Utility Network Managed Services Contracts

[BobbyMitcham]

As a County Government, what sorts of things should we ask for in a service level agreement with a contractor who will help with the transition from a Geometric Network to a Utility Network and with managing it in the future? Anyone else been in a similar position? We want to make sure we're asking the right questions and make sure we're asking for the right things before we go to RFP.

Case studies are helpful, but don't go into enough detail. An example RFP would be really helpful.

What would you want from a contractor, and how much would you do in house?

[ChristopherBast]

Hi Bobby, 

 Thank you for your message. Where are you located? I would be happy to have a conversation and introduce you to my colleagues who do this daily with our users. There are several paths you can take to accomplish your goal. Also, we hold many state contracts which would eliminate your need to take this to bid. Please feel free to reach out to me directly. Cbast@esri.com

Cheers,

Chris 

[MikeWiley]

Hi Bobby - I have several RFPs that are decent examples. Feel free to reach out at mike.wiley@timmons.com or 917-848-6504. Meantime, here are some general suggestions:

1. Ensure that you're hiring a company that is a Network Management Specialty partner and has UN certified staff.

2. Ensure the company that you hire understands your domains because there are UN partners that know water/storm/sewer and others than know gas or electric etc . No one vendor is an expert in all Utils...IMO 

3. Collaboration/shared work - this one is tougher via messaging. Having a vendor do a UN data readiness assessment and then having the County clean up the data is a solid idea. If you have a lot of integrations, having the County "own" some of those integrations is also viable. 

Many ways to approach things

Best,

Mike

mike.wiley@timmons.com