Certified Techs

[timothy.wenzel_apc]

The warranty on our Symmetra has just expired.

Our contracting office had a bid from an out-of-state company which was not APC certified.  I am not sure how they were bidding under the auspices of the ultra warranty, but they did.  When we started asking if they had qualified/certified personnel they backed out of the bidding.

If and when we get more bids for a warranty that we surely desire, does the contractor need to be APC certified in order to fulfill all parts of an Ultra warranty?  Can a service contractor even download logs, update the software, purchase replacement modules, etc. from APC without their company having APC certification?

[BillP]

hello,

I am not too familiar with how these things worked but asked one of our service sales managers for some feedback. He told me:

Like a lot of things with these public bids, it's a challenge to know exactly what is being represented as what. For example, are we talking about a 3rd party company to perform the service? Or, are we talking about a reseller that might strictly buy through distribution and not be signed up as a partner of Schneider ITB's/APC. What we have done to skirt the issues in the past is have the contracting officer write the bid to state that they must receive a certificate of entitlement within 5 business days from the date that the contract has been awarded to ensure that this is what they are looking for.

Basically, this issue has popped up before and I can guarantee it'll happen again. If we were able to get more information, we could likely work with Timothy and that contracting officer directly to ensure they are getting what they are looking for.

[timothy.wenzel_apc]

Yes, this is a 3rd party...Nationwide Power out of Nevada.

From the bid: "Nationwide Power will respond to all your critical power needs with highly trained personnel 24/7/365. As an independent service provider for all brands of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, batteries, DC plants, generators, and HVAC equipment, we can offer you many service advantages."

It doesn't specify APC this or Schneider that anywhere in the bid, which our old warranty did.

[BillP]

Thanks for the additional information.

So no, these third parties do not have the software required to download all logs, they do not have access to factory parts necessarily and if they are rebuilding parts, then that could be another problem too. Also, the third parties do not have factory training nor do they have access to Method of Procedures to ensure the unit will remain online. It seems that third party groups are trying to poach these contracts..

The easiest thing to do is to verify that you're are working with your Account Manager, especially because I think you are asking on behalf of a government entity. The way I understand it personally after chatting here is that the federal government uses resellers as a procurement vehicle but Schneider is completing the work 99.99% of the time.

I hope this validation helps.

[timothy.wenzel_apc · Accepted solution]

Angela,

This is extremely helpful information for us.  I wll be passing this on to our contracting officer so we can make a better choice in who is providing actual warranty service for our system.

Yes, I am acting on behalf of the US Navy.  We just want what is best for the critical systems that provide reliable power.