·        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.

·        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.

·        LEASED LIT FIBER 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.

·        LEASED LIT FIBER DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Vendors must bid all connections. If vendors submit a bid missing any connection, 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: Service providers are required to bid the entire hardware project.  Bids for individual components of the project will be disqualified.

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

UPDATE 10/28/21 – The request for the WAN did not have all of the service addresses listed. We are cancelling the request for WAN on this IFCB (which means don’t bid the WAN as a response to this IFCB). A new 470 #220002820 has been issued for all of the correct service addresses. That IFCB can be found here https://www.crwconsulting.com/ifcb/ifcb-detail/Mjc0NA== and that is where bids for the WAN should be submitted. WAN bids submitted on this IFCB will be disqualified.

Category One:

Internet Access - District currently has 2 GB bandwidth and would like to increase to 5 GB. Terminating address is 1210 Leopard Lane, Bentonville, AR 72712. Internet Access bids should be for a three-year contract term.  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.

Leased Lit Fiber – District is requesting the following leased lit circuits and bandwidths:

1)     10GB to Technology Center 1210 NW Leopard Lane, Bentonville, AR 72712

2)     5GB to Bentonville West HS 1351 Gamble Rd, Centerton, AR 72719

3)     2GB to Grimsley JHS 850 North Vaughn Rd, Centerton, AR 72719

4)     2GB to Fulbright JHS 5303 SW Bright Rd, Bentonville, AR 72712

5)     1GB to Elm Tree ES 101 NW Elm Tree Ln, Bentonville, AR 72712

6)     1GB to Central Park at Morningstar ES 1400 SW Liberty Ave, Bentonville, AR 72712

7)     1GB to Centerton Gamble ES 1550 Gamble Rd, Centerton AR 72719

8)     1GB to Evening Star ES 9649 W Pleasant Grove Rd, Bentonville, AR 72713

9)     1GB to Maintenance Warehouse 8579 W Ford Springs Rd, Bentonville, AR 72712

10)  1GB to Ignite Prof Studies 1510 N Walton Blvd, Bentonville, AR 72712

LEASED LIT FIBER 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.

LEASED LIT FIBER DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Vendors must bid all connections. If vendors submit a bid missing any connection, we will consider your bid incomplete and disqualify your bid.

Category Two:

VOLUNTARY SITE VISIT

Vendors wishing to bid on internal connections can attend a voluntary site visit either October 28, 2021, or November 4, 2021, both at 10:00am. Vendors will meet at 1210 NW Leopard Lane, Bentonville, AR  72712. Vendors will check in with Jonathan Schroeder.

INTERNAL CONNECTIONS

The project is for the district’s datacenter and core switching. Switches will be located in the datacenter in opposing racks. The district has a need for scalable high speed 40GB/100GB uplinks to accommodate growing bandwidth needs on the core and edge. The district also has a need to connect existing 10GB SFP and 1GB copper links. Bids should include core switch configuration and either Aruba Central or Smartnet licensing.

NOTE: We are requesting 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).

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