REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL #MAC103017 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet Service/WAN Provider ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTICE TO BIDDERS The Board of Trustees of Mineral Area College invite you to submit a sealed bid proposal for contracting to provide INTERNET SERVICE AND WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN) CONNECTIVITY for the Main Campus (Park Hills, MO) and the associated outreach campus facilities (Perryville, MO and Fredericktown, MO). Sealed proposals, provided in strict compliance with requested specifications, as noted to insure acceptance, will be received at the President s Office, Mineral Area College, 5270 Flat River Rd., Park Hills, MO 63601, not later than DECEMBER 12, 2017 at 2:00 pm. 1.0 OVERVIEW This request for proposal (RFP) provides interested providers with sufficient information to prepare and submit proposals for consideration with the intent of contracting with one or more companies to provide enterprise-class full-duplex Internet service at the Main Campus and also providing point-to-point WAN connectivity between the Main Campus and the listed Outreach Facilities. Mineral Area College is requesting price quotations and detailed explanations of services presented from the service providers herein referred to as the ISP. The ISP must provide all hardware, software, billing services, technical and customer support and appropriate points of connectivity. Instructions are contained herein for proposal submissions, services to be provided and general evaluation criteria. This RFP is to be distributed to a range of applicable providers able to meet the expectations set forth.
2.0 General Information POINT OF CONTACT: The point of contact for this RFP is Chad Pipkin, Chief Information Officer, Mineral Area College, Phone: (573) 518-2333, e-mail address: cpipkin@mineralarea.edu. All questions and requests for clarification must be made within ten (10) working days of receipt of the RFP. Requests will be received through e- mail only and responses will be forwarded to all potential respondents as soon as possible. SUBMISSION DEADLINE: December 12, 2017 at 2:00 pm BID OPENING: December 12, 2017 at 3:00 pm RESPONSE COPIES: Respondents must submit a copy of the RFP response to Mineral Area College prior to the stated submission deadline. ISP COMMUNICATION: To properly communicate with bidders throughout the RFP process, it is required for all vendors to supply their contact information including a valid email address. This information should be emailed to the College s primary point of contact at cpipkin@mineralarea.edu. AGREEMENT: The selected provider must execute an Affidavit of Non-Collusion in a form prescribed by the College to confirm that the provider is not in violation of the anti-bid rigging state law provisions of the state procurement law, or in violation of the Federal Communication Commission s Fifth Report and Order, as codified in 47 C.F.R.
3.0 Invitation of Bid Proposal GENERAL RATIONALE It is the intention of this solicitation to receive bids for an INTERNET / WAN SERVICE PROVIDER. (Specifications are detailed on the enclosed Specifications sheets.) The contract period will be from the inception of the contract through and including December 31, 2020 with the option to extend the period for two additional years, through December 31, 2022, by mutual agreement between the College and the ISP. A Notice of Intent, whether to extend or terminate, must be formally communicated at least 60 days prior to the expiration of the contract term. Bids are being solicited to provide Internet service and WAN connectivity. Bidders are encouraged to study this RFP before completing and submitting responses on or before the bid due date and time. NOTE: The College reserves the right to reject all or part of the respondent s offer. The College also reserves the right to contact references concerning similar installations or participants who can attest to the respondent s abilities to meet or exceed the College s requirements. Three references (names and phone numbers) must be provided with the RFP response.
3.1 General Conditions and Specifications It is mutually agreed by and between the College and the ISP that each faction accepting the provider s offer by the issuance of one or more contracts shall be an agreement between the parties thereto containing all specifications, terms and conditions as stated in the Sealed Bid Proposal. The provider shall clearly state, on the bid response, any exceptions to or deviations from the Terms and Conditions contained herein. Such exceptions or deviations may be considered in evaluating the bids received and may result in rejection of that bid. 3.2 Incurring Costs The College is not liable for any cost incurred by the ISPs for preparation of their response and bid or costs incurred prior to awarding of a contract. 3.3 Contract Expectations The selected provider will be expected to execute and/or provide all standard vendor information as required by the College. The chosen provider s terms and conditions must be attached to the College s contract and/or may be incorporated by reference. 3.4 Contract Length/Escalation Clause The resulting contract will be written for an initial three-year period beginning at contract acceptance and continuing through December 31, 2020, and will allow a two year renewal by mutual agreement between the College and the ISP. Formal notification of contract extension or any desire to terminate the contract must be received at least 60 days prior to the expiration of the contract term. 3.5 Fiscal Condition At all times, this RFP and any subsequent contract execution shall be conditional upon the availability of the fiscal budget required. 3.6 Account Management Respondents should outline their proposed procedures for handling the College s account and include the name of an account representative who shall have overall responsibility for the management of the account.
3.7 Disclosure of Proposal Contents Although the formal opening of all sealed bids/proposals are open to the public, bid tabulations will not be available to competitors prior to the issuance of an award. Bid tabulations will be forwarded to interested providers only when a self-addressed stamped envelope is included in the provider s bid/proposal. Providers choosing to attend a bid opening may request copies of bid documents. However selected copies will not be made. The provider has a choice of receiving and paying $1.00 for every document page received in the bids that were opened, or receiving no copies. Copy fees are payable in advance, in cash, and copies will be forwarded upon award of the contract. All bid documents will be available for public inspection for a period of seven days, commencing from the day after the award has been made. After seven days, the documents will be filed, and anyone requesting to see the documents will be charged a $20 handling fee in addition to any applicable copy charges. 3.8 Bid Rejection Mineral Area College reserves the right to reject any or all bids/rfps for any or all reasons and is not bound to accept the lowest response if that bid is judged contrary to the best interests of the College.
4.0 Specifications A. ISP shall provide no less than 500mbps of full-duplex Internet connectivity at the Main Campus (Park Hills, MO) with the capability to expand service up to 1000mbps speeds. B. ISP shall provide full-duplex point-to-point WAN connectivity between Main Campus (Park Hills) and each Outreach Facility (Perryville and Fredericktown) of no less than 150mbps with the capability to expand service up to 500mbps speeds. C. ISP shall hand-off connectivity of services via standard Gigabit Ethernet (GE). D. ISP shall provide proof of two redundant upstream providers. E. ISP shall provide full levels of contracted Internet and WAN services on a 24 x 7 x 365 schedule. F. ISP shall provide available technical support (including network engineering resources) on a 24 x 7 x 365 schedule. G. ISP shall provide proactive network monitoring for all contracted services H. ISP shall provide proactive notifications to designated College personnel in the event of any disruption of service. I. ISP shall provide monthly bandwidth utilization reports J. ISP shall provide at least 24 useable public IP addresses. K. ISP shall install all services and equipment necessary for proper operation of the contracted circuits and services. L. ISP shall provide contractually-bound SLAs that meet or exceed the following: a. Maximum average Internet latency for Intra-USA traffic 60ms b. Maximum average latency for P-to-P WAN connections 12ms c. Network / Service Availability equal to or greater than 99.995% uptime d. Average network packet loss (Internet or WAN) of 0.5% or less e. Average backbone jitter (Internet or WAN) of 0.8ms or less M. ISP shall provide a credit schedule to the College for recovering credits from missed SLA metrics. 5.0 Pricing A. Pricing shall be quoted on a (3) year contract initial term, and include an option to extend for an additional two (2) year term. This shall be specified in the contract and any purchase terms. Maximum duration of the agreement including all extensions, shall be five (5) years. B. Pricing may be quoted per mbps or tiered for levels of service (e.g. price per amount of bandwidth between 500-800 mbps, different price per amount of bandwidth from 501-600 mbps, etc). C. Pricing shall show monthly recurring costs and any one-time installation costs.
6.0 RFP Schedule RFP Opening November 24, 2017 Proposal Deadline December 12, 2017 at 2:00 PM Proposal Evaluation December 12, 2017 at 3:00 PM Contract Awarded December 15, 2017 Service Available On or before January 1, 2018 6.1 Evaluation Standards The contract will be awarded based on best-value to the College, as well as evaluation criteria set forth in this document. Weighted factors contributing to the award are included in the following breakdown: Weighted Factor Breakdown: FACTOR WEIGHT Cost of Services 60 Meeting Technical and Site Specifications 30 Vendor Familiarity 5 Vendor is Well-Established within Missouri 5 -------------- TOTAL 100 Bid Judging Process A minimum of four (4) college employees will be used in the judging process. Points awarded for Cost of Services will not be subjective but will be based on a fixed formula. The formula for awarding points for the factor of cost will be: Lowest Priced Vendor = LPV Each Responding Vendor = RV Each Vendor s Cost of Services points awarded = 60 * LPV / RV Therefore, the lowest priced vendor will be awarded 60 points for the Cost of Services factor. All other vendors will be awarded points based on their proximity in price to the lowest priced vendor. Example: A vendor with a bid twice as expensive as the lowest priced vendor will mathematically receive 30 points. The judges will weigh all factors other than Cost of Services on a five point scale, up to the maximum points available in each weighted factor. Example: for Meeting Technical and Site Specifications, judges will award either: 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, or the maximum 30 points.