DPS WAN Services RFP-2324-519 - 01-08-24 - from Marcus.docx

RFP2000003581

Exhibit 2 - DCPS VOIP diagram

NOTE: Danville City Public Schools conducts all procurement activities in accordance with Virginia Procurement act and proposals in response to DCPS solicitations must be submitted in accordance with the instructions below on or before the date and time stipulated in the solicitation.

RFP-2324-519

Title: Dedicated Internet Access & WAN Services

IMPORTANT NOTICE

It is the intent of the Danville Public Schools (DPS) to award a contract for DEDICATED INTERNET ACCESS and WAN SERVICES as a result of issuing this Request for Proposal. Sealed proposals, subject to conditions contained herein and attached hereto, will be received in a sealed envelope at the Office of the Superintendent of Schools, 341 Main Street, Suite 100, Danville, VA 24541, until, but not later than 10:00 a.m. local prevailing time, February 28, 2024, and then opened and publicly read.

Proposals should be submitted in a sealed envelope and mailed to:

RFP– 2324-519

Chief Operations Officer Danville Public Schools 341 Main Street, Suite 100 Danville, VA 24541

Danville Public Schools (DPS) will only accept proposals in a sealed envelope. Please include two (2) hard copies of the proposal and one (1) electronic copy on a USB flash drive. All submittals shall be clearly marked with Proposer’s name and labeled “Danville Public Schools RFP-2324-519 Dedicated Internet Access and WAN Services for Danville Public Schools.”

Facsimile and/or emailed proposals will not be accepted. Any proposal received after the announced time and date of opening, whether by mail or otherwise, will not be considered and returned to the proposer unopened. The right is reserved to reject any and all proposals, and to waive any informality in RFP’s.

ISSUE DATE:

January 12, 2024

Answered by January 30, 2024

DEPARTMENT:

Information Technology

DUE DATE/TIME:

February 28, 2024, 10:00AM ET

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATOR:

Marcus Chaney / 434.799.6434 ext 267 mchaney@mail.dps.k12.va.us

Proposals - In accordance with the following and in compliance with all terms and conditions, unless otherwise noted, the undersigned offers and agrees, if the proposal is accepted, to furnish items or services for which prices are quoted, delivered or furnished to designated points within the time specified. It is understood and agreed that with respect to all terms and conditions accepted by DPS the items or services offered and accompanying attachments shall constitute a contract.

Note: Danville does not discriminate against faith-based organizations in accordance with the Code of Virginia, § 2.2-4343.1 or against a bidder or Bidder because of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other basis prohibited by state law relating to discrimination in employment in the performance of its procurement activity.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF FIRM:

Telephone/Fax No.:

E-Mail Address:

Federal Employer Identification No.:

OR

Federal Social Security No.:

(Sole Proprietor)

Prompt Payment Discount:

% for payment within _ _ days/net _ _ days

State Corporation Commission (SCC) Identification No.:

By signing this proposal, Bidder certifies, acknowledges, understands, and agrees to be bound by the conditions set forth in the General Conditions and Instructions to Bidders as described in Appendix A, the Certification Regarding Ethics in Public Contracting set forth in Appendix B, and by any other relevant certification set forth in Appendix B.

· WOMEN OWNED LARGE (A) ◻ NON PROFIT (9)

CHECK ONE: ◻ INDIVIDUAL ◻ PARTNERSHIP ◻ CORPORATION

Vendor Legally Authorized Signature

Date

Print Name and Title

Sealed proposals subject to terms and conditions of this Request for Proposal.

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PURCHASING ORGANIZATION

(DPMM32) rev DPS 10/2

SPECIAL PROVISIONS

1. SCOPE OF SERVICES

1.1. The purpose of this Request for Proposal is to solicit sealed proposals to establish a contract or contracts through competitive negotiation for the provision of Telecommunications and Internet Services by Danville Public Schools (DPS).

1.2. DPS seeks a Bidder(s) to provide Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) and, at various locations, data transport services.

a. Transport Services may include the following:

i. SD-WAN

ii. Leased lit fiber services

iii. Other Services

b. Managed Services

i. Dedicated Internet Access (E-Rate Eligible)

ii. DDos Mitigation (Not E-Rate Eligible)

1.3. Bidders shall ensure that a representative who can bind the firm is available for both the finalist interviews and negotiations.

2. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

2.1. The following are the minimum qualifications a Bidder must meet or exceed, at the time of submission, in order for DPS to accept a proposal as responsive. Each Bidder must address how it meets each of the below minimum qualifications when submitting its Technical Proposal. If a Bidder fails to respond to each qualification, or if DPS determines from the response that a Bidder does not meet any one of the minimum qualifications, its proposal will be deemed non-responsive.

2.2. The Bidder must have at least seven (7) years successful, continuous experience providing equivalent services described herein to K-12 school districts greater than 5,700 students.

2.3. Bidders must provide a minimum of three public sector references. At least one of these references must be from a local government agency and one from a school district.

2.4. The Bidder must have the legal authority to provide the services described herein within the Commonwealth of Virginia and must conform to all applicable state and federal regulations.

2.5. The Bidder must meet all requirements listed in Section 4 – E-Rate.

2.6. Rapid response time is essential. Pursuant to providing services as described in Section 8 below and specifically paragraphs 7.4, the Bidder must be positioned to respond to SLAs stated in Section 8 of this document and Appendix D.

2.7. Pursuant to providing services as described in this document, the Bidder must be a Tier 1 or Tier 2 Internet Service Provider.

2.8. The Bidder must demonstrate sufficient “due diligence” in maintaining their own information security posture. Please see DPS Security Architecture Checklist, Appendix H for more detail.

3. CONTRACT PERIOD AND RENEWAL

3.1. This contract will begin on July 1, 2024. DPS is seeking 36 and 60-month pricing.

3.2. Automatic contract renewals are prohibited. This contract may be renewed at the expiration of its term by agreement of both parties. Contract renewals must be authorized by and coordinated through the Office of Procurement Services. Regardless of the original term selected, DPS reserves the right to renew the contract for five (5) additional one-year periods.

3.3. Notice of intent to renew will be given to the Bidder in writing by the Office of Procurement Services, normally 60 days before the expiration date of the current contract. (This notice shall not be deemed to commit DPS to a contract renewal.)

3.4. The obligation of DPS to pay compensation due the Bidder under the contract or any other payment obligations under any contract awarded pursuant to this Request for Proposal is subject to appropriations by the Danville School Board to satisfy payment of such obligations. DPS’s obligations to make payments during subsequent fiscal years are dependent upon the same action. If such an appropriation is not made for any fiscal year, the contract shall terminate effective at the end of the fiscal year for which funds were appropriated and DPS will not be obligated to make any payments under the contract beyond the amount appropriated for payment obligations under the contract. DPS will provide the Bidder with written notice of non-appropriation of funds within thirty (30) calendar days after action is completed by the Board of Supervisors. However, DPS’s failure to provide such notice shall not extend the contract into a fiscal year in which sufficient funds have not been appropriated.

3.5. The procurement of goods and/or services provided for in this Bid is being conducted pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-4304. Therefore, the Bidder or Bidder is advised, and by submitting a response to this procurement, such Bidder or Bidder agrees that any resulting contract from this procurement may be extended to other public bodies in the State of Virginia. The successful Bidder shall deal directly with each public agency or body seeking to obtain any goods and/or services pursuant to any contract that may result from this procurement and in accordance with Virginia Code Section 2.2-4304. The Danville School Board shall not be responsible or liable for any costs, expenses, or any other matters of any type to either the successful Bidder or Bidder or the public agency or body seeking to obtain any goods and/or services pursuant to this cooperative procurement provision.

4. E-RATE: Bidders responding to this RFP are advised that DPS participates in the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund (E-Rate) program administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This program provides DPS the opportunity to receive discounts for certain eligible products and services provided by eligible Bidders. In conjunction with this RFP, DPS has posted FCC Form 470# 240011813 to solicit proposals for eligible services.

4.1. Bidder shall have, at a minimum, a working knowledge of the E-rate Program.

4.2. Bidder shall be a service provider as defined by the E-Rate Program.

4.3. Bidder shall agree to participate in the E-Rate Program and to cooperate fully with the E-Rate Program to ensure that DPS receives all E-Rate discounts for which it is eligible.

4.4. Bidder shall submit with its proposal a valid Service Provider Identification Number (SPIN).

4.5. If the incumbent provider does not respond to this Form 470, then the Applicant reserves the right to use the incumbent vendor’s current pricing in its evaluation.

4.6. DPS reserves the right to consider in its evaluation any eligible services that are available by way of State Contract and/or State-approved cooperatives.

4.7. Bidder shall provide to the staff and/or DPS’s E-Rate Consultant, in a timely manner and within the posted E-Rate deadlines, all of the information and documentation that the Bidder has or that Bidder reasonably can acquire that DPS may need to prepare E-Rate applications and/or to document transactions eligible for E-Rate support (https://www.usac.org/).

4.8. At DPS’s discretion and consistent with E-Rate Program regulations, Bidder shall allow DPS to use either the Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement (BEAR) Invoicing Method or the SPI (Service Provider Invoicing) Method.

4.9. Bidder shall list, price, and invoice separately for any services that are ineligible for E-Rate funding. Do NOT bundle the costs of any ineligible services into the monthly recurring costs of eligible services unless otherwise necessary under Program rules. When a bundled C1 solution comprised of eligible and ineligible services is proposed, you must specifically identify the separate costs of all bundled services. Failure to abide by this request may jeopardize the applicant’s E-rate funding and will impact the bid evaluation.

4.10. Bidder must not be currently on red light status by Universal Service Administration Company (USAC) and immediately notify DPS if placed on red light status.

4.11. By submitting a bid in response to this RFP, you are certifying that your Company is in compliance with FCC Order FCC 19-121, which bars the use of USF subsidies to fund equipment, components, and services from “covered” companies deemed to be a national security risk.

4.12. Bidder must not be currently suspended or debarred from E-Rate Program participation. If suspended or debarred while servicing DPS, Bidder must immediately notify DPS.

4.13. In the event that an addenda is issued under Section 17 of this RFP that somehow alters the material terms of this RFP and the associated FCC Form 470, then the 28-day competitive bid period will be restarted and a new submission due date will be posted in the addenda.

4.14. A Bidder need not quote both DIA and WAN services for its proposal to be considered. If a Bidder proposes only DIA or WAN services, then the proposed solution will be considered in its evaluation for the corresponding service request.

5. BACKGROUND

Danville Public Schools (DPS)

5.1. Danville, Virginia is located in the Southside Virginia region and has an area of approximately 43.9 square miles and a population in excess of 42,590 people. The school system consists of approximately 16 schools and 3 work sites serving almost 5,700 students in grades Kindergarten through 12th grade and approximately 2,000 full-time staff/employees across Danville, Virginia. For information about DPS, visit the website at: http://www.danvillepublicschools.org.

5.2. DPS current technical environment includes client server systems serving both instructional and administrative applications. Most applications will be accessed through school-wide LANs and a large distributed wireless network which connect sites through the Institutional Network (INET). To support this enterprise DPS has established a robust network infrastructure to support with a distribution ring of 10 Gigabytes (GB). Each school currently has a 1GB dedicated WAN connection, with George Washington High School having a 2GB dedicated Internet access circuit.

5.3. DPS has a number of helpful resources that are available online to assist Bidders in learning more about the DPS.

5.4. The continuous availability of sustained telecommunication and Internet connectivity is mission critical to the business of educating the students of DPS, as DPS continues to be a national leader in the innovative and effective use of technology throughout instructional and support programs.

a. The success of online-based instructional textbooks and materials, state-mandated online Standards of Learning (SOL) testing, collaborative learning environments, and Learning Management Systems are contingent upon DPS’ reliable connectivity to the Internet.

b. Administrative usage of web-based applications has also now become a requirement rather than an option. Professional development resources, interactive conferencing, online procurement, and streaming video delivery are just a few of the network-centric administrative models requiring this connectivity.

6. LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS

6.1. An attempt has been made to standardize the language used in this RFP. The words “must”, “shall”, “mandatory” and the phrase “it is required” are used in connection with a mandatory specification that DPS expects will be present in the proposed Solution. The words “should” and “may” are used in connection with a specification that is desirable.

6.2. DPS shall mean Danville Public Schools.

7. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

7.1. Account Management: Each Bidder must identify and describe its account management organizational structure and associated individual responsibilities in detail with regard to providing account management services to DPS, and must meet the following minimum requirements:

a. The Bidder must assign an Account Team to interface with DPS for all awarded services, to be assigned for the duration of the contract. The Account Team must be available to DPS to provide services which include, but are not limited to, support for service orders, technical assistance, invoicing, problem management, and overall contract performance.

b. All members of the Account Team and all subsequent support personnel (including, but not limited to, the personnel detailed below) must be provided at no cost to DPS.

c. The Bidder must assign an Account Manager to be the Account Team lead representative and serve as the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for DPS to the Bidder and subsequently, the associated Account Team.

d. The Bidder’s Account Manager must schedule and hold meetings no less than once per month (unless otherwise directed by DPS) to review the Bidder’s performance, problem resolution, reports, and opportunities for improvement. The Account Manager will provide the agenda at least one (1) business day prior to the meeting and will have any supporting staff and/or resources at the meeting as is appropriate.

e. The Bidder must also identify one primary point of contact for the sole purposes of service order processing and invoicing. All communications with regard to service orders and invoicing between DPS and the Bidder must flow through this Account Team member.

f. The Bidder must also identify primary point(s) of contact for the sole purpose of technical support for each service(s) awarded to the Bidder. One technical point of contact may be assigned for multiple services, provided that contact is qualified.

g. The Bidder must ensure that Account Team contact information is continually reviewed and updated as changes within the Bidder’s organization occur.

h. The Bidder must ensure that appropriate security measures are taken to protect DPS data integrity and privacy.

7.2. Online Portal: The Bidder must identify and describe its service offering to provide an Internet-based portal to meet the requirements outlined below, specifically with regard to how each of the functions will be provided. The Bidder must provide a secure “online portal” with self-service functionality. The online portal must, at a minimum, provide the following functions:

a. Service record access

b. Submission and tracking of service orders

c. Submission and tracking of repair requests

d. Invoicing access

e. Online payments

f. Reporting

g. It is desirable that the online portal be customizable, in that certain tasks and account information can be limited on a per user basis (assignment of roles).

h. The Bidder must provide at least four (4) individual accounts to the online portal, each with unique login information to be assigned to authorized personnel. It is desirable that the Bidder’s portal allow for more than 4 individual accounts.

i. The Bidder’s online portal must allow for role-based account privileges, including Administrator functionality with permissions to create, delete, and reset other individual accounts.

7.3. Service Requests: The Bidder must identify and describe in detail its service management processes and strategies to be implemented in providing services to DPS, to include Incident Management (and Service Desk), Problem Management, and Service Level Management functionality. The Bidder’s methodologies must incorporate the following requirements.

7.3.1 Details about Service Requests

a. General Requirements for Service Requests

i. Department of Information Technology (DIT) personnel will be the technical point of contact for all service requests and will be responsible for the submission of all service requests.

ii. The Bidder must not accept requests for service from any unauthorized employee or third party, except whereby explicitly permitted by DPS and provided to the Bidder in writing.

iii. For any service order or repair requests requiring access to DPS site, the Bidder will be responsible for the removal of any and all waste, scrap, debris, and packaging materials required to complete the service request. Upon completion, the Bidder must leave the premises in the same or better condition prior to the service request, to be determined by DPS.

iv. For any service order or repair requests requiring access to a DPS site, the Bidder must abide by the code of conduct and expectations as detailed in Appendix G – Vendor Code of Conduct and Expectations.

b. Service Orders

i. The Bidder must accept service orders from DPS through the following methods, at DPS’s discretion:

· Bidder’s online portal

· Email to Bidder-provided address used specifically for this purpose

· Fax to Bidder-provided fax number

ii. The Bidder must acknowledge receipt of any service order within two (2) business days of submission via email.

iii. The Bidder must provide written service order information via email within three (3) business days of submission, to include, but not be limited to, service order number; billing account number; service change/installation due date; directory number(s) (if applicable); circuit ID(s) (if applicable), service address; contact name and number(s), and internal ticket number.

iv. The Bidder must identify the service delivery times after receipt of order for each of the services requested in Appendix I – Price Summary Sheet.

v. When the facilities necessary to provide service are found to be unavailable at a site, the Bidder must notify the within three (3) business days of receipt of the order. The Bidder must use all commercially reasonably efforts to install the service within forty-five (45) calendar days.

vi. The Bidder must implement disconnect order requests within five (5) business days of transmission of the request. Any usage of the service not disconnected as requested by the will not be invoiced by the Bidder.

vii. The Bidder’s online portal must allow for the tracking of all service requests and provide real-time status information.

viii. The Bidder must provide notification of completion of service requests via email to the person or office submitting the order within one (1) business day of completion.

c. Repair Requests

i. The Bidder must accept repair requests from DPS through the following methods, at the DPS ’s discretion:

· Bidder’s online portal

· Bidder’s toll-free number

ii. The Bidder must create an internal record (Trouble Ticket) for each service trouble or outage which contains, at a minimum, internal ticket number, the time of commencement, time of response, and time of repair.

iii. The Bidder’s trouble ticket must be able to allow for the designation of both technical and local points of contact, and hours of access.

iv. The Bidder’s online portal must allow for the tracking of all repair requests and provide real-time status information.

v. The Bidder must provide notification of completion of repair requests via email within one (1) business day of completion.

vi. The Bidder must furnish (at no cost to the ) all necessary personnel, transportation, equipment, tools, supplies, and materials as may be required to perform the associated tasks with repair requests.

7.4. Service Level Agreement: The Bidder must identify and describe in detail its proposed service level agreement structure and processes to be followed, which must meet the following minimum specifications. The Bidder should include the organization’s approach to ensuring service availability, limiting maintenance interruptions, and incident handling.

7.4.1. Description of Service Level Agreement

a. Definitions

i. The Bidder’s “Response Time” begins at the time that DPS notifies the Bidder of a service trouble or outage via repair request, or the Bidder’s monitoring/fault detection systems detect the service trouble or outage on its own. Response time concludes when the Bidder commences performance of remedial service, either onsite or remotely (if a trouble is capable of being remedied remotely). The acknowledgement of receipt of notification or generation of a trouble ticket on the Bidder’s part does not constitute a response.

ii. The Bidder’s “Repair Time” begins at the time that DPS notifies the Bidder of a service trouble or outage via repair request, or the Bidder’s monitoring/fault detection systems detect the service trouble or outage on its own. Repair time concludes when the Bidder permanently restores the service to the same or better state, than before the service trouble or outage occurrence.

iii. It is desirable, when possible, for the Bidder to implement a workaround to temporarily restore service to DPS so as to lessen the impact on normal operations. Implementation of such a workaround does not extend or alter the permanent repair time in any manner.

iv. “Normal Business Hours” are defined as 6:00 AM through 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday, excluding DPS/ holidays. Key resource centers and public safety facilities are 24x7x365.

b. Service Availability

i. The Bidder must make its service(s) available for use twenty-four (24) hours per day, seven (7) days per week, and three-hundred sixty-five (365) days per year (24x7x365).

ii. The Bidder must have established administrative, ethical, and technological security measures and processes implemented within its organization for the purpose of protecting and maintaining continuity of its service delivery to DPS.

c. Maintenance

i. Planned maintenance activities requiring service outages will not be permitted during normal business hours (or later in some cases).

ii. Any anticipated interruption in service as a result of planned maintenance activities will be submitted in writing to DPS at least one (1) week in advance of the scheduled event and subject to the approval. Such notification must identify the affected service(s) and/or locations, anticipated outage time, and recovery or rollback options.

iii. The Bidder must notify the appropriate DIT personnel member immediately of any emergency maintenance activities requiring a service outage, identifying the affected service(s) and/or locations, anticipated outage time, and recovery or rollback options.

d. Incident Handling

i. In the event that a service trouble or outage occurs, the Bidder must take corrective action in the resolution of the problem in accordance with the Service Level Agreement (SLA) detailed in Appendix D – Service Level Agreement, meeting or exceeding the response and repair times.

ii. The Bidder must provide priority restoration services to the listing of DPS mission critical sites as identified in Appendix F – Critical Sites Listing. DPS reserves the right to amend this listing at any time within the duration of the resulting contract. All issues at these sites will be classified as Priority 1.

iii. For all Priority 1 incidents as defined in Appendix D – Service Level Agreement, the Bidder must commit substantial resources to work around the clock to resolve the issue.

iv. The Bidder’s service processes must include systematic troubleshooting methodologies and include a root cause analysis determination for individual incidents.

v. In the event that a service trouble or outage is determined to be on the customer side of the demarcation point, the Bidder will not charge DPS for such failure determination.

vi. The Bidder must provide dedicated resources to perform problem management investigations of chronic service troubles and outages to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

· The Bidder’s analysis must include a corrective action plan clearly identifying the cause of the substandard service and the measures that will be taken to implement the corrective action(s).

· The Bidder’s corrective action plan must take into account any provided considerations.

· The Bidder’s corrective action plan will be provided at no additional cost to DPS.

vii. In the event that an extended service trouble or outage occurs, the Bidder must work diligently and continually communicate with DPS and meet the following requirements:

· The Bidder must conduct service level conference calls at a minimum of every other day, until the issue is repaired, or that DPS deems the situation acceptable.

· The Bidder must provide a teleconference bridge to facilitate conference calls.

· The Bidder must provide the schedule and agenda no later than three (3) hours prior to a conference call.

· The Bidder must provide DPS with incident and network health reports and status updates.

viii. The Bidder must provide DPS with detailed escalation and contingency plans in the event of a service trouble or outage, which must include a listing of the appropriate contacts.

· The escalation contacts must have the adequate control and administrative responsibility to provide DPS status updates and resolution in a timely manner. The Bidder’s escalation plan must include senior management personnel.

· The listing of contacts must be kept up to date at all times by the Bidder and provided to DPS at least on a quarterly basis.

ix. All Priority 1 incidents require an immediate hand-off to a supervisor or Team Lead to oversee the repair process.

x. In the event that an SLA is breached by the fault of the Bidder, the Bidder must include liquidated damages as a portion of its remedy to DPS

7.5. Reporting: The Bidder must describe its proposed reporting structure in detail, specifically delineating the out of the box reports and customizable reports available to DPS. At a minimum, the Bidder’s reporting tool set must meet the following specifications:

a. The Bidder’s reporting tools must be accessible by DPS 24x7x365 through the online portal.

b. The Bidder’s reporting tools must be capable of producing all of the reports as detailed in Appendix E – Reports Listing. It is desirable that the Bidder’s reporting tools produce many more varying reports than those listed.

c. The Bidder’s reporting tools must allow for the production of standard and ad-hoc monthly invoicing reports such as detailed location names, location account numbers, and current monthly charges by service.

d. It is desirable that the Bidder’s reporting tools allow for scheduled reports to be automatically generated and sent to DPS via email.

e. The Bidder’s reporting tools must provide the ability to generate reports with either detailed or summarized data.

7.6. Invoicing: The Bidder must identify and describe its established invoicing and billing processes in detail ensuring that the structure meets the following minimum specifications.

a. Invoices must be issued on a monthly basis in an electronic format via the Bidder’s online portal or delivered as a paper bill, when requested, at no cost to DPS.

b. All invoicing data must have the ability to be exported, sorted, and downloaded by DPS for further manipulation and analysis. Microsoft Excel (.xls) or Comma Separated Value (.csv) must be one of the supported export file types.

c. The Bidder’s invoicing system must associate and display a DPS-provided site name descriptive label with each account number for internal reference.

d. The Bidder’s invoicing system must allow for customization and provide DPS with various options with regard to format, to include summary invoicing. The Bidder must work with DPS to organize invoices to summarize services in such a manner as required by Federal E-Rate specifications.

e. The Bidder must accept a PO.

f. The Bidder must audit/review the first month’s invoicing for any and all new services to ensure that the items below are correct. In the event that the information is not correct, DPS reserves the right to withhold payment until such corrections have been made.

i. The correct service(s) has been ordered

ii. The monthly recurring charge (MRC), if any, is appropriate

iii. The DPS descriptive label or site code is correct and included on the invoice

iv. The billing address and attention information is correct

v. That any prior credits issued have been applied

g. DPS will not be liable for any service charges not invoiced within twelve (12) months from the date on which the service was provided.

h. The Bidder must work with DPS in good faith to resolve disputed invoices within sixty (60) days of notification by DPS and the Bidder will not impose late charges or disconnect service on such disputed invoices.

i. All invoices prepared by the Bidder must reflect the tax-exempt status of DPS.

j. The Bidder must identify a primary point of contact for the purpose of invoicing and to address any related issues.

k. DPS invoices should be sent to accountspayable@mail.dps.k12.va.us

7.7. Transition requirements: In the event that a change in current provider of any service occurs as a result of award of this contract, the awarded Bidder will be required to efficiently complete an orderly transition. The following transitional requirements will apply to all services outlined in Section 8 – TASKS TO BE PERFORMED. The Bidder must describe its service(s) to ensure that all of the requirements as outlined below will be satisfied. The Bidder should include any processes, scheduling activities, staffing strategies, or other methodologies to demonstrate its ability to meet these requirements.

General Requirements for Transition

a. No less than ninety (90) days will be made available to the Bidder to complete the transition of services.

b. If the Bidder fails to complete the transition of awarded services by the contract start date, as a result of the Bidder’s responsibilities, the Bidder will be required to reimburse DPS for any cost differential between the current service and the Bidder’s proposed service.

c. The Bidder must develop, establish, and document a transition plan for the migration of DPS from the existing service provider to the awarded Bidder’s service(s).

d. The Bidder must develop a project plan and work breakdown structure with all activities (timeline, milestones, critical paths, etc.) and dependencies (to include any and all personnel involvement) required for the transition to the awarded Bidder’s service(s).

e. The Bidder must assign a Project Manager (PM) for the sole purpose of oversight of the transition process to serve as the primary point of contact for DPS for all communications and issues. The PM must have a minimum of seven (7) years of experience with projects of similar size and scope to this project and must be assigned for the duration of the transition period. The PM will prepare and conduct weekly progress meetings with DPS.

f. All documentation and deliverables related to the transition, and ongoing operating service(s), must be created in electronic form using the appropriate tool from the Microsoft Office suite of products (2016 version or later). When requested, documents must be provided to DPS in Adobe PDF form.

g. All documentation produced for the transition or operation of DPS service(s) will be considered to be the property of DPS and may be modified, distributed, or used in whole or in part as DPS deems appropriate for the successful operation of business activities.

h. The Bidder must provide all necessary tools, supplies, and materials required for the transition of service(s).

i. The Bidder must develop a mutually agreeable plan for invoicing dispute resolution to be in place prior to commencement of the contract.

j. No interruption in service will be permitted during normal business hours (6:00 AM

– 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday, or later in some cases) related to a change from the existing service provider, with any service interruption required to be documented in the transition plan and approved in advance (at least one week) by DPS.

k. The Bidder will incur the cost(s) of any installation, conversion, or transition fees or charges related to the migration of service that are not expressly identified as part of the Bidder’s proposed service(s).

l. The Bidder must port all existing assigned telephone numbers from the current Local Exchange Carrier (LEC), as a result in a change from the existing service provider, as no alteration of current telephone number assignments will be allowed.

8. REQUESTED SERVICES

8.1. Data Transport Services (E-Rate Eligible)

a. Metropolitan Ethernet

i. The Bidder must be capable of providing services to any location as requested. DPS locations currently utilizing Metropolitan Ethernet services are detailed in Appendix F – Existing Services.

ii. The Bidder must provide service to the existing demarcation point of each requested facility. When requested, the Bidder must be capable of extending service from the demarcation point to any location within the facilities.

iii. The Bidder’s service must have the capability to provide service in the form of various bandwidth allocations, including but not limited to, 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, and 100 Gbps.

iv. The Bidder must perform testing immediately after installation and on a demand basis when requested by DPS.

b. Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN): DPS will also accept proposals for an SD-WAN solution. If proposing an SD-WAN solution, a Bidder must identify and describe in detail its proposal to provide SD-WAN services to DPS. At a minimum, your description must explain in detail the technical design and functionality of your solution, as well as any and all related services and/or hardware required to implement your SD-WAN solution, along with the associated costs. Once this RFP and the associated Form 470 have been posted, there will be no product demonstrations or other calls/meetings between Bidders and DPS.

c. Other solutions that meet DPS’ Technical Requirements: As required by E-rate rules, DPS will consider all solutions that meet the District’s technical requirements for providing widespread, high-speed broadband connectivity throughout the District.

8.2. Dedicated Internet Access (E-Rate Eligible)

a. The Bidder must identify and describe in detail its proposal to provide Dedicated Internet Access service to DPS.

b. General Requirements for Dedicated Internet Access

i. The Bidder must provide Dedicated Internet Access services to DPS’s data hub site, as well as any possible DPS locations identified in the future that may be required during the term of the resulting contract.

ii. The Bidder must verify and demonstrate that its service fully interoperates with DPS’s networking equipment. Currently, DPS utilizes the Extreme Network Products and Watchguard products. However, the Bidder must be capable of interoperating with any industry standard high-end networking equipment.

iii. The Bidder must provide guaranteed Internet connectivity at an end-to-end equal rate of bandwidth. Such bandwidth must be the effective data rate, not merely the line speed.

iv. The Bidder must provide, install, and configure all hardware and software required to interface with DPS’s networking equipment as part of its service.

v. The Bidder must provide all documentation and software necessary to manage such equipment to DPS.

i. The Bidder understands that in order to maintain full fault-tolerance connectivity to the Internet utilizing its data centers, the Bidder must be a Tier 1 or Tier 2 Internet Service Provider. (Reference Section 2)

c. Technical Requirements for Dedicated Internet Access

ii. The Bidder must be capable of providing service in the form of various bandwidth allocations, including but not limited to 10 Gbps, and multi-Ten Gigabits.

iii. The Bidder’s service must provide native Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and version 6 (IPv6) connectivity.

iv. The Bidder’s networking equipment must peer with DPS’ networking equipment via Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

v. The Bidder must pass the full Internet routing table to the DPS BGP neighbor.

vi. The Bidder must announce DPS’ IPv4 and IPv6 address space and full routing table.

vii. The Bidder must provide DPS with open, unfiltered Internet access and will not administer any quality-of-service policies or otherwise interfere with data passed to and from DPS in any form.

viii. The Bidder must be able to install and configure any hardware and/or software required to implement their DIA and/or WAN solution(s). Such associated costs should be incorporated into either your proposed recurring or non-recurring cost(s).

d. Monitoring Requirements for Dedicated Internet Access: The Bidder must describe in detail its monitoring capabilities, specifically identifying measurement techniques and fault management.

i. The Bidder must provide 24x7x365 real-time monitoring of the network and dedicated connection by staff at Bidder’s Network Operations Center(s).

ii. The Bidder must provide real-time alerts to the DIT personnel when service troubles or outages occur, no more than fifteen (15) minutes after detection.

iii. The Bidder must provide DPS with an established and tested NOC disaster recovery plan and processes.

iv. The Bidder must provide pre-generated reports on a Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual (based on DPS school year) basis for those listed in Appendix E – Reports Listing, Dedicated Internet Access paragraph.

e. Student/Community programs: Please provide description of free or discounted optional telecommunications offering programs. For example, student/teacher internet services.

9. TECHNICAL PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

9.1. The Bidder must submit the Technical Proposal in a separate sealed packet containing the following information. This information will be considered the minimum content of the proposal. Proposal contents shall be arranged in the same order and identified with headings as presented herein.

9.2. THE TECHNICAL PROPOSAL SHALL CONTAIN NO PRICING INFORMATION.

9.3. Proposals should not contain extraneous promotional materials.

9.4. Bidders should utilize lay person terms and common terminology wherever possible. Proposals shall cover the general topics outlined in this section and emphasize the Bidder's approach to the work.

9.5. Bidders shall refer to Sections 15 and 16 for details about the submission of proposals.

9.6. The required proposal must contain all completed forms and the following sections and tabs in the order shown here:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A table of contents providing a listing for each section of the proposal is required, including the appendices and any additional material submitted.

TAB 1: COVER LETTER

Name of firm submitting proposal; main office address; when organized; if a corporation, when and where incorporated; brief history of organization; appropriate Federal, State, and registration numbers.

TAB 2: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The executive summary should provide a concise statement and discussion of the requirements as they are understood by the Bidder, a summarization of the services being proposed to meet DPS’ needs, and an explanation of why DPS should decide to implement its proposed solution.

TAB 3: BIDDER PROFILE AND PRODUCT HISTORY

The Bidder must provide a profile of its organization and, if applicable, all other companies who will be providing services through a subcontracting arrangement with the Bidder. At a minimum, the Bidder will provide the following information on a single page:

· Number of years in business

· Number of years involved in the services described above

· Total number of employees

· Number of employees dedicated to the services described above

· Total number of clients to which you are providing similar services

· Total number of clients of similar size as DPS

· Number of signed contracts in progress

TAB 4: BIDDER QUALIFICATIONS

The statement of Qualifications must include a description of organizational and staff experience and resumes of proposed staff.

a. Details of Experience: As described in paragraph 2.1 of this document, the Bidder must have at least seven (7) years successful, continuous experience providing equivalent services described herein to K-12 school districts greater than 5,000 students. Provide the name of the relevant school district(s) and/or governments and the size of each population served by the Bidder. Bidder must also respond to the questions provided in Appendix C.

b. Organizational and Staff Experience: Bidders must describe their qualifications and experience to perform the work described in this Request for Proposal. Information about experience should include direct experience with the specific subject matter.

c. Personnel: Full-time and part-time staff, proposed consultants and subcontractors who may be assigned direct work on this project should be identified. Information is required which will show the composition of the task or work group, its specific qualifications, and recent relevant experience. Special mention must be made of direct technical supervisors and key technical personnel, and approximate percentage of the total time each will be available for this project. The technical areas, character and extent of participation by any subcontractor or consultant activity must be indicated and the anticipated sources will be identified.

The personnel named in the technical proposal will remain assigned to the project throughout the period of this contract. No diversion or replacement may be made without submission of a resume of the proposed replacement with final approval being granted by DPS.

d. Staffing plan: A staffing plan is required which describes the Bidder’s proposed staff distribution to accomplish this work. The staffing plan should indicate a chart that partitions the time commitment of each professional staff member across the proposed tasks and a timeline for the project. It is mandatory that this section identify the key personnel who are to work on the project, their relationship to the contracting organization, and amount of time to be devoted to the project. This includes Consultants as well as regular employees of the Bidder, if relevant.

e. Financial Information

1. Total Annual Revenue – State total annual revenue and indicate the revenues associated with the provision of Solution relevant to the proposal.

2. Dun and Bradstreet Credit Report – Include your firm's current full D&B Business Report, if D&B issues reports on Supplier.

3. Annual Reports – Provide certified, audited financial statements (i.e., income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements) for the most recent three years. (Suppliers having been in business for a shorter period of time are requested to submit any available certified, audited annual financial statements.) DPS may request copies of or access to current and historic annual reports. DPS reserves the right to access a Supplier’s publicly available financial information and to consider such information in its evaluation of such Supplier's proposal.

TAB 5: RESPONSE TO TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Bidder shall include a brief description and examples (screenshots/other) of how the proposed Solution will meet or exceed each of the requirements listed in Section 8. Bidder must explicitly indicate in its submission which solution or solutions meet the requirements stated in Section 8.

The Bidder must further demonstrate sufficient “due diligence” in maintaining their own information security posture. Bidder shall complete the DPS Security Architecture Checklist, Appendix H. If Bidders require DPS to sign a nondisclosure agreement, please contact mchaney@mail.dps.k12.va.us

TAB 6: RESPONSE TO TASKS TO BE PERFORMED

The Bidder must provide detailed description of how to manage and approach each of the tasks outlined in Section 8.

TAB 7: LICENSES/SERVICE AGREEMENTS

Bidder must provide all services and licensing agreements that would apply to the application and services proposed.

TAB 8: EXCEPTION TO SPECIFICATIONS

Although the specifications in the requirements sections represent DPS’ anticipated needs, there may be instances in which it is in DPS’ best interest to permit exceptions to specifications and accept alternatives. It is extremely important that Bidders clearly state where exception is taken to the specifications and how alternatives will be provided. Therefore, exceptions, conditions, or qualifications to the provisions of DPS’ specifications must be clearly identified as such, together with the reasons, and inserted in this section of the proposal. If the Bidder does not make it clear that an exception is taken, DPS will assume the proposal is responding to and will meet the specification as written.

TAB 9: TREATMENT OF THE ISSUES

In this section, the Bidder may comment if deemed appropriate, on any aspect of the Request for Proposal, including suggestions on possible alternative approaches to the coverage, definition, development, and organization of the issues presented in the “Tasks to be Performed” section, and may propose alternative approaches.

10. CONSULTATION SERVICES

10.1. The Bidder’s staff must be available for consultation with staff on an as-needed basis between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

11. COST PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

11.1. The Bidder must submit a cost proposal fully supported by cost and pricing data adequate to establish the reasonableness of the proposed fee (Reference Appendix I Price Summary Sheet). The following information should be submitted as part of the cost proposal:

The cost of each task or segment of the task shall be itemized.

a. Bidders must provide a price breakdown for each service separately as well as totals for services provided together if prices differ.

b. Breakdown of direct labor and labor overhead costs including number of hours worked and applicable actual or average hourly rates, overhead rate and supporting schedule.

c. Travel and per diem or subsistence costs, if any, supported by a breakdown including destination, duration, and purpose.

d. Breakdown of other expenses such as clerical support, other overhead costs, supplies, etc.

Caution: Failure to break down cost elements may render the Cost proposal non- responsive.

12. PRICING

12.1. The subsequent contract will be a firm-fixed price agreement. The fee(s) will remain firm for the term of the resultant contract and will include all charges that may be incurred in fulfilling the requirements of the contract during the first 365 days.

12.2. Price decreases shall be made in accordance with Section 39 of the General Conditions & Instructions to Bidders. (Reference Appendix A)

12.3. Lowest Corresponding Price (LCP): LCP is defined as the lowest price that a service provider charges to nonresidential customers who are similarly situated to a particular applicant (school, library, or consortium) for similar services. See 47 C.F.R. § 54.500. A similarly situated applicant is one that is located in the service provider’s geographic service area. Under E-rate Program rules, Service providers cannot charge applicants a price above the LCP for E-Rate program services. See 47 C.F.R. § 54.511(b).