REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS RFP # 18-09-07 Dedicated Internet Access 4400 W. 18 th St. (ERATE) PART II The Houston Independent School District ( HISD and/or the District ) is soliciting proposals for Dedicated Internet Access W. 18th St. (ERATE) as more fully set out in this Request for Proposals ( RFP ). One (1) hard copy original of the proposal, one (1) hard copy duplicate of the original, and two (2) USB drives of the proposal must be submitted in accordance with the instructions set out herein to: Houston Independent School District Board Services - Room 1C03 Attn: OKina Alford- Procurement Services RFP / 18-09-07 Dedicated Internet Access 4400 W. 18 th St. (ERATE) 4400 West 18 th Street Houston, TX 77092 The following schedule and timelines apply to this RFP. The following timelines are subject to change at the District s discretion: Timeline Release RFP September 29, 2017 Pre-Proposal Conference Last date for questions: RFP Due Evaluation Period Selected Proposal(s) Approved Page 1 Wednesday, October 18, 2017 at 12:00 PM at Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 West 18th Street, Houston, Texas 77092 in conference room 1E01. October 23, 2017 at 5pm CST Tuesday, October 31, 2017 at 10:00a.m. November 1, 2017 to November 15, 2017(Subject to change) Next regularly scheduled Board meeting after selection (Subject to Change Each set of the proposal must be submitted in a binder. The original proposal must be labeled ORIGINAL and contain original signatures. The copies of the original must be labeled COPY. Response submission must be delivered in a sealed folder or container (i.e. envelope, box, or bin). If documents are submitted in an unsealed container or folder, the District is not responsible for any unsealed/unlabeled documents and materials.
Page 2 PROJECT # 18-09-07 RFP/DEDICATED INTERNET ACCESS Each binder and any container for the binder(s) must be labeled on the outside with the Proposer s name, address, the RFP number and the RFP name. Each USB drive must be labeled with the RFP number and the vendor name. Proposals will be received at the above address until October 31, 2017 at 10:00 AM Central Standard Time. A pre-proposal conference will be held in conjunction with the RFP on October 18, 2017 at 12:00 PM at Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 West 18th Street, Houston, Texas 77092 in conference room 1E01. Submitting proposals prior to the pre-proposal conference is not recommended, and such proposals may be rejected by HISD. A more detailed timeline is set out in the Instructions, Submission Requirements and Procedures section of the RFP. Proposals will be reviewed as received in a manner that avoids disclosure to competing proposals. Contents of proposals will remain confidential during the negotiations period. Only the project [RFP] number and the identity of the Proposer(s) submitting the proposal will be made available to the public before award of the RFP. Faxed or emailed proposals will not be accepted. Proposals must be submitted in sufficient time to be received and time-stamped at the above location on or before the proposal due date and time. HISD will not be responsible for proposals delivered late by the United States Postal Service, or any other delivery or courier services. Proposals received after the Proposal due date and time will not be considered. All proposals must remain open for one hundred twenty (120) days from the proposal due date pending acceptance by HISD. The designated Sourcing Specialist during the proposal process shall be OKina Alford, Procurement Services, 4400 West 18 th Street, Houston, Texas 77092, okina.alford@houstonisd.org. All communications pertaining to the RFP shall be addressed in writing to the Sourcing Specialist, as indicated in the next paragraph. Questions concerning the RFP will be answered only if sent to the Procurement Services Department, in writing via email to okina.alford@houstonisd.org not later than 5:00PM Central Standard Time October 23, 2017. All questions submitted in writing to the Sourcing Specialist prior to the deadline will be answered in the form of addenda. All addenda will be posted on the HISD Procurement website. The General Terms and Conditions for Requests for Proposals governs this RFP and any contract(s) awarded under this RFP. This document can be downloaded and printed via HISD Procurement Services website or requested in hard copy format via email to Sourcing Specialist [Name] at [email]@houstonisd.org. HISD will be entitled to assume that by submitting a Proposal, all Proposers have reviewed and consented to all provisions of the General Terms and Conditions. The District will award this RFP to one or more supplier(s) based upon the evaluation of all proposals received. More details regarding the evaluation of proposals are included in Section II below. Richard Gay 09/29/2017 Richard Gay, CPPO, Officer of Procurement Services Date
SECTION I: PROPOSAL RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS The Proposal shall be submitted in a binder with tabs as set forth below: Title Page Show the RFP subject, the name of the Proposer s firm, address, telephone number, name of contact person, and date. Tab 1 Table of Contents Clearly identify the materials by sections and page numbers Tab 2 Proposal Submission Forms Complete and return Forms A through M set forth in Part III of this RFP. The set of forms submitted in the proposal marked ORIGINAL requires original manual signatures. Copies of the forms bearing original signatures should be included in each additional proposal. The forms provided in Part III should be submitted in the following order: 1. FORM A: Supplier Information (CHE (Local) Questionnaire) 2. FORM B: MWBE Instructions and Participation Report 3. FORM C: Reference Survey Instructions (Not applicable) 4. FORM D: Reference Survey (Not Applicable) 5. FORM E: General Certifications 6. FORM F: Not Applicable (See Exhibit A) 7. FORM G: EDGAR Certifications 8. FORM H: Exception Forms 9. FORM I: Conflict of Interest Instructions and form CIQ 10. FORM J: Instructions for Completion of Disclosure of Interested Persons Certification (HB 1295) 11. FORM K: IRS Form W-9 12. FORM L: Certificate of Insurance (Acord Form) or a letter from its insurance provider stating that Proposer can provide the levels of insurance required in this RFP. 13. FORM M: Acknowledgement Form 14. FORM N: Master Service Agreement (Not Applicable) 15. FORM O: CRIMINAL HISTORY BACKGROUND CHECK FORM 16. Exhibit A: HISD DIA Pricing Tables (Place in Tab 7) 17. Exhibit B: E-RATE Contract Tab 3 Profile of the Proposer a. Indicate the key people in your organization assigned with a hierarchy chart to provide this service to the District and their level of experience and qualifications and the percentage of their time that will be dedicated to this project. b. Provide a list of the Proposer s current top (three to five) clients and discuss services your organization has provided and/or performed for each client. c. If applicable: Provide the last three years of financial statements Page 3
Tab 4 Scope Section Clearly describe the scope of the goods and /or services to be provided based upon the information in the Section II, Scope of Work. Tab 5 Questionnaire Response Respond to the questions and/or questionnaires included in the RFP. Tab 6 Invoice Procedure a. Describe the proposer s invoicing procedures. b. Include documentation identifying all of the Proposer s fees. c. Payment terms. The District s standard payment terms are 30 days after invoice is received. State any payment discounts that your company offers, i.e., 2% 10 days net 30; or 5% 7 days net 30. Tab 7 Price Any and all pricing information, including any alternate pricing proposals that may be acceptable for some projects. Include a hard copy of Exhibit A (DIA Pricing Tables) in this section. Tab 8 Addenda Insert all addenda under this section. Tab 9 Criminal Background Check Form Insert one of the certifications that applies to your company: a. Criminal History Background Check Form - With direct contact with Students b. Criminal History Background Check Form No direct contact with students (The supplier s proposal will be considered non-responsive if the supplier fails to submit one of these Forms at the moment of submitting said proposal) Page 4
SECTION II: SCOPE OF WORK 2.1 SCOPE OF WORK: At minimum, the District is seeking the following goods and/or services to be provided by the Supplier(s): HISD will evaluate proposals for Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) services for a minimum of 15 Gb and a maximum of 40 Gb on a 40 Gigabit Internet Port for a three (3) year contract with two optional one (1) year extensions. The physical location for the Internet Service is 4400 W. 18 th Street, Houston, TX 77092. The service period is to begin July 1, 2018. This Request for Proposal (RFP) provides interested suppliers with sufficient information to prepare and submit Proposals for consideration with the intent of contracting with one or more companies to provide cost effective, high quality Internet access for the campuses of HISD. During the stated contract period HISD desires to provide high quality, advanced, mission critical, and high availability Internet service to faculty, students, and staff of the District from all HISD facilities. 2.1.1 INTRODUCTION: The Houston Independent School District Information Technology (IT) Department is committed to providing a high-quality education for every child in the district, regardless of where they live or the school they choose to attend. HISD has 310 facilities, approximately 30,000 staff, and more than 215,000 students, making it the largest district in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States. Serving the needs of our growing community of students, teachers, administration, and staff requires a secure, robust infrastructure, state of the art equipment, and innovative software. These tools support both learning in the schools, and the rigorous assessment and analysis necessary to meet the district s educational and operational goals. HISD will follow the purchasing policies of the HISD Board and requirements and procedures of the Schools and Libraries Universal Service to be eligible for all available E-rate funding. The implementation of any associated contracts resulting from this competitive bid process will be dependent on the District s Board of Education s approval. E-rate funding notification alone will not signify Notice to Proceed. The District will have the right to allow the contract to expire without implementation if appropriate funding does not come available. HISD will evaluate responses from this RFP with the intent to contract for the following services and associated pricing: Internet Access: See Sections 2.2 and 2.3 for detailed specifications. o Dedicated Internet Access (including transport) Service for 15 Gigabit scalable to 40 Gigabit on a 40 Gigabit port at the HISD Data Center located at 4400 W. 18 th Street, Houston, TX 77092. Page 5
2.2 SPECIFIC CONDITIONS: PROJECT # 18-09-07 RFP/DEDICATED INTERNET ACCESS Vendor Response: The responding vendor must provide a response to each Internet service requirement. 2.2.1. Schools and Libraries Program Requirements The Schools and Libraries Program reimburses telecommunications, Internet access, and internal connections providers for discounts on eligible services provided to schools and libraries. While schools and libraries apply for these discounts, USAC works in conjunction with service providers to make sure these discounts are passed on to program participants. The vendor must be eligible to participate in the Schools and Libraries Program and obtained a Service Provider Identification Number (SPIN) from USAC. (1) The proposal response must include the vendor s SPIN. (Vendor response required) (2) By submitting a response, the vendor is signifying that the vendor is an eligible service provider for reimbursement. 2.2.2 Quality of Proposed Internet Service A qualified provider must be a Tier 1 or Tier 2 Internet Service Provider with the ability to provide the capacity, reliability and services required to meet the HISD Education Internet Service Requirements. A Tier 1 network is defined as a network that can reach every other network on the Internet without purchasing IP transit or paying for peering. A Tier 2 network is defined as a network that peers for free with some networks, but still purchases IP transit or pays for peering to reach at least some portion of the Internet. 2.2.2.1 The proposal response must include technical details regarding the Internet Services infrastructure including transport and the upstream Internet Point of Presence. (Vendor response required.) 2.2.2.2 The proposal must provide Service Levels and associated Service Level Agreements available with the service. Refer to 2.2.12 for details of Service Level Agreements. (Vendor response required.) 2.2.2.4 The proposal response must include details regarding the local-loop, lastmile, or physical transport of the service and whether the proposer is the owner of or purchasing from a third party. If local-loop, last-mile, or physical transport is leased from a third party, then the company s name and SLA must be included. (Vendor response required.) 2.2.3 The Reputation of the Vendor and of the Vendor s Goods or Services A qualified provider should have experience and relationships with comparable Higher Education, K12 customers or Tier 1/2 Internet Service Provider for K12. Page 6
2.2.3.1 The proposal will include three comparable customers. Include contact information for the references provided. (Vendor response required.) 2.2.4 The Vendor s Past Relationship with the District The provider may have a service, support and business model to work with HISD which can be represented by past successful contracts with the District. 2.2.4.1 Option for the proposal to include a list of any past projects or contracts that the service provider has had with the District. (Optional vendor response required.) 2.2.5 The Vendor s Knowledge and Experience with the Proposed Solution The provider must have knowledge and experience working with organizations of comparable size and scope of HISD for implementation, support and services 2.2.5.1 The proposal must list the personnel and qualifications of the personnel that will be assigned to the project. (Vendor response required.) 2.2.5.2 The vendor must provide a project manager for the project(s) during implementation, an ongoing service and support model, and a single point of contact for HISD. (Vendor response required.) 2.2.6 Probability of Continuous Availability HISD plans to enter into a long-term contract for services three years with optional oneyear extensions until June 30, 2023. The probability of continuous availability of the services and support is an important qualification of the provider. The District will evaluate the provider s ability to provide the solution starting on July 1, 2018 and continuing through the term of the contract. 2.2.6.1. The respondent must provide the number of years in business providing comparable services to customers in and around the District. (Vendor response required) 2.3 DEDICATED INTERNET ACCESS (DIA) SPECIFICATIONS: HISD will contract for a Dedicated Internet Access Service to provide high capacity, high quality, scalable Internet Service for the District. The requested service is for a Category One Internet service. The solution will be a service and HISD will not own any part of the network infrastructure required to deliver the service. Vendor Response: The responding vendor must provide a response to each Internet service requirement. Page 7 2.3.1 DIA Project Specifications 2.3.1.01 Contract Term: The initial DIA Service contract term will be from July 1, 2018 June 30, 2021 with optional one-year extensions on the contract term until June 30, 2023.
2.3.1.02 Base Contracted Service: The contracted service will be for a 40 Gigabit Internet port with a beginning Committed Data Rate (CDR) for Internet Bandwidth of 15 Gigabit. 2.3.1.03 Service Location: The DIA Service will be provided for HISD at 4400 W. 18 th Street, Houston, TX 77092. 2.3.1.04 Project Timeline: The respondent must provide a project timeline and implementation plan. (Vendor response required) 2.3.1.05 Bandwidth Increase Increments: The committed Internet bandwidth will be 15 GB scalable to 40 GB in 5 GB increments. Other service increase increments can be proposed. Bandwidth increases should be available at any time during the contract period without amendments to the contract. The respondent must provide a process and estimated lead-time to increase bandwidth. (Vendor response required) 2.3.1.06 Technical Support: The response must provide a 24/7 Enterprise technical support desk and service. (Vendor response required) 2.3.1.07 Service Level Agreements: The response must provide the Service Level Objectives on the service as proposed. (Vendor response required) 2.3.1.08 Customer Portal: The response must provide a Customer Portal that allows secure access to view and manage the service with 24 hour a day, seven days a week access. (Vendor response required) 2.3.1.09 Monitor Usage and Billing: The response must provide a solution that can monitor and report usage online associated with electronic format for billing review and program assessment. (Vendor response required) 2.3.1.10 HISD WILL PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING SERVICES FOR INTERNET ACCESS: a) The District is responsible for all HISD Internet service delivery from the demarcation point of the service provider to the end-user device. b) The District will route traffic to the service provider demarcation point at the discretion of the District. c) The District is responsible for all internal firewall and security infrastructure to protect the District Enterprise network from the Internet. d) The HISD Autonomous System Number (ASN) is AS4604. e) The HISD Direct Assigned IPv4 Address Space is 166.127.0.0 166.127.255.255. f) The District will provide the internal equipment and services to accept and deliver the service within the District. g) HISD will provide a Point of Contact (POC) for installation, service activation and any activities. Page 8 2.3.2 DIA Technical Specifications and Additional Requirements 2.3.2.01 40 Gigabit Dedicated Internet Access Port: The service must provide a high performance, non-blocking 40 Gigabit Ethernet Internet port with scalable
Page 9 PROJECT # 18-09-07 RFP/DEDICATED INTERNET ACCESS internet services starting at 15 Gigabit. 2.3.2.02 15 Gigabit of Internet Bandwidth with scalable Service Increase Options: The service must provide 15 Gigabit of internet service scalable up to 40 Gigabit in 5 Gigabit increment increases. 2.3.2.03 Ethernet User-to-Network Interface: The service must provide bidirectional, full duplex transmission of Ethernet frames using a standard IEEE 802.3 Ethernet interface (UNI). 2.3.2.04 Maximum Frame Size: The service must support a maximum transmission unit (MTU) frame size of 1518 bytes at a minimum. 2.3.2.05 Address Allocation: HISD will utilize the ARIN Direct Assigned IPv4 Address space for HISD for the service. 2.3.2.06 Committed Bandwidth and Services: The contracted Internet bandwidth capacity will provide a Committed Data Rate (CDR) as a committed, nonoversubscribed service. 2.3.2.07 High Quality Internet: The service will not only be high capacity but also high quality. The response must provide a description of the quality of the Internet Service to include: the number of hops of the service to the Internet Backbone and the classification of the provider as a Tier 1 or Tier 2 Internet Service Provider. (Vendor response required) 2.3.2.08 IPV4 and IPV6: The service must support IPV4/IPV6 dual stack or IPV6 Internet address space. It is the intent of HISD to utilize the existing Direct Assigned IPV4 addresses; however, HISD will evaluate proposals for IPV6 services in the implementation of the network and services for future Internet Service initiatives. This response should provide information on the available support for IPV6. (Vendor response required) 2.3.2.09 Domain Name Service: The Service Provider must provide Domain Name Services. Primary and secondary Domain Name Service (DNS) must be provided with the service as needed. (Vendor response required) 2.3.2.10 Online Reporting: The service provider must provide a password-protected web portal to access online reports containing historical network traffic information. (Vendor response required) 2.3.2.11 Monitoring, Technical Support and Maintenance: i. Network Monitoring: The response must provide verification that services are monitored on a 24x7x365 basis. (Vendor response required) ii. Technical Support: The response must provide verification of technical support on a 24x7x365 basis and must also provide technical support for service-related inquiries. (Vendor response required) iii. Escalation: The response must provide an escalation process, timeline and person responsible at each interval until problem resolution. (Vendor response required) iv. Maintenance: The response must provide verification that scheduled maintenance will be performed during a defined maintenance. A minimum of forty-eight (48) hours notice is required for non-service impacting
Page 10 PROJECT # 18-09-07 RFP/DEDICATED INTERNET ACCESS scheduled maintenance. A minimum of seven (7) days notice is required for service impacting planned maintenance and the service will not be performed during regular business hours. Emergency maintenance will provide an estimate service disruption time notice and communicate hourly updates until service restoration. (Vendor response required) 2.3.2.12 Service Level Agreement: The service provider must define Service Level Agreement (SLA) for the service, including network availability (minimum 99.999%), mean time to respond, and mean time to restore. The following are baselines; however, the respondent will provide a detail of the Service Level Agreement and proposed objectives based on their service capabilities. The SLA will be evaluated as part of the quality of the service criteria i. Availability: Availability is a measurement of the percentage of total time that the service is operational when measured over a thirty (30) day period. Service is considered inoperative when either of the following occurs: (i) there is a total loss of signal for the service, (ii) output signal presented to the customer by Service Provider does not conform to the technical specifications provided ii. Mean Time to Respond: Mean Time to Respond is the average time required to begin troubleshooting a reported fault. The Mean Time to Respond objective is fifteen (15) minutes upon receipt of a fault notification or from the time a trouble ticket is opened. iii. Mean Time to Restore: Mean Time to Restore is the average time required to restore service to an operational condition as defined by the technical specifications in Section 1 of this document. The Mean Time to Restore objective is four (4) hours for electronic equipment failure or six (6) hours for fiber optic facilities failure from the time a trouble ticket is opened. iv. The response must provide a comprehensive summary of your company s service continuity or disaster recovery plan and explain, if any, the role of your sub-contractors in the disaster recovery process. (Vendor response required) v. The response must provide a non-performance policy with monthly credit calculations based on an outage window where such faults, outages or anomalies are due to the oversight, neglect, or unreliability of the provider. (Vendor response required) 2.3.2.13 IP Transit Network: The DIA Service must have a resilient, high available transit IP backbone network with dedicated non-blocking Ethernet service ports with the committed data rate (CDR) of 40 Gigabit capacity from the Internet port to the Internet backbone. (Vendor response required) 2.3.2.14 Internet Transport Network from HWM_ESC to Internet POP: The carrier must provide all components of the Internet service including the transport from the HISD Data Center at to the Internet. The provider must describe the Network Transport design and capacity. The
transport must be dedicated to the District and not shared with any of the provider s other customers. (Vendor response required) 2.4 COST: Supplier must provide a 30-day written notice of any price changes during the term of the Agreement and provide supporting manufacturer and/or distributor documentation to support such price adjustments. (Vendor response required) Page 11
3.5 EVALUATION FACTORS: The evaluations committee will conduct a comprehensive, fair and impartial evaluation of all proposals received in response to this RFP. Each proposal received will be analyzed to determine overall responsiveness and completeness as defined in the scope section and in the instructions on submitting a proposal. Failure to comply with the instructions or to submit a complete proposal may deem a proposal non-responsive and may at the discretion of the Evaluation Committee be eliminated from further evaluation. If the evaluation committee has reasonable grounds to believe that the proposer with the highest ranking score is unable to perform the required services to the satisfaction of HISD, HISD reserves the right to make an award to another proposer who in the opinion of the evaluation committee would offer HISD the best value. Some indicators (but not a complete list) of probable supplier/proposer performance concerns are: past supplier performance; the proposer s financial resources and ability to perform; the proposer s experience or demonstrated capability and responsibility; and the supplier s ability to provide a reliable on-going business relationship and the maintenance of on-going agreements and support. Criteria Criteria Description Weighted # Value 1 The Purchase Price - cost of Eligible Services 30% 2 the reputation of the Proposer and of the Proposer s goods or services 5% 3 the quality of the Proposer s goods or services 15% 4 the extent to which the goods or services meet the District's needs 25% 5 the Proposer s past relationship with the District 10% 6 the impact on the ability of the District to comply with laws and rules relating to historically underutilized businesses 10% 7 The total long-term cost to the District to acquire the Proposer s goods or services 5% 8 for a contract for goods and services, other than goods and services related to telecommunications and information services, building construction and maintenance, or instructional materials, whether the vendor or the vendor's ultimate parent company or majority owner: (A) has its principal place of business in this state; or (B) employs at least 500 persons in this state 0 % 9 List and weigh any other relevant factors 0 % Page 12
2.7 PRICING SHEETS INCLUDING ELECTRONIC SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS. RESPONDENTS MUST USE THE ATTACHED EXCEL WORKSHEET FOR PRICING. No deviations are allowed. Any deviations may be cause for disqualification. See attached Exhibit A HISD DIA Pricing Tables Page 13