SoCal City Looks to Overhaul Its Communications System

The Southern California city of Temecula has issued a request for proposals (RFP) to replace its existing municipal phone system with a “single-tenant telephony and unified communications (UC) solution.”

The solicitation, posted April 1, outlines that the city wants a turnkey solution and will not accept any proposals that are “in any way multi-tenant or [that] leverage[s] a shared private cloud with other clients of the provider.”

The requirements within the RFP include a complete single-tenant system with on-premise control, encryption and modern features such as call routing, auto-attendant, conferencing, call analytics and more. In addition, the RFP lists the need for five wireless/cellular handsets.

The city has $176.8 million in 2025-26 general funds and a five-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) worth $626.4 million.

The IT Fund, which includes telephone and computer-related expenses, saw an expenditure decrease between FY 2024-25 from $7.6 million to $6.2 million in FY2025-26, while the Technology Replacement Fund dropped from $1.2 million to $516,158.

The CIP, meanwhile, included more than a dozen large infrastructure projects, including some specific to technology, such as a financial system upgrade (p. 118), library technology (p. 131), emergency operations center enhancements (p. 130) and a citywide fiber-optic network project (p. 125).

As for the 2026-27 fiscal year, a proposed budget has not yet been made public. The new budget will likely be introduced at a City Council meeting in May, with a final adoption expected before July 1.

Vendors must have PlanetBids access to view, download, or submit a bid on the RFP package. More information about that process can be found here.

Questions about the RFP can be submitted until April 14. Proposals are due no later than 5 p.m. April 21, and the project is slated to begin June 9. The point of contact for this solicitation is Jayme Fox.