COUNTY OF KERN

Sheriff’s Office

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Digital Video Jail Surveillance System - IRC

DUE ...... July 24, 2008

TIME ...... Before 11:00 a.m.(PST)


County of Kern

Sheriff’s Office

Digital Video Jail Surveillance System

The County of Kern is seeking qualified Video & Audio recording systems vendors to submit a proposal for the installation of digital video and audio recording system in the Kern County Sheriff’s jail facilities. These jail facilities are all located in the vicinity of Bakersfield, California, County of Kern.

Proposers are specifically directed not to contact any County personnel, other than the Contact Person indicated below, for any purpose related to this RFP. Unauthorized contact of any County personnel may be cause for rejection of a vendor’s proposal. All inquiries concerning this RFP should be directed to the following Contact Person:

Yvonne Rodriguez, Administrative Coordinator

Kern County Sheriff’s Office

Telephone (661) 391-7761

Envelopes containing the Proposals are to be marked:

PROPOSAL: “DIGITAL VIDEO JAIL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM”

Issuance Date ...... May 28, 2008

Pre-Proposal (walk-thru) Meeting . . June 24, 2008

Proposal Due Date ...... July 24, 2008

Proposal Due Time ...... Before 11:00 a.m. (PST)

Postmark date will not constitute timely delivery. Responses received after the above time will not be considered. Proposers are solely responsible for ensuring timely receipt of their Proposals.

RECEIVED BY PROPOSER:

Sign, date and return this cover

sheet with your proposal.

By

(Signature)

Name and Title

Date

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.GENERAL INFORMATIONPage

A.Project Background and Description 1

B. Services Required of Successful Proposer 2 C. Services Provided by the County 5

D.Selection Process 5

E. Solicitation Caveat 7

F.Time 7

G.Form of Agreement 7

H.Modifications to Scope of Work 8

I.News Releases 8

J.Payment Schedule 8

K.Statutes and Rules 8

L.Background Review 8

M.Facility Diagram Release 9

II.PROPOSAL INFORMATION AND REQUIREMENTS

A. General Instructions 9

B.Business Address 9

C.Corrections and Addenda 10

D.Proposal Format and Contents 10

E.Pre-Proposal Meeting 14

F.Proposal Submission 14

G.Withdrawal and Submission of Modified Proposal 15

H.Disposition of Proposals and Proprietary Data 15

Annexes and Exhibits

Technical SpecificationsAnnex A

Statement of Work (SOW) Annex B

IRC Coverage Area Diagrams Annex C

Equipment Lists Annex D

Camera Locations – County’s Estimate Annex E

County Standard ContractAnnex F

Non-Disclosure of Information AgreementExhibit A

Camera Test Diagram ExamplesExhibit B

1

1

I.GENERAL INFORMATION

A. Project Background and Description

The Kern County Sheriff’s Office, Detentions Bureau, has four (4) separate jail facilities. Each facility has its own closed circuit television monitoring system. Each system is separate and apart from all others. The systems do not have the ability to record video or audio. The Sheriff wishes to upgrade the system in the Central Receiving Facility (CRF) by replacing it with a state of the art digital network video and audio monitoring system. The only areas covered in this RFP will be the Inmate Receiving Center (IRC) within the CRF facility.

The expected goals of this system are:

  1. Improve video quality
  2. Add the ability to record and retrieve video, audio and still images from the system.
  3. Record audio from specific camera locations.
  4. Add the ability to record audio from all cameras.
  5. Add the ability to store all data at a central location.
  6. The system shall be expandable to meet changing needs of the Detentions Bureau.

The location, which is the only facility to be considered, is the CRF. This facility was opened in 1957.

The Sheriff Office has designated the Commander of CRF as the Program Manager.

Representatives of the Sheriff’s Office have identified a minimum number of locations to be monitored at the Central Receiving Facility. Some of the locations are interior and some are exterior. Most are located within the secure areas of the facility. Some of the locations are occupied constantly and some are occupied intermittently and/or infrequently. Sheriff’s representatives have identified a minimum number of locations for monitoring stations within the facilities. These locations will be identified at the pre-proposal meeting and jobsite walk.

The pre-proposal meeting and jobsite walk is a mandatory meeting for interested proposers. Please allot a half-day for this meeting.

This request for proposal seeks a proposal for installation of a system at only the Central Receiving Facility (CRF). The intent is to eventually expand the initial system using “industry standard” techniques and “off the shelf” components. The proposal must include a design with the capacity to tie into systems at the other Sheriff’s facilities in the future.

This system will be required to:

  • Cover the areas in the IRC as diagramed in Annex C. The County estimates 48 cameras, but the vendor needs to propose the best solution.
  • Operate continuously: 24 hours a day 365 days a year
  • Store the data for 25 months (with 2 months minimum on electronic digital storage).

Have redundancy in the servers, switches, power and data.

  • Be an IP based camera system (not CCTV)
  • Video system will be on its own LAN
  • System must be expandable for future inclusions of other areas within CRF.
  • See the technical specifications in Annex A for more detailed requirements
  1. Services Requiredof Successful Proposer

1. Project Management and Construction Prevailing Wages

The proposal shall include a project management plan. The project management plan shall include the bidder’s plans, sub-contractors names, and the estimated project schedule for the listed. Describe the proposed plan to monitor and evaluate overall project. Project schedule should use a June 1, 2008 date for commencement (this is a fictitious date only for use in the proposed plan). The actual date will be set after the vendor selection and contract is signed.

The proposal shall include a master schedule for installing (to include cabling and coring), implementing, testing, and training, on the video surveillance system. Provide information on how the system will be implemented, and what plans will be put in place to stay on schedule.

The proposal shall include a person identified as the vendor program manager. In addition to the program manager’s name, detailed information about the program manager’s qualifications shall be included in the proposal.

All Publics Works relating to modifications or alterations of the building including, but not limited to coring, cabling and any accompanying electrical work necessary for camera installation, shall be paid at the prevailing wage for the work done. Publics works project description, required work, and costing will be estimated and listed separately in the proposal and if awarded will be listed in Exhibit F of the contract (see Annex F for example contract).

2. Camera Test

The proposal shall include sample stills images and video outputs for the purpose of evaluating the end-to-end performance of the system (see Exhibit B for examples).

  1. A test diagram will be placed in front of the proposed cameras. Video will be recorded of this test diagram, archived, and retrieved in evidence formats. The chart is available for purchase at the Eagle CCTV website (
  2. Download and print the test image. Video will be recorded of this test diagram, archived, and retrieved in evidence formats. (
  3. The IEEE Video Resolution Chart conforms to standard STD 208-1995, Measurement of Resolution of Camera Systems. This standard is used to test frequency response, characteristics performance of the lens, camera and display device. Can be purchased and downloaded from Applied Image, Inc website: (

The proposal shall include tests for each type of camera to be provided. To provide consistency in evaluating the still images and videos the cameras must be set up such that the borders of the charts line up with the viewable borders of the camera. Output must be provided at 768 kbps and a vendor recommended data rate (if necessary). The videos must be provided as described in the following paragraph.

The results shall be submitted on four copies of two DVD formats with the proposal. One format will be a data DVD and will contain both the still images and the videos. The videos provided on the data disk shall be either MPEG2 or MPEG4 format, or have a system player included (as done for evidence DVDs). The standard consumer DVD* format will be a DVD that is playable on standard standalone consumer DVD players and will contain only the videos. Each DVD must be clearly labeled with the vendor name/proposal company, address, and phone number, contact info in case of technical difficulties, date, version number, and whether the disk is the “Data DVD” or the “Playable DVD”.

The data DVD included in the proposal shall contain a folder for each type of camera. The folder names will be “fixed-focus”, “vari-focus”, “PTZ”, and if necessary “IR”. Each folder will contain a text file named “camera.txt” which will contain the make and model of the camera being tested as well as any other pertinent settings. Each folder will contain three subfolders (“resolution”, “grayscale”, and “delete/delete resolution2”). These subfolders will contain the video and still for the corresponding chart and camera. The folder will also contain a file named “still.txt”, which will contain the time in the video that the still was captured from.

For each chart and camera permutation one 10 second video and one still are to be provided in the proposal. No other videos or stills are permitted. The files will be named using the following format: aaa-bbb-ccc-ddd.eee where aaa=vendor’s name, bbb=chart name (“gray”, “res1”, “res2”), ccc=data-rate (“768” or vendor chosen rate), ddd=encoding (mpeg2 or mpeg4), and eee=extension (“. jpg”, “.mpg”, …).

3. System Capabilities Descriptions

A statement of the system capabilities shall be enclosed in the proposal. The description of the system capabilities shall address the technical requirements as outlined in Annex A, and also the coverage of the identified areas in Annex C.

4. System Specifications

Provide a compliance matrix that maps the technical requirement specification to the proposal sections. The matrix shall be in a format similar to the following example:

Requirement Section # / Comply/Don’t Comply / Compliance Traced to # / Explain Non-Compliance
1.2.5 / Comply / Proposal page 10, paragraph 6

5. Equipment

The proposal shall include a detailed equipment list (see Annex D for format).

6. Facilities

The proposal shall include a facilities section. The section shall include detailed information about how much rack space is required when the system is fully operational, and show that equipment will fit within allocated rack space. (See Technical Specification section 2.1, number 5) Additionally, this section must contain information regarding power requirements for vendor-supplied equipment.

C.Services Provided by the County

The County will provide a Contact Person as a primary contact, who will arrange for staff assistance by other County staff as may be required. County will also provide whatever information may be available. County will also be available to meet and discuss project requirements and development at key times in the process.

D. Selection Process

1.All Proposals received by the specified deadline will be reviewed by a County Evaluation Committee for content, fee, related experience and professional qualifications of consultants. After initial screening, the Evaluation Committee may select those firms deemed most qualified for this project for further evaluation. Interviews of these selected firms may be conducted as part of the final selection process. Proposers are advised that the County, at its option, may award a contract strictly on the basis of the initial Proposals. The firm selected by the Evaluation Committee will be recommended to the Board of Supervisors for this project, but the Board is not bound to accept the recommendation or award the project to the recommended firm.

2.The following criteria will be used by the Evaluation Committee in determining its recommendation to the Board of Supervisors:

a.Proposer’s understanding of the RFP requirements and end result.

b.Proposer’s proposed approach to tasks and project management plan.

c. System functionality proposed.

d. Maintenance/Warranty.

e.Proposer’s experience in similar projects.

f.Fee.

g.Estimated completion date(s) detailed in the work schedule.

h.Client references of similar scope of work.

i.Qualifications of proposer’s staff for the project.

j.Any other factors the Evaluation Committee deems relevant. When this criterion is used for evaluation purposes, the basis for scoring will be clearly documented and will become part of the public record.

3.The County reserves the right to reject any and all Proposals and to waive informalities and minor irregularities in any Proposals received. Absence of required information may render a Proposal non-responsive, resulting in rejection of the Proposal by the County at the Program Managers discretion.

4.The County may, during the evaluation process, request from any proposer additional information, which the County deems necessary to determine the proposer’s ability to perform the required services. If such information is requested, the Proposer shall be permitted five (5) working days to submit the information requested.

5.An error in the Proposal may cause the rejection of that Proposal; however, the County may, in its sole discretion, retain the Proposal and make certain corrections (at the County Program Managers discretion). In determining if a correction will be made, the County will consider the conformance of the Proposal to the format and content required by the RFP, and any unusual complexity of the format and content required by the RFP. If the proposer’s intent is clearly established based on review of the complete Proposal submittal, the County Program Manager may, at its sole option, correct an error based on that established content. The County may also correct obvious clerical errors. The County may also request clarification from a proposer on any item in a Proposal that County believes to be in error.

6.The County reserves the right to select the proposal, which in its sole judgment best meets the needs of the County. The lowest proposed cost is not the sole criterion for recommending contract award.

7.All firms responding to this RFP will be notified of their selection or non-selection in writing after the Evaluation Committee has completed the selection process.

8.County employees will not participate in the selection process when those employees have a relationship with a person or business entity submitting a Proposal, which would subject those employees to the prohibition of Section 87100 of the Government Code. Any person or business entity submitting a Proposal who has such a relationship with a County employee who may be involved in the selection process shall advise the County of the name of the County employee in the Proposal.

9.Any person or business entity which engages in practices which might result in unlawful activity relating to the selection process including, but not limited to, kickbacks or other unlawful consideration paid to County employees, will be disqualified from the selection process.

10. Any vendors with past projects with Kern County must submit those departments as references. This includes vendor employees that will be involved in the planning, sales, installation, or service of this system that may have been employed by a previous company that were involved in video projects with the county.

11.Protest procedures are available for vendors. Instructions may be found in Chapter 5 of the County Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, Section 523.

E.Solicitation Caveat

The issuance of this solicitation does not constitute an award commitment on the part of the County, and the County shall not pay for costs incurred in the preparation or submission of Proposals. The County reserves the right to reject any or all Proposals or portions thereof if the County determines that it is in the best interest of the County to do so.

Failure to furnish all information requested or to follow the format requested herein, or the submission of false information, may disqualify the proposer, in the sole discretion of the County. The County may waive any deviation in a Proposal. The County’s waiver of a deviation shall in no way modify the RFP requirements nor excuse the successful proposer from full compliance with any resultant agreement requirements or obligations.

F. Time

Time and the time limits stated in this RFP are of the essence of this Request for Proposal.

G. Form of Agreement

No agreement with the County is in effect until both parties have signed a contract. Attached to this RFP as Annex "F" is a sample agreement which is in substantially the form the successful proposer will be expected to sign. The final agreement may include the contents of the RFP, any addenda to this RFP, portions of the successful proposer's Proposal and any other modifications determined by the County to be necessary prior to its execution by the parties. The sample agreement included in this RFP is for informational purposes and should not be returned with a Proposal; however, the Proposal shall include a statement that the proposer has reviewed the sample agreement and either i) will agree to the terms contained therein if selected, or ii) indicate those specific provisions of the sample agreement to which the proposer takes exception and why. Raising of exceptions by Vendor following proposal submission may be cause for rejection of the vendor’s proposal.