Hutto ISD | 200004201

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

Hutto ISD

IFCB Posted : Nov 8, 2019

Bid Deadline : Thursday, Jan 16, 2020

Questions Due By : Friday, Nov 29, 2019

Applicant Address : Hutto, TX 78634

IFCB ID : 200004201

IFCB Requirements :

• All Questions and Bids must be submitted using the on-line IFCB system. If the IFCB system is down before the 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 or your bid will be disqualified. 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. If the applicant discovers that fees, taxes or surcharges apply but are not listed on the bid (after the time of bid awards) those charges will be the responsibility of the bidding company.

Services and Equipment Requested :

UPDATE 11/22/2019 - Addendum #1 has been added

Project 1

WAN connections – there are documents available to download with additional information on this project.

Project 2

Category 1 Network Equipment - there are documents available to download with additional information on this project.

Project 3

Maintenance of Network Equipment - there are documents available to download with additional information on this project.

There are three projects within the RFP: 1) WAN services (delivered over 4 possible mechanisms) and 2) Networking equipment and 3) Maintenance for the networking equipment. Vendors can bid any or all of the projects (for example, you could just bid the WAN or you could just bid the equipment, or just the maintenance or any combination of those three).

The district will accept bids for any cost-effective routes that meet our needs.

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

RFP.pdf
HuttoISDAddendum1.pdf

Bid deadline has been reached.

Questions Received with Applicant Answers ( Ask Questions? )

Can you please clarify the 3 different projects in the RFP and provide separate documents for each project?

Answer:

There are three projects for this RFP:

WAN services: there are four possible delivery mechanisms – Lit Leased Fiber, Leased Dark Fiber, Self-Provisioned Fiber, or Transport Only (other delivery mechanisms).
Networking Equipment for the WAN
Maintenance for the Networking Equipment

All of the bidding documents are in the PDF and .kmz file. We do not have separate documents.

1. Are 2 fibers enough for dark fiber route? 2. Who do we contact about scheduling the walkout? 3. Does each school site have to connect to each other too or just the school sites have to connect to the hubs for the DF? 4. I also need an address verification on the following address 800 Haybarn Ln. I took a snippet so you can see it puts right in someone's backyard and I don't see anything close by that looks like a school. 5. 216 FM 1660 is shown on the diagram, but not on list of sites to be connected, is this not to be connected? 6. Will the district provide conduit access to the sites that have multiple buildings?

Answer:

Are 2 fibers enough for dark fiber route?
1. On page 52 of the RFP it specifies that the fiber is to be "24-strand SM fiber cable". Only one fiber cable is required but it needs to contain 24 strands.
Who do we contact about scheduling the walkout?

Refer to Addendum #1 which was added today to the IFCB

Does each school site have to connect to each other too or just the school sites have to connect to the hubs for the DF?

As stated on page 52 of the RFP "Contractor shall install new 24-strand SM fiber cable connecting each site to its two closest hub sites. Each pathway from the site shall have two distinct pathways to the two closest hub sites. Multiple sites may use shared pathways and fiber, provided any interruption with one fiber pathway does not result in an interruption of service.". In accordance with this, schools only need to connect to the appropriate two closest hub sites and not to all other schools.

I also need an address verification on the following address 800 Haybarn Ln. I took a snippet so you can see it puts right in someone's backyard and I don't see anything close by that looks like a school.

Answer: “This is a newly constructed Elementary School, it is located at that address. We recommend searching for Kerley Elementary School in Hutto if you are having issues locating that address, Google maps has not yet updated the address.”

216 FM 1660 is shown on the diagram, but not on list of sites to be connected, is this not to be connected?

You only need to worry about the locations listed in the hub and non-hub sites list in the RFP

Will the district provide conduit access to the sites that have multiple buildings?

For sites with multiple buildings, fiber will brought into the location listed on the sites list. The district already has or will be responsible for any new connections to other building on the same site.

Can you provide any blue prints for the existing sites that show existing duct entering the site to the MDF?

Answer:
Refer to Addendum #1 for the scheduled site visits. This will allow all interested respondents access to every site and MDF.

Section 4.03 Bid preparation and submission Procedures is a little unclear. B. Each proposal must be submitted CRWâ€™s e-Procurement system at: www.crwconsulting.com/rfp, along with a digital copy hand delivered to Hutto ISD Purchasing Department on a USB drive. C. The winning vendor must provide a hard copy of the proposal along with (2) thumb drive copies, it may be submitted by U. S. Mail, common carrier, or other courier or delivery service, or by hand delivery. If forwarded by mail or other courier or delivery service, the sealed envelope, identified as indicated above, should be enclosed in another envelope addressed as specified below. Hutto Independent School District will not be responsible for proposals or related correspondence that are, undelivered, or misplaced. The date/time stamp in the Hutto ISD Purchasing Office shall be the official time of receipt. What I am unclear about is C. states the winning vendor must provide a hard copy of the bid and it is time sensitive. Why would the winning vendor need to submit hard copies of the winning bid and it is noted that it is time sensitive? Can you please clarify how the bid is to be submitted?

Answer:
Bids only need to be submitted via the CRW website and a hard copy is not required.

Under section 12.02 Products it states after 12.02.A.1 For underground installation, Contractor shall use Armored Fiber Optic Cable and shall incorporate a corrugated Steel Armor Tape to provide for resistance to rodent attack. All other cable materials shall be all dielectric (no conductive materials). Then for 12.02.B.1 For Aerial installations, the contractor shall use all-dielectric, self-supporting optical cable designed for the high speed transmission of voice, data, and video communications. This would cause design issues and could possibly cause numerous splice locations depending on the amount of underground needed to complete the build. Can we propose an alternate build of just an OSP rated 24ct SM armored fiber for aerial and underground applications? We would provide the cost for .25" support strand on the aerial application to lash the 24ct fiber to. The reason for this request is to simplify the design allowing the possibility for overlashing a route to get back to the HUB as well as decreasing the amount of butt splice locations. You cannot overlash ADSS fiber you can only add another attachment to the pole. The possible additional attachments would increase costs for pole make-ready and has the potential to possibly cause an Oncor pole attachment application to be denied due to over loading the pole.

Answer:
We are asking cost-effective proposals. Bid as specified for the base bid, but if you have a more cost-effective proposal that meets our connectivity needs please submit that bid as an alternate proposal.

section 2 SCOPE AND SPECIFICATIONS OF THE PROPOSAL Self Constructed option states "A campus to campus, fiber optic based solution where the District contracts with a company to install District-owned fiber optic cabling. The District assumes all ownership of fiber optic cabling, management, and maintenance. The District is also solely responsible for providing the electronics to â€œlightâ€ the fiber. This service is typically purchased outright by the District for both the cabling and electronics portions." Does this mean the contractor would need to provide a turnkey solution for electronics or a 10 year maintenance agreement? If so can the contractor provide an alternate bid that would be to self construct, provide electronics, a 10 year network management and maintenance contract?

Answer:
For Proposal C, “Self-Constructed Fiber Services” there is a breakout for the fiber construction and the modulating electronics. We are hopeful that vendors can submit a bid that includes all equipment necessary to light the fiber and get it on the network. However, we do understand that some bidders may provide connectivity without being able to bid the network equipment. If you are not able to bid the modulating electronics or the maintenance of that equipment, you may bid just the connectivity without the equipment. Any additive items above and beyond the specifications are allowed as self-written alternates provided the base bids items are covered first.

Does Hutto ISD have a pole attachment agreement with the local power utility company? I believe it is Oncor. If so would that mean the Self constructed quote would require the proposing contractor to provide costs to submit the applications and do the communications make-ready but Hutto ISD would be responsible for all power make-ready costs incurred as well as annual pole attachment fees?

Answer:
Not currently, the successful contractor will need to acquire all permits and agreements. The proposer must include costs for communication make-ready work but HISD will be responsible for any electrical make-ready scope.

Does Hutto ISD have a UIR aggreement with TXDOT? This will be needed to submit ROW permit applications to TXDOT in order to place aerial or underground in the TXDOT ROW.

Answer:
Not currently, the successful contractor will need to acquire all permits and agreements.

Question deadline has been reached.