Communication Services for Inmates at Pierce County Jail and Juvenile Detention Center

Pierce County (hereafter known as ‘the County’) is seeking a single prime contractor to provide an end-to-end, turnkey inmate communication system for the Pierce County Jail and the Juvenile Detention Center at Remann Hall. The selected vendor must deliver a modern inmate telephone system that supports collect, prepaid collect, and debit calling options as well as video visitation. The County requires a contractor with proven experience deploying inmate communication systems in correctional settings, the technical capacity to install and support systems of this scope, and the ability to integrate seamlessly with County platforms such as Legal Information Network Exchange (LINX) and the Jail Management System (JMS). The vendor must demonstrate compliance with Americans Disability Act (ADA), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and national Corrections communication standards, possess the financial stability to support a long-term contract, and have a strong track record implementing largescale secure tablet solutions for inmate use.

Background

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) manages the Pierce County Jail facilities and Pierce County Juvenile Court manages the Juvenile Detention Center. There are currently 275 inmate telephones in the Pierce County jail system, distributed across three facilities all within Tacoma: Pierce County Corrections Facility, the New Jail at 701 Nollmeyer Lane, and the Juvenile Detention Center Facility at Remann Hall.  They are distributed as follows:

• 64 Assigned Counsel ring-down phones (connected to analog ports on the County PBX (Private Branch Exchange) servicing the Pierce County Corrections facility. 
• 62 phones (31 booths) in the Main Jail visiting area.
• 16 telephones in the juvenile facility.

The average daily population for 2025 in the Pierce County Corrections Facility and the New Jail was approximately 900 inmates who have access to telephones from 8:00 A.M. to 10 P.M. daily. Some housing units have 24-hour usage, except during meal periods, and shift changes or lockdowns.

The average daily population for 2024 at the Juvenile Detention Center was 27, and for 2025 the average daily population was 25. Juvenile detainees have access to telephones between 8:30 A.M. and 10 P.M., except for scheduled lockdown times where staff are on break or emergency lockdowns.

Project Details

• Reference ID: 2026-RFP-160
• Department: Pierce County Sheriff's Office
• Department Head: . (.)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-07-29T23:00:00.000Z

Meetings & Milestones

Evaluation Criteria

• General System Requirements (60 pts)
• Implementation, Migration, & Project Management (60 pts)
• Core Communications & Telephony Features (60 pts)
• JMS/LINX Integration (60 pts)
• Voice Messaging (60 pts)
• PIN Management (60 pts)
• Call Data, Reporting & Transcription (60 pts)
• Equipment Requirements (60 pts)
• Infrastructure & Security (30 pts)
• Tablets & Digital Platform (50 pts)
• System Testing & Acceptance (50 pts)
• Investigative & Intelligence Tools (50 pts)
• Service & Reliability Requirements (50 pts)
• Staffing Requirements (50 pts)
• ADA Requirements (30 pts)
• Cabling & Power (30 pts)
• Cybersecurity Requirements (30 pts)
• Video Visitation (30 pts)
• Video Phone System (30 pts)
• Visiting Area Recording (30 pts)
• Inmate Accounts & Kiosks (30 pts)
• Reporting Requirements (30 pts)
• Automated Information (50 pts)
• Mail Scanning (30 pts) —

  Describe your mail receiving, scanning, and kiosk delivery service.

  (Optional points available)

Submission Requirements

• Administrative Questions
• Proposer Confirmation (required) —

  As an authorized representative of the Proposer, having carefully examined the Request for Proposals, propose to furnish services in accordance therewith as set forth in the attached proposal.

  I further agree that this proposal will remain in effect for not less than sixty (60) calendar days from the date that proposals are due, and that this proposal may not be withdrawn or modified during that time.

  I hereby certify that this proposal is genuine and not a false or collusive proposal, or made in the interests or on behalf of any person not therein named; and I have not directly or indirectly induced or solicited any Contractor or supplier on the above work to put in a false proposal or any person or corporation to refrain from submitting a proposal; and that I have not in any manner sought by collusion to secure to myself an advantage over any other contractor(s) or person(s).

  In order to induce the County to consider this proposal, the Proposer irrevocably waives any existing rights which it may have, by contract or otherwise, to require another person or corporation to refrain from submitting a proposal to or performing work or providing supplies to Pierce County, and Proposer further promises that it will not in the future directly or indirectly induce or solicit any person or corporation to refrain from submitting a response or proposal to or from performing work or providing supplies to Pierce County.

• Ownership and Copyright of Submitted Materials (required) —

  By submitting a proposal, I agree that all documents, reports, proposals, submittals, working papers, or other materials prepared by the Proposer pursuant to this proposal shall become the sole and exclusive property of the County, and the public domain, and not property of the Proposer. The Proposer shall not copyright, or cause to be copyrighted, any portion of items submitted to the County in response to this procurement.

• Supplemental Attachment Confirmation (required) —

  I confirm I have reviewed the content of the following attachments included under this RFP: Sample Agreement and any other documents as identified as "sample" in the Attachments section and acknowledge I understand and agree to these requirements should my organization receive a contract as a result of this proposal.

• Insurance Requirements (required) —

  By submitting a proposal, I understand and agree that if awarded funding from this RFP, the organization must be able to meet all insurance requirements based on services being purchased, prior to contract execution, and types of insurances may include, but are not limited to:

  • Commercial General Liability Insurance: Required on all contracts. Standard levels are $1M occurrence/$2M aggregate (may be higher/lower, depending on value of contract and type of service).
  • Commercial Automobile Liability Insurance: Required when the Contractor uses owned, rented, or leased automobiles to complete the services as required per the contract. Higher coverages may be required for fleet/large passenger vehicles.  
  • Workers Compensation Insurance: As required by Washington State.
  • Professional Liability or Errors and Omissions Insurance: If the Contractor provides services such as analysis, consulting, counseling, daycare, legal, medical, nursing, pastoral, medical, or other services that require professional licensing.
  • Abuse and Molestation: If the Contractor will be working directly with youth under the age of 18, elderly, disabled or other vulnerable populations.
  • Cyber/Privacy and Security Insurance: If the Contractor is doing work that could give the Contractor access to personal or sensitive information from within the County's network or on the Contractor's personal computer, or lead to breaches of security, leading to a loss of privacy or identity theft.
  • Crime/Employee Dishonesty Insurance: If the Contractor is in the custody or control of Pierce County funds such as cash, credit cards, checks or physical property.
  • Other insurance(s) applicable to services being purchased: Such as Excess or Umbrella Liability Insurance if the contract is in excess of $500,000.

  In addition:

  • Pierce County shall be named as an "Additional Insured" which must be provided in the insurance endorsement; and
  • Insurance requirements also apply to any subcontractors hired by the main Contractor to deliver services, where applicable.

  Please see "Exhibit D" in the SAMPLE AGREEMENT under attachments to see full insurance requirements. If you have questions regarding insurance requirements, please submit them through the “Question & Answer” section of the RFP. 

• Debarment Certification (required) —

  As an authorized representative of the Proposer, I certify to the best of my knowledge and belief that the organization and its principals:

  1. Are not presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from covered transactions by any Federal department or agency;
  2. Have not within a three-year period preceding this proposal been convicted of or had a civil judgment rendered against them for commission of fraud or a criminal offense in connection with obtaining, attempting to obtain, or performing a public (Federal, State, or local) transaction or contract under a public transaction; violation of Federal or State antitrust statutes or commission of embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false statements, or receiving stolen property;
  3. Are not presently indicted for or otherwise criminally or civilly charged by a government entity (Federal, State, or local) with commission of any of the offenses enumerated in paragraph (1)(b) of this certification; and
  4. Have not within a three-year period preceding this proposal had one or more public transactions (Federal, State, or local) terminated for cause or default.
  5. Does not employ any person nor contracts with any person or agency excluded from participation in federal health care programs under either 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7 (§§1128 or 1128A Social Security Act) or debarred or suspended.

  By checking the confirmation, I understand that a false statement on this certification may be grounds for rejection of this proposal or termination of any award. In addition, under 18 USC Sec. 1001, a false statement may result in a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both. 

• Organization Information
• Authorized Individual (required) —

  Please provide the name and title of the individual authorized to execute a contract on behalf of the organization.

• Organization Information (required) —

  Please provide the legal name, any d/b/a names, years in business, local address, billing address if different, email address, and phone number of the organization making the proposal.

• Organization Tax ID Number (required) —

  Please provide the Employee Identification Number (EIN).

• Washington State Unified Business Identification (UBI) Number (required) —

  Please provide the organization's UBI number. 

  WARNING: Failure to provide a UBI number will be cause for the application to be disqualified from competition. 

• Organization Contacts (required) —

  Please provide the name, phone, and email for:

  • Executive Director/CEO/President
  • Financial Manager/CFO
  • Contract Manager
• Unique Entity Identification (UEI) Number (required) —

  An organization must have, at the time of submission, an active UEI number when the funding for the procurement is identified as federal. Please list your UEI as issued by Sam.gov. 

  Funding may or may not create a subrecipient relationship between the organization and the County.   

  WARNING: Failure to provide a valid and active UEI number may result in the disqualification of the application from further consideration. 

• Scored Proposal Questions
• General System Requirements (required) —

  1. Turnkey System Description & Hardware Requirements 

  1. 1. Describe your proposed turnkey inmate communications system, including telephony, video visitation, tablets, kiosks, and all supporting hardware and software, and confirm that all equipment is tamper tamper resistant and does not require connection to the County network unless expressly approved. (0-30 points) 

  2. Calling Features, Call Controls & Recording Requirements 

  1. 1. Explain how your system manages and administers collect, prepaid collect, and debit calling; prevents incoming calls; ensures out going only functionality; and records all personal calls while ensuring legal and authorized witness calls remain unrecorded. (0-30 points) 
• Implementation, Migration, & Project Management (required) —

  1. Provide a comprehensive preliminary implementation plan and full installation schedule, including your transition strategy, prior experience transitioning from incumbent providers, and the methods you use to minimize service disruptions during migration. (0-30 points) 

  2. Describe your approach to equipment staging and relocation when installation space is limited. (0-30 points) 

• Core Communications & Telephony Features (required) —

  1. Describe how your system functions as a web based platform, including whether any device side software is required on County PCs, and explain how the system delivers core telephony features such as positive call acceptance, post acceptance billing, bilingual voice prompts, and fraud detection capabilities (including switch hook activity, extra digits, and three-way calling). (Describe how your system manages and updates call blocking rules (including numbers, area codes, prefixes, tollfree numbers, and victim numbers), the system branding announcements it supports—including language options—and the methods used to maintain accurate, systemwide time synchronization across all devices. (0-60 points) 

• JMS/LINX Integration (required) —

  Describe how your system integrates with JMS and LINX for PIN administration, including how frequently inmate data is updated to meet the required 10‑minute automated sync interval, and how text‑to‑speech (TTS) name announcements are generated using LINX data. (0-60 points) 

• Optional Automated Information (required) —

  Describe how your system integrates with JMS and LINX for PIN administration, including the frequency and reliability of inmate data updates to meet the 10minute automated sync requirement, and how the system uses LINX data to generate accurate text-to-speech (TTS) name announcements. (0-60 points) 

• Voice Messaging (required) —

  Describe your secure, password protected 2-way voice messaging system for inmates and approved contacts, confirm that the feature requires no additional hardware, and explain how PCSO can disable or suspend the messaging service at its discretion. (0-60 points) 

• PIN Management (required) —

  Describe your system’s PIN management capabilities, including the ability to activate PINs within one hour of housing assignment, associate each PIN with housing unit/pod/floor/facility, detect and block simultaneous PIN use, and support add/change/delete PIN actions through the JMS/LINX interface. (0-60 points) 

• Call Data, Reporting & Transcription (required) —

  1. Describe your system’s call record management capabilities, including searchable call record fields, the method for attaching investigator notes, recording retention processes for the full contract term and transition period, and the pruning and download options available for investigative use. (0-30 points) 

  2. Describe your automated transcription solution for audio and video files and confirm that your system imposes no limit on the number of authorized users. (0-30 points) 

• Equipment Requirements (required) —

  Provide detailed specifications for all proposed intake speakerphones, housing area telephones, handset cords, and kiosk equipment; confirm that all equipment is new or like new and meets national corrections standards; and describe the volume control features included with each device type. (0-60 points) 

• Infrastructure & Security (required) —

  Describe your system’s infrastructure and information security capabilities, including confirmation that all data is stored within the continental United States, the system’s UPS backup capacity, specifications for server enclosures and compliance with County standards, the structure of your unified database for legal and blocked numbers, and the process used to update attorney numbers using Washington State Bar data. (0-30 points) 

• Tablets & Digital Platform (required) —

  Describe your tablet system’s capabilities, including access controls based on housing assignment; support for educational content, legal research, messaging, photo delivery, postal mail scanning, and commissary integration; the methods used to prevent access to County internet sites or social media platforms; and how the system issues refunds, coupons, or vouchers to inmates. (0-50 points) 

• System Testing & Acceptance (required) —

  Describe your acceptance testing process upon system cutover and explain how action items are documented, tracked, and jointly resolved with PCSO throughout the testing and validation period. (0-50 points) 

• Investigative & Intelligence Tools (required) —

  1. Describe your system’s investigative monitoring capabilities, including live call monitoring functions and available monitoring durations, the ability to perform random reviews of recorded calls, and automated alerting for targeted inmates or telephone numbers. (0-30 points) 

  2. Explain your system’s advanced investigative analysis features, including keyword and phrase search in English and Spanish, voice recognition and speaker identification capabilities, and available data analytics or intelligence mapping tools such as THREADS type functionality. (0-20 points) 

• Service & Reliability Requirements (required) —

  Describe how your company meets all service and reliability requirements, including response times for Priority Levels One, Two, and Three; confirmation of 24/7/365 availability for Priority One and Two issues; your preventative maintenance schedule and documentation process; and your vandalism reporting procedures and responsibility for losses due to vandalism. (0-50 points) 

• Staffing Requirements (required) —

  1. Describe the qualifications and experience of your proposed onsite technician, your process for replacing onsite technicians within required timelines, and your training program for all support staff who will work with the inmate communications system. (0-20 points) 

  2. Identify your proposed Account Representative and describe their role; explain your processes for providing service and emergency contact directories, public complaint support (including bilingual availability), employee complaint resolution, and your recruitment and retention plan to maintain required staffing levels. (0-30 points) 

• ADA Requirements (required) —

  Identify your proposed ADA liaison and describe their qualifications; describe your wheelchair accessible phone and video phone solutions, including the required portable video phone units; and explain the safeguards your system uses to prevent non ADA inmates from fraudulently accessing or misusing TTY relay services. (0-30 points) 

• Cabling and Power (required) —

  1. Confirm your willingness and capability to install new cabling or obtain lawful rights to use existing cabling. (0-10 points) 

  2. Describe your approach to installing or modifying cabling and electrical systems, confirm your coordination process with County Facilities Management for all electrical work, and describe your grounding, cooling, and power integrity standards for system equipment. (0-20 points) 

• Video Visitation and Video Phone System (required) —

  1. Describe your video visitation system’s operational capabilities, including scheduling functions, monitoring tools, restrictive control options, integration with JMS/LINX for inmate and account verification, and kiosk deployment options for limited space housing units. (0-10 points) 

  2. Describe your system’s capabilities related to video visit integrity and user support, including real time monitoring and termination by PCSO staff, retention and indexing of recorded visits, visitor equipment testing tools for remote sessions, and visitor support and troubleshooting services. (0-10 points) 

  3. Describe your portable video phone units and their secure login functionality; explain how Video Relay Service (VRS) capability is implemented, including restrictions on call types; and provide examples of the English and Spanish instruction plates that accompany each device. (0-10 points)  
• Cyber Security (required) —

  1. Describe how your system secures voice, video, and data both in transit and at rest, provide details on your data loss prevention (DLP) program, and confirm that wireless components are encrypted using WPA2. (0-15 points) 

  2. Describe how your system enforces SSID controls, default credential changes, and password complexity requirements; confirm that no contractor devices will connect to the County network; and explain how PCSO staff receive timely access to required files and recordings. (0-15 points) 

• Inmate Accounts & Kiosks (required) —

  Describe your inmate debit account functionality, including how charges are applied to calls and services; explain how friends and family can add funds and access inmate account numbers through your system; and describe your TouchPay kiosk solution, including installation requirements, security features, and how kiosks support account funding. (0-30 points) 

• Mail Scanning (Optional Points) (required) —

  Describe your mail receiving, scanning, and kiosk delivery service (0-20 points) 

• Visiting Area Audio Recording (required) —

  Describe how your system records onsite visits and maintains archives; explain how booth assignment or PIN input is used to identify inmates within those recordings; and describe how the system enables PCSO staff to disable recording for clergy or other privileged visits. (0-30 points) 

• Reporting Requirements (required) —

  Provide samples of your finance, maintenance, statistical, and call access reports; describe your reporting delivery methods (portal, automated schedules, etc.); and explain your data export formats and any customization capabilities. (0-30 points) 

• Proposal Upload (required) —

  Please upload your proposal materials here. 

• Does this RFP contain federal funding? (required)
• Multiple Applications (required) —

  Will the RFP accept multiple proposals from a single vendor?

• Will proposer interviews be conducted? (required)