Common use of System Calling Protocol Requirements Clause in Contracts

System Calling Protocol Requirements. The Contractor shall ensure the system will only initiate calls in a “collect call” mode (prepaid or normal collect calls) to land lines (non-cellular) with Billing Number Addresses (BNA’s) for all inmate telephone calls. The only exception to this requirement will be for calls placed on coin-operated telephones at identified Work Release Centers. Phone calls placed from those phones may be allowed to call cellular phone numbers. Calls shall be processed at a speed of fifteen (15) to thirty (30) seconds or faster and “call set-up time” shall not exceed six (6) seconds from completion of dialing to first ring. The system shall not provide a second dial tone to an inmate telephone without the inmate hanging-up the telephone receiver after the first call is completed. Each call placed through the system shall be electronically identified by the system as being a call originating from a Florida Correctional Institution in 100% of the cases with or without the accompanying inmate PIN. The system shall provide the option of either English or Spanish voice messages or prompts as programmed through a single prompt at the beginning of each call. The default setting for each inmate shall be English until flagged by Department personnel to Spanish. It is desirable that the system provide standard language prompts other than English and Spanish. The language provided shall be controlled by the inmate’s account information. The Contractor shall provide a list of languages available to the Local Contract Coordinator - Operations upon request. The system shall provide automated notification to an inmate of the call status (i.e., ringing, busy, etc). This notification may either be in the form of ringing, busy tones, Special Information Tone (SIT), or appropriate recorded messages. The system shall allow the inmate to hear the processing of the placed call to determine if a SIT with message or an answering device (i.e., answering machine, voice mail, etc.) has answered the call. At no time shall the system allow the inmate to speak (restricted voice channel) until the called party has accepted the call. The system shall announce to the called party the name of the calling inmate, informing the called party how to accept calls and announcing to the called party the call charge rate, prior to acceptance, when a call is placed. The activation or deactivation of these features shall be determined by the Department. If the party called does not accept a call, or if no one answers the call, the system shall inform the inmate of the situation and not simply disconnect the call. The system shall allow for a minimum “ring time” prior to disconnecting the inmate call. This “ring time” parameter shall be established within set parameters determined by the Department and shall be consistent among Department facilities. The system shall allow a called party to deny all future calls of a particular type from an inmate and shall provide notice to the inmate placing the call of such action. The system shall accept the called party’s response via Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) Touch-Tone Pad input from the telephone and voice response (Yes/No Response). The system shall interject messages into a telephone call at random intervals (i.e., “this call is from a Florida Correctional Institution”) as deemed necessary by the Department. The activation or deactivation of this feature shall be determined by the Department. The system shall allow a called party to activate a code (via the touch tone pad of their telephone) that automatically deletes their telephone number from the calling inmate’s “Authorized Telephone Number List”. The system shall also provide an alert or notification to authorized Department personnel to ensure that the inmate does not add any number deleted via the above indicated feature to his/her requested list of telephone numbers in the future. Notification or alert to the Department shall be via automated system update to the inmate’s account information file.