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

school Ferguson-Florissant Sch Dist
IFCB Posted : Nov 9, 2023
Bid Deadline : Thursday, Dec 21, 2023

Questions Due By : Saturday, Nov 18, 2023
Applicant Address : Hazelwood, MO 63042
IFCB ID : 240004342

IFCB Requirements :

·         Before the bid deadline, all Questions and Bids must be submitted using the on-line IFCB system. Bids submitted before the bid deadline outside of this system will be disqualified. 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.

·         For all requested services and/or products listed on this IFCB: proposals that include generic/encyclopedic price lists will be considered non-responsive and will be disqualified.

 

·         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 Form 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 there is a request for Internal Connections (Category Two) equipment, or Category One equipment listed on this IFCB the applicant will accept bids for functionally equivalent equipment.

 

·         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: Bids submitted for services to an incorrect address will be disqualified.

 

·         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: Bids submitted for services to an incorrect address will be disqualified.

 

·         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.

 


Services and Equipment Requested :

Category 1

Internet Access – Applicant currently has a 10 Gbps connection. The terminating address for this connection is 1005 Waterford Dr., Florissant, MO 63003. Please provide bids for bandwidth range of 10 Gbps to 20 Gbps and include pricing for a leased router. Applicant requests 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: Bids submitted for services to an incorrect address will be disqualified.

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 30 x 5 Gbps connection. The HUB-NOC/data center is located at 1005 Waterford Dr., Florissant, MO 63033. Please include pricing for leased switches. Applicant requests a three-year contract term. See additional document “Ferguson WAN addresses.xlsx” associated with this IFCB available for download that lists all addresses for these circuits.

LEASED LIT FIBER DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Bids submitted for services to an incorrect address will be disqualified.

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.


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

Ferguson_WAN_addresses.xlsx

Questions Received with Applicant Answers   ( Ask Questions? )




Sorry, one more ... I'll repeat all here so you can hopefully just delete the prior entry. 1. For long-term cost-effectiveness, will the District consider longer initial terms such as 5-year and 10-year initial terms? 2. In addition to the five 1-year voluntary renewals, would the District also consider multi-year voluntary renewals for additional cost savings? 3. Please confirm - is it acceptable to bid only the leased lit fiber and not the Internet? 4. Please identify the manufacturer and model of the Districts LAN switches so we can quote compatible optics. 5. For leased lit fiber, some solutions such as private, dedicated fiber WANs do not require a vendor-owned switch at each site in order to deliver the required services. The vendor-owned switch introduces an unnecessary potential point of failure and burdens the District with space, power, and HVAC loading unnecessarily at every site. Private networks can provide monitoring in other ways. Please clarify "include pricing for leased switches". You didn't mean District-owned LAN switches, right? Can the "leased switches" be optional in an alternate design? 6. What bandwidth does the District want delivered at the hub? 7. Is the Standalone Data Transmission Service with the Min/Max Capacity of 100 Gbps intended to be at the hub? If so, that could mean there is oversubscription and the District is not getting what it is paying for at all the edge sites since 30 connections x 5 Gbps = 150 Gbps to ensure no oversubscription. Please clarify the District's position on allowing oversubscription. 8. Will the District make building maps available upon request showing the location of the MDFs in the building and the current fiber entry point? It would be ideal if the maps also indicate whether the fiber entry point is currently aerial or underground.

Answer:

1. For long-term cost-effectiveness, will the District consider longer
initial terms such as 5-year and 10-year initial terms?

The Board of Education does not want agreements longer than three years.

2. In addition to the five 1-year voluntary renewals, would the
District also consider multi-year voluntary renewals for additional
cost savings?

We have a concern about vendors and renewals outside the parameters.

3. Please confirm - is it acceptable to bid only the leased lit fiber
and not the Internet?

Yes.

4. Please identify the manufacturer and model of the Districts LAN
switches so we can quote compatible optics.

sites/campus:  Cisco Catalyst WS-C3650-48PD-L Ethernet Switch 48 Port
PoE 2x10g (single or multi - either is fine)

headend/NOC:  CAT 9K (95xx) and/or WS-C3850-24X

5. For leased lit fiber, some solutions such as private, dedicated
fiber WANs do not require a vendor-owned switch at each site in order
to deliver the required services. The vendor-owned switch introduces
an unnecessary potential point of failure and burdens the District
with space, power, and HVAC loading unnecessarily at every site.
Private networks can provide monitoring in other ways. Please clarify
"include pricing for leased switches". You didn't mean District-owned
LAN switches, right? Can the "leased switches" be optional in an
alternate design?

We have traditionally had a vendor owned switch at each site, hooked
into a UPS.  Transition of fiber media types and management.  It would
be okay to not have that (assuming punch down at MDF or other entry
point).  The optional/line item alternate design would be acceptable.

6. What bandwidth does the District want delivered at the hub? 100
Gbps X 2 to equal 200 Gbps

7. Is the Standalone Data Transmission Service with the Min/Max
Capacity of 100 Gbps intended to be at the hub? If so, that could mean
there is oversubscription and the District is not getting what it is
paying for at all the edge sites since 30 connections x 5 Gbps = 150
Gbps to ensure no oversubscription. Please clarify the District's
position on allowing oversubscription.

Five (5) Gbps bandwidth on 10 Gbps hardware is fine - no need to grow
this at this point (or in 10 years).  Hopefully that holds true.   The
100 Gbps (or 40 Gbps) was mainly for what vendors and compatible
accessories provided for hardware (versus throughput). But yes,
allowing oversubscription can be allowed, or disallowed, as the
situation dictates.  I will say that the district is in thirds, with
three sites that could serve as handoffs - however the first address
below is ideal for a singular model.

1005 Waterford Dr Florissant MO
8855 Dunn Rd Hazelwood MO
655 January Ave Ferguson MO (St. Louis)

8. Will the District make building maps available upon request showing
the location of the MDFs in the building and the current fiber entry
point? It would be ideal if the maps also indicate whether the fiber
entry point is currently aerial or underground.

The maps we have from an IP camera project some years ago - annotated
for such a similar endeavor.  As for the fiber entry point, that can
be added.