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Just discovered this CCTV forum and found a lot of good information. We have only been in doing cameras about 4 years and I am hoping for some advice from some people that have been in this situation. We have an IT background so IP based cameras was a good fit. I wish my first post wasn’t looking for help right away. We are a Milestone camera integrator and have a contract with a municipality coming up for renewal. The old contract was a time and material but this time they want to do flat rate yearly contract. It would include any day to day repairs, maintenance, programing etc. It does not include parts. This was put out to bid and we need to put our number in. Unfortunately we do not usually do maintenance contracts and we have no past numbers to use as reference. I found some great information for future bids but really they do not apply here because it is a combination of different methods. Recommendations from varascope: 1) Method 1: Value based – using those numbers approx 10% failure per year 2) Method 2: System Cost percentage – Can not do because some cameras are 10 plus years old 3) Method 3: Customer evaluation – Again doesn’t apply RFP Overview: -Major metropolitan market -Municipality -There are 188 cameras currently. -60% outdoor and 30% indoor -98 are on Milestone the remainder on DVRs (another 27 out of the 188 are being converted to Milestone as part of this bid) -Cameras on DVRs are all analogue -Spread amongst 17 locations in a 10 mile radius -The server is new and we just installed it -Bidder is responsible for all labor but not parts. (2 hour response time required) 24x7x365 -IP cameras are all Axis -Approx 50 of the cameras on Milestone are analogue and converted with Axis video encoders -3 other bidders that are large competitors and have little more info than what I just posted -If someone would like more info to give advise I would be happy to email it but a little hesitant on what I post online since it is open until next Thursday. (although it is narrowed down to us and 3 competitors that are allowed to bid). In the past our install bids have been WAY lower than others and I would like to find a more logical method of bidding. I do not even now where to begin for a bid number and could really use some help.

We have done some solar powered set ups before. Only problem is if you have too many trees to shot a half mile you probably have too many trees to get enough sun. We use solar power for construction sites and they work great.

The contract is for 5years. "Is this a install you did or worked on before who has control over network at each location (are they locked or pass worded )" We currently have control over parts of the network but are very familiar with the rest of it. Since we have been working on it for the last 5 yrs we are familiar with the equipment. Some we installed and some was already there. Sorry but I am not following what you are recommending for a different method?

We have held the contract for a few years so we know what has been done. I wish we could add some fine print but we can not. Just a bottom line number for the maintenance portion. Then a hourly rate for non maintenance items.The new contract will be for another 5 years. When it was bid the last time it was done differently and there was not a bottom line number.

If you have local power you can use a set of radios and an IP camera. A set of radios from Ubiquiti networks will work perfectly. If there are not many trees you can use something like the NanoStation Loco M2 AirMax. If there are a lot of trees you might want o go to a set of Ubiquiti NanoBeam M2. Since they are 2.4 Ghz they will penetrate trees better. I am guessing since there is a 1/2 mile drive it is not heavily congested. If so I would go to the 5Ghz. Just program the radios in "bridge mode" and they will just pass the traffic right through. We have hundreds of these out there along side of $10k radios and they perform great.

The 2 hour response time still has be puzzled. Interesting part of that is there is no penalty for not making the 2 hour response. Fortunately for us all of our people live with in 20 mins of the office. Also, our main business is we are a small internet service provider. Because of that we already have to be available 24x7. VERY good point on 2 people for the bucket truck because it is mandatory for my people. Milestone lic are an extra charge. I have spent the last few hours trying to get some numbers on rebuilding everything and when I take 10% (instead of 15%) it is almost exactly what my gut feeling was for a "reasonable" monthly rate. Since I mentioned I am usually too low anyway the 15% is probably an extremely good guess what others would charge. I think if I add another 20% for the response time I should have a good number. It gives me a much better feeling putting some actual percentages to it and knowing that my educated guess was very close. I figured there had to be some sort of a formula.

It is a great place to start and it gives me an idea of how others would bid it. Unfortunately the contract does not allow for extra driving, emergencies etc. It does allow us to charge for non-maintenance items. We also can charge for software upgrades and they are responsible for the cost of replacement equipment. ( we do always keep spares on hand because I think it is just good business) At the end of the day it is just going I will have to estimate the install cost and then take an educated guess. At least I know what it has cost them in the past so I know what I have to charge to break even. It is figuring out that top end number and then picking something in between. You guys have been more help than you know because now I at least have a place to start. It is also going to be a much higher number than I would have originally thought. Just to clarify one last thing. The 15% is a per year number and not divided over a period of years?

Awfully tedious way to do it but if that ends up being the best bet it would be a good way to calculate it and a safe one. Although the competitors will not be able to use that method because they do not have enough info to recreate everything. My main goal is to try and get some guidelines of how the other 3 bidders "might" calculate it so I can make a good educated guess. This is a good place to start. There are still other potentially large contributors like 24x7 2 hour response. fortunately we are right in the middle of everything. I know there is not going to be one perfect answer so the more ideas the better and yours is one that I previously have not thought of. Thanks

We have our own lift and have equipment to handle anything that might go wrong. Considering some of these are at intersections it is a very good point. Also thanks for the fast reply and any input and thoughts are great at this point