WAN 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 the procurement telecommunication services necessary to deploy a dark fiber ATM Wide-area Network to support the voice, video, and data requirements of 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 to lease dark fiber from an eligible, qualified telecommunication provider (as defined in the FCC’s 4^th Order on Reconsideration, December 1997) or alternatively lease-to-own or outright purchase dark fiber from an ineligible provider to support the Asyncronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Local-area Network (LAN) technologies and voice, video, and data requirements of its Members and to ensure interoperability of Member districts across multiple phone company plants within the same LATA.

In this RFP, civicNET seeks a provider of dark optical fiber to achieve the following goals:

1. To provide dedicated OC-3 bandwidth scaleable to OC-12 as necessary between Member district school buildings;
2. To provide infrastructure support for integrated Internet access, telephonic voice, MPEG-2 quality video, and graphic-intense data applications; and,
3. To provide for an interconnection to Member ATM Local-area Networks (LAN) for the primary purposes of sharing access to the Internet and WAN administration/management.

PROCUREMENT and FINANCING

The civicNET consortium qualifies for a 50% Universal Service Fund discount on eligible items. Eligible items include the lease of dark fiber from an eligible telecommunications carrier and may include the lease of dark fiber from a non-telecommunications provider when the same is used for Internet access. Ineligible may include voice and data services provided by non-telecommunications carriers. The civicNET administrator is seeking clarification from the SLC in the form of a FAQ release expected in the near future. It is anticipated that the SLC will allow for the segregation of eligible WAN services from ineligible. It shall be the responsibility of the Provider to segregate in the preparation of their RFP response as it pertains to eligible and ineligible items for discount. 

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 the desired dark fiber. One member is the ineligible Illinois Central Community College. It shall be the responsibility of the Provider to segregate leased dark fiber costs for the ineligible community college in the preparation of their RFP response as it pertains to eligible and ineligible items for discount.

CivicNET Members seek a quotation on a 20-year renewable, lease payment arrangement ONLY with or without an annual maintenance of plant charge. The renewal shall be in increments of 10-year periods. To the extent allowed for, civicNET will pay and seek discounts on the up-front costs of the initial connections.

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.

SCHEDULE / PENALTY / SHIP TO ADDRESS

The successful service provider(s) shall deliver to the fiscal and administrative agent for civicNET the described network components in good working order according to the following schedule:

1. Useable dark fiber capable of support OC-3 bandwidth and ATM technologies between the civicNET Member school buildings: within 120-days of the date the SLC sets funds aside for the awarded contract.

Failure to meet the timelines specified shall result in a penalty equal to the lesser of (a) $1,000 per day or (b) a 0.10% per day reduction in the total contract value for each day the provider fails to deliver the procured services from the date said same service became due as provided for above.

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 outright purchase price shall be only one variable, albeit the most significant. The cost of maintaining/supporting the network, compatibility with the existing GC2000 network, and adherence to the specifications and interconnection requirements—shall receive equal or greater consideration when comparing costs. In evaluating the proposals, civicNET may consider the procurement costs, discounts avaialble, network compatibility, manufacturer trade group reputation/ratings, maintenance/support costs, financial wherewithal of the provider, adherence to requirements, 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’s A, B, C, and D of this Request for Proposal for a copy of a civicNET commissioned configuration of LAN hardware, integration into the administrative agents network (GC2000), LAN/WAN hardware deployment, and WAN Member district school building locations including the Internet Point-of-presence in Peoria, Illinois.

The providers dark fiber network infrastructure should be built upon and maintained according to the following minimum specifications. 

1. GENERAL

1. The network backbone shall allow for the integration of voice telephony, broadcast-quality video (MPEG-2), and data across a single pair of optical fiber strands.
2. The network backbone shall allow for speeds of 155Mbs scaleable to 622Mbs full duplex.
3. The network backbone shall interoperate with the existing GC2000 ATM Network of the Pekin Public Schools, allowing for the utilization of existing hardware and software management capabilities and the elimination of the need to replace the same.
4. The network must protect existing investments in LAN technologies by allowing for the same to efficiently bridge across the network.
5. No hardware, software, administrative or management services are being sought here to "light-up" the network; Only the dark fiber network is sought.
6. The network is projected to include the following costs items (if it were to be built from scratch):

 
 

ITEM	UNIT	FROM	TO
AERIAL MILEAGE	Feet	372,768	469,977
U.G. PLOWING MILEAGE	Feet	52,944	93,641
U.G. BORING MILEAGE	Feet	13,168	10,000
U.G. HIGHWAY MILEAGE	Feet	3,584	4,540
RIVER BORE MILEAGE	Feet	-	2,000
OPTICAL FIBER CABLE	Feet	486,710	638,174
BLDG PENETRATIONS	# of	37	37
SPLICING	# of	534	636
ENGINEERING	Minutes	442,464	580,158
POLE RENTAL	Dollars	98,840	124,615
MAKE-READY	Dollars	149,107	187,991

 

B. ENGINEERING (AS NECESSARY)

1. Right of way acquisition and engineering

a) Initiate all agreements with municipalities and other utilities to secure legal rights-of-ways for construction of network.

2. Detailed route engineering

a) Determine usable routing (aerial / underground) for network construction.

b) Provide detailed route engineering maps at the scale of 1" to 50’ for underground routing and 1" to 100’ for aerial routing. Engineering will indicate physical measurements of existing right-of-ways, placement of cable (width/depth), and location of existing utilities.

c) Coordinate and determine optimum entry points and internal cable routing for designated public school buildings.

3. Permit acquisition

a) Obtain all necessary municipality, state, county and utility permits required for network construction.

4. Make-ready Engineering 

a) Provide detailed pole make-ready engineering as required by existing electric and telco utilities.

5. Project Management

1. Provide all necessary project management to facilitate network construction assuring concurrence with all quality and safety standards and adherence to applicable timetables.

C. CONSTRUCTION OF IN-PLACE PLANT (AS NECESSARY)

1. Aerial construction

a) Cable double lashed to steel messinger strand.

2. Underground construction

a) Direct bury (plow/trench/bore)-armored cable.

3. Building penetrations

a) External and internal building construction

4. Field splicing

a) Fusion splicing of all in-line field splicing.

D. NETWORK CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS (MINIMUM PLANT REQUIREMENTS)

1. Aerial Construction Specifications

a) Messinger Strand:

a) Cable, physical characteristics

a) Enclosures:

a) OTDR testing:

5. 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 ( )	20-Year Lease: Portion of OC-3 Bandwidth dedicated to Internet access (45Mbs)	$	$	$
General Instructions through Award, Specifications ( )	20-Year Lease: Portion of OC-3 Bandwidth dedicated to MPEG-quality Video (45Mbs)
General Instructions through Award, Specifications ( )	20-Year Lease: Portion of OC-3 Bandwidth dedicated to Data transmissions (45Mbs)
General Instructions through Award, Specifications ( )	20-Year Lease: Portion of OC-3 Bandwidth dedicated to Voice Telephony (20Mbs)
TOTALS	20-Year Lease: Total of OC-3 Bandwidth	$	$	$
General Instructions through Award, Specifications ( )	Annual Maintenance of Dark Fiber Network	$	$	$

 

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