Tri-Center Cmty Sch District

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

IFCB Posted : Nov 27, 2017

Bid Deadline : Wednesday, Feb 7, 2018

Questions Due By : Friday, Dec 22, 2017

Applicant Address : Neola, IA 51559

IFCB ID : 180005980

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. Please include this language in your final contract.

· All applicable fees, surcharges, and taxes must be identified on the bid. E-rate rules require the applicants to evaluate the price of eligible goods and services that will be listed on the 471 application during the competitive bidding process. Fees and surcharges that apply but are not listed on the bid will be the responsibility of the bidding company, should their bid be awarded.

· 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 internet access service, please identify the amount to be cost-allocated out for the ineligible services – email service, web hosting, content filtering, or other bundled ineligible services.

· INTERNET ACCESS DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Any and all installation charges must be identified on your bid. If you submit a bid indicating that installation charges may apply without listing those charges, we will consider your bid incomplete and disqualify your bid.

· The winning vendor will be required to complete the USAC approved Item 21 template for the project within 7 working days after notification that the vendor has won the bid.

· DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Vendors must complete and include the C2 Cover Page with their bid. Bids received without the cover page will be disqualified.

· DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Service providers are required to bid the entire hardware project/upgrade. Bids for individual components of the project/upgrade will be disqualified.

· DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Vendors who wish to bid must attend one of two mandatory site visits. Vendors who submit a bid but have not attended a meeting will be disqualified.

DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Applicant will not accept bids for refurbished equipment. Any bids containing refurbished equipment will be disqualified.

Services and Equipment Requested :

UPDATE: 1/10/16 3:18PM-Floor plans with Middle School designation have been added. The bid deadline has also been extended until 2/7/2018.

UPDATE:1/4/18 1:38PM- The bid deadline has been extended until 1/16/18.

UPDATE 12/15/17: A NEW 470 HAS BEEN POSTED #180009467. QUESTION AND BID DEADLINES HAVE BEEN UPDATED. C2 LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED BELOW ALONG WITH NEW MANDATORY SITE VISIT DATES. IF YOU ATTENDED ONE OF THE PREVIOUS SITE VISITS, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ATTEND ONE OF THE NEW DATES.

UPDATE 12/5/17: Floor plans have been added as attachments. All switch closets are marked with a star.

PTP Circuit-Minimum 150Mb bandwidth, maximum 175Mb bandwidth. Please provide bids for 1, 3, and 5 year terms. The endpoint addresses for this circuit is 33980 310th Street, Neola, IA 51559; to 24997 Highway 92, Council Bluff, IA 51502. 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 internet access service, please identify the amount to be cost-allocated out for the ineligible services – email service, web hosting, content filtering, or other bundled ineligible services.

Wireless Internet Access – 35Mb bandwidth. Please provide bids for 1, 3, and 5 year terms. The terminating address for this circuit is 33980 310th Street, Neola, IA 51559; (712)485. 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 internet access service, please identify the amount to be cost-allocated out for the ineligible services – email service, web hosting, content filtering, or other bundled ineligible services.

Note: Per USAC’s current guidance about applying for Internet access this applicant is checking the Leased Lit Fiber, Internet Access: ISP Service only and Internet Access and Transport Bundled.

INTERNET ACCESS DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Any and all installation charges must be identified on your bid. If you submit a bid indicating that installation charges may apply without listing those charges, we will consider your bid incomplete and disqualify your bid.

INTERNAL CONNECTIONS

PROJECT NARRATIVE

Install switches, configure VLANS for entire network with guest, student and staff networks.

MANDATORY SITE VISIT

Vendors wishing to submit bids for category two projects must attend one of two mandatory site visits. The first site visit will be held on December 5th, and the second visit will be held on December 12^th from 10am-2pm. Vendors will meet at 33980 310^th Street, Neola, IA 51559. Bids from vendors who did not attend either of the site visits will be disqualified.

SECOND MANDATORY SITE VISIT DATES:

Vendors wishing to submit bids for category two projects must attend one of two mandatory site visits. The first site visit will be held on December 22nd, and the second visit will be held on January 11^th from 10am-1pm. Vendors will meet at 33980 310^th Street, Neola, IA 51559. Bids from vendors who did not attend either of the site visits will be disqualified. IF YOU ATTENDED ONE OF THE PREVIOUS SITE VISITS, YOU DO NOT NEED TO ATTEND THE NEW DATES.

Type of Equipment	School Name	Specific Quantity	Preferred Make/Manufacturer
Cabling	Elementary	25	Network drops for WLAN – CAT6
Switches	Elementary	3	Aruba, Meraki or functional equivalent - 48 Port POE+
UPS/Battery Backup	Elementary	2	1U – 1500 to 2500 W
Wireless Access Points	Elementary	25	Meraki, Aruba cloud or functional equivalent

Type of Equipment	School Name	Specific Quantity	Preferred Make/Manufacturer
Cabling	Middle School	20	Network drops for WLAN - CAT6
Switches	Middle School	2	Aruba, Meraki or functional equivalent - 48 Port POE+
UPS/Battery Backup	Middle School	2	1U – 1500 to 2500 W
Wireless Access Points	Middle School	20	Meraki, Aruba cloud or functional equivalent

Type of Equipment	School Name	Specific Quantity	Preferred Make/Manufacturer
Cabling	High School	30	Network drops for WLAN – CAT6
Racks	High School	1	Open wall mount rack to hold switch and UPS
Switches	High School	3	Aruba, Meraki or functional equivalent - 48 Port POE+
UPS/Battery Backup	High School	2	1U – 1500 to 2500 W
Wireless Access Points	High School	30	Meraki, Aruba cloud or functional equivalent

DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Vendors must complete and include the C2 Cover Page with their bid. Bids received without the cover page will be disqualified.

DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Service providers are required to bid the entire hardware project/upgrade. Bids for individual components of the project/upgrade will be disqualified.

DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Applicant will not accept bids for refurbished equipment. Any bids containing refurbished equipment will be disqualified.

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

2018C2BiddingInstructions74.docx
TriCenterC2COVERPAGE.pdf
ElementarySchoolFloorPlan.pdf
HighSchoolMiddleSchoolFloorPlans.pdf
HighSchoolMiddleSchoolfloorplanswithMSdesignation.pdf

Bid deadline has been reached.

Questions Received with Applicant Answers ( Ask Questions? )

Switch Questions: 1. Is PoE desired, if so how many ports per switch? 2. How many ports are desired on each switch? 3. Is there fiber uplinks needed? 4. Is stacking required on the switches? 5. What switches are currently in use? UPS Questions: 1. How many watts or VA are needed? 2. Rack or Tower configuration? 3. How many outlets needed? 4. Do you require any environmental monitoring? WAP Questions: 1. If there is an existing infrastructure, is this in addition to it or replacement? 2. If additional, what is the current infrastructure? 3. If replacement or new, how many users will there be per Access Point? 4. Is there PoE available for the new Access Points? Rack Questions: 1. Two post or four post racks? 2. If four post, does it need to have sides? 3. What is the desire Rack Height? 4. Is there cable management requested? 5. Is there an example part number(s) that could be given?

Answer:
Switches

1. POE is desired

2. 48 ports

3. Would like the capability to add fiber uplinks / SFP connections

4. Stackikng not required

UPS

1. Unsure on the voltage. Primarily for power protection purposes.

2. Rack

3. 3-5

4. No

WAP

1. Replacement

3. Varies upon area of building / 20-40 in most classrooms. More in shared areas (gym, cafeteria, etc.)

4. Some POE already exists

Rack

1. Two post

3. Not sure

4. Yes

5. I do not have an example part number

We currently use HP switches. We would like to look at Aruba and Meraki prmarily for network needs as it aligns with what we have, but will consider bids for functionally equivalent equipment as long as it meets the standards in the RFP.

Hi all. I see for the bid regarding TRI-CENTER COMMUNITY SCH DIST that they are asking for Meraki, Aruba or equivalent and that they are looking for a cloud based solution. Can you provide any other information on what features and functionality would be important to them? In addition, is the school using either Google or Office 365 in their environment? Thanks, Caleb

Answer:
We would like to see bids for a cloud based controller. We would like an up to date wireless solution that provides the needed density for our district with access control, public and private wifi networks.

Answers to these questions can be given during a walkthrough.

We use Google Apps and Office 365 (limited deployment of 365)

What prompted you to include caching on your form 470? What kinds of content would your School District be interested in caching? (E.g. Online testing, software updates, educational LMS material, CDN content, video, all of these/others?) What caching features would be most useful to your District? (E.g. permanent large object storage, content pre-caching, system and caching performance reporting, GUI management, compact flash config storage, all of these/others?) What is the size of your core internet connection in Mbps? How much bandwidth is used at peak times in Mbps? How many devices connect to the internet concurrently at peak times? By how much do you expect/plan to increase your bandwidth capacity & device count in the next 3 years? Do all of your schools connect to the internet through a district hub/core, or does each school have an independent connection?

Answer:
We are always looking for a better way to utilize our bandwidth. Software updates and video primarily. I am unsure of what features we are most interested in. Current connection is 135 Mbps. Peak usage uses nearly 90-100% of bandwidth. 500 devices at peak times. We could increase bandwidth to 235 theoreitcally. Planning on increase to 150-200. All schools connect through one core.

Is the time for the December 5th Walkthrough the same as the time listed for the December 12th walkthrough?

Answer:
Time table is the same.

What are the minimum requirements for processing, RAM, storage capacity, Windows server version installed on it or not, etc.? On the UPSâ€™sâ€¦.what is the minimum run time the school wants and do they want a rack mounted one or a version that sits on the floor?

Answer:
No specifics requested on the caching appliance. Rack mounted with a minimum of 15 minutes run time. Please note – USAC will only pay for short term UPS devices, not for devices that will power the equipment for hours.

do they have a certain model or size they are requesting such as a Meraki MR32, MR42, or MR52? Do you require a heatmap for validation of the proposed solution? Is there any additional cabling needed for the new access points?

Answer:
We are looking for a solution that meets the needs of our network. I will defer recommendations to a vendor that has the knowledge to design a solution best for our district. If a heat map is needed to make that recommendation, then yes.

Cabling is requested on our 470 for the APs.

Where can we find the schools floor plans fro this project

Answer:
Floor plans have been added attachments to the IFCB. The switch closets are marked with a star.

You raised the amounts on switches and UPS's for each school. Are any of the data closets that the new switches are going need to be stacked? IF so, which data closets are getting multiple switches? UPS--Are these new UPS's being added to respective data closets or are they replacing older models of current UPS's? During the first walkthrough, you had mentioned adding additional access points to what you currently had. Is there a way to place current AP locations on the schools maps and where you want additional access points in each building? Thanks

Answer:
2 switches will be going in the Middle School Lab. UPS will replace current UPS or go to locations where there is not a current UPS. I do not have a map for access points. I would rely on vendor suggestions for installation.

Question deadline has been reached.