MAINT. RFP 

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Board of Education, School District No. 108, Tazewell County, 501 Washington Street, Pekin, Illinois 61554.

The Board of Education, School District No. 108, Tazewell County, Pekin, Illinois as fiscal and administrative agent for the Central Illinois Valley Intranet Consortium, or civicNET, will receive requests for proposals for services to maintain a Wide-area network optical fiber plant supporting the civicNET Member schools, until 10:30 p.m., on the 23rd day of March, 1998, at the Office of the Director of Finance and Operations, Administration Center, Pekin Public School District #108, 501 Washington Street, Pekin, Illinois, at which place and time the Requests for Proposals shall be publicly opened and read.

Specifications and instructions to qualified vendors may be examined at the office of the Director of Finance/Operations, Administration Center, Pekin Public School District #108, 501 Washington Street, Pekin, Illinois, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The Board of Education of School District No. 108 reserves the right to enter into a contract with a vendor who best meets the needs of the civicNET members, all being consistent with the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Illinois School Code pertaining to the procurement of computer equipment and telecommunication services.

6. Price shall include all charges specified, plus those other charges not specified but requested as "other", and then, only those necessary to bring the system into operation.

 

7. ALL CORRESPONDENCE SHALL BE ADDRESSED TO THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE and OPERATIONS.

 

8. A MANDATORY PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE SHALL BE HELD ON THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1998 AT 10:30 A.M. IN THE BOARD CONFERENCE ROOM, PEKIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT #108, 501 WASHINGTON STREET, PEKIN, ILLINOIS.

 

9. Proposals will be available for inspection in the District Office during regular business hours after award of a contract.

BACKGROUND / CONTEXT 

civicNET is a consortium of 16 eligible K-12 school districts and one ineligible community college district located in central Illinois along the east bank of the Illinois River in Tazewell County. (One member district is divided into both Tazewell and Mason Counties.) The fiscal and administrative agent for the Central Illinois Valley Intranet Consortium is the Pekin Public School District #108, Tazewell County, Pekin, Illinois.

civicNET has as one of its purposes the pooling of fiscal, human, and property resources of its Member districts to bring access to and the sharing of state-of-the-art technologies in the classrooms of Tazewell County.

civicNET solicits RFP’s from qualified providers for telecommunication services under the provisions of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Illinois School Code, and rules and regulations promulgated for accessing Universal Service Funding by schools and libraries as established by the Federal Communications Commission and its administrative agents including the National Exchange Carriers Association, the Universal Service Administrative Corporation, and the School and Libraries Corporation.

SCOPE of PROJECT

civicNET seeks herein a maintenance agreement on the civicNET Members leased/owned dark fiber plant from an eligible, qualified telecommunication provider (as defined in the FCC’s 4^th Order on Reconsideration, December 1997) or an ineligible provider.

In this RFP, civicNET seeks a provider of maintenance services for a Wide-area Network to achieve the following goals:

1. To provide preventative maintenance of the aerial and underground plant;
2. To provide select locate, re-locate services;
3. To provide non-catastrophic maintenance of the aerial and underground plant; and,
4. To provide catastrophic maintenance services on a time and material basis.

PROCUREMENT and FINANCING

The civicNET consortium qualifies for a 50% Universal Service Fund discount on eligible items. Eligible items include maintenance services from either a telecommunications provider a non-telecommunications provider. 

Consortium members have entered in to an Intergovernmental Agreement under the provisions of the School Code of Illinois and have contractually agreed to fund the Members portion of the cost of procuring maintenance services. One member is the ineligible Illinois Central Community College. It shall be the responsibility of the Provider to segregate the costs of maintaining the owned/leased dark fiber for the ineligible community college in the preparation of their RFP response.

CivicNET Members seek a quotation on a 5-year renewable maintenance of plant agreement. The renewal shall be in increments of 5-year periods.

Responding Providers acknowledge and agree that a portion of their funding shall be remitted from the Universal Service Fund administered by the Schools and Libraries Corporation (SCL) and the Universal Service Administration Corporation (USAC) upon proper application by the Provider and FCC Form 486 submission and certification by civicNET.

ERRORS AND OMISSIONS

All proposals shall be submitted with each space properly completed. The special attention of providers is directed to the policy that no claim for relief because of errors or omissions in the proposal will be considered, and bidders will be held strictly to the proposals as submitted. Should a bidder find any discrepancies in, or omissions from, any of the documents or be in doubt as to their meaning, the provider shall advise the Director of Finance and Operations who will issue the necessary clarifications to all prospective providers by means of an addenda.

FIRM PROPOSAL

All proposals will be considered to be firm for a period of seventy-five (75) days from the date established for the posting of the request on the Schools & Libraries Corporation’s WEB site.

WITHDRAWAL of PROPOSALS

Proposals may be withdrawn by letter, telegram, facsimile, or in person prior to the date and time established for the opening of the same.

INVESTIGATION of SERVICE PROVIDERS

civicNET will make such investigation as is necessary to determine the ability of the provider to fulfill a contract and provide the services desired. The respondents shall furnish such information as may be requested by the Director of Finance and Operations, or his designated agent, and shall be prepared to show, among other things, successful configurations of the items requested in the environment described, financial strength to fulfill a contract, and other such information that may aid civicNET in the award of a contract.

EVALUATION

civicNET reserves the right to procure the telecommunication services it deems bests suits its needs consistent with the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the School Code of Illinois irrespective of the lowest bid.

civicNET reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and to waive any technicalities in the proposal process unless otherwise prohibited by the applicable sections of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 or the School Code of Illinois as they pertain to evaluating proposals and awarding contracts.

In computing costs, the maintenance costs shall be only one variable, albeit the most significant. In evaluating the proposals, civicNET may consider the procurement costs, discounts available, service provider certification to work on Utility Company rented poles, financial wherewithal of the provider, adherence to requirements, reputation/references, other considerations in the best interest of civicNET, and/or a combination of the above.

PUBLIC ACT 85-1295 (720 ILCS 5/33E-3, 33E-4)

The undersigned provider certifies that it has not been convicted of bribery or attempting to bribe an officer or employee of the State of Illinois, or any unit of government in the State of Illinois, nor has the provider made an admission of guilt of such conduct which is a matter of record, nor has an official, agent, or employee of the provider committed bribery or attempted bribery on behalf of the firm and pursuant to the direction or authorization of a responsible official of the provider. The undersigned provider further certifies that it is not barred from submitting a proposal or entering into a Contract as a result of a conviction of Illinois State Laws prohibiting bid-rigging or bid-rotating.

CONTRACT

This bid document shall become part of and be incorporated into any Contract required by the Successful Bidder. The terms and conditions of this Request for Proposal shall take precedence over any and all terms contained in the service provider’s response and/or any contract and shall prevail when one or more items in provider’s response and/or contract conflict with any item contained in civicNET’s RFP, unless otherwise excepted by the provider and clearly accepted by civicNET at the time of the contract award.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Any disputes arising out of the faithful performance of this proposal award/contract and not otherwise resolved by the parties to this contract may be redressed by the injured party through civil action brought in a Court of Competent Jurisdiction. For the purposes of this RFP, such Court of Competent Jurisdiction shall be the 10th Judicial Court of Tazewell County, Pekin, Illinois for matters involving the School Code of Illinois or the ____ , Peoria, Illinois for matters involving the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Any fees incurred by the Pekin Public Schools in defending civicNET or any of its member districts against an action brought by a provider or in the alternate its representative or "Surety" shall be the responsibility of the service provider regardless of ultimate adjudication or settlement.

AWARD

civicNET reserves the right to accept and award a contract(s) for any one or a combination of Proposals, to multiple respondents on different items, and in quantities greater than the minimums (but within the specified ranges.)

civicNET shall award a contract(s) subject to the availability of funding from the Universal Service Fund and all contracts shall reflect the same. If for any reason funds should not be made available from the Universal Service Fund, civicNET may unilaterally withdraw from its contract without penalty.

SIGNATURE CONSTITUTES ACCEPTANCE & ASSURANCES

The signing of these proposal forms shall be construed as acceptance and assurance, as the case may be, of all provisions contained therein.

I, , a duly authorized representative of , have read the terms and conditions under which this Request for Proposals is submitted. The attached quotation to the best of my knowledge represents best offer.

Being duly authorized to make this binding proposal, I affix my signature:

. Attest: 

Its: 

Mailing Address to which all correspondences should be sent:

Phone Number: ( ) Fax Number: ( ) 

Provider attention is directed to Exhibit C, of this Request for Proposal for a copy of a civicNET commissioned configuration WAN map. (Please note, the actual map may change as a result of a separate RFP calling for the lease and/or purchase of an already existing WAN.) Shown here are Member district school building locations including the Internet Point-of-presence in Peoria, Illinois.

The providers shall maintain the dark fiber plant according to the following minimum specifications. 

1. GENERAL

1. The following mileage has been calculated for a newly built WAN as represented in 

B. NETWORK MAINTENANCE SPECIFICATIONS (MINIMUM PLANT REQUIREMENTS)

The physical plant shall be maintained to the following minimum construction specifications.

1. Aerial Construction Specifications

a) Messinger Strand:

a) Cable, physical characteristics

a) Enclosures:

a) OTDR testing:

3. MAINTENANCE SPECIFICATIONS (MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS)

INSTRUCTIONS

In the spaces provided, enter the requested dollar figure. Append to Schedule 2 your response to the Request for Proposal. List on Schedule 3 any and all "Exceptions" the service provider proposes in their response (Schedule 2) to those sections of the RFP, generally, and the specifications, applicable exhibits specifically. Use the "Section Title" of the RFP or "Reference #" of the Specification Section to refer back to the document when noting deviations. In NO instance will a proposal be considered if any one of the items proposed is less than the minimums specified. Initial the quotation sheet in the space indicated.

 
 

QUOTATION: ATM LAN Hardware RFP
Reference #	General Category Description	Eligible Costs	Ineligible Costs	Total Costs
General Instructions through Award, Specifications ( )	5-Year Maintenance Agreement: expressed annually	$	$	$
TOTALS	TOTAL FIVE YEAR COSTS	$	$	$
General Instructions through Award, Specifications ( )	Catastrophic and/or relocate service: Costs expressed as an hourly rate; if costs are blended, provide breakdown by type of cost, label the same and attach hereto.	$	$	$

 

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