You can find the result in full here
SwiftComply Backflow came out on top, scoring 78 out of 100 points and demonstrating better technical and commercial values than 7 other vendors.
This RFP should be particularly interesting for water purveyors currently evaluating their backflow management software options.
- Is there a changing of the Guard? Neither of the old school software players, XC2 or Tokay, bid for the contract.
- Pricing per Backflow was around $2-$6 per backflow assembly per year.
- Single Module solutions that can integrate with connectivity business systems provide more value and flexibility than bundled solutions.
Scope of the RFP
The City was seeking to replace/upgrade its Tokay software application for the management of about 7,400 commercial and 200 residential backflow assemblies. The main requirements for the City were listed as follows:
- Provide real-time data management and allow City staff to monitor and generate reports on backflow testing status. Preferably, a dashboard is provided to allow snapshots of monthly and annual testing progress.
- Produce and issue annual test due notifications with the capability to customize the generated mails.
- Ability to upload backflow test results with both user account and administrative account, and with either computers or tablets in the field.
- Enhance services with an easy-to-use web portal allowing customers to upload testing results directly. The City should also be able to track such direct uploads for potential billing and quality control.
- Store and validate tester’s credentials and test kit/gauge calibration credentials. Provide automatic email alert for expiring credentials.
- Provide flexible data configuration allowing reports to be generated in standard or customized formats.
- Ability to maintain a customer database that can be updated automatically from the City’s utility billing system, Cayenta via the interface.
- Ability to allow the City to extract and download the entire database upon request or self-initiated program management.
The Results
In total 8 responses were received and evaluated, including some new entrants to the backflow software market. Tokay software was notable in its absence, as the incumbent provider, we assume they could not meet all of the RFP requirements.
Pricing proposals ranged from $65k – $433k over 5 years, with the biggest discrepancy in fees arising from the implementation and setup costs which ranged from $19k to $157k in year 1. Details of the pricing submitted are included in the table below. We provided an estimated cost per backflow assembly, per year which was calculated by dividing the total cost of ownership by 7,500 assemblies by 5 years. We feel this is a good benchmark for other water purveyors when looking at the current pricing of backflow assembly management software.
| Rank | Proposer | Year 1 Including Setup |
Subsequent Years | Total Cost of Ownership (5 years) |
Price Per Backflow (per year) |
| 1 | SwiftComply, Inc | $18,875 | $11,375 | $64,375 | $2 |
| 2 | Cayenta a Division of N. Harris Computer | $167,850 | $11,250 | $230,013 | $6 |
| 3 | VEPO Cross Connect, LLC | $45,000 | $45,000 | $225,000 | $6 |
| 4 | SpryPoint Services, Inc. | $58,000 | $16,000 | $122,000 | $3 |
| 5 | Utility Solutions Partners, LLC | $157,255 | $58,800 | $392,459 | $10 |
| 6 | Hydro Design, Inc. | Alternative solution proposed that includes testing of backflow assemblies | $0.25 – $110 | ||
| 7 | Aqua Backflow, Inc. | $86,602 | $86,602 | $433,010 | $12 |
| 8 | BSI Backflow Solutions, Inc. | $20,000 | $20,000 | $100,000 | $3 |
A closer look at Hydro Designs, Aqua Backflow, and BSI proposals reveals that those vendors proposed additional services outside the scope of the RFP, such as sending letters to customers, charging a fee to testers, and performing backflow tests. This may have impacted the evaluation as none made it to stage 2 of the process. The full results are listed below.
| Rank | Proposer | Initial Evaluation | Final Scoring |
| 1 | SwiftComply, Inc | 55 | 78 |
| 2 | Cayenta a Division of N. Harris Computer | 53 | 62 |
| 3 | VEPO Cross Connect, LLC | 52 | 60 |
| 4 | SpryPoint Services, Inc. | 50 | 57 |
| 5 | Utility Solutions Partners, LLC | 44 | N/A |
| 6 | Hydro Design, Inc. | 41 | N/A |
| 7 | Aqua Backflow, Inc. | 41 | N/A |
| 8 | BSI Backflow Solutions, Inc. | 41 | N/A |
