HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY — An evaluation committee overseeing RFP 2500032 for Oracle Customer Cloud services concluded its scoring after a full day of proposal reviews, with members recording consensus points for experience, technical approach and qualifications for each bidder.

Tracy Edwards, senior buyer for the project, opened the meeting and reminded attendees that "the cone of silence is still in effect," and that the session was being recorded and publicly noticed. Austin Storeyer served as evaluation committee chair and Austin Sawyer, acting group manager for the System Support Group in Public Utilities' Enterprise Solutions division, led the scoring discussions.

Committee members scored each vendor on three categories, each worth 20 points, plus up to 5 small-business-enterprise (SBE) bonus points and cost-based points to produce a final numeric total. For 20 Second Century Technologies, for example, the committee reached a consensus of 5 points for experience, 15 for technical approach, 15 for qualifications, 5 SBE points and 13.46 cost points, yielding a total recorded as 53.46. "Out of 20, for experience on 20 Second Century, I gave 5 because I did not see much actual CCS experience," Austin Sawyer said during the review.

Reviewers repeatedly focused on whether proposals demonstrated direct Customer Care & Billing (CCS) experience with domestic utilities versus more general Oracle or international experience. Several firms received low or zero points in CCS-specific categories because their responses largely parroted the RFP or lacked resumes and detailed technical artifacts. For other bidders, reviewers noted stronger match to the RFP: the committee recorded a score of 75.21 for Blue Heron (noted for multiple utility engagements and CCS references) and 78.92 for TMG Consulting, which reviewers described as presenting comprehensive CCS-relevant experience and a fuller technical approach.

Members also raised procedural concerns that will be resolved during post-meeting verification: multiple reviewers flagged proposals that listed subcontractors without detail, divergent cost templates (preliminary vs. proposed totals), and some resumes or attachments missing from vendor submissions. Committee members agreed that Tracy Edwards would verify totals, confirm any missing attachments or references, and produce a final scoring spreadsheet.

The evaluation committee did not make a contract award at the meeting; it completed the scoring step called for by the RFP process. Edwards said she will "verify the scores with the committee and provide a final scoring sheet at a later date." The meeting record and recorded live stream will be available after the meeting.