6837 Z1 Allo Response Opt 2.pdf

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State of Nebraska

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR CONTRACTUAL SERVICES

SOLICITATION NUMBER RELEASE DATE

6837 Z1 November 16, 2023

PROPOSAL OPENING DATE AND TIME PROCUREMENT CONTACT

January 3, 2024 Dianna Gilliland/Kelly Thomas

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!

SCOPE OF SERVICE

The State of Nebraska (State), Department of Administrative Services (DAS), Materiel Division, State Purchasing Bureau (SPB), is issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) Number 6837 Z1 for the purpose of selecting a qualified Bidder(s) to provide high speed transport services to participants of Network Nebraska. A more detailed description can be found in Section II. The resulting contract(s) may not be exclusive contract(s) as the State reserves the right to contract for the same or similar services from other sources now or in the future.

The term of the contract will commence upon execution of the contract by the State through June 30, 2028. The Contract includes the option to renew for four (4) additional one (1) year periods upon mutual agreement of the Parties. The State reserves the right to extend the period of this contract beyond the termination date when mutually agreeable to the Parties.

ALL INFORMATION PERTINENT TO THIS REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL CAN BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET AT:

http://das.nebraska.gov/materiel/purchasing.html.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Pursuant to Neb. Rev. Stat. § 84-602.04, State contracts in effect as of January 1, 2014, and contracts entered into thereafter, must be posted to a public website. The resulting contract, the solicitation, and the successful contractor’s proposal or response will be posted to a public website managed by DAS, which can be found at http://statecontracts.nebraska.gov.

In addition, and in furtherance of the State’s public records Statute (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 84-712 et seq.), all proposals or responses received regarding this solicitation will be posted to the State Purchasing Bureau public website.

The Master Agreement Revision #5 Terms and Conditions for High-Speed Transport Services for Network Nebraska RFPs 2020- 2023, apply to this RFP.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR CONTRACTUAL SERVICES ............................................................................................................. i

TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................................................................................................. ii

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE

GENERAL INFORMATION

PROCURING OFFICE AND COMMUNICATION WITH STATE STAFF AND EVALUATORS

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

WRITTEN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND SCOPE OF WORK

INTRODUCTION

E-RATE

NETWORK TOPOLOGY

PROJECT OVERVIEW

PROJECT ENVIRONMENT

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

TRANSITION REQUIREMENT

SCOPE OF WORK

TECHNOLOGY REFRESH

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR APPENDIX D

PROJECT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

SERVICE LEVEL GUARANTEES

MAINTENANCE SPECIFICATIONS

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

CONTRACT PERFORMANCE

DEPLOYMENT STATUS REPORTS

CERTIFICATION

COST PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

Form A Contractor Proposal Point of Contact

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR CONTRACTUAL SERVICES FORM

RFP Boilerplate | 11/22/2022

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

For this section refer to the Master Agreement Revision #5 Glossary of Terms.

SPECIAL TERMS

UNI: A connection between a carrier and Network Nebraska, used to deliver one circuit/VLAN/service.

NNI: A connection between a carrier and Network Nebraska, used to deliver multiple circuits or services, with each on their own VLAN.

EPL: A point to point circuit topology, may or may not use a VLAN.

EVPL: A hub and spoke circuit topology, each circuit delivered with a VLAN tag to one NNI.

ELAN: A full mesh circuit topology, one VLAN or service label is used for all circuits in the carrier’s network.

PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Request for Proposal (RFP) is designed to solicit proposals from qualified bidders who will be responsible for providing high speed transport services for participants of Network Nebraska at a competitive and reasonable cost.

Procurement procedures, terms and conditions, contractor duties and payment terms may be found in the Revised Master Agreement Revision #5.

Proposals shall conform to all instructions, conditions, and requirements included in the RFP. Prospective bidders are expected to carefully examine all documents, schedules, and requirements in the RFP, and respond to each requirement in the format prescribed. Proposals may be found non-responsive if they do not conform to the RFP or the bidder hasn’t agreed to all the terms and conditions specified in the Revised Master Agreement Revision #5.

The Master Agreement Revision #5 Terms and Conditions for High-Speed Transport Services for Network Nebraska RFPs 2020-2023 apply to this RFP.

PROCURING OFFICE AND COMMUNICATION WITH STATE STAFF AND EVALUATORS

Procurement responsibilities related to this solicitation reside with State Purchasing Bureau. The point of contact (POC) for the procurement is as follows:

RFP Number:

Name: Dianna Gilliland/Kelly Thomas, Procurement Contracts Officers Agency: State Purchasing Bureau Address: 1526 K Street, Suite 130

Lincoln, NE 68508 Telephone: 402-471-4193/402-471-0974

State Purchasing - 402-471-6500 E-Mail: dianna.gilliland@nebraska.gov / Kelly.thomas@nebraska.gov State Purchasing as.materielpurchasing@nebraska.gov

From the RFP release date until the Intent to Award is issued, communication is limited to the POC listed above. The recipient of the Intent to Award may communicate with individuals the State has designated as responsible for negotiating the contract on behalf of the State. No member of the State Government, employee of the State, or member of the Evaluation Committee is empowered to make binding statements regarding this Request for Proposal.

The POC will issue any answers, clarifications or amendments regarding this solicitation in writing. Only the SPB or awarding agency can award a contract. No communication or attempt to communicate with or influence any evaluator involved in this RFP is allowed.

The following exceptions to these restrictions are permitted:

1. Contact made pursuant to pre-existing contracts or obligations,

2. Contact required by the schedule of events, or an event scheduled later by the Request for Proposal POC, and

3. Contact required for negotiation and execution of the final contract.

The State reserves the right to reject a contractor’s proposal, withdraw an Intent to Award, or terminate a contract if the State determines there has been a violation of these procurement procedures.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

The State expects to adhere to the procurement schedule shown below, but all dates are approximate and subject to change.

ACTIVITY DATE/TIME

1. Release Request for Proposal November 16, 2023

2.

Last day to submit written questions – Questions must be submitted via ShareFile.

ShareFile link: https://nebraska.sharefile.com/r-r40a20bd617af4fd3b355f7c5eaccc2a4

December 1, 2023

3.

State responds to written questions through RFP “Addendum” and/or “Amendment” to be posted to:

https://das.nebraska.gov/materiel/purchase_bureau/bidopps.html

December 6, 2023

4.

Electronic Proposal Opening

Upload electronic submission via ShareFile, per emailed instructions received after signing Master Agreement Revision #5 Acceptance Page

ShareFile link: https://nebraska.sharefile.com/r-r269b599fd69e493f98971312f1549642

IT IS THE BIDDER’S RESPONSIBILTY TO UPLOAD ELECTRONIC FILES WITH

ENOUGH AMOUNT OF TIME IN CASE OF USER ISSUE OR SOFTWARE ISSUE.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81219441292?pwd=aWNwdVFqRHlpa2svWjhaNWpjTUNq

QT09

Meeting ID: 812 1944 1292 Passcode: 549270

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Meeting ID: 812 1944 1292 Passcode: 549270

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k7CnjMNTQ

January 3, 2024

2:00 PM

Central Time

5. Review for conformance to RFP requirements

January 3, 2024 through

January 5, 2024

ACTIVITY DATE/TIME

6. Evaluation period

January 8, 2024 through

January 23, 2024

7. Post “Notification of Intent to Award” to:

https://das.nebraska.gov/materiel/purchase_bureau/bidopps.html

January 26, 2024

8. Contract finalization period

January 26, 2024 through

February 23, 2024

9. Contract award February 26, 2026

10. Contractor(s) start date March 1, 2024

WRITTEN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Questions regarding the meaning or interpretation of any Request for Proposal provision must be submitted in writing to State Purchasing Bureau and clearly marked “RFP Number 6837 Z1, High Speed Transport Services for Participants of Network Nebraska Questions”. The POC is not obligated to respond to questions that are received late per the Schedule of Events.

Vendors should present, as questions, any assumptions upon which the bidder’s proposal is or might be developed.

Any proposal containing assumptions may be deemed non-responsive. Non-responsive proposal may be rejected.

The contract will not incorporate any known or unknown assumptions of a bidder.

Questions should be uploaded using the following ShareFile link located at RFP Section I.C. Schedule of Events, #2

It is recommended that Bidder’s submit questions using the following format.

RPF Section Reference

RFP Page Number Question

Written answers will be posted at https://das.nebraska.gov/materiel/purchase_bureau/bidopps.html per the Schedule of Events.

SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

Bidders should submit electronic proposal which should include the completed Form A, “Contractor Proposal Point of Contact”. Proposal file names should use the file name template recommended in the Master Agreement Revision #5. It is the bidder’s responsibility to ensure to complete and submit the Master Agreement Revision #5 Acceptance Page with enough time for the State to provide instructions on how to electronically submit the related RFP proposal before or by the date and time indicated in the RFP Schedule of Events. Electronic proposals must be received by the State Purchasing Bureau by the date and time of the proposal opening per the RFP Schedule of Events. No late proposals will be accepted.

The Request for Proposal form may be manually signed in an indelible manner or by using DocuSign and uploaded to the ShareFile folder by the proposal opening date and time along with the bidder’s Request for Proposal and any other requirements as stated in the Request for Proposal document.

It is the responsibility of the bidder to check the website for all information relevant to this Request for Proposal to include addenda and/or amendments issued prior to the opening date. Website address is as follows:

https://das.nebraska.gov/materiel/purchase_bureau/bidopps.html

Emphasis should be concentrated on conformance to the solicitation instructions, responsiveness to requirements, completeness, and clarity of content. If the bidder’s proposal is presented in such a fashion that makes evaluation difficult or overly time consuming the State reserves the right to reject the proposal as non-conforming.

By signing the “Request for Proposal for Contractual Services” form, the bidder guarantees compliance with the provisions stated in this RFP.

The State shall not incur any liability for any costs incurred by bidders in replying to this solicitation, in the demonstrations and/or oral presentations, or in any other activity related to bidding on this RFP.

The Cost Proposal should be presented in a separate Excel formatted file.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND SCOPE OF WORK

INTRODUCTION

The Bidder should carefully read, review, and respond with the information requested, section-by-section, in response to this RFP.

The objective of this RFP is to update and expand the statewide network that is currently in place to serve the eligible entities of Network Nebraska as defined by Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-5,100 and 79-1201.01(3). Network Nebraska is defined in Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-5,100 (LB1208, 2006). “Network Nebraska shall consist of contractual agreements with providers to meet the demand of state agencies, local governments, and educational entities. Such network shall provide access to a reliable and affordable infrastructure capable of carrying a spectrum of services and applications, including distance education across the state. Participation in Network Nebraska shall not be required for any educational entity. The Chief Information Officer shall aggregate demand for those state agencies and educational entities choosing to participate and shall reduce costs for participants whenever feasible.”

Network Nebraska has grown to include 292 separate entities, and serves 99.6% of public-school districts, 100% of Educational Service Units, 100% of public colleges and universities, 54% of private colleges, 20% of private K-12 schools, and several public libraries and municipalities. Network Nebraska is jointly managed by the State of Nebraska Office of the CIO, in partnership with the University of Nebraska.

Network Nebraska is comprised of a seven-segment statewide backbone, six major aggregation points, and over 300 fiber Ethernet circuits, either directly handed off to Network Nebraska equipment at the aggregation points, or sub-aggregated at Educational Service Units. The Office of the CIO, on behalf of Network Nebraska, purchases three sources of commodity internet and two sources of commercial peering. The Network Nebraska participants may purchase their fiber Ethernet circuits either through the state contracts resulting from this and other State RFPs, or by using a local or regional procurement.

The State of Nebraska bids these services on behalf of numerous E-Rate eligible education entities and some non- E-Rate eligible entities across the State. Each E-Rate eligible entity must be allowed a reasonable duration to hold a public meeting of its administrative board to approve its purchase from the resulting state contract(s) and to file its E- Rate Form 471 prior to the national 2024 E-Rate deadline and each succeeding year to be established by the USAC.

Once Intents to Award have been announced by the State, each contractor must work expeditiously toward a signed contract to allow enough time for the local approval process. Failure to reach a signed contract with the State prior to Friday, March 1, 2024, may risk negation of purchases for the July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2024 performance year.

Bid cost data will be accepted through four (4) different appendices:

1. Appendix A: Ethernet leased lit fiber circuits for E-Rate eligible entities and non-E-Rate eligible entities connected to Network Nebraska aggregation points

2. Appendix B: Ethernet fiber circuits for E-Rate eligible entities connected to an identified point B

3. Appendix C: Ethernet fiber circuits for non-E-Rate eligible entities connected to the University of Nebraska

System aggregation points

4. Appendix D: Commercial internet for non-E-Rate eligible entities

E-RATE

The originating FCC Form 470 for this RFP can be found at https://portal.usac.org/suite and searching “Records > FCC Forms 470 > Funding Year 4> Nebraska > BEN 225870.

Each Bidder must have a Service Provider’s Form 498 I.D. # (formerly SPIN) from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) and be eligible to participate in the Universal Service Fund discount program for telecommunications services provided to the E-Rate eligible entities for the life of the contract and all applicable renewals. Bidder agrees to provide any discounts, including any accrued credits, for which the entity is eligible under the Universal Service Fund for school telecommunications services. Bidder will, at its expense, prepare, file, and continually keep current all carrier documents and reports required for the eligible entities to receive the benefit of such discounts and credits. The Bidder's Service Provider’s Form 498 I.D. # (formerly SPIN) issued to bidder by the Universal Service Administrative Company should be included in the responding bid.

As required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), providers of eligible services must comply with the Lowest Corresponding Price (LCP) rule:

1. 47 CFR § 54.500(f) Lowest Corresponding Price (LCP) is the lowest price that a service provider charges to non-residential customers who are similarly situated to a particular school, library, or library consortium for similar services.

(“Similarly situated” means the “geographic service area” in which a service provider is seeking to serve customers with any of its E-Rate services.)

2. 47 CFR § 54.511(b) Providers of eligible services shall not charge schools, school districts, libraries, library consortia, or consortia including any of these entities a price above the lowest corresponding price for supported services, unless the Federal Communications Commission, with respect to interstate services or the state commission with respect to intrastate services, finds that the lowest corresponding price is not compensatory.

The Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR) FCC Form 472 is filed by the applicant and approved by the service provider after the applicant has paid for services in full. The Service Provider Invoice (SPI) FCC Form 474 is filed by the service provider after the applicant has been billed for the non-discount portion of the cost of eligible services. Note: An applicant may choose its method of invoicing; the service provider cannot force applicants to use a particular method.

As required by USAC policy, the contractor must retain documents from the bidding process through ten (10) years past the last date of service. Documents may be retained in electronic format or paper. The document list includes, but is not limited to, copies of bids, signed contracts, proof of service delivery, invoices, documentation of any service down time, and any other document retention required by the FCC. The Bidder shall provide the following information in response to this RFP and must provide prior to contract award.

Service Provider’s Form 498 I.D. # (formerly SPIN): _______________________________

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

NETWORK TOPOLOGY

Appendix A sites involve Ethernet connectivity from Network Nebraska participant locations to one or more of the listed core aggregation locations (below). An award will be made for each participant location to a single core aggregation location based on lowest cost. If bid pricing is identical to two or more aggregation locations, and is awarded, the specific aggregation location will be decided by the Network Nebraska engineers and communicated to the contractor(s) during the project implementation phase.

1. Omaha–Peter Kiewit Institute, 1110 S. 67th Street

2. Omaha-1623 Farnam LLC, 1623 Farnam Street

3. Lincoln-Nebraska Hall, 901 N. 17th Street

4. Norfolk - Northeast Community College, 801 E Benjamin Avenue

5. Grand Island-College Park, 3180 W. Hwy 34

6. Kearney-UNMC Health Sciences Education Complex, 2402 University Drive (this co-location site is not accepting additional provider equipment; only replacements for existing equipment will be allowed)

7. Scottsbluff-Panhandle Research Center, 4502 Avenue I

An award will be made for each circuit in Appendix A, B, C, and D based on lowest overall cost over the 48-month initial contract term.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. Most services listed above will be offered to Schools and Libraries and therefore must meet E-rate guidelines for eligible services, products, service providers and contracts.

2. All State agencies, the University of Nebraska, political subdivisions and other “eligible participants” will be allowed to purchase off the resulting contract(s).

3. There is no guarantee that any or all the institutions listed will purchase any or all of the services requested in this RFP.

4. Circuit topology must be stated on all bids on Appendix A unless specified in the appendices.

5. Network Nebraska’s preferred circuit topology is an EVPL terminating to an existing, or new, NNI.

6. Circuits delivered via an ELAN will only be considered for existing UNIs.

7. If an existing ELAN circuit is to be upgraded to a speed less than 1Gbps, include non-recurring costs to groom it to an EVPL delivered to a new/existing NNI.

8. If an existing ELAN circuit is to be upgraded to a speed of 1Gbps or greater, the circuit must be groomed to an EVPL delivered to a new/existing NNI. Network Nebraska’s seven (7) core aggregation points have specific handoff locations:

a. Peter Kiewit Institute University of Nebraska – Omaha 1110 South 67th Street, Room 166

Omaha, NE 68182-0694 (This location has a building supplied UPS and generator.)

b. 1623 Farnam, LLC.

1623 Farnam Street, Suite 500 Omaha, NE 68102 (This location has a building supplied UPS and generator.)

c. University of Nebraska Data Center Nebraska Hall Room 230 901 North 17th Street Lincoln, NE 68588-0521 (This location has a building supplied UPS and generator.)

d. Northeast Community College Union 73 801 East Benjamin Avenue, Room 283 Norfolk, NE 68701-6831

e. College Park 3180 W Hwy 34. Room 208.5 Grand Island, NE 68801-7279

f. UNMC Health Sciences Education Complex 2402 University Drive, Room 113 Kearney, NE 68845 (this co-location site is not accepting additional provider equipment at this time; only replacements for existing equipment will be allowed)

(This location has a building supplied UPS and generator. Due to limited space, if an order requires additional equipment, the carrier may need to groom existing circuits to the new equipment.)

g. Panhandle Research and Extension Center 4502 Avenue I, Electrical/IT Closet Scottsbluff, NE 69361-4939 (This location has a building supplied UPS and generator. Due to limited space, if an order requires additional equipment, the carrier may need to groom existing circuits to the new equipment.)

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The objective of this RFP is to identify Contractor(s) who will design, develop, and implement high-speed data connectivity that will meet the current and future telecommunications needs of eligible participants over the term of the contract. Each Bidder will provide cost-effective, scalable and flexible high-speed data transport services that can connect eligible entities listed in Appendix A to Network Nebraska. The Bidder may bid on one, some or all of the eligible entities listed in Appendices A, B C, and D.

Each site/service will be reviewed individually. When bidding Appendix A and B locations, the Bidder must bid all costs to provide connectivity from the entity listed to at least one of the Network Nebraska aggregation points listed at the top of the Cost Proposal.

For Appendix A, and C the Bidder will include transport from the identified location with connectivity through the carriers’ cloud and ending at one of the identified aggregation locations. Connectivity back to the aggregation location must have the capacity to support all eligible entities bid transmitting at full capacity at any given time; oversubscription is not permitted. A ten (10) Gigabit Ethernet interface physical hand-off is required as a minimum for the connection at the identified aggregation locations. The cost for connectivity back to the Network Nebraska core aggregation rack MUST be figured into the MRC (monthly recurring charge) for the individual sites being bid. The State of Nebraska will not accept separate costs for the aggregation ports that connect all of the eligible entities to Network Nebraska.

All co-location data center cross-connect, and fiber path costs needed to provide the physical interface hand-over to Network Nebraska equipment will be the responsibility of the Bidder. A co-location space will be provided at each of the aggregation locations for the Contractor with the exception of the 1623 Farnam handoff site. Colocation fees may apply at individual locations and are the responsibility of the bidder.

For Appendix C ONLY, the listed entities will require a separate NNI from those listed in Appendix A and B. Each circuit listed in Appendix C is required to be built as an EVPL this new NNI.

For Appendix D ONLY, the listed entities are also seeking optional direct internet connectivity in addition to or instead of the ethernet circuits listed on Appendix C.

Eligible entities may include colleges, universities, state government, political subdivisions and K-12 institutions. The network design must accommodate the full implementation of Network Nebraska connections including a statewide, multi-purpose backbone.

All proposals must meet the technical requirements as stated in the RFP. The State requires the Bidder to bid a multi-purpose transport connection to interconnect the listed institutions along with the corresponding services that considers present, as well as future, state-of-the-art technologies.

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

PROJECT ENVIRONMENT

The current project environment consists of a multi-provider, layer-2 high-speed Ethernet network of over 300 fiber circuits. Multiple provider clouds connect to the various eligible entities. Providers hand off eligible entities to Network Nebraska at one of the identified core aggregation points and the Network Nebraska MPLS backbone interconnects the core aggregation points and provides transport to at least two Internet egress points.

At each service site location, the demarcation point to the customer premise equipment will provide at least 1 (one) 20-amp outlet and sufficient rack or wall space to mount the contractor’s termination equipment. Prospective bidders may request an appointment with the site contact listed in Appendices A, B, C, and D to inspect the customer premise location in order to make a more informed bid.

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

For the E-Rate eligible entities that request services from the state contracts must be converted by July 1, 2024, or if ordered in Year 2 or 3, by July 1 for each succeeding year. The circuits must be installed and tested no later than the first Friday in August 2024 and each succeeding year, however neither the State nor the participating eligible entities can incur charges on these circuits until after July 1 of the implementation year due to E-Rate. The cutover to the customer must be complete by the first Friday in August 2024 and each succeeding year or incur liquidated damages (see Section II.O. Contract Performance). Existing services must remain active until the final cutover (see Section II, G. Transition Requirement). The contractor(s) will provide a cost-effective, scalable, and flexible transport service that will be able to meet the demands of the network participants. Bidders shall identify services that are a normal part of their offering without additional fees.

The State of Nebraska reserves the right to reject proposals that attempt to substitute the contractor’s commercial contracts and/or SLA documents for the State’s Master Agreement, or legal and/or technical terms of this RFP.

The contractors may submit with their technical proposal any E-Rate, tax exemption, USF affidavit, user agreement, service level agreement, or similar documents that the contractor wants incorporated into the Contract. The State will not consider incorporation of any document not submitted with the contractor’s proposal as the document will not have been included in the evaluation process. These documents shall be subject to review and/or negotiation and will be incorporated as addendums if agreed to by the Parties.

If a conflict or ambiguity arises after the Addendum to Contract Award has been negotiated and agreed to, the Addendum to Contract Award shall be interpreted as follows:

1. If only one Party has a particular clause then that clause shall control,

2. If both Parties have a similar clause, but the clauses do not conflict, the clauses shall be read together,

3. If both Parties have a similar clause, but the clauses conflict, the State’s clause shall control.

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

TRANSITION REQUIREMENT

Upon award of replacement contract(s) to a new contractor in 2027, the awarded Contractor under this RFP shall, upon request, or until a Notice of Termination is submitted, continue providing any part or all of the services in accordance with the terms and conditions, requirements and specifications of the contract for a period not to exceed ninety (90) calendar days after the expiration or termination of the contract for a price not to exceed those prices set forth in the contract. The service will become month-to-month, if requested by the customer.

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

SCOPE OF WORK

The Contractor shall design, develop and implement a high-speed, IP-based, layer-2, Ethernet, wide area network to interconnect eligible entities as requested. The network interface to the customer’s Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) must physically be Ethernet with the capability to provide multiple virtual Ethernet interfaces via 802.1Q Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) tagging.

The network connections must be bid according to the bandwidth ranges and to the acceptable aggregation sites as stipulated in Appendices A, B, C, and D. Any circuit conversions will be performed between April 1 and July 1, 2024 and must be as transparent as possible. All of the network connections must be operational by the first Friday in August 2024 and each succeeding year.

For Appendix A, and C, each connection that is bid must be connected from the customer site demarcation to the aggregation site demarcation. The core aggregation handoff MUST have the capacity to support all eligible entities’ connectivity to the core site transmitting at full purchased capacity over a single 10 Gigabit Ethernet interface. Multiple interfaces are allowed only as a redundant path for the primary connectivity. The new connectivity capacity can be aggregated at an existing “core” site interface as long as the overall capacity of the core interface is not exceeded due to the introduction of the additional remote site capacity. The State will not allow a separate cost for this “aggregation connection”, that cost must be included as part of the individual site or sites being bid.

Appendices A and C may include core aggregation point choices that are “grayed out”. The State will only accept bids for the bandwidths cited between the locations and the core aggregation sites that are not “grayed out”. The Bidder can choose to give a price to bring the eligible entity back to any one or more of the eligible core destination locations except locations that are “grayed out” within the Appendix.

For locations where multiple speeds have been requested, the State will add the costs of all bandwidths bid to arrive at a total overall site cost that will be the basis for a lowest cost award.

All bids for a single service location to multiple aggregation points will be compared against each other. Each service location will only have one award and the State will award the lowest cost bid from that service location to one of the identified locations that meets the technical requirements as stated in the RFP. If a bidder bids identical pricing for a particular site to two or more core aggregation locations, and is awarded the site, the Network Nebraska engineers will select one of the core locations for the circuit.

The support of end-to-end customer VLANs (C-VLANs) is REQUIRED. Support can be provided either by using the IEEE 802.1ad provider bridging standard (also referred to as QinQ tunneling), or by directly bridging the customer VLANs from end-to-end, without C-VLAN modification and without provider interaction. For example, as a customer VLAN tagged packet travels from a customer to the service provider, a customer-specific 802.1Q tag is added by the provider to each packet. This additional tag is used to segregate traffic into service–provider–defined service VLANs (S-VLANs). The original customer 802.1Q tag of the packet remains and is transmitted transparently, passing through the service provider's network. The Service Provider VLAN (S-VLAN) tag is added on egress for incoming packets, optionally including untagged packets. As the packet leaves the S-VLAN in the downstream direction, the service provider 802.1Q tag is removed, leaving the original customer tag on the packet.

Eligible entities that participate and order the contracted circuits will purchase their own network equipment. The Contractor will need to work closely with these eligible entities (e.g. school districts, educational service units, libraries;

etc.) to ensure that the appropriate network equipment is coordinated and ready for installation at the time the network conversion takes place.

To the extent possible, a contact person and contact information has been provided for each fiber site location.

Prospective bidders may arrange mutually convenient appointments for site inspections or technical walk-throughs in order to prepare a more informed bid.

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

TECHNOLOGY REFRESH

The State and the Contractor will work in partnership to ensure the services provided under this contract will be continuously refreshed as technologies evolve and user needs grow. The OCIO staff, in conjunction with, or on behalf of, all other participants, will assume the primary role in seeking and proposing network enhancements that comply with FCC and E-Rate rules and policies. This technology refreshment clause will be a required condition of the contract.

The State and the Contractor may conduct an annual review of the contract to review service offerings and pricing.

These reviews may result in upgrading the services provided by the Contractor to include new pricing elements or pricing modifications associated with improved economies of scale and/or technological innovations. Changes in the industry related to regulation and/or pricing mechanisms may also result in modification of rates identified in the services offered by the Contractor. These reviews will commence at the request of the State.

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

The bidder must provide a network design in which:

1. Layer 2 (802.1q/802.1p) VLAN and QoS tags must be allowed through the provided network connection and must remain unchanged by the provider.

2. Ethernet frames containing a 1500-byte payload (for a total minimum supported Ethernet frame size of 1542 bytes), must be allowed and flow as a single complete frame without any fragmentation by the provider’s equipment. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_frame .

3. Layer 2 performance must be adequate to support jitter and latency sensitive applications (i.e., video over

IP).

4. The network interface to the customer’s CPE must be an Ethernet-based handover connection. The connection must support either 802.1q tagged frames or must support 802.1ad provider bridging.; The provider must either tunnel the customer VLAN tags through the provider network or must leave the customer VLAN tags unchanged from end-to-end.

5. Allow participating institutions to manage their own IP address space and routing.

6. Performance metrics on contracted circuits must be provided to Network Nebraska staff within 24 hours of request.

7. Network Nebraska must be notified within 24 hours of performing QoS changes, network monitoring changes or any other network changes that may have a positive or negative effect on performance as outlined in the RFP.

8. The provided connection must be tested to prove performance before it will be considered complete and usable. Testing according to ITU-T Y.1564sam or RFC-2544 for performance, frame-loss and latency is preferred but detailed performance, frame-loss, latency and QOS test disclosure is also acceptable.

Testing must validate the minimum frame size specified is supported.

9. Every connection’s receive AND transmit capacity must meet or exceed the bandwidth amount that is bid.

Testing must validate that capacity meets the amount purchased before the connection will be considered complete and usable. If proof of end-to-end circuit capacity and testing is not provided, circuit acceptance will be delayed until networking personnel can verify that the circuit meets requirements.

10. To the extent possible, existing aggregate interfaces should be prioritized and used before laterally scaling equipment.

11. Network Nebraska engineers can request a circuit reprovision to fix issues without the need to renegotiate/renew the contract.

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR APPENDIX D

The locations listed in Appendix D are requesting direct internet access either separate from or in addition to what may be listed in Appendix C. The following terms supersede the terms provided in II.H. “SCOPE OF WORK” and II.J. “TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS” for Appendix D only.

1. SCOPE OF WORK FOR APPENDIX D ONLY

The Contractor shall design, develop and implement a high-speed, IP-based, layer-3, network to interconnect eligible entities as requested. The network interface to the customer’s Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) must physically be Ethernet with an electrical, RJ45 connection.

The network connections must be bid according to the bandwidth. All of the network connections must be operational by the first Friday in August 2024 and each succeeding year.

For locations where multiple speeds have been requested, the State will add the costs of all bandwidths bid to arrive at a total overall site cost that will be the basis for a lowest cost award.

Eligible entities that participate and order the contracted circuits will purchase their own network equipment.

The Contractor will need to work closely with these eligible entities (e.g. school districts, educational service units, libraries; etc.) to ensure that the appropriate network equipment is coordinated and ready for installation at the time the network conversion takes place.

To the extent possible, a contact person and contact information has been provided for each fiber site location. Prospective bidders may arrange mutually convenient appointments for site inspections or technical walk-throughs in order to prepare a more informed bid.

2. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR APPENDIX D ONLY

a. Ethernet frames containing a 1500-byte payload (for a total minimum supported Ethernet frame size of 1542 bytes), must be allowed and flow as a single complete frame without any fragmentation by the provider’s equipment. Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_frame.

b. Layer 2 performance must be adequate to support jitter and latency sensitive applications (i.e., video over IP).

c. The network interface to the customer’s CPE must be an Ethernet-based handover connection on an electrical, RJ45 interface.

d. Provide the customer with a publicly routed IP address.

e. Performance metrics on contracted circuits must be provided to University of Nebraska engineers within 24 hours of request.

f. University of Nebraska engineers must be notified within 24 hours of performing QoS changes, network monitoring changes or any other network changes that may have a positive or negative effect on performance as outlined in the RFP.

g. The provided connection must be tested to prove performance before it will be considered complete and usable.

h. Every connections receive AND transmit capacity must meet or exceed the bandwidth amount that is bid. Testing must validate that capacity meets the amount purchased before the connection will be considered complete and usable. If proof of end-to-end circuit capacity and testing is not provided, circuit acceptance will be delayed until networking personnel can verify that the circuit meets requirements.

i. University of Nebraska engineers can request a circuit reprovision to fix issues without the need to renegotiate/renew the contract.

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

PROJECT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

The State of Nebraska acknowledges that project management and implementation procedures will require alignment and adjustment of work processes for the Contractor’s organizations, the eligible entities, and the State. The alignment will be part of the contract finalization; however, the Bidder will respond to this RFP assuming the following responsibilities.

1. STATE OF NEBRASKA AND NETWORK NEBRASKA ENTITY MANAGEMENT STAFF

The State of Nebraska and educational entity management staff will:

a. Provide overall project direction and management.

b. Review and approve all project plans and deliverables.

c. Ensure that technical assistance and support are provided during the Contractor’s implementation phases and ongoing upgrade design of this project.

d. Establish project management guidelines by meeting with the Contractor’s project management team as needed.

e. Review and approve all project specific documentation standards and requirements for the various types of reports, technical/procedural documentation, and management materials that will be produced during the project.

f. Coordinate other resources as needed to support the implementation process.

g. Provide on-site assistance, as needed during the implementation phases of the project.

h. Assist the Contractor in identifying eligible participants in the network as well as establishing guidelines with the Contractor for ordering, moving, adding or changing services.

i. Provide adequate and reasonable space for contractor equipment, including at least one single source, unprotected electrical outlet.

2. CONTRACTOR

The Contractor will:

a. Coordinate and administer the requirements of the network service(s) that are proposed.

b. Maintain a data center, or co-location, within Nebraska or a state along the contiguous border

c. Maintain toll free lines for voice and facsimile from the State to operational facilities for order entry and after hours help desk. Installation and maintenance may be subcontracted to one or more third parties to adequately cover the locations of the core transport backbone sites and to provide for rapid response in the event of a service disruption. The Contractor will provide information regarding intent to maintain its facilities after project implementation has been completed.

d. Maintain toll free voice lines for after-hours helpdesk support for the duration of the contract. This point of contact will serve as the single point of contact for all services and equipment provided by the contract, including services and equipment subcontracted to another vendor.

e. Provide upon request, technical information, graphs, charts, maps, photographs, block diagrams, operating manuals, and other information that will clearly show that the services offered are in full compliance with the minimum requirements of this RFP. In the event that the documentation furnished is at variance with the requirements of this RFP, the Contractor will explain in detail, with full engineering support data, the reasons why the proposed services meet the RFP requirements and should not be considered an exception.

f. Provide within thirty (30) days of work order submission (a) detailed network diagram(s) and drawing(s) that clearly illustrate the network configuration and the functional relationships, as they are associated with the proposed services. These network diagrams will be reviewed and approved by the Network Nebraska engineering teams prior to any physical installation. Network diagrams must be made available to, or transmitted to, the State electronically in a format agreed upon by the Contractor and the State (i.e. Visio or downloadable PDF) to allow for import into various computer programs.

g. Performance tests must be provided upon request to the Network Nebraska engineering team.

Performance tests will be resubmitted to engineering team until results have been accepted.

h. Provide upon request, basic technical specifications for each item of equipment included in the proposal. The information to be provided will be in the form of published specification sheets or other illustrative literature.

i. Provide escalation lists and complete contact information.

j. Communicate with the onsite technology contact prior to any required construction to confirm and document the exact demarcation location and minimum point of entry for each site address.

k. Monitor and respond to disruptions in service to installed vendor equipment at the customer location.

If the Contractor is working with other “last mile” telecommunication providers to create an end-to-end solution, the Contractor should provide the State with technical contacts for the “last mile” provider.

If the Bidder intends to sub-contract any part of its performance hereunder, the Bidder must provide:

3. Name, address, and telephone number of the subcontractor(s);

4. Specific tasks for each subcontractor(s);

5. Percentage of performance hours intended for each subcontract; and

6. Total percentage of subcontractor(s) performance hours.

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

SERVICE LEVEL GUARANTEES

This network must support production applications that require a high degree of reliability and must operate with little or no service disruptions for twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week. Contractor(s) must provide solutions with the necessary redundancy, backup systems, and/or other disaster avoidance and recovery capabilities to support these needs. Contractor(s) must have the necessary staff for the installation and maintenance of their network responsibilities and necessary staff to assist the State in its installation and maintenance of critical network services.

Upon request, the contractor will provide an explanation of any redundancy that is available as part of the site/service that will assure the required availability of the services. The following maintenance specifications are required service level guarantees. The Contractor will conform to these service level agreements, which are to include details concerning restoration procedures and goals, escalation procedures, and non-conformance penalties.

The State of Nebraska reserves the right to reject proposals that attempt to substitute the contractor’s commercial contracts and/or documents for this RFP or its technical requirements.

Installation Deadline: Failure to meet the deadline dates for the deliverables as agreed upon by the parties may result in an assessment of liquidated damages equal to the difference between newly contracted monthly costs and the cost of the circuit or service being replaced, if incurred, until the deliverables are approved.

Up Time Requirement: The contract expectation is for a service that, at a minimum, will meet or exceed required specifications 99.99% of the month, not to exceed a maximum of 4.32 minutes of unscheduled downtime/service non-compliance per calendar month. Any service not meeting contract specifications which includes violation of QoS parameters will incur a contract performance penalty per the following formula:

For every hour and fraction of an hour of service violation exceeding the identified 99.99% uptime requirement, the customer will be refunded one day of service credit. Repeated violations of service performance agreements during any single calendar day will be considered a continuous event from the beginning of the original violation until the last violation. Violations on consecutive days will be considered continuous from the initial violation until the service has been restored. The service will be considered restored when no violation has occurred for 24 continuous hours (the 24-hour validation period is not considered part of the damages). Damages duration will round up to the next whole hour. Damages per calendar month shall not exceed the total cost of the one-month MRC.

Example: Intermittent connectivity from 9:15am-2:20pm on the same day; Duration of the actual service violation would be 5 hours and 5 minutes, or 5 hours 1 minute over the maximum allowable downtime of 4.32 minutes. Violation assessment is rounded up to the next whole hour, so the duration would be considered as 6 total hours of downtime if no previous downtime had been experienced for the service in the current month, or up to X hours depending on the amount of cumulative violations experienced in the month that exceeds the 99.99% uptime requirement. This would translate to 6 days of per diem charges credited to the account. For continual or accumulated outages totaling 30 hours, 30 days of charges (one-month MRC) would be credited to the account.

Latency Requirement: The contract requirement is for an Ethernet service to have a maximum round-trip latency of 15 milliseconds.

_______ Bidder has read and agrees to comply.

MAINTENANCE SPECIFICATIONS

When planned network maintenance activities are conducted by the Contractor which entails the risk of interrupting or diminishing service to Network Nebraska or its participants, the Network Nebraska Operations Center, noc@nebraska.edu or 1-888-638-6327 must be notified at least three (3) business days in advance of the maintenance planned. Additionally, the contractor must agree to work with the Network Nebraska Participants to find an alternate date and time of maintenance, if the proposed time would be particularly detrimental to Network Nebraska Participant needs. Mutually agreed upon maintenance activities are not considered a service violation and will not incur a service penalty.

The contractor should have in inventory the necessary spare equipment capable of restoring service in the event of contractor equipment failure.