weren't allowed to be considered, then you'd have only one potentially one

2:30:00Bitter on this project. But she didn't say subcontractors weren't allowed to. She said they would consider them within their experience. Listen, listener. You can use subcontractors.

2:30:11Correct. Pasco. Good.

2:30:16Okay, let let you may use subcontractors to satisfy the five years of experience. However, on this exact contract they cannot perform the services.

2:30:24Yes. Exactly. So he say and that's what they said they're gonna do. He's gonna he used the subcontractors in the past, but to satisfy this bid, he's going to take it all in house. So he did What I'm hearing is he did what she asked. So But that's what you have said. I can help

2:30:42put this I I can help put this to bed really quickly. They provided three references in their RFP. That should all that sh should be considered is what they provided. Only one of them has mail service by text behind and it started in twenty twenty two. Not five years of experience even with their subcontractors.

2:31:03I'm not sure if that's true or not.

2:31:09I c I can show it to you right now.

2:31:14I y yeah, I mean I think there has to be like affidavits from those companies. I mean we just can't go by right what someone says personally I think, right? So can we uh punt this? And take it up again?

2:31:30Quick question?

2:31:30Yeah.

2:31:31How many references were they supposed to provide? How many did they provide?

2:31:43I don't have the exact number in front of me but I do know that they did satisfy the requirements of the request references when we asked for them.

2:31:51Did we ask for five and did provide five?

2:31:59If there was a date required of service to start that supposed to be responded to be responded in

2:32:04the

2:32:04right-of-way,

2:32:04I don't think it was date from back there. Sorry.

2:32:09Can we take me a minute to Find the documents.

2:32:28How long has your company been in business, ICS?

2:32:33Since uh sorry, since two thousand two. Okay, thank you. That's so you have plenty of five years experience customers on your

2:32:48Yes, sir. Is this a luxury for inmates or do we have to provide this service to them?

2:32:54I'm gonna defer to my corrections, lawyer, but I believe it's required.

2:33:02Uh we have to provide mail to the inmates. We choose to do it th this way so that w to limit contraband coming into the jail.

2:33:11Mr. Hale, your name for the record, please. Oh

2:33:13I'm sorry, Robert Hale, assistant county attorney. Like Mr. Hill.

2:33:21I apologize.

2:33:51Trying to find it in 196 pages worth of response. I apologize for the delay.

2:33:58Um did you did you look at this resolution by the Epperson C D District? Could you get this call me? Yeah.

2:34:04Well I g I got it in the time, but I didn't

2:34:08know. Um

2:34:11I am curious how that works. Disputes between C D two C D S.

2:34:18That's an old business

2:34:20description.

2:34:23They've submitted call your county detention. They've submitted Macomb County Jail, the Tulare County Sheriff's Office were the three that they submitted.

2:34:33And about how many did you require?

2:34:35Three.

2:34:36Oh three, not five.

2:34:38Five years experience. Five

2:34:39years experience from three

2:34:41Yes ma'am.

2:34:46All right, let's can we hear from the gentleman here?

2:34:48Okay, and you wanted to make one more statement? And then we're gonna either donorate or

2:34:54appreciate I it just my point, there's three references. Only one of them is provided a mail service started in twenty twenty two by Text Behind. And I also don't understand how If subcontractors are not allowed, How the experience of subcontractors is considered.

2:35:12It doesn't say that you are picked.

2:35:15Let's say they're not. It says they're not allowed in the RP. Can we see that statement?

2:35:22It says they're not allowed for this contract.

2:35:24Yeah, for this contract. But you could use them as references, which is what they did. Is that correct? Okay. So we're making a change. Can you see that into the record? I'm sorry. Yeah.

2:35:36Yes, ma'am. They can use co subcontractors for their past experience, but in this case they cannot use them to perform the services under this contract.

2:35:45And they have agreed to perform the services? Yes,

2:35:48ma'am.

2:35:51So I I see that he complied. I'm sorry, the guy complied. Yeah. Um you know I'll take that's the way I see it. Um Wish we could split it in in two, but um How long is the contract

2:36:07for? It would be a three year contract with two renewal options for a total of five years.

2:36:12Unilateral or bilateral.

2:36:15What what does

2:36:16that mean?

2:36:16Can you

2:36:17come on the board is my decision?

2:36:18It comes to the board. Well the question is are the are the renewals automatic or so So it's three year contract and if both parties are happy they go on for another year and then another year. Correct.

2:36:34And did you ever find out the information you were waiting on?

2:36:41But I I don't think it's relevant. Um to the purchasing director, this um doing it all in house, is there a reason why we're pivoting to that s since it may not be interesting norm? That

2:36:54decision was made by the corrections department? She could. I have Chief Jenkins with us? Sure. Let's hear that.

2:37:08Stacey Jenkins, Chief Correction Officer. So with regards to um the tablets, um tablets are typically utilized for inmates to submit requests to keep paper paper out of the facility. Um if prevents uh opportunities for for fire, uh having the paper in there. So we we've gone to a tablet system quite some time ago. With regards to the electronic mail, that's to keep contraband out of the facility. So

2:37:37I understand that, but Why are you saying one company has to do everything rather than have a subcontractor now? That's the change in this contract.

2:37:48So there there's There's just a preference if you have a problem to be able to go to one individual and answer in in a in order to answer all of your concerns. So I get that. That was just the preference.

2:38:01Okay. Well and um I'll take a motion, but I feel like I'll move. ICS did answer it correctly. A second.

2:38:11The so the motion is to Affirm the purchasing director's decision and reject the protest. Right. That's my motion.

2:38:22And there was a second? Okay. Any more discussion? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Alright, sorry guys.

2:38:32Thank you, ma'am.