DSU260102-SIPTRUNKIN-ad1.pdf

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Addendum 1

RFP - Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) Trunking Services

Contract Number: DSU260102-SIPTRUNKIN

Questions and Answers

The work/ clarification/ answers listed in this addendum shall be considered part of the Bid/ RFP document for the referenced project/ product/ services, etc.

Below are questions and answers regarding subject RFP. All questions are written in black color font and the answers are provided in red color font.

1. Minimum Requirements RFP References:

Section III(A), Paragraph 1, Page 5 Text: “Provide Delaware license(s) and/or certification(s) necessary to perform services…”

Question: Can the University identify which specific Delaware telecommunications licenses are required for SIP trunking provisioning? Answer: Please refer to page 17 of the RFP under itemtem 5. General Contracting Terms, section C. Licenses and Permits, second paragraph of this section that reads as “Prior to receiving an award, the successful vendor shall either furnish the Delaware State University with proof of State of Delaware Business Licensure or initiate the process of application where required. An application may be requested in writing to: Division of Revenue, Carvel State Building, P.O. Box 8750, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington, DE 19899 or by telephone to one of the following numbers: (302) 577-8200—Public Service, (302) 577-8205—Licensing Department.”

2. SIP Capacity & Architecture RFP References:

Section Project Overview Appendix A – Scope of Work, Paragraph 1, Page 36 Text: “...capable of handling 200 concurrent call paths.”

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Question: Is the 200-call requirement total across all three data centers or per-location capacity (i.e., 200 per site)? Answer: YES

3. Active–Active Deployment Expectations RFP References:

Section Appendix A – Scope of Work, Bullet 1, Page 37 Text: “200 concurrent call paths split in an active-active deployment… routers”

Question: Does the University expects each trunk to have an equal split of 200 across 3 trunks or expects any of the trunks to be capable of handling 200 concurrent call paths at any given point of time?

Answer: Yes, Each location will be a failover incase the other locations go down.

4. Survivability Requirement RFP References:

Section Appendix A, Bullet 1, Page 37 Text: “Network design should support 75% of total call capacity in the event of a single data center failure.”

Question: Should the 75% failover be automatic using SIP-level routing, or will DSU manage failover routing on Cisco Call Manager? Answer: Failover will be automatic using SIP-level routing

5. DID Porting

Section Appendix A, Bullets on Porting, Page 37 Text: “Porting of existing DID numbers – 4,940 (Verizon)... 533 (Comcast).”

Question: Are there any DIDs that must be ported in specific groups or phases, or should ConnX assume a full port in a single migration window and DSU supports with documentation required for porting?

Answer: a full port in a single migration window

6. Analog Device Support RFP References:

Section Appendix A, Paragraph “Analog Devices”, Page 39 Text: “The proposed solution should provide for support for these analog devices. An alternative analog device solution can be proposed, i.e., eFax, cellular dialers for fire alarm, etc ”

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Questions:

1. Please help to provide site wise count of analog devices with break-up between fax, fire alarms, elevator lines etc. Answer: Three campus locations with a total of 62 buildings between all campus locations. Each building has (2) elevator lines, (2) fire alarm lines, and (5) fax lines

2. Are these analog devices connected through a centralized distribution network. Answer: No.

each building has its own DMARC in which the analog devices are connected.

3. Does DSU intend to keep the analog devices separate from existing CUCM solution? Answer:

No.

4. Can DSU provide the confirmation if the DSU will provide on-site support for installation.

Answer: No. The vendor would be responsible for installation

5. If DSU is looking for an ATA gateway-based solution to support analog devices? Answer: DSU is open to an ATA gateway-based solution, however, the solution should not connect to the DSU on-premise CUCM

7. Existing Circuits

Section Appendix A, “Physical Circuits”, Paragraph 1, Page 38 Text: “Proposals may seek to utilize an existing physical circuit… bidder must secure applicable agreements.”

Question:

1. Is DSU looking for a separate dedicated circuit for SIP Trunks like a private connection? Answer:

YES

2. To Propose for using existing dedicated circuit, can DSU provide a list of existing circuit types / Circuit IDs and carriers at each data center to determine viability of reuse? Answer: Yes, We have a mix of PRI’s and SIP trucks. Will would be able to provide all information once the bid is awarded

8. Long Distance Rate Sheet

Section Attachment 6, Page 34

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Text: “Attach a rate sheet detailing unlimited local, domestic and international long-distance rates.”

1. Should international rates include all destinations globally, or only frequently dialed countries?

Answer: Yes

9. Calling Usage RFP References:

Section Attachment 6, Page 34 Text: “Attach a rate sheet detailing unlimited local, domestic and international long-distance rates.”

Question:

1. Is there an indication of monthly volume expected for Unlimited local calls as a fair usage?

Answer: Yes

10. Premise Equipment

Section Appendix A – Scope of Work Page 38 Text: “Special consideration will be paid to the fault-tolerance of a proposed solution’s architecture, including any provided premise equipment. Redundant power supplies strongly preferred.”

1. Can proposer utilize existing DSU equipment (Routers/SBCs) for circuit and SIP Trunk termination or proposer needs to provide a dedicated Router/SBC which will interface with DSU existing SBCs? Answer: No, most of the equipment is reaching its end of life. Would need to figure out new equipment

2. If proposer can use existing Routers/SBCs, will DSU configure the router/sbc with proposer recommended configuration to provision SIP trunk. Answer: No, no plans on using existing equipment.

3. If proposer needs to provide any premise equipment, please confirm if DSU will help with On-site installation support or proposer needs to include in the proposal. Answer: Yes, DSU will be on prem to show where the equipment belongs. No, DSU will not doing installation and setup.

11. SIP Architecture & Failover

11.1 Inbound/Outbound Failover Behavior

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Section:

• Appendix A – SIP Requirements

• “Route call paths between SIP trunks in case of a Trunk Failure (survivability).”

Page 37–38

• Appendix B – Architecture Question #11

• DSU requires ability to fail-over and load-balance SIP sessions.

Page 41, Lines 47–49

Mapping:

• Appendix A – Pages 37–38

• Appendix B – Page 41

Does DSU require non-disruptive failover with no dropped calls during a data-center or trunk failure, or is brief SIP re-registration acceptable? Answer: Non-Disruptive failover

11.2 IPv6 Support Requirement

Section:

• Appendix A – Performance / Architecture Requirements

• “Preferred (though not required) that proposed solution should function… utilizing both IPv4 and IPv6.”

Page 39, Lines 1–4

Mapping:

• Appendix A – Page 39

Is IPv6 functionality a mandatory requirement at go-live, or is IPv4-only acceptable with IPv6 support planned for the future? Answer: No, not a requirement to go live

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12. E911 / REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

12.1 PS-ALI / Location Data Requirements

RFP References:

Section:

• Appendix A – E911 Requirements

• “Proposed solution must… ensure all necessary data is established and maintained in the PS-ALI database…” Page 39, Lines 17–21

Will DSU provide existing PS-ALI location records, or should the provider perform a site survey to build/validate the dataset? Answer: We have some records but would prefer a site survery

12.2 Dispatchable Location Compliance (Kari’s Law / RAY BAUM’S Act)

• Appendix A – E911

• Ensures correct PSAP routing & first responder location accuracy.

(Act not named explicitly, but requirements implied.)

Page 39, Lines 17–21

Does DSU require dispatchable location identification down to room/sub-zone level to meet full NG911 compliance? Answer: Yes

13. SECURITY & ENCRYPTION

13.1 TLS/SRTP Certificate Requirements

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• Appendix A – Security & Compliance

• “SIP trunk should support TLS/SRTP for encryption…” Page 39, Lines 25–28

Does DSU require mutual TLS authentication using certificates from a DSU-approved certificate authority, or are provider-issued certificates acceptable? Answer: Yes

14. IMPLEMENTATION & TESTING

14.1 Preferred Migration Strategy

• Appendix A – Implementation Requirements

• DSU requires installation schedule and reserves right to modify timelines.

Page 40, Lines 39–43

• Appendix B – Vendor Questionnaire

• DSU requires description of migration capabilities and experience.

Mapping:

• Appendix A – Page 40

• Appendix B – Page 41

Does DSU prefer a flash-cut migration for all numbers or a phased porting approach by location/department? Answer: Single cutover would be best but we can work on doing a cutover per-campus location if needed.

14.2 User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Expectations

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• Appendix A – Implementation Requirements

• Installation schedule, performance expectations, reliability, testing considerations.

Page 39–40

• Appendix A – Pages 39–40

Will DSU require UAT prior to cutover, including failover testing, QoS validation, and call-quality verification? Answer: Yes

15. PRICING & CONTRACTUAL

15.1 NRC Pricing Stability

RFP References:

• Attachment 6 – Pricing Form

• Requires listing all NRC charges (installation, upgrades, capacity tier changes).

Pages 33–35

• Appendix A – Cost Requirements

• Must disclose all necessary fees and NRC costs.

Pages 37–38

Mapping:

• Attachment 6 – Pages 33–35

• Appendix A – Pages 37–38

Question

1. Should NRC charges (such as capacity upgrades) remain fixed for the entire duration of the contract? Answer: Yes

2. Please confirm if the upgrade be limited upto the maximum tier requested i.e. 125 Concurrent Calls Per-Circuit. Answer: Yes

3. Upgrade cost may be same if done in Year 1 or Year 2 or Year 3. Do we need to capture fixed upgrade cost separately for each year? Answer: Yes

15.2 Pricing Clarification

Section: Appendix A – Scope of Work

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Paragraph: SIP trunking capacity requirements Page number: 36 Text:

“The qualified candidate will provide SIP trunks solution at three campus data center locations capable of handling 200 concurrent call paths.”

Section: Attachment 6 Paragraph: Pricing evaluation table Page number: 33 Text: “Provide pricing for solutions supporting… 25 concurrent calls per-circuit, 50 concurrent calls per-circuit, 125 concurrent calls per-circuit.”

Question:

Can the University confirm whether the required 200 concurrent call paths should be distributed across the three data centers in alignment with the capacity tiers listed in the pricing section (i.e., circuits supporting 25, 50, and 125 concurrent calls respectively)? Answer: All call paths should be able to handle the 200 concurrent calls for failover propose.