MEMA_Radio Transition RFP_29MAY2024_DRAFT_Final.docx

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency Headquarter Facilities Radio Tower Transition Implementation Services

PO 436

BD-24-1013-RFS00-COMMO-103664

Table of Contents

Technical Specifications Public Safety Radio Site Development Sampson County, North Carolina

Technical Specifications Radio Transition Implementation Services Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency

1. Project Overview Background In a separate procurement, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) is seeking the development of a turnkey radio site at its headquarters located at 400 Worcester Road, Framingham, MA 01702.

There are currently three towers in use on the compound, with cabling for all three run to a central underground concrete vault. After the new tower and communications shelter is installed, all existing radio services will be transitioned to the new tower and shelter.

The tower construction procurement also has responsibility for decommissioning and removing the existing towers; coordination with that vendor will be required as part of this procurement.

Project Intent

1. MEMA seeks a contractor to provide and install all equipment on the new tower and in the new communications shelter.

1. It is the intent to have all radio transition and implementation services performed by said contractor, such that the three existing towers can be decommissioned after the transition.

Project Summary

1. The purpose of this bid document is for the procurement of radio implementation and transition services to a new 180-foot tower and shelter. The site will be located at the MEMA headquarters at 400 Worcester Road, Framingham, MA 01702.

1. Respondents shall:

3. Complete any needed onsite surveys with MEMA to review the necessary work.

3. Furnish and install all new antennas, antenna mounts, jumpers, connectors, and lines on the new 180-foot tower at MEMA headquarters per this document.

3. Furnish and install any surge arrestors, combiners, multi-couplers, duplexers, radios, consolettes, and/or receivers as indicated in this document.

3. Furnish and install any media converters required to transport radio traffic from the shelter into rooms in the MEMA building. Fiber shall be used for entry into the building from the shelter. New conduits will be provided as part of the separate tower procurement.

Tower site drawings have been provided in Appendix A and radio frequency (RF) transition drawings have been provided in Appendix B.

The selected Respondent shall ensure that all grounding is completed per bid documents, facility construction drawings, and specifications; is compliant with Motorola R56, Standards and Guidelines for Communication Sites; and meets all applicable federal, state, and local codes. The more stringent shall apply.

Respondents shall complete the compliance matrix provided in Appendix C. Failure to respond to any item in the compliance matrix may impact your eligibility.

Respondents shall prepare and submit a timeline of projected accomplishments. All installations shall meet the building project specifications and Motorola R56 grounding.

Pre-Proposal Conference

1. A pre-proposal conference will be held June 12, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. The conference will be held at 400 Worcester Road. Registration is not required; however, organizations planning to attend should notify Katrina Robinson at Katrina.Robinson@mass.gov, phone: (508) 820-1406 no later than June 10 2024, and provide an estimate of the number of persons attending.

Respondents may submit questions to MEMA through the bid posting in Commbuys.com only. Questions must be received at least five days prior to the pre-proposal conference for them to be addressed at the conference. During the conference, MEMA will provide answers to any questions received and hold an open discussion regarding the project. Oral responses during the conference shall not be binding on MEMA.

Respondents may also submit questions to MEMA through the bid posting in Commbuys after the conference, no later than June 14, 2024, at 10 a.m. ET.

Schedule of Events MEMA intends to comply with the following timeline but is not obligated to. The schedule may change at MEMA’s sole discretion.

Table 1: Schedule of Events

Technical Specifications General Site

1. The selected Respondent shall keep the project site neat and free from the accumulation of waste material and debris. This shall be completed daily before leaving the project site.

The successful Respondent shall clean equipment and devices internally and externally using methods and materials recommended by manufacturers, and repair damaged finishes.

Cleanup activity related to installation shall be the selected Respondent’s responsibility.

The selected Respondent shall perform site clearing and proper disposal of refuse, per federal, state, and local codes and/or ordinances, where applicable.

The selected Respondent shall document, by photograph, existing site conditions before beginning any work onsite.

The selected Respondent shall inform the MEMA project manager or their designated person(s) of any existing spoils, where applicable.

Radio Design

1. The selected Respondent shall carefully examine and study existing conditions and difficulties. Later claims for additional compensation due to additional labor, equipment, or materials required due to difficulties encountered shall not be considered.

1. The selected Respondent shall provide a preliminary design of the radio equipment, antenna, and transmission cable installation for review and comment by MEMA before beginning the final design.

1. The selected Respondent shall develop a plan for the relocation of equipment marked as such in Appendix B. To the greatest extent possible, downtime for relocated equipment shall be minimized.

1. The selected Respondent shall provide a final design of the equipment installation work for review and comment by MEMA prior to implementing the final installation design. These will include rack elevation drawings and shelter layout drawings.

Radio Communications equipment Transmission Systems

1. The selected Respondent shall install all transmission system components required for tower loading as shown in Appendix A. These include, but are not limited to antennas, mounts, jumpers, lines, connectors, and surge arrestors.

Transmission cables shall be grounded per industry standard best practices with proper ground kits recommended by the cable manufacturer.

Antenna models provided in Appendix A and Appendix B are suggested models. Respondents may provide alternate models with like performance specifications to those suggested. Specification sheets shall be provided for every model proposed.

Jumpers shall be used on each feedline with a diameter greater than ½-inch between the end of feedline and antenna. Jumpers shall be ½-inch non-spiral corrugated copper cables.

As transmission lines enter the shelter, a surge protection device (SPD) shall be installed. SPDs shall be grounded within 24 inches of shelter entry directly to the ground bus bar.

Secured Lines: Vertical transmission lines shall be supported by an appropriate system designed to securely attach antenna transmission lines when installed on tower structures.

Cables shall be secured to the tower with the appropriate industry standard cable hangers and hardware. The selected Respondent shall not use tie wraps, wire wraps, tape, or similar temporary material to secure cables on the tower.

Spacing of anchoring hardware is determined by the line manufacturer and is dependent on the type and size of the line.

Hangers and/or angle adapters typically are provided for every three feet of line, including any ice bridge paths.

Clamps and hardware shall be corrosion resistant.

Lighting Cables: Tower lighting cables shall not be bundled along with transmission lines or other conductors anywhere within cable ladders or the building interior.

All connectors used shall be high quality, industry standard and must be fully compatible with directly associated equipment or jumpers in the system. Connectors shall be low PIM and rated for multiple connect/disconnects. Connectors must be of non-ferrous construction. No splices or adapters shall be used under any circumstance. However, it is permissible to utilize different connectors on opposite ends of a cable to avoid the use of adapters. When transforming from one diameter cable to another, it is acceptable to use flange reducers, so long as the cable voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) specification is achieved.

To ensure that antennas and lines meet specifications after installation, all antennas and associated transmission lines shall be sweep tested with a time domain reflectometer (TDR) or approved antenna system analyzer. A test sweep shall also be made using a frequency domain reflectometer or approved antenna system analyzer at the operating frequencies with the antenna attached. A chart recording of TDR measurements shall be made and retained in the site log. No VSWR in excess of 1.5:1 is permitted.

Transmission lines shall be identified using color-coded tape bands located at the antenna, bottom of tower, and inside the shelter.

Radio Equipment

1. The selected Respondent shall provide and install the required 7½-foot racks in the new MEMA shelter.

The selected Respondent shall provide and install radio equipment and ancillary filtering equipment as shown in Appendix B. All site equipment shall be new, of high quality, designed to provide high-reliability operation, and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) type-accepted for its proposed application.

Radio equipment shall be provided with a direct current (DC) power supply for integration into the proposed DC power system.

Control station combiners shall be proposed to support the number of antennas shown. This may be accomplished through isolators, dual-feed antennas, or other means. Respondents shall provide details for each system, including but not limited to:

Insertion losses Transmit (Tx) – Receive (Rx) isolation Tx-Tx isolation Continuous power per channel Any open ports on control station combiners shall be terminated with a 50-ohm load.

Camera Equipment

1. The selected Respondent shall provide a digital security camera on the new tower as shown on the drawings in Appendix A and Appendix B. The camera shall integrate into the existing Avigilon system.

1. The current Avigilon system is located next to the room where the current antennas enter the bunker. The new camera will require cabling to this location.

1. The camera shall have a minimum of 8-megapixel resolution. Respondents shall provide the resolution of the camera proposed.

1. The camera shall be installed in weatherproof housing.

1. The cameras shall have day/night viewing capabilities.

Communicatons Distribution General A. The selected Respondent shall provide distribution of communications cabling from the shelter to various locations in the MEMA bunker using the next entry ports and cable raceways that will be provided through air vent tunnels.

B. To minimize copper conductors entering the bunker, fiber conversion shall be provided in the shelter and at destination locations in the bunker. The final location of fiber conversion equipment in these rooms will be coordinated with MEMA personnel. These destinations include:

a. Room B131B – Currently housing control stations, consolettes, and repeaters; five Motorola GGM8000 conventional channel gateways and radio console equipment; and the current access control system.

b. Room B133B – Currently housing a Bird Signal Booster bi-directional amplifier (BDA), amateur radio repeaters, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and National Guard repeaters, Avigilon camera server, and a Verizon Wireless base transceiver.

c. Room B133 (Dispatch) – Currently housing FEMA’s National Radio System (FNARS), Bearcat TrunkTracker scanner, Yaesu transceiver, and ICOM high frequency (HF)/very high frequency (VHF)/ultra high frequency (UHF) transceiver.

Fiber Conversion

1. The selected Respondent shall provide fiber converters and multimode fiber, as shown in Appendix B, for transport through entry ports into the MEMA bunker. Due to the diverse cabling, more than one type of fiber converter is expected to be needed.

1. Multimode fiber shall be fiber type: 50/125, OM4.

1. Fiber converters shall be rack-mounted.

1. Fiber-optic cables shall be light tested prior to installation. Splices shall not be used.

Power Distribution DC Power System

1. The selected Respondent shall provide and install a 48-volt DC power system.

1. DC power systems shall meet the following requirements:

22. The system will be housed in a single rack.

22. The selected Respondent shall perform electrical-loading analysis for shelter equipment and radio system equipment, excluding heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) subsystems, during preliminary design to verify the DC system size required.

22. All assumptions regarding power consumption and duty factor shall be thoroughly explained.

22. Distribution breakers and circuits for DC power shall be provided to each row of equipment racks. Equipment installed within those racks shall be immediately accessible to the DC power source.

22. The DC power system shall utilize a modular fault tolerant design with N+1 redundancy of the rectifiers. The system shall include no single points of failure.

22. The DC power systems shall include protection of internal DC components from surges that enter at each AC power input connection and protect controls and output components.

1. The batteries shall have a health monitoring system to provide real-time and historic data on each string and cell. The proposed solution shall have a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI)-based monitoring application that allows for remote access.

23. Continuous monitoring:

0. Charge and discharge currents of battery bank

0. Individual cell voltages

0. Individual cell temperatures

0. Alternating current (AC) main voltage

23. Identify and alarm:

1. Faulty cell based on monitoring cell’s parameters

1. Battery fault

1. Overall “health” of individual cells

23. Historic data:

2. System float voltage

2. System float current

2. DC amperage and voltage decay during system discharges Grounding General

1. The selected Respondent shall ensure that the site and related structure, equipment, and system are Motorola R56-compliant; for any differences between the bid document and Motorola R56, the more stringent shall apply.

The selected Respondent shall ensure that equipment is electrically bonded, grounded, and protected in accordance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70®, National Electrical Code® (NEC), and Motorola R56.

The selected Respondent shall provide grounding and lightning protection equipment, including surge arrestors, to comply with Motorola R56 and NEC requirements for equipment being installed and connected as part of the system.

The selected Respondent shall install proper grounding conductors, per Motorola R56, to bond various pieces of equipment, conduit, trays, etc., together.

The main point of connection for all ground conductors within a shelter or building shall be at the primary bonding bar (PBB).

An internal perimeter bonding bus (IPBB), secondary bonding bar (SBB) and/or rack bonding bar (RBB) may be installed when multiple grounding conductors are needed to bond numerous items to the ground system.

The IPBB, SBB and/or RBB will be bonded to the PBB either directly or through each other progressively, per Motorola R56 specifications.

Additional Concerns Several practices shall be followed to allow for neat and secure grounding and wiring.

1. When stripping insulation from ground conductors, only the required amount of insulation needed to be removed shall be removed.

All ground conductors shall be kept as short as possible.

No braided conductors shall be used in the grounding system.

Mechanical attachments shall be made by using 300-series stainless steel hardware.

Surfaces always shall be clean before making connections.

All metal-to-metal connections shall be treated with an antioxidant compound to avoid oxidation and corrosion.

Mechanical split-bolt-style connectors shall not be used.

All ground connections shall be made in the direction of the direct path to ground.

Properly sized lugs and compression taps always shall be used.

Use of shrink tube or wrapping with electrical tape on compression lugs is encouraged.

Wire and cable ties shall be trimmed back.

Cabling that makes a vertical run up a wall shall be secured with nylon, P-Ring-type cable clamps.

Grounding conductor insulation shall be rated for its environment.

Grounding conductors are to maintain at least 2-inch spacing from other cables. The exception is when conductors come together, as they are entering the same piece of equipment, and where they cross over each other at a 90-degree angle.

All unused existing grounding components shall be removed or abated properly after completion of the grounding enhancement.

All local or jurisdictional codes and safety standards shall be followed. These shall supersede standards and/or procedures mentioned in this document. This includes, but is not limited to, NEC and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Physically larger metallic objects shall be attached to the external grounding system in the same manner as smaller objects, except for using 2/0 American wire gauge (AWG), bare, copper-stranded, tin-plated conductor.

Ground Bus Conductors

1. A ground bus conductor shall be provided in the shelter to bond equipment cabinets, racks, and other systems. One end will terminate at the PBB or SBB. The other end will be left unterminated (although insulated with green electrical tape). The ground bus conductor and any extensions shall be of the same size.

A No. 2 AWG, copper, stranded, green-jacketed conductor will be provided, running the entire length of the cable tray system.

Ground bus extension conductors may “Y” off the ground bus conductor and travel along perpendicular pieces of cable tray. This is to assist in bonding other racks in the shelter. Connections made to the ground bus conductors always must flow toward the PBB or SBB by using an irreversible C-type crimp connector.

The conductors shall be supported by a cable tray inside the shelter, along the bottom outside edge or along the outside wall and/or by the equipment rail (framework). Proper cable separation shall be maintained per Motorola R56.

Electrical Surge Protection

1. The installation of SPDs is required at all sites that have communications/electronic equipment and other electrical equipment. Abnormal electrical surges, overvoltage occurrences—created by lightning or power surges from distribution equipment and/or auxiliary equipment—can cause great damage to equipment and harm personnel. Care must be taken to protect personnel as well as equipment.

Properly grounding the site on the exterior, as well as the interior, as described in this specifications document is a good defense against personnel and equipment being harmed. However, that alone is not enough. SPDs also must be installed on all electrical, transmission, and communications lines entering the shelter, building, or area that houses the communications equipment and/or personnel.

Final Testing and Acceptance

1. At substantial completion, the selected Respondent shall conduct a site walk with MEMA’s representative to identify punch-list items.

1. The selected Respondent shall correct punch-list items within 30 days of substantial completion, unless otherwise noted in contract documents.

1. The selected Respondent shall conduct follow-up inspections, if required.

Appendix A: Tower Site Drawings

Appendix B: Radio Transition Drawings

Appendix C: Compliance Matrix

1 — Project Overview

2 — Technical Specifications

3 — Radio Communications Equipment

4 — Communications Distribution

5 — Power Distribution

6 — Grounding

7 — Final Testing and Acceptance

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