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

school Richards School District R-V
IFCB Posted : Nov 9, 2020
Bid Deadline : Monday, Jan 4, 2021

Questions Due By : Thursday, Dec 3, 2020
Applicant Address : West Plains, MO 65775
IFCB ID : 210003658

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. This does not apply to the recent FCC exemptions of the Gift Rule for the COVID pandemic.

 

·         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: Bids from companies that include equipment barred by the Federal Communications Commission due to national security risks (such as ZTE or Huawei) will be disqualified.

·         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: Applicant will not accept bids for refurbished equipment. Any bids containing refurbished equipment will be disqualified.

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

·         DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: It will be the bidder’s responsibility to provide documentation about the compatibility requirements listed in this IFCB. Vendors that submit bids without documentation demonstrating the required compatibility listed in this IFCB will have their bids disqualified, unless that vendor has bid the preferred make/model number listed.

 

 


Services and Equipment Requested :

Category 1

Internet Access – DSL type connection, 4 Mb/512 Kb. The terminating address for this circuit is 3461 County Road 1710, West Plains, MO 65775.  The area code and prefix for the service address (or terminating point) are (417) 256. 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.

 

Category 2

Voluntary Site Visits – Vendors wishing to bid on C2 can attend a voluntary site visit either November 18, 2020 or December 2, 2020. Both will be from 11:30am to 1:30 pm. Please report to 3461 County Road 1710, West Plains, MO 65775.

Internal Connections – Installation, activation and configuration needed on all equipment.

Type of Equipment

Quantity Vendor Should Bid

 

Preferred Make/Model

Caching Server

1

n/a

Switches

2

24 port

UPS/Battery Backup

4

2 will be for switches, 2 for network equipment

Wireless Access Points

2

Aerohive including 5 year licensing or functional equivalent

Licenses for existing AP

8

HiveManager Online Express for existing Aerohive 250 series, 5 year license only

Licenses for existing AP

22

HiveManager Online Express for existing Aerohive 370 series, 5 year license only

Cabling

2

Drops needed for 2 new AP

 

NOTE: We are requesting WAP or switch licenses on this IFCB, which sometimes may be categorized as BMIC or MIBS by USAC (the BMIC and MIBS boxes on the 470 have been checked to cover this scenario).

COMPATIBILITY REQUIREMENT

All new AP must be compatible with existing Aerohive. 

DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: It will be the bidder’s responsibility to provide documentation about the compatibility requirements listed in this IFCB. Vendors that submit bids without documentation demonstrating the required compatibility listed in this IFCB will have their bids disqualified, unless that vendor has bid the preferred make/model number listed.

DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Bids from companies that include equipment barred by the Federal Communications Commission due to national security risks (such as ZTE or Huawei) will be disqualified.

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: Applicant will not accept bids for refurbished equipment. Any bids containing refurbished equipment will be disqualified.

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

 


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

RICHARDS_C2_COVER_PAGE.pdf
2021_C2_Bidding_Instructions111.pdf

Questions Received with Applicant Answers   ( Ask Questions? )




Below are questions specific to your caching requirement. Thank you for the review and response. Please confirm: 1. 1000 students, 1Gb core internet connection - correct? 2. What is the student and staff device types and approx. number of each? Specifically related to caching 3. What was the size of your demand (in Mbps - estimate is fine) during peak time (pre COVID) 4. Would the district benefit from Caching video like YouTube? 5. Is there a specific benefit that the district is seeking or issue that the district is trying to avoid by including caching on this year's ERATE request?

Answer:

 1. We have roughly 400 students and 1GB internet connection. 

2. Staff use Windows 10 PCs (30+) and students use Chromebooks. We will have over 500 Chromebooks shortly. We ordered some in August but they have been back ordered since.

3. I have seen our demand peak over 70 mbps, moreso during state assessments

4. The district would benefit from caching as teachers are now using more digital resources due to the availability of chromebooks and etc. 

5. Nothing specific, just trying to acquire the best technology for our rural district. 

How many computers and devices will be connected to the caching server? Are there any apple/IOS devices? Are there any Chromebooks?

Answer:
We will have 30+ Windows 10 Computers for staff, hopefully more soon. We will also have over 500 Chromebooks and Chromeboxes in the district. We Ordered 6 carts full (30 each) in August I believe (backorder) but this would put us well over 500. We only have a couple IOS devices

Please confirm the core infrastructure make and model. Thank you for the responses. Firewall Filter Core router/switch

Answer:

We have a Sonic Wall NSA 3600 for a firewall. 

 

The router is an Cisco ASR 920