·         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 https://www.usac.org/e-rate/service-providers/step-2-responding-to-bids/lowest-corresponding-price/ 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.

·         If the applicant is requesting purchases of new equipment, or maintenance of that new equipment, bids for functionally equivalent equipment will be accepted.

·         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: 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.

·         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: Bids that include equipment that was manufactured for use outside of the United States will be disqualified.

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

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

·         DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR BMIC: Maintenance bids listing only an hourly rate and not a monthly or annual total will be disqualified.  Vendors quoting an hourly rate are required to also a) confirm that you have the ability/expertise to maintain all of the equipment listed and b) propose a number of hours at a particular rate monthly to properly maintain the entire list of equipment.  Bids that contain only hourly rates, without confirmation that the company can service the list of equipment, or without a monthly total will be disqualified.

·         DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR BMIC: 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.

UPDATE 12/27/21: Q&As from the walkthrough are below.

Q. Are there any rooms to ignore?
A. Yes, rooms 2303, AOS Building, Press Box.
a.  2303 is recently pulled and will only need to be migrated to new rack and labeled
b.  Rack 6 (AOS is a house next to campus) we want a new rack, switch, AP, UPS, but no cable will
be pulled to or in this location, we will re-use existing cables.
c.  Rack 7 (Press Box is next to campus) we want a new rack, switch, AP, UPS, but no cable will be
pulled to or in this
location, we will re-use existing cables.

UPDATE 12.06.21 - 470/IFCB 220003811 has been cancelled. The Category Two requests have been reposted. Please see 470/IFCB 220006602.

UPDATE 11.19.21 - Maps are now available for download along with this IFCB.

Category Two:

MANDATORY SITE VISIT

Vendors wishing to submit bids for category two projects must attend one of two mandatory site visits. The site visits will be held on November 17^th, 2021, and November 22^nd, 2021. Both will begin at 9AM CST. Vendors will meet at 1023 US-64 BUS, Alma, AR 72921. Vendors will check in with Skip Thompson. Bids from vendors who did not attend either of the site visits will be disqualified.

INTERNAL CONNECTIONS

The district intends a complete re-wiring of the High School campus, including wired and wireless capability. Every ethernet port, new racks, new switches, access point will be replaced. Racks to be installed concurrent with existing equipment so that work may progress any time. White Cat 6 cabling to be used to differentiate from existing cable plant. We will replace ethernet drop in each current location and add several more in many locations, however, some labs/locations are modern enough to ignore and simply move them to new switches in new racks. 10 GB SM fiber will be used to create a 10G backbone ON this campus. Complications of the old & new construction will require on site visits

Licenses for all wireless access points are needed in order to integrate into Aruba Central. Installation, configuration, written (electronic) documentation and training for handoff on all switches.

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:

Equipment must be compatible with existing HP switches.

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: 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.

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: Bids that include equipment that was manufactured for use outside of the United States will be disqualified.

BASIC MAINTENANCE OF INTERNAL CONNECTIONS:

The district would like a block of 13 hours per month for the support of eligible equipment.

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

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

·         DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR BMIC: Maintenance bids listing only an hourly rate and not a monthly or annual total will be disqualified.  Vendors quoting an hourly rate are required to also a) confirm that you have the ability/expertise to maintain all of the equipment listed and b) propose a number of hours at a particular rate monthly to properly maintain the entire list of equipment.  Bids that contain only hourly rates, without confirmation that the company can service the list of equipment, or without a monthly total will be disqualified.

·         DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR BMIC: 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.