Doc2006554633

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (“State”) is issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) to establish a contract for Telecommunications Relay Services.The United States Congress created the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) in Title IV of the American with Disabilities Act of 1990, codified at Section 225 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. See Pub.L.No.101-336, 104 Stat.327 (July 26, 2990). Congress also directed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prescribe regulations to ensure that interstate and intrastate TRS are available, to the extent possible and in the most efficient manner to individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind or have speech disabilities to communicate by telephone in a manner that is functionally equivalent to telephone services used by persons without such disabilities.Pursuant to the North Carolina General Assembly N.C.G.S. §62-157 provides deaf, hard of hearing, speech disabled individuals in North Carolina with access to telecommunications network equal to the provided to other customers. N.C.G.S. allows the state to contract the provision of relay services for four-year periods to one or more service providers. North Carolina established its state program, Relay North Carolina (RNC), on June 1, 1991.The purpose of this Request for Proposal is to establish a single Contract to a single responsible Vendor for high-quality provision of intrastate TRS, in North Carolina 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.Nothing in this RFP precludes the successful Vendor from offering other related services that advances the availability of telecommunications access to North Carolinians with disabilities for the Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing’s consideration.The intent of this solicitation is to award an Agency Specific Contract.