CDC Internet Services Pre-Solicitation 19KE5020Q0020 - Question and Answer.pdf

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR THE CDC INTERNET SERVICES CONTRACT

PRE-PROPOSAL

VIRTUAL CONFERENCE HOSTED BY THE US EMBASSY NAIROBI

Solicitation Number 19KE5020Q00020

July 14, 2020 AT 11:00 AM

Question 1. In the pre-solicitation notice, you mention that you want dedicated fiber/wired internet. Do you intend to also acquire an alternate path backup, such as VSAT? Whereby if the wired link is down or disconnected, your locations will automatically switch over to a satellite internet link?

Answer:

CDC does not intend to acquire VSAT services as an alternate path backup in this solicitation.

The redundancy we are looking for in this solicitation is at a minimum last-mile redundancy, and the latency we are looking for is 200 milliseconds to North America. VSAT latency is high

(typically 600 to 900 milliseconds).

See solicitation document Section 1 under Internet Services Quality- performance and monitoring.

Question 2. Please expound on the 2% withholding tax.

JAMES ZADROGA 9/11 VICTIMS HEALTH AND COMPENSATION ACT OF 2010

NOTICE: UNLESS A WAIVER OR EXCEPTION APPLIES, PAYMENTS SUBSEQUENT

TO THIS PROCUREMENT ARE SUBJECT TO AN EXCISE TAX OF 2% PERSUANT TO 26

U.S.C. 5000C.

2% of the invoice value will be withheld from payment and remitted to the IRS.

W14 must be completed if firms believe they are eligible for an exemption (i.e. they are from countries with tax treaty negotiated with US, or negotiated Trade agreements with US) https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-4

Question 3. We understand you are exempt from taxes; how will this be captured for invoicing purposes?

No value added tax should be included in the invoice since the U.S. Embassy is zero rated for value added tax.

Question 4. Automatic failover: hot standby routing protocol (HSRP) is required in the RFP. Is the ISP required to provide 2 routers and a switch to achieve this? The diagram below does not https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-4 capture the HSRP set up.

The document should read “Automatic failover is required” instead of “hot standby routing protocol is required” “HSRP required”

• The ISP is not required to provide 2 routers and a switch

• The ISP is required to provide automatic failover of the two last-mile connections

See solicitation document Section 1 Scope of work under description of required services-

Internet CDC Nairobi HQ ; Internet CDC –Kisian.

Question 5. Can the Embassy furnish us with Geo-Locations Coordinates for the sites in focus on the tender?

No this is not possible due to restrictions but during the scheduled site visits, vendors are expected to obtain all technical details that relate to their specific service configuration. The contract awardee will be provided any necessary technical details.

Question 6. Is the physical site survey flexible such that each bidder can arrange at their own convenience when to do the site survey obviously with proper pre-arrangement with the embassy?

Due to the Covid-19 situation, this is inflexible and site visits were scheduled for Friday, July 17, 2020.