REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
E-RATE Funding Year 2014-2015
INTERNAL CONNECTIONS (Wireless Network)
for Tunica County School District
Tunica County School District
Technology Department
744 School Street
P. O. Box 758
Tunica, MS 38676
Phone: (662) 363-2811
Fax: (662) 363-3061
Contact: Sherwonda Dunn
Telephone: (662) 363-3507
Fax: (662) 363-1458
E-mail: dunns@tunicak12.org
January 24, 2014
RFP Available: January 24, 2014
Post Date for 470: January 24, 2014
470 Number: 696340001206659
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PROJECT: The Tunica County School District is seeking to create a wireless
infrastructure to allow all schools to have 25-30 wireless devices connected to the
network simultaneously in every area that is served by a wireless access point.
The capacity of the access points should allow students to conduct moderate to heavy
Web access for research with minimal video streaming such as all students being able to
view 2-4 minute YouTube video in HD. (Vendors may assume that the Tunica County
School District has sufficient Internet bandwidth to supply the requirements above. The
primary goal is to ensure that bottlenecks do not occur at the wireless access points under
the specified conditions).
Proposals should include a realistic assessment of actual access points as well as cabling
and other equipment necessary to support the wireless needs outlined above. Technical
specifications of equipment should be provided with the proposal along with the Scope of
Work describing this “turn-key” project.
The proposal must guarantee performance sufficient to fulfill the needs of the Tunica
County School District as requested within this RFP. After implementation of the
successful vendor’s proposal, if additional equipment, cabling or labor is needed, the
vendor will bear all cost necessary to satisfy the requirements of this RFP. There should
be no reoccurring costs for further functionality.
It is the vendor’s responsibility to ensure that the equipment proposed meets the
performance specifications of the manufacturer and the previously stated requirements.
The Tunica County School District will not releaser the vendor from the performance
guarantee required above, because of malfunctions or defects in equipment due to
manufacturer error or flaws in the equipment.
Because of the diversity of possible solutions, the Tunica County School District is
asking for detailed proposals to accomplish the task. Specifications will be general and
minimal to allow proposals to be as innovative as possible.
All prospective vendors must complete a mandatory district walkthrough or onsite survey
in order to be eligible to submit a bid. To schedule a walkthrough or onsite survey, you
will need to contact Sherwonda Dunn, Technology coordinator via email only at
dunns@tunicak12.org. Proposals from vendors who do not complete the onsite survey
or walkthrough WILL NOT be considered.
PROPOSAL SUBMISSION: Companies interested in participating in this RFP should
submit written proposals no later than Friday, February 21, 2014. Proposals should
address the Internal Connections services requested for the district. All proposals must
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be sealed with two paper copies and one copy on CD, original signature(s), and sent by
mail only with outside of envelop clearly identified as follows:
E-RATE INTERNAL CONNECTIONS -WIRELESS SERVICES BID
Tunica County School District
Attn: Sherwonda Dunn, Technology Coordinator
744 School Street
P.O. Box 758
Tunica, MS 38676
Faxed, emailed, oral, and telephone bids will not be considered, nor will modifications of
proposals by such communication be considered. The Tunica County School District
reserves the right to reject any and/or all bids and waive any informalities.
CLARIFICATION: If after the completion of this project, during normal operation of
the network, the District discovers that the wireless network will not allow for the
capacity required in this RFP as states in paragraph two in page 2 of this document, the
vendor will be required to do whatever is necessary to meet the specifications with no
additional cost to the Tunica County School District.
GENERAL: Provide internal connections as specified herein.
The specifications herein are provided to convey the intent of the systems and upgrades
and do not indicate every cable or component necessary for the complete system that the
proposing vendor shall provide.
Price quotations are to include the furnishing of all materials, equipment, maintenance,
shipping costs, delivery, installation, training, technical support, and represent complete
installation and integration with the existing network where necessary. The District will
not be liable for any costs beyond those proposed herein. Please be advised that public
schools are specifically exempted from the payment of Mississippi Sales Tax.
In case of discrepancy in computed proposal prices, the unit price shall govern and the
total price shall be revised accordingly. Omissions in the proposal of any provision
herein described shall not be construed as to relieve the vendor of any responsibility or
obligations to complete and satisfactory delivery, operation and support of any services.
Prices quoted in the vendor’s response will remain in effect for a period of (18) months
from the time of the contract signing.
INQUIRIES: All correspondences and inquiries regarding this RFP must be done via
email: dunns@tunicak12.org.
If a Service Provider does not receive a response within 24 hours, it is the responsibility
of the Service Provider to call Sherwonda Dunn at (662) 363-3507 and confirm that the
email message was received.
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PROPOSAL EVALUATION: All proposals will be evaluated using weighted criteria
including cost of the eligible products and services, prior experience, references, support
and maintenance and value-added for any extra incentive provided by vendor. The
proposal that is deemed to be in the best interest of the applicant will be accepted.
CERTIFICATE OF RESPONSIBILTY:
Each Bidder submitting a bid in excess of $50,000 on public projects must show on his
bid and on the face of the envelop containing the bid, his Certificate of Responsibility
Number, as required by Section 31-3-5 and 31-3-21 (latest edition) Mississippi Code
1972. If the bid does not exceed the amount of $50,000 on public projects, a notation so
stating must appear on the face of the envelope.
EVALUATION METHODOLOGY: The Tunica County School District will award a
contract based on the vendor submission that best meets the needs of the school system
with regard to the current Technology Plan, future growth, RFP specifications, and not
necessarily the lowest price even though price will be the priority factor. The evaluation
process will not be complete until the District has determined the best proposal for based
on the following factors:
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Price of goods and services
Preference will be given for prior positive experience with the Vendor
Preference will be given to a Mississippi based Vendor
Preference will be given for Vendors proposing the use of AP devices in which
the AP manufacturers offers a limited lifetime warranty on the access points with
replacement within 10 days.
Preference will be given for Vendors whose product requires no recurring costs
for future functionality.
FINANCING: The Service Provider will provide a binding contract to The District for
submission to the Schools and Libraries Division. After notification of award from the
Schools and Libraries Division, The Service Provider will receive a Purchase Order for
the products and services for which The Service Provider will be responsible as a result
of this RFP. This Purchase Order will show the amount that is the responsibility of the
local school system. The issuance of any purchase order will be contingent upon approval
by USAC. Complete payment to the Service Provider will be subject to the rules of the
Schools and Libraries Division (SLD). After notification by the Schools and Libraries
Division (USAC Fund Administrator) of the acceptance of the Contract, the contingency
will be removed and the Purchase Order will be submitted to the Service Provider in
accordance with the rules and regulations of the SLD.
APPLICATION FOR PAYMENT: All applications (invoices) for payment shall be
submitted to The District according to the USAC regulations. The Service Provider must
submit a Service Provider Invoice for processing of the discounted potion of the bill.
DISTRICT REGULATIONS: The Service Provider and his representatives shall
follow all applicable school district regulations while on The District property, including
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the no smoking, no weapons, and drug free policies. No work shall interfere with school
activities or environment unless the Principal or person in charge gives permission. All
Service Provider personnel shall be easily identified by the use of identification badges
and uniforms or shirts with The Service Provider’s logo clearly visible.
THE DISTRICT RESERVES THE RIGHT TO:
a. Give full and proper consideration to the service, reputation, product knowledge, and
experience of all companies presenting proposals, and to disqualify any such Service
Provider it deems unqualified to provide the services requested.
b. Reject any and all proposals if deemed necessary.
c. Accept any alternative proposal believed to be in the best interest of the district.
d. Waive any formality in the quote submission.
e. Cancel any awarded bid if the service proves unsatisfactory.
Vendors are advised that any person, firm or other party to whom it proposes to award a
subcontract or purchase order under this contract must be acceptable to the Tunica
County School District
The successful Vendor (Contractor) must have or be certified with the following:
• Be able to supply all products and services.
• Be able to provide Mississippi Contactors License
• Provide the documentation of the Vendor’s wireless, switching and cabling
certifications.
• Participate in the mandatory walkthrough. Any vendor that does not participate in
the mandatory walkthrough will be automatically rejected.
OBJECTIVE: The Tunica County School District’s Objective is for vendors to propose
a solution that will meet the criteria of allowing 25-30 Wi-Fi devices access, which will
then allow students to conduct moderate to heavy Web access to research with minimal
video streaming. Should the bidding propose a solution that does not meet the
specifications listed below, the vendor must provide sufficient documentation that the
District’s objective will be met with their solution.
EQUIPMENT & INSTALLATION SPECIFICATIONS
Cabling for Access Points:
All cable and cabling components including jacks and patch panels used in this proposal
will be a minimum of Category 5e rated.
The amount needed will be determined by the vendors proposed number of access points.
• Bid must include cabling and all necessary components (patch cables, patch
panels, jacks and mounts, crimp ends, etc.)
• Bid must include cost of labor and installation.
• Cabling must be neatly ran and connected to the wall via J-hooks in ceiling and
may not lay directly on ceiling tile.
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When cabling runs outside of the building it must be placed in EMT conduit and
attached to walkways.
Wireless Infrastructure:
Wireless access points and applicable software.
Access Points
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Must meet or exceed the 802.11 a/b/g/n standard.
Must be Wi-Fi Certified for 802.11 a/b/g/n.
Each access point must have the ability to switch from the 2.4GHz spectrum to
the 5GHz spectrum.
System must be controllerless.
Preference will be given if the manufacture offers a limited lifetime warranty (10
day AHR).
Must use enterprise-class radios for maximum RF performance and coverage.
Must support rogue access point detection and denial of service attack protection.
Must support management frame protection.
Must support coverage for legacy 802.11b/g clients.
Must support client load-balancing across frequencies in mixed client
environments.
Must support multicast video delivery across WLAN.
Must overcome outside interference (Bluetooth, microwaves, etc.).
Must support radio resource monitoring, dynamic channel assignment, and
interference detection.
Bid must include cost of configuration and installation and 8 hours of training on
configuration and maintenance for the Tunica County School District.
Other Considerations:
Vendor Installed Patch Panels and Cabling
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Any cables run by the vendor will be terminated into a patch panel on one end
and in a wall mounted full box jack on the other.
The Vendor will need to install new patch panels at all sites. If there is not room
on the rack, the Vendor will be required to install another larger rack, placing all
of the equipment currently in the small rack into the larger rack. The District will
work with you on this.
If current cables are used, the Vendor will be allowed to use the same cables and
patch panels regardless of the rating category.
Vendor may use any available open port on any switch currently in use in the
district. If there is insufficient room, Vendor will have to purchase another
switch meeting or surpassing the same specs as all TCSD’s current switches.
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Wireless systems must have the ability to be centrally managed and to allow for
guests to connect to the wireless points. The system must be able to support
multiple VLANS and multiple SSIDs.
WARRANTIES
All warranties by Vendor and manufacturer on both products and labor must be specified
in the proposal. The Vendor’s Warranties shall commence with acceptance of/or
payment for the work in full. Minimum acceptable warranty on hardware, parts, and
labor is 3 years.
The Vendor must provide terms of service should a repair become necessary and the
work materials that are not covered under warranty.
CURRENT EQUIPMENT
Switches
1. The Tunica County School District network is made up of 3Com/Cisco Switches.
All ports are 10/100Mbps minimum. Fiber connections from the core switches to
any new equipment installed by Vendor are sufficient. All fiber patch cables will
be provided by the Vendor.
2. Any VLAN configurations proposed in this project necessary to meet the
requirements must be configured completely by the Vendor using existing
switches. The Tunica County School District Technology Department is
incapable of properly setting up VLANS on our present systems.
Classroom Counts
• Robinsonville Elementary School has 45 classrooms and 5 other areas.
• Tunica Elementary has 60 classrooms and 6 other areas.
• Dundee has 40 classrooms and 6 other areas.
• Tunica Elementary has 42 class and 8 other areas.
• Rosa Fort High School has 70 classrooms and 10 other areas.
• District Office has 16 offices 3 other areas.
• David Williams Career and Technical Center has 8 classrooms and 4 other areas.
• Bus Barn has 4 offices.
(General Floor plans will be available at the walkthrough. Onsite walkthroughs will
identify building materials, existing cabling, etc. Vendors will be responsible for taking
any needed measurements during the walkthroughs.)
Current Network Bandwith and WAN Configuration
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Each building in the Tunica County School District is presently connected to the
District Office via fiber provided through In-Line.
Servers and centralized devices are located on the building sites and at the Central
Office. Each site has several switch cabinets and a main demark area. Details will
be provided at the onsite walkthrough.
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Currently, the District has a 100Mbps Internet Connection that services the entire
district which connects at the Central Office (can be upgraded). Traffic from the
Internet is firewalled, filtered, and regulated by devices located at the Central
Office and school sites.
E-RATE
This proposal request is for services to be subsidized under the Universal Services E-Rate
Program for Schools and Libraries. No purchase order will be issued, no installation will
occur, and no services will be provided until approval of the form 471 application that is
issued as a result of the proposals being submitted in response to this request.
This Request for Proposals (RFP) covers services that are E-Rate eligible and must be
provided by an Eligible Provider as per FCC regulations. It is the responsibility of the
service provider to separate the cost of e-rate eligible services from the services that are
not eligible for E-Rate. There will be a cost evaluation of E-Rate eligible services and erate non-eligible services. Any service provider that has questions concerning E-Rate or
FCC regulations should visit www.universalservice.org/sl.
To be qualified to respond to this RFP all respondents should have a valid Service
Provider Identification Number (SPIN) and should have an up-to-date Service Provider
Annual Certification (SPAC) on file. Visit www.universalservice.org/sl/providers for
additional information.
Project Schedule
RFP Release Date
January 23, 2014
Pre-Proposal Conference and Mandatory Walk-Through
(8:00AM –TCSD Central Office
February 6 &7, 2014
Deadline for Bids/Proposals
February 21, 2014
2:00PM
Vendor Proposals opened
February 24, 2014
10:00AM
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Vendor Required Documentation
• Specifications for the proposed hardware.
• Vendor shall provide written summary of their proposal as well as
drawings of all sites labeled with the location of each access point
being proposed and the path of the access points’ cabling to each
network closet. Vendor will verify if the District has enough available
switch ports and/or patch panel ports in each closet for their proposed
solution.
• Current liability insurance and workers compensation insurance.
• Documentation of the vendor’s wireless, switching and cabling
certifications.
• 3 K-12 Wireless references
• Must include a detailed Scope of Work describing this “turnkey”
project.
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INFORMATION FORM
NAME OF COMPANY
ADDRESS OF HOME OFFICE
CITY OF HOME OFFICE
STATE OF HOME OFFICE
HOME OFFICE ZIP CODE
FEDERAL EIN
DUNS NUMBER
E-RATE SPIN NUMBER
CONTACT NAME _______________________________________________________
CONTACT PHONE NUMBER _____________________________________________
CONTACT EMAIL ADDRESS _____________________________________________
By signing below, the Vendor acknowledges that the prices listed on this sheet are the
prices being bid for this project and that the Vendor understands that potions of this
Project may be funded from E-Rate Funds. This Project is subject to funding availability
and contingent upon E-Rate funding.
PRINTED NAME ________________________________ TITLE__________________
SIGNATURE ___________________________________ DATE___________________
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