All bid deadlines are 11:59pm Pacific Time the date of the bid deadline listed unless otherwise noted.

school University City School District
IFCB Posted : Nov 20, 2015
Bid Deadline : Monday, Dec 21, 2015

Questions Due By : Monday, Dec 14, 2015
Applicant Address : University City, MO 63130
IFCB ID : 160005910

IFCB Requirements :
 ·        All Questions and Bids must be submitted using the on-line IFCB system. If for some reason the system is down before the respective deadline, please email your bid to info@crwconsulting.com or fax it to 918.445.0049. Bids or questions submitted in this fashion will be disqualified if the on-line system is active at the time of submission.
 
·        Bidder must agree to participate in USF Program (AKA “E-rate”) for the corresponding funding year.
 
·        Please include the correct Service Provider Identification Number (SPIN) on your bid.
 
·        By submitting a bid, bidder certifies that the bidder does have a valid (non-red light status) SPIN for the E-rate program at the time of submission. Should the Applicant discover that the bidder is on red light status, or if the FCC classifies the bidder as on red-light status before work is performed and invoices are paid, the contract will be null and void and the applicant will have no payment obligations to the bidder.
 
·        Bidder is expected to provide the lowest corresponding price per E-rate rules.  See http://www.usac.org/sl/service-providers/step02/lowest-corresponding-price.aspx for details.
 
·        Contracts must not prohibit SPIN changes.
 
·        Bidder must agree to provide the Applicant the choice of discount methods (SPI or BEAR).
 
·        Bidder will be automatically disqualified if the District determines that the bidding company has offered any employee of the District any individual gift of more than $20 or gifts totaling more than $50 within a 12 month period.
 
·        All contracts awarded will be contingent upon E-rate funding and final board approval.  The applicant may choose to do all or part of the project upon funding notification.
 
·        All contracts awarded under this IFCB bidding process may be voluntarily renewed by the applicant, upon written notice to the provider, for five consecutive one year terms.
 
 
·        E-rate rules require applicants to evaluate the cost of eligible goods and services, and to cost-allocate out the amount for ineligible services from their funding request. If your company will be bidding bundled data and voice plans, please identify the amount to be cost-allocated out for the ineligible data, text messaging functions or other bundled ineligible services.
 
·        E-rate rules require applicants to evaluate the cost of eligible goods and services, and to cost-allocate out the amount for ineligible services from their funding request. If your company will be bidding local phone service, please identify the amount to be cost-allocated out for the ineligible services - DID lines, voice mail, caller ID, inside wire maintenance, 900 call blocking, or other bundled ineligible services.
 
·        NETWORK UPGRADE/CATEGORY 2 – VENDORS WISHING TO SUBMIT BIDS FOR THE CATEGORY TWO PROJECT MUST ATTEND ONE OF TWO MANDATORY SITE VISITS.  BIDS RECEIVED FROM VENDORS WHO DID NOT ATTEND EITHER MEETING WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.
 
 
·        SERVICE PROVIDERS ARE REQUIRED TO BID THE ENTIRE HARDWARE PROJECT.  BIDS FOR INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS OF THE PROJECT WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.
 
·        DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Vendors are required to submit bids via the template “Internal connections – Template V15 – 1” or “Basic Maintenance Template V15 – 1” for each individual school that is receiving equipment and a separate template for all shared equipment.  Please name each template for the name of the school and project.  Example:  “Smith Elementary School Wireless Project” or “Wireless project shared equipment for all schools.”  Vendors that do not submit bids in the required template format will be disqualified from the process.
 
·        If the Applicant is requesting bids for equipment with specific make and model numbers listed, the Applicant will also accept bids for functionally equivalent equipment.

Services and Equipment Requested :
UPDATE 12/3: spreadsheet for phone lines and C2 bid instructions have been added as attachments. 

Local Phone Service –  60 analog/POTS lines and 200 DID lines including 2 PRI circuits. The terminating address for these PRI circuits is 8136 Groby Road, University City, Missouri 63130. E-rate rules require applicants to evaluate the cost of eligible goods and services, and to cost-allocate out the amount for ineligible services from their funding request. If your company will be bidding local phone service, please identify the amount to be cost-allocated out for the ineligible services - DID lines, voice mail, caller ID, inside wire maintenance, 900 call blocking, or other bundled ineligible services.
 
Long Distance Service – Average 1,500 minutes used per month
 
Cellular Phone Service – 50 lines. E-rate rules require applicants to evaluate the cost of eligible goods and services, and to cost-allocate out the amount for ineligible services from their funding request. If your company will be bidding bundled data and voice plans, please identify the amount to be cost-allocated out for the ineligible data, text messaging functions or other bundled ineligible services.
 
Point to Point Circuits – 5 x T1 bandwidth. All circuit addresses are in University City, MO 63130; (314) 290.  The hub location for each circuit is 8136 Groby Road, connecting:
 
1.       Flynn Park ES, 7220 Waterman Avenue
2.       Jackson Park ES, 7400 Balson Avenue
3.       University City HS, 7401 Balson Avenue
4.       Brittany Woods MS, 8125 Groby Road
5.       Nathaniel Hawthorne ES, 1351 North Hanley Road
 
WAN Connections – 8 x 1 GB bandwidth, University City HS is the hub site:
 
Hawthorne ES – 1351 N Hanley Rd, U City, 63130
Park ES – 7220 Waterman Ave., U City, 63130
Barbara Jordan ES – 1500 82nd Blvd., Saint Louis, 63132
Jackson Park ES – 7400 Balson Ave., Saint Louis, 63130
Pershing ES – 6761 Bartmer Ave., U City, 63130
McNair Bldg. – 8135 Groby Rd, U City, 63130
Goldstein ECC – 737 Kingsland Ave., U City, 63130
Brittany Woods MS – 8125 Groby Rd., U City, 63130
University HS – 7401 Balson Ave., Saint Louis, 63130
 
 
CATEGORY TWO:
 
DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Vendors are required to submit bids via the template “Internal connections – Template V15 – 1” for each individual school that is receiving equipment. Please name each template for the name of the school and project.  Example:  “Smith Elementary School Wireless Project” or “Wireless project shared equipment for all schools.”  Vendors that do not submit bids in the required template format will be disqualified from the process.
 
DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: VENDORS WISHING TO SUBMIT BIDS FOR THE CATEGORY TWO MUST ATTEND ONE OF TWO MANDATORY SITE VISITS.  THE FIRST VISIT WILL BE HELD FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2015, AND THE SECOND WILL BE HELD FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015.  VENDORS ARE REQUIRED TO CALL THE TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT AT (314) 290-4014 TO RSVP.  CATEGORY TWO BIDS FROM VENDORS WHO DO NOT ATTEND EITHER MEETING WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.  THE TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT SHOULD ONLY BE CONTACTED TO RSVP TO A VISIT – ALL QUESTIONS & BIDS MUST BE SUBMITTED VIA THE ONLINE IFCB SYSTEM AT https://www.crwconsulting.com/rfp/.
 
DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Service providers are required to bid an entire Project.  Bids for individual components of a single project will be disqualified.
 
 
CATEGORY TWO DETAILS:
 
There are additional documents available for download, “University City C2 List” which details the equipment to be purchased at each school. If the Applicant is requesting bids for equipment with specific make and model numbers listed, the Applicant will also accept bids for functionally equivalent equipment. We would like for you to submit your bids in your normal format – a word/excel/PDF as you normally would (in addition to the required templates). The winning vendor will be required to complete, for each school (and any shared equipment), the 2016 USAC C2 Templates when they become available. Once available the templates will be due in a two week time period. 

There is an additional document associated with this IFCB. Please click the buttons to download the document.

UniversityCityC2List.xlsx
InternalConnectionsTemplateV1515455.xlsm
InstructionsforC2Bids13.pdf
UCityPhoneLines.xlsx

Questions Received with Applicant Answers   ( Ask Questions? )




1. What are you currently using for your WLAN? 2. Is there an opportunity to view a brief web demo?

Answer:
 We are currently using Meraki in these locations, and Ubiquiti at locations for which e-Rate funding has been provided in previous years.  The project is not specifically addressing a 1:1 initiative; however, we anticipate a build-up to a statistical 1:1 over the next year or two.  

1) Can we bid on Local Phone Service, WAN Connections, and Long Distance only? 2) Can we not bid on the Point-To-Point Circuits and still remain as a qualified bidder?

Answer:
 1. Yes
2. Yes

1) Can we bid part all parts of the bid, while excluding the Point To Point Circuit portion of the bid without disqualification.

Answer:
 Yes you can

1) Can I get a breakdown of Long Distance--PRI vs POTS lines. 2) What are the addresses of the POTS lines and how many at each location? 3) Existing WAN--Who installed them and are they a managed solution?

Answer:
 In response to #1, I do not have a breakout of long distance on PRI lines vs. POTS lines. 

In response to #2, see attached spreadsheet 

UCityPhoneLines.xlsx

In response to #3, Charter provides our 8 point-to-point WAN connections, and yes, they are managed connections.

Do you need cellular internet? If yes, do you need unlimited data for smartphones? What is the capped data amount you currently have? How many smartphones do you need and how many basic phones do you need? For basic phones, does the school just need voice? Does this group need text messaging, camera, data? If yes, how much data is needed? How many estimated minutes do you need for each phone or for all 50 users?

Answer:
 We do use data on our current smart phone lines, so we do plan on these being included in the prevailing package.  The capped amount exceeds our monthly usage, but is not unlimited.  The number of lines is listed in the Form 470, and we want bidding to assume that all of these lines are smart phones, because the number that are not is not significant and anticipated to change. Please make sure your costs for data plans are identifiable so we can back them out of the E-rate application as those costs are not E-rate eligible.

At the WAN Hub Location are there individual fiber pairs directly connected to every remote location or this an aggregated service with a single 1G circuit terminated at the hub via a centralized Ethernet switch? What is the make and model of the existing customer owned switches connecting to the WAN?

Answer:
 At the hub location, the fiber pairs are directly connected to every remote location.  I believe are connected through an HP Procurve as our district core switch.

Why are these locations only served by T-1's, is there a self owned fiber network in addition to the T-1'S? Would UPS consider bandwidth beyond a T1 if there are no additional data services currently serving those schools?

Answer:
The T1s being referenced are the the point-to-point T1 lines that exist for the purpose of operating the telephone system.  They do not handle data or serve as our data network

Will we be working in occupied classrooms and if so, will we be able to enter these occupied rooms at will during the cabling process?

Answer:
 The answer for this question is that the project will not occur during student attendance days, as this would be a significant disruption.

What is the desired average amount of battery back-up run time you want on the system?

Answer:
 Two hours should suffice

Can you provide a better specification on your requirements for the Caching Server? Or a Model number specific Caching server detail that would be your basis of design?

Answer:
 We are open to consider vendor recommendations for the caching server; however, we have not designated a brand or particular specifications.