Perth Amboy School District

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

IFCB Posted : Feb 10, 2016

Bid Deadline : Wednesday, Mar 9, 2016

Questions Due By : Wednesday, Mar 2, 2016

Applicant Address : Perth Amboy, NJ 08861

IFCB ID : 160026200

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 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.

· Bidders for all services and products (except for tariffed telecommunications services or month-to-month services which do not have a related contract) must also submit a contract for products or services.

Services and Equipment Requested :

Local phone service – 5 PRI ports; 152 voice lines (FXS handsets); 18 cable 16/3 for failover; 18 DS1 failover for voice; 18 e911 services; 500 DID 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 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 – 50,000 domestic outbound minutes for VoIP services.

Bid deadline has been reached.

Questions Received with Applicant Answers ( Ask Questions? )

Please provide the complete Request for Proposal (RFP) document for Perth Amboy School District, IFCB ID: 160026200. Please send to _____________ (email redacted) Thank you Betty Booth Monmouth Telecom

Answer:
Other than the IFCB and 470 there are no additional documents at this time. If additional documents are added, they will be available via this IFCB (https://www.crwconsulting.com/rfp/rpf.php?id=MTI1OQ==).

Under the Narrative Section: 1) Please clarify on what you're looking do to for failover? Are you planning on reusing your exisiting PBX? Or are you in the process of replacing it? 2) Are the 152 POTS lines in addition to the 5 PRI'S you're seeking? 3) Are you open to a SIP delivery method for these voice services? 4) Are you open to a Hosted PBX environment? 5) Please clarify the #18. Is it a quantity for cable, ds1, and e911? or does the 18 imply that you need this at 18 different locations? 6) Can you please specify the term length as well? Thanks, Joseph Paul jpaul@broadviewnet.com

Answer:
1) Please clarify on what you\'re looking do to for failover? Are you planning on reusing your existing PBX? Or are you in the process of replacing it?

We have additional call paths in case the PRI channels are used up for incoming or outgoing calls.

2) Are the 152 POTS lines in addition to the 5 PRI\'S you\'re seeking?

YES

3) Are you open to a SIP delivery method for these voice services?

We are currently SIP to the internet and PRI handoff to the PBX

4) Are you open to a Hosted PBX environment?

No, We have a Avaya CM6 in house.

5) Please clarify the #18. Is it a quantity for cable, ds1, and e911? or does the 18 imply that you need this at 18 different locations?

15 locations but 3 sites have 2 devices.

6) Can you please specify the term length as well?

3yr

1) What make/model PBX is currently onsite? Which sites currently use an on premise PBX and which use POTS service for voice? Are any of the locations serviced by a Hosted PBX? 2) Will the District consider a solution for a Hosted PBX? 3) Are 152 Voice Lines all POTS lines? How many are used for Fax? How many are used for alarm lines? 4) Are there 321 Phones onsite? If not, how many phones and what are the make and model? How many phones are at each school? 5) Please clarify if there are 15 or 18 entities, and please send the address list. 6) What addresses are the 5 PRIs located? 7) Does the district currently have a WAN to interconnect the schools for Voice services? Who is the carrier and what are the speeds? 8) Does the District use SIP trunks? Thank you! gwolfson@dnetworksolution.com

Answer:
1) What make/model PBX is currently onsite? Which sites currently use an on premise PBX and which use POTS service for voice? Are any of the locations serviced by a Hosted PBX?

Avaya CM6, ALL, NO.

2) Will the District consider a solution for a Hosted PBX?

No, We have an internal Avaya system.

3) Are 152 Voice Lines all POTS lines? How many are used for Fax? How many are used for alarm lines?

These are mostly alarm/fire and backup. No fax lines we have internal Fax server.

4) Are there 321 Phones onsite? If not, how many phones and what are the make and model? How many phones are at each school?

Not sure why the number of phones would matter. We have roughly 1,500 Avaya phones

5) Please clarify if there are 15 or 18 entities, and please send the address list.

15 sites you can get address info from www.paps.net under the schools tab. 3 sites have 2 devices to equal 18 devices.

6) What addresses are the 5 PRIs located?

We have a SIP trunk over the internet and a PRI handoff to the Avaya PBX

7) Does the district currently have a WAN to interconnect the schools for Voice services? Who is the carrier and what are the speeds?

We have dark fiber connecting all buildings

8) Does the District use SIP trunks?

Yes, all call go out over SIP.

What type of phone lines do you have Centrix or POTS?

Answer:
POTS

Based on the local phone service requirements, it seems you are interested in what looks to be an on-premise system. I had some additional questions regarding some details that I have seen included on similar RFP, but were not included on the document at: (https://www.crwconsulting.com/rfp/rpf.php?id=MTI1OQ) I can be contacted at (email redacted) or directly on the RFP page at the above link where I will be checking back often for updates/answers. 1) There was a listing of the required equipment provided in the document, but no mention of service to go along with. For the (5 PRI ports; 152 voice lines (FXS handsets); 18 cable 16/3 for failover; 18 DS1 failover for voice; 18 e911 services; 500 DID lines) are you expecting the equipment raw in the box, or do you need assistance/installation/local maintenance along with the equipment itself? 2) Where are the exact location or locations that this phone system will be set up? Will it be spread around a single facility, or across multiple facilities in different locations? Where are these locations? 3)The RFP mentioned 152 voice lines with FXS handsets. Are there any specific phones models you have in mind? There are many different models available some cheaper then others with different features. What exactly is important in this context? Price or additional features? Any additional info on this would be appreciated. 4) Building on the last question, what phone features are required on the desired headsets? In addition for the stated desire for e911, what about things such as call forwarding, call routing, transfer/redial, caller/reciever call ID, centralized voicemail to email, centralized call detail reporting, and 4 digit dialing between all connected endpoints? Can you provide a list of the required features/services beyond e911 that are required? 5) Are there any current phone numbers that you wish to retain with the new system? 6) What are the terms and conditions for equipment shipping charges? (EX Freight on Board Destination FOB) 7) To lower cost, would a fully hosted system that provides the same number of voice lines, handsets, service, fail-over, and up-time reliability be considered? By this I mean SIP connected phones that route calls from a hosted PBX system through the public switched telephone network (PSTN). This would potentially eliminate much of the on premise required equipment and would simply require the handsets themselves and would still provide 99.999% levels of up-time reliability and desired voice resiliency levels. 8) The RFP mentioned that all contracts awarded will be contingent upon E-rate funding and final board approval. When is it estimated that this will occur, and is there any other information on the RFP timeline you can provide beyond the question, and bid deadline's of respectfully 3/2/16 and 3/9/16? 9) What format would you prefer submitted bids to be uploaded in? Most other Voice RFP's we have submitted include specific formats, or attached forms to be filled out to ensure all required information is provided. Should we address all the bullet points at (https://www.crwconsulting.com/rfp/rpf.php?id=MTI1OQ==) in line item fashion with an attached quote, or is there something else you prefer? Thank you for your answers, we are very interested in providing service for the Perth Amboy School District and want to make sure we can do everything in our power to earn your business. Best, Jacob Kleitman

Answer:
1) There was a listing of the required equipment provided in the document, but no mention of service to go along with. For the (5 PRI ports; 152 voice lines (FXS handsets); 18 cable 16/3 for failover; 18 DS1 failover for voice; 18 e911 services; 500 DID lines) are you expecting the equipment raw in the box, or do you need assistance/installation/local maintenance along with the equipment itself?

We are not requesting any equipment, we are only requesting the local/long distance services listed. We are happy with our current phone system.

2) Where are the exact location or locations that this phone system will be set up? Will it be spread around a single facility, or across multiple facilities in different locations? Where are these locations?

We are not requesting a new phone system. We are requesting only the service listed on this IFCB. Our current Avaya phone system is located at 300 eagle avenue and the buildings are connected via 1gb dark fiber links. You can find the location at www.paps.net under schools.

3)The RFP mentioned 152 voice lines with FXS handsets. Are there any specific phones models you have in mind? There are many different models available some cheaper then others with different features. What exactly is important in this context? Price or additional features? Any additional info on this would be appreciated.

We are not looking for phone equipment. These lines are used for e911 and are connected directly to our gateways so there is no need for additional phones

3) Building on the last question, what phone features are required on the desired headsets? In addition for the stated desire for e911, what about things such as call forwarding, call routing, transfer/redial, caller/reciever call ID, centralized voicemail to email, centralized call detail reporting, and 4 digit dialing between all connected endpoints? Can you provide a list of the required features/services beyond e911 that are required?

All of these features are handled by the internal phone system and won’t be part of this bid. We are looking for service only.

4) Are there any current phone numbers that you wish to retain with the new system?

We need all current numbers (did’s) ported over. Again this is not a new system service only.

5) What are the terms and conditions for equipment shipping charges? (EX Freight on Board Destination FOB)

Please include any shipping cost as part of your bid.

6) To lower cost, would a fully hosted system that provides the same number of voice lines, handsets, service, fail-over, and up-time reliability be considered? By this I mean SIP connected phones that route calls from a hosted PBX system through the public switched telephone network (PSTN). This would potentially eliminate much of the on premise required equipment and would simply require the handsets themselves and would still provide 99.999% levels of up-time reliability and desired voice resiliency levels.

No, we have a fully integrated on premise phone system and don’t want to replace that hardware.

8.) The RFP mentioned that all contracts awarded will be contingent upon E-rate funding and final board approval. When is it estimated that this will occur, and is there any other information on the RFP timeline you can provide beyond the question, and bid deadline\'s of respectfully 3/2/16 and 3/9/16?

We can’t predict when USAC will fund the application, but we are hopeful that it will be before 7/1/2016.

9) What format would you prefer submitted bids to be uploaded in? Most other Voice RFP\'s we have submitted include specific formats, or attached forms to be filled out to ensure all required information is provided. Should we address all the bullet points at (https://www.crwconsulting.com/rfp/rpf.php?id=MTI1OQ==) in line item fashion with an attached quote, or is there something else you prefer? Thank you for your answers, we are very interested in providing service for the Perth Amboy School District and want to make sure we can do everything in our power to earn your business. Best, Jacob Kleitman

You may submit your standard quote as long as you are quoting the requested services.

Previous answer directed responders to www.paps.net under the schools tab for the list of 15 locations; howerver, site only lists 12 location. Please provide a complete address list or the address of the 3 sites not listed on the website. Thank you.

Answer:
The HS has 3 campuses. If you go under High School you will see a 9^th Grade Academy tab. Under there you will see the South and East.

Do you have voice gateways in each building and will the T1s act as failover to support voice traffic? Thank you.

Answer:
Yes, we have avaya gateways in each building and the T1’s will act as overflow capacity when our incoming or outgoing trunks are being used to capacity.

Question deadline has been reached.