Conditions and Specifications - bcsc.k12.in.us€¦ · Web viewSealed responses will be received by the Board of School Trustees of the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation

Internet EgressSpecifications

BCSC ISP RFP 11/24/2014

Table of Contents1 Conditions and Specifications................................................................................................4

2 Preparation and Submission of Responses............................................................................4

2.1 Indication of Amounts.....................................................................................................4

2.2 Requirement for Signing Responses................................................................................4

2.3 Non-Collusion Affidavit....................................................................................................4

2.4 Means of Submission......................................................................................................5

3 Award of Contract..................................................................................................................5

3.1 When the Award Is Effectual...........................................................................................5

3.2 Withdrawal of Responses................................................................................................5

3.2.1 Prior to Opening of Response..................................................................................5

3.2.2 After Opening of Response......................................................................................5

3.3 Rejection of Responses...................................................................................................5

3.3.1 Right to Waive..........................................................................................................5

3.3.2 Standard of Quality..................................................................................................5

3.4 Execution of Agreement..................................................................................................5

4 Indiana State Gross Retail and Use Tax..................................................................................6

5 Examination of Documents....................................................................................................6

5.1 Questions and Clarifications............................................................................................6

6 Proof of Competency.............................................................................................................7

7 Scope of Services................................................................................................................... 7

7.1 Network Requirements...................................................................................................7

7.2 Hardware Requirements.................................................................................................8

7.3 Service Requirements......................................................................................................8

7.3.1 Major Outages.........................................................................................................8

7.3.2 Minor Outages.........................................................................................................8

7.4 Implementation Requirements.......................................................................................8

7.5 Project Management.......................................................................................................9

8 Deliverables........................................................................................................................... 9

8.1 Success Metrics...............................................................................................................9

8.2 Ongoing Responsibilities.................................................................................................9

9 Contractual Terms and Conditions.........................................................................................9

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9.1 Single Provider................................................................................................................ 9

9.2 Length of Contract:..........................................................................................................9

9.3 Lowest Corresponding Price (LCP) Plan...........................................................................9

9.4 All Cost Inclusive Pricing..................................................................................................9

9.5 E-Rate Funding..............................................................................................................10

9.6 Modifications................................................................................................................ 11

10 Proposal Requirements........................................................................................................11

11 Evaluation and Award Process.............................................................................................11

11.1 Selection Factors........................................................................................................11

11.1.1 Cost of Solution (45%)............................................................................................11

11.1.2 Extent to which the goods or services meet the district’s needs (15%).................12

11.1.3 Reputation and Quality of the Service Provider and Service Provider’s Goods or Services (20%)......................................................................................................................12

11.1.4 Other Relevant Factors (20%)................................................................................12

12 Communications..................................................................................................................12

13 Appendix 1 – Utility and/or Telecommunications Blanket Exemption.................................14

14 Attachment 1 - Questionnaire:............................................................................................15

15 Attachment 2 – Pricing Sheet...............................................................................................17

16 Attachment 3 – Execution of Agreement.............................................................................18

17 Attachment 4 - Business References....................................................................................19

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1 Conditions and Specifications This statement shall apply to all Respondents submitting Proposals in anticipation of a direct contract with the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation. For ease of reference, such Respondents shall be called a “Service Provider” and the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation shall be called “School Corporation”.

The services shall be furnished in accordance with the documents prepared by the School Corporation and as indicated herein.

2 Preparation and Submission of Responses Sealed responses will be received by the Board of School Trustees of the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation for the purchase of Internet access. Sealed responses shall be sent to the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation, Administration Building, 1200 Central Avenue, Columbus, Indiana 47201, ATTENTION: Dr. Vaughn Sylva, Assistant Superintendent for Financial Services. Responses must be received by 1:00 P.M., on Friday, November 4, 2016. The sealed response package should be clearly marked on the outside “Internet Egress Bid”. Sealed responses will be publicly opened and read aloud at 1:00 P.M., on Friday, November 4, 2016, at the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation, Administration Building, 1200 Central Avenue, Columbus, Indiana 47201. The School Board reserves the right to reject any or all responses in part or whole, and the School Board has the right to waive any informality or irregularity.

2.1 Indication of AmountsEach response shall have the amounts written in ink or type written.

Any response may be rejected, if it contains any alterations or erasures.

2.2 Requirement for Signing ResponsesAny response not signed by the individual making same shall have attached to it a Power of Attorney evidencing authority to sign the response, executed by the partners.

A response signed for a partnership shall be signed be one of the partners, or by an attorney-in-fact. If signed by an attorney-in-fact, there shall be attached to the response a Power of Attorney, evidencing authority to sign the response, executed by the partners.

Responses which are submitted by a corporation shall have the correct name thereof and the signature of the president or other authorized officer of the corporation and secretary or an assistant secretary manually written below the corporate name following the word “by ____________”, and shall have affixed the corporate seal.

2.3 Non-Collusion AffidavitEach Respondent shall furnish with his response, an affidavit that such Respondent has not directly or indirectly entered into a combination, undertaking, collusion, or

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agreement with any other Respondent or prospective Respondent, or with any officer or members of the School Corporation which tends to or does lessen or destroy free competition in the letting of contracts sought for by these Instruction to Respondents.

2.4 Means of SubmissionEach response shall be enclosed in a sealed opaque envelope, properly marked with the name and place of business of the Respondent, and the response for which is submitted.

3 Award of Contract

3.1 When the Award Is EffectualThe contract shall be deemed to have been awarded when notice of award shall have been duly served upon the awardee (i.e., the Respondent to whom the School Corporation contemplates awarding the contract or contracts) by some officer or agent of the School Corporation duly authorized to give such notice.

3.2 Withdrawal of Responses

3.2.1 Prior to Opening of Response.Any Respondent may withdraw his response at any time prior to the scheduled time for receipt and opening of response.

3.2.2 After Opening of Response.No response shall be withdrawn after the opening of response without the consent of the School Corporation for a period of sixty (60) days after said opening.

3.3 Rejection of Responses

3.3.1 Right to WaiveThe School Corporation reserves the right to reject any or all responses in part or whole, and the right to waive any informality or irregularity.

3.3.2 Standard of QualityThe School Corporation reserves the right to reject any response, which in its opinion does not meet the standard of quality, established by documents.

3.4 Execution of AgreementCopies of all applicable agreements or contracts shall be included with the proposal, and will be carefully examined by the School Corporation for compliance with the documents, and shall be considered part of the Proposal. These must be provided as Attachment #3, “Execution of Agreement”.

The Service Provider to whom the contract is awarded by the School Corporation shall within ten (10) days after notice of award from the School Corporation, sign and deliver to the School Corporation all required copies of said agreements or contracts.

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All agreements and/or contracts shall be approved by the School Corporation before the successful Respondent may proceed with the work.

The School Corporation is willing to convert this Proposal Specification into a binding contract. The specifications and deliverables described in this Proposal Specification are considered to be part of the any agreement and/or contract.

4 Indiana State Gross Retail and Use Tax All Proposals shall be submitted without inclusion in the prices for the amounts, if any, of Gross Retail and Use Tax (generally called the “Sales Tax” and adopted in the 1963 Special Session of Indiana General Assembly as House Enrolled Act 1226, Sections 1-20) due the State of Indiana for services performed or material furnished in connection with the work contemplated by the proposal. This provision shall apply both to transactions between the School Corporation and the Service Provider and to transactions between the Service Provider and any supplier furnishing service or material to the Service Provider. However, any tax on rented equipment and on material not incorporated in the work shall be paid by the Service Provider if assessed by the State of Indiana and shall not be paid by the School Corporation. The School Corporation shall pay the amount of such tax, if any, with the exceptions noted above, in addition to the contract price. Such amounts of tax shall be separately itemized in all statements. The School Corporation shall have the right to contest the tax with the State of Indiana. The Service Provider shall provide any exemption certificates permitted or required by such statute.

The School Corporation has been granted a blanket exemption from Indiana state sales tax on utility and telecommunications account. A copy of the letter is provided in Appendix 1.

5 Examination of Documents Before submitting a Proposal, each Service Provider shall carefully read all documents. Each Service Provider shall fully inform himself prior to submitting a proposal as to all existing conditions and limitations under which the work is to be performed and he shall include in his proposal a sum to cover the cost of all items necessary to perform the work as set forth in the documents. No allowance will be made to any Service Provider because of lack of such knowledge. Acceptance of any Proposal will be based on the assumption that the Service Provider fully understands the specifications and conditions, and accepts them without reservation.

5.1 Questions and ClarificationsAll questions received and the corresponding answers will be distributed to all Service Provider s. No verbal responses will be provided. The deadline for questions about this proposal will be 5:00 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, November 2, 2016. BCSC will not respond to questions after this time and date. Although every effort has been made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, companies supplying quotations should email or fax Mike Jamerson to answer all questions. Response to questions will be posted in the form of an addendum to all Service Providers of record via email.

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Requests may be submitted via email to Mike Jamerson at [email protected] or via delivery to:

Bartholomew Consolidated School CorporationInformation Services Center2650 Home AvenueColumbus, Indiana 47201Attention: Mike Jamerson

The person submitting the request will be responsible for its prompt delivery.

Any interpretation or correction of the documents will be made only by Addendum and will be mailed or delivered to each Service Provider of record. The School Corporation will not be responsible for any other explanations or interpretations of the documents.

6 Proof of Competency Service Providers will be required to furnish evidence satisfactory to the School Corporation that he and his proposed suppliers have sufficient means and experience in the type of work called for to assure completion of the contract in a satisfactory manner. The School Corporation reserves the right to inquire about each company’s qualifications such as size of the company, number of employees, whether it is a full or a part-time business and any other necessary factors that would qualify the company as a “Responsible Bidder” as defined under I.C. 36-1-9-2.

7 Scope of Services The School Corporation requires that the Service Provider fulfill the requirements outlined in this section in order to be considered for selection.

7.1 Network RequirementsThe proposed solution will provide a single Internet connection capable of supporting symmetric upload and down load speeds of at least the contracted speed at all times. The termination point of this connection will be the School Corporation’s Data Center located at the Data Cave, 2425 Technology Blvd, Columbus, IN 47201. The solution must provide 128 static IPv4 addresses in a contiguous group. BCSC anticipates that the required amount of bandwidth will increase during the contract term and is requesting pricing for 1 Gbs through 10 Gbs service in service increments of 1 Gbs.

All Ethernet protocols must be present on the network and conform to normal standards. Traffic must be routable to any point on the WAN.

All traffic, whether voice, video, or standard data must be transmittable as long as it is converted to TCP/IP format.

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mailto:[email protected]


7.2 Hardware RequirementsAll hardware used must conform to common standards. Termination points must use existing building penetration points and data closets. Service Provider is responsible for delivering the appropriate handoff for the School Corporation’s environment per location.

7.3 Service RequirementsThe proposed Internet Service connection must operate at full capacity, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Outages must be immediately identified through an automated process and notification system and communicated to the individual(s) identified by the School Corporation. Remediation service issues must be acknowledged in one (1) hour with a maximum on-site response time of four (4) hours.

The School Corporation expects a service uptime of 99.999% during core service hours of 7:00 AM and 4:00 PM (EST). Any planned service downtime cannot occur during core service hours without the express written permission of the School Corporation. Service Provider must provide a copy of Service Provider’s service level agreement. The Service Level Agreement shall be included within the final negotiated contractual agreement.

The Service Provider must provide access to customer support on a 7 x 24 x 365 basis.

The Service Provider shall provide one customer representative and technical service representative to serve as Project Manager(s) during normal business hours (8:00 AM to 5:00 PM) during the first five days of Service operation to provide such assistance to the BCSC representative as may be required. The customer representative and technical service representative will be on call and immediately available for the remainder of the first month of operation without additional cost to the School Corporation.

7.3.1 Major OutagesService Provider must provide a definition of Major Outage and response periods. The School Corporation requires a minimum of a 30-minute acknowledgement to a Major Outage, and a minimum of 1 hour for Service Provider to begin the trouble shooting process.

7.3.2 Minor OutagesService Provider must provide a definition of Minor Outage and response periods. The School Corporation requires a minimum of a one-hour acknowledgement to a Minor Outage, and a minimum of 2 hours for Service Provider to begin the trouble shooting process.

7.4 Implementation RequirementsAll services will use existing entrances into the School Corporation’s buildings.

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7.5 Project ManagementOn acceptance of the Service Provider’s proposal, the Service Provider will assign a project manager to the School Corporation as a single point of contact. The Project Manager will be responsible for ensuring the School Corporation’s needs are met in regards to the WAN service.

The Project Manager will report weekly until service has been fully implemented for the School Corporation.

8 Deliverables

8.1 Success MetricsThe service will be considered to have been successfully delivered when an end-to-end connection can be established with Internet sites.

8.2 Ongoing ResponsibilitiesThe Service Provider must provide the School Corporation with a quarterly report discussing performance levels, outages, and issues.

9 Contractual Terms and Conditions

9.1 Single ProviderThis contract will be awarded to one Service Provider as determined to provide the best value to the School Corporation as determined by the district. The School Corporation reserves the right to negotiate with any or all Service Providers and accept or reject any and/or all proposals, to waive any formalities and/or irregularities and to award in the best interest of the school district.

9.2 Length of Contract:The term of this contract shall be three (3) years. The agreement may be renewed for three (3) additional 1-year terms after the initial term agreement with the mutual consent of both parties.

9.3 Lowest Corresponding Price (LCP) PlanFor comparisons, the Service Provider must submit the service provider’s lowest corresponding pricing plan on the service pricing sheets listed below based upon the district locations specified in Attachment II.

9.4 All Cost Inclusive PricingService provider must include any taxes, surcharges, fees, installation cost, and any other costs inclusive of construction charges on the pricing sheet. Service Providers that do not provide this information, even if the amount is an estimate based upon current applicable taxes, surcharges, or fees, may be disqualified, and/or the School Corporation will not be liable for these charges.

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9.5 E-Rate FundingA portion of the payment for this contract will be funded by the School and Libraries Program (SLD) administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The School Corporation is eligible for a certain discount percentage to be verified by the SLD. The School Corporation has historically utilized the Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR) Form (FORM 472) for reimbursement from the School and Libraries Program (SLD). The contracted service provider shall acknowledge acceptance of this process. The contracted service provider further agrees to provide The School Corporation with the signed and dated page 4 of the BEAR Form (or on-line certification) within 7 calendar days of submission to the designated individual and/or department responsible for signature thereof (or successful submission of the on-line BEAR form). Contracted service provider further agrees to cooperate fully with the district in the event the district elects to convert to the service provider invoice method during the term of the contract. Service Provider agrees to provide any service provider federal e-rate data gathering forms prepopulated with billed telephone numbers and working telephone numbers for the districts review and certification. Specifically, Service Provider acknowledges and will comply with paragraph 237 of the Seventh Report and Order, WC Docket No. 13-184.

The Universal Service Fund is administered by the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). This not-for-profit corporation was appointed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure that the benefits of telecommunications services reach students and communities across the country. Service providers responding to this RFP must be currently registered with the SLD and provide valid SPIN identification in the proposal response. For more information, visit the Schools and Libraries Division Website at www.sl.universalservice.org

Service Provider further agrees to submit the “Service Provider Annual Certification” Form for the forthcoming funding year prior to the beginning of the forthcoming funding year.

Service Provider shall provide the Service Provider Identification Number (SPIN) as assigned by the SLD within the response to this RFP.

Service Provider agrees to resolve within 60 calendars days any formal written billing dispute provided either electronically, or via the United States Postal Service with return receipt requested. Service Provider shall provide the mailing address and/or e-mail address for formal billing disputes within the response. Service Provider shall provide an escalation list for the billing dispute resolution process. Escalation list shall at a minimum include the Vice-President of your organization responsible for billing disputes. In the event a formal billing dispute is not resolved within 60 days, Service Provider agrees to issue a credit to service provider’s bill to the School Corporation. This credit must appear on the first billing cycle after the expiration of the 60 days allowed for the billing issue resolution process. In the event service provider does not provide the credit requested, the School Corporation shall subtract said credit from

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http://www.sl.universalservice.org/


the next month’s bill. Service Provider agrees and accepts that any late payment fees associated with this process shall be waived by Service Provider without demand.

9.6 ModificationsNo oral statement of any person shall modify or otherwise change, or affect the terms, conditions, or specifications incorporated within the resulting contract.

10 Proposal Requirements

Service Providers must submit one (1) physical copy of their proposal on 8.5 x 11 paper bound in a three ring binder or another standard binding method (no staples). Service Provider must submit a digital copy in portable document format (.PDF). Each physical copy must include

State Form 96 Non-Collusion Affidavit Bid Bond or Certified Check Executive Summary and Signature Page Completed Questionnaire Cost Sheet Physical Diagram of Your Proposed Service Offering Logical Diagram of Your Proposed Service Offering Business References (per section 7.1.4.2 below) Proposal and Delivery Breakdown

11 Evaluation and Award Process

11.1 Selection FactorsProposals for the service will be evaluated as an entire package for all items included in the proposal using the following criteria.

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following:

11.1.1 Cost of Solution (45%)

11.1.1.1 Initial Cost of SolutionThis includes all costs associated with purchase, delivery, and installation of the proposed network services, including any items such as cables that must be supplied by the School Corporation to make the proposed solution operable.

11.1.1.2 Total Cost of Ownership (20%)Total Cost of Ownership will include any costs that the School Corporation will incur to install and support the on-going operation of the equipment such as cabling, annual maintenance, power, and licensing.

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11.1.2 Extent to which the goods or services meet the district’s needs (15%)

11.1.2.1 CompletenessThe completeness of the total proposal, the ability to fulfill all requirements contained in these specifications and the quality and thoroughness of the data provided in the proposal response will be evaluated during the award process.

11.1.2.2 DiversitySince BCSC seeks to minimize the potential impact of any service outage, preference will be given to a solution that minimizes the potential for an outage affecting the entire Corporation. This could include alternate routes to the Internet or a different provider that that used at the Data Cave.

11.1.3 Reputation and Quality of the Service Provider and Service Provider’s Goods or Services (20%)

11.1.3.1 Supplier Qualifications & CapabilityThe ability of the Service Provider to provide evidence of other successful installations similar to the proposed shall be reviewed prior to awarding the proposal.

Please provide a brief history of your company and copies of your company’s two most recent annual reports.

11.1.3.2 ReferencesService Providers that do not already have an established sales and service relationship with the School Corporation must supply three or more references from K-12 public school corporations that are comparable in size to the School Corporation. Please provide the references on Attachment #2, “Business References”.

11.1.4 Other Relevant Factors (20%)Other relevant factors including, but not limited to:

- Service Level Agreement - Proposed Implementation Plan - Local Service and Support Team

12 Communications All questions received and the corresponding answers will be distributed to all Service Provider s. No verbal responses will be provided. The deadline for questions about this proposal will be 12:00 p.m. (noon), Friday, October 28, 2016. BCSC will not respond to questions after this time and date. Although every effort has been made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, companies supplying quotations should email or fax Mike Jamerson to answer all questions. Response to questions will be posted in the form of an addendum to all Service Providers of record via email.

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Requests may be submitted via email to Mike Jamerson at [email protected] or via delivery to:

Bartholomew Consolidated School CorporationInformation Services Center2650 Home AvenueColumbus, Indiana 47201Attention: Mike Jamerson

The person submitting the request will be responsible for its prompt delivery.

Any interpretation or correction of the documents will be made only by Addendum and will be mailed or delivered to each Service Provider of record. The School Corporation will not be responsible for any other explanations or interpretations of the documents.

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mailto:[email protected]


13 Appendix 1 – Utility and/or Telecommunications Blanket Exemption

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14 Attachment 1 - Questionnaire: 1. Provide a list of customer service support telephone number(s), including hours of

operation.

2. Provide the wireless telephone numbers for the first line service support supervisor and second line service support supervisor.

3. Specify and explain remediation plans for service outages?

4. Provide a high-level project management document detailing the implementation milestones required to meet the specified service start date.

5. Who will be the contract administrator/point of contact for the Service Provider?

6. Provide a list or organizational chart of your local service support management and sales team.

7. Indicate how many full time employees will be employed in providing this service and the percentage of your workforce this represents.

8. Indicate if your company is a full time business. If not, please explain. Please indicate if the sale and distribution of audiovisual equipment is your primary business.

9. Indicate the dollar volume of sales to educational institutions in the most recent fiscal year.

10. Provide information about any third parties who will be involved in the installation and/or subsequent support and proposed service.

11. Does the proposed service provide for 128 contiguous static IPv4 addresses?

12. Does your service provide traffic analysis capabilities?

13. List the traffic analysis reports available.

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14. In what format are these reports presented? Graphic, numeric or both? Via Website?

15. Describe any additional hardware and/ or software required to provide this reporting function.

16. What is the cost, if any, of this functionality based on the proposed system configuration?

17. Provide documentation providing the method utilized at the Point of Demarcation to “Interconnect” each circuit with customer provided demarcation device.

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15 Attachment 2 – Pricing Sheet

Service Providers shall propose pricing for services as specified in the pricing sheet(s) below.

SERVICE DESCRIPTIONTOTAL INSTALLATION CHARGE FOR SERVICE

REQUESTED

TOTAL MONTHLY RECURRING CHARGES

FOR SERVICES

1 Gbs Internet Service Connection – 36 month Service Agreement










Service Provider MUST include all Taxes, Fees, Surcharges based upon the current regulatory and/or corporate policy environment. Service Provider MUST include ALL Installation charges, Construction Charges, and/or Special Construction charges. Any of the aforementioned cost not included in the pricing will not be paid, and or can result in the disqualification of the response and/or cancellation of any future contract.

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16 Attachment 3 – Execution of Agreement

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17 Attachment 4 - Business References

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