Request for Proposal. Common Facilities for the Introduction of Mobile Number Portability in Luxembourg

Transcription

1 Request for Proposal concerning Common Facilities for the Introduction of Mobile Number Portability in Luxembourg Submit proposals to: Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation Direction 45, Allée Scheffer L-2922 Luxembourg Proposal deadline: Monday 2 th of june 2003 at 16:00 h Version 2.2 (last change )

2 Table of contents 1 INTRODUCTION GENERAL REMARKS MNP CONTEXT IN LUXEMBURG EXPECTED PORTING SCENARIO FIXED NUMBER PORTABILITY NUMBERING ISSUES SELECTION CRITERIA GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS DEFINITIONS MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY (MNP) REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) PROJECT BID BIDDER SUCESSFUL BIDDER / CONTRACTOR PURCHASER CONTRACT SUB-CONTRACTOR INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS INTENT OF BIDDING PROCESS INVITATION TO BID SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS CONTRACT ISSUES RISK OF LOSS LAWS, ORDINANCES, CODES, ETC PATENT INFRINGEMENTS IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE PROJECT RESPONSIBILITIES CONTRACT DURATION PAYMENT SCHEDULE INSTALLATION PROCESS DOCUMENTATION PROGRESS REPORTS CHANGES TO THE CONTRACT RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PURCHASER DURING THE INSTALLATION PROCESS TESTING WARRANTY MAINTENANCE TRAINING FINAL SYSTEM ACCEPTANCE POLICY PENALTIES DELAYS AND NON-PERFORMANCE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION ARCHITECTURE...18

3 3.2.1 FULLY AUTOMATED PROCESS ARCHITECTURAL OPTIONS CENTRAL REFERENCE DATABASE CORE PROTOCOLS TRANSACTION MODULES AND RELATED PROTOCOLS TECHNICAL ASPECTS APPLICATION SERVER COMMUNICATION NETWORK MANAGEMENT AND REPORTS MNP LOOK-UP QUALITY OF SERVICE CAPACITY AVAILABILITY SECURITY TEST EQUIPMENT PRICING PRICING FOR THE FULL SERVICE OFFER PRICING FOR THE SOLUTION OFFER...24

4 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 GENERAL REMARKS (a) The current Request for Proposal ('RFP') is established under the Luxembourg telecom act of March 21, 1997 'la loi modifiée du 21 mars 1997 sur les télécommunications' and in particular Section 2, Numbering (article 33) stating that the 'Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation ('Institute' or 'ILR') is in charge of the conception of a national numbering plan and its administration and control. (b) The Institute is defining the rules regarding the numbering plan and the portability of numbers. (c) The Request for Proposal is further made with reference to the regulation defining the conditions for mobile operators, 'règlement grand ducal du 14 décembre 2001 fixant les conditions minimales du cahier des charges pour l'établissement et l'exploitation de réseaux et de services de télécommunications mobiles', in particular to Section IV, Specific disposals for 3G networks (article 20) requiring the introduction of number portability if technically feasible. (d) The Request for Proposal is further made with reference to the legislation on the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector, in particular to Luxembourg's data protection law of August 2nd, 2002 'loi du 2 août 2002 relative à la protection des personnes à l'égard du traitement des données à caractère personnel'. (e) The objective of the current Request for Proposal is to provide effective technical facilities to allow a coordinated introduction of mobile number portability in Luxembourg and to enable the Institute to administrate and control the national numbering plan. (f) The 'Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation' is the only competent authority in consideration to the present Request for Proposal. The Institute is represented by the Board as defined in article 55 of the Luxembourg Telecom Act of March 21, The corresponding address is: Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation - 45 Allée Scheffer - L 2922 Luxembourg. (g) The Request for Proposal is given in cooperation with the 'Mobile Number Portability' workgroup representing the actual licensed mobile operators in Luxembourg. (h) The order will be passed on the basis of a contract signed by the parties involved. All requirements in the current document may be used as explicit conditions in the contract. (i) The contract will be established with the bidder submitting the best offer relative to the notified selection criteria in paragraph 1.3. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 4 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

5 (j) All bidders have to comply with the instructions for bidders in chapter 2.2. The currency used for the said bid will be EURO and all prices shall be quoted in EURO, VAT excluded. (k) The Institute may set up a penalties scheme depending on the solution presented by the successful bidder according to paragraph 2.9. All penalties will be related to the untimely delivery of services or the non-respect of selection criteria. (l) The contract is governed by Luxembourg Law. Any dispute arising from the conclusion, performance, interpretation of this contract shall be amicably settled between the parties. Should the parties fail to reach an agreement, any dispute arising from this contract will be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Luxembourg. 1.2 MNP CONTEXT IN LUXEMBURG (a) The aim of this request for proposal is to introduce Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in Luxembourg, being operational according to the time schedule given in Annex 1 'Project timing'. (b) In a first phase, Mobile Number Portability will be introduced by the two established GSM mobile operators (Entreprise des Postes et Télécommunications Luxembourg and Tango S.A.) and later on by one new entrant mobile operator (Orange Luxembourg S.A.). All three operators have been awarded a 3G/UMTS licence EXPECTED PORTING SCENARIO (a) Luxembourg's mobile telecom landscape is marked by the limited size of the country ( citizens), the importance of its capital as a finance and business centre and the high mobile phone penetration (85%). On December 31st, 2002, there were in total active mobile phone subscribers with both mobile operators networks. The number of prepaid mobile phone subscribers is about in total. The high mobile phone penetration is partly due to the high percentage of cross-border commuters. (b) The expected growth of the number of subscribers is estimated at 3% per annum over the next 10 years. (c) The expected churn rate over the next few years is estimated at 20%. In the long term, it is estimated that 50 % of all churned customers will port their number. In a dynamic market, the porting activity is expected to be higher at the beginning. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 5 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

6 1.2.2 FIXED NUMBER PORTABILITY (a) There are 11 fixed network operators with a licence for fixed voice telephony in Luxembourg representing potential users of a common number portability solution. (b) Fixed number portability has been introduced in Luxembourg in may 2000 (Decision 00/36/ILT). From a technical perspective, a manual, based process has been implemented. As a routing mechanism, Onward Routing was chosen at the time. More than 300 numbers have been ported, mainly by unbundling the local loop (effective since Q3 2001) with an increased porting rate over the last months NUMBERING ISSUES (a) The ILR is expecting a technical tool for managing and monitoring the national numbering plan and the porting process. (b) Beside the management of the reference data base for ported numbers, the ILR has to manage the national numbering plan. A suitable tool shall include at least the following functions: interactive generation to a database of rules and procedures for the assignment and attribution of numbering resources interfaces for automated reservation and attribution of numbering resources including the monitoring of the timely ordering process interfaces for automated set-up of the invoicing process for attribution / reservation related to the effective use of numbers monitoring of the efficient use of the numbering resources set-up of a public and restricted Internet access for tariff transparency aspects generation of all kinds of statistical reports 1.3 SELECTION CRITERIA Any bidder shall confirm his capabilities related to the following selection criteria by providing proofs or certificates in his bid : (a) The retained solution shall provide the best cost/functionality relationship and shall be adapted to a viable commercial model adapted to the Luxembourg context. Therefore variants of solutions may be presented and different options allowing flexible implementations will be appreciated. (b) The successful bidder shall provide an experienced solution for Number Portability facilities. The provider shall have obvious references for the effective provisioning of facilities for Number Portability. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 6 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

7 (c) The retained technical solution shall be designed and implemented to fulfil in the best possible way the requirements described in this Request for Proposal. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 7 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

8 2 GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS 2.1 DEFINITIONS MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY (MNP) The term 'Mobile Number Portability (MNP)' refers to facilities enabling a customer to change his mobile network operator and/or service provider while retaining his E.164 number REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) This document with all its annexes PROJECT The Project as defined in this Request For Proposal. The Project starts with the issue of this Request For Proposal and ends with the final acceptance of the proposed system or service BID The commercial proposal made in compliance to this Request For Proposal. This proposal can be either a full service offer or a solution offer BIDDER The company submitting a Bid to the current RFP to the Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation (ILR) SUCESSFUL BIDDER / CONTRACTOR The Bidder that has been awarded the contract of the current Request for Proposal PURCHASER The Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation (ILR) or a defined legal entity that will sign the Contract with the Successful Bidder. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 8 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

9 2.1.8 CONTRACT The legally binding document for the current project, drafted by the Purchaser and signed by the Purchaser and the Successful Bidder SUB-CONTRACTOR Any third party or external company, the Contractor is relying on to fulfil his obligations specified in the Contract. 2.2 INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS INTENT OF BIDDING PROCESS (a) The intent of this Request for Proposal document is to secure under contract all software, hardware equipment, concept and protocol specifications as well as engineering, installation, testing, training and maintenance services required for the installation of a system providing Mobile Number Portability in Luxembourg. Three core functions are considered to be key factors in the proposed system: enabling all necessary communication between operators involved in the porting process managing and maintaining the relevant porting data in a secure and appropriate way managing and monitoring the national numbering plan (b) The provided system is to be a complete and fully functional solution under the prerequisite that the participating operators have properly implemented the proposed porting protocol. All operator-specific adaptations are out of the scope of the present RFP. (c) A Bidder, by making the bid, guarantees that his company possesses the expertise, software, hardware and personnel necessary to provide an efficient and successful installation of a fully functional system or service. (d) RESPONSES TO THIS RFP WILL CONSTITUTE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE FINAL CONTRACT TO BE NEGOTIATED WITH THE SUCCESSFUL BIDDER INVITATION TO BID (a) Bidders are invited to submit a bid response based on the general terms and conditions, the system requirements and the operational and maintenance requirements described in this document. All bids must be in accordance with the M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 9 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

10 specifications and information contained herein and the annexes to this document, as well as with any addenda, if required, issued by the Purchaser. (b) There are two options for the commercial offer: o Solution offer: the Bidder offers all hardware, software and installation, documentation, training, maintenance services in the perspective of handing over the solution to the Purchaser who will receive it and subsequently operate the solution himself or through a third party. o Full service offer: the Bidder offers a full service, including hosting and operation of the service. He will offer Mobile Number Portability as a service towards operators and the Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation (ILR). See chapter 4 for details. (c) Bidders are welcome to make a proposal for both options. The Bidder shall clearly state the pros and cons of the submitted options. (d) Paragraphs in this document that only apply to a Solution offer will be labelled as such: [Solution offer only]. Paragraphs in this document that only apply to a Full service offer will be labelled as such: [Full service offer only] SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS (a) Prior to submitting bids, each Bidder is requested to carefully consider the amount and character of the work to be done as well as the difficulties involved in its proper execution. Bidders shall include in their bids all costs deemed necessary to cover all contingencies essential to successfully installing the specified system. Any cost not specifically itemized in the proposal shall not be incurred unless specifically agreed upon in writing. No claims for compensation will be considered or allowed for extra work resulting from non-observation of any existing conditions concerning the Bidder. (b) All Bids must be precise and numbered corresponding to the numbering in the RFP. All numbered items specifying a requirement and not necessarily needing a specific response shall be acknowledged by the Bidder by indicating Acknowledged after the corresponding number in the bid response. Annex 2 Type of responses indicates which points require detailed descriptions or explanations in addition to the formal answer. Alternatives to the specification will be accepted and evaluated, but only if they are in addition to, and not in place of, the Purchaser's stated requirements. Excessive cross-referencing to available documents will be considered non-responsive. Any exception must be clearly specified as such and the Purchaser reserves the right to reject any bids that do not comply to this specification (c) The Purchaser reserves the right to accept any bid or, at its discretion, reject any or all bids if they don t comply to these instructions. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 10 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

11 (d) The reception of a bid response does not oblige the Purchaser to pay any expenses incurred by the Bidder in preparation of the bid response or oblige the Purchaser in any other respect. (e) The Purchaser reserves the right to modify the specifications contained herein at any time during the bidding period. No modification or interpretation of the specifications other than through the issue of addenda will be binding for the Purchaser. Bidders must notify the Purchaser as soon as possible of any omissions or errors in the specifications so that corrective addenda may be issued. Such notifications must be received by the Purchaser at least ten (10) days prior to the deadline for reception of bids. (f) Bidders are required to send a registered mail to the address indicated on the front page of this document by May 16, 2003 stating their intent to submit a proposal. Proposals will not be accepted from bidders who have not submitted a letter of intent. (g) Two (2) hard copies and two electronic copies of the bid response are required for submission. Bids will be accepted by registered mail or by direct delivery if received no later than the indicated delivery deadline and to the address indicated on the front page of this document. Proposals received after this deadline will be returned unopened. (h) All technical questions regarding this RFP may be submitted to ILR in writing at any time before or on May 16, 2003, at the address indicated on the front page of this document or by fax: If there are questions regarding the RFP specifications, any new information or changes to this RFP will be sent to all bidders. (i) A pre-bid conference may be held at the premises of the ILR. Questions regarding the Request for Proposal will be addressed at this meeting, and it is required that all potential bidders attend. (j) All proposals submitted will be considered property of the Purchaser and may be released in part or in total for third party evaluation unless other arrangements are requested at the time of proposal submission. (k) The Purchaser reserves the right to use any design ideas or concepts presented in any proposal submitted in response to this RFP, whether amended or not. (l) Proposals submitted may be reviewed and evaluated by any person at the discretion of the Purchaser, including non-allied and independent consultants retained by the Purchaser, now or in the future, with the exception of persons in direct competition with this proposal. (m) The selected bidder will be considered the primary contractor and will assume total responsibility for providing the Purchaser with all software, hardware, documentation and other services needed to make the system fully operational by the date agreed upon. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 11 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

12 (n) The Purchaser requires the successful Bidder to sign a contract drafted by the Purchaser including all the requirements, deliverables and remedies negotiated by and agreed on by both parties. The contract shall be compliant to the laws of Luxembourg. (o) Bidders may submit a draft contract as part of their proposal, in coherence with the RFP and the Bid. 2.3 CONTRACT ISSUES RISK OF LOSS All risks of loss or damage to the hardware equipment during and until delivery to the Purchaser as a result of fire, theft, water, malicious intent, mischief or other causes shall be borne by the successful Bidder. This responsibility shall continue until reception by the Purchaser LAWS, ORDINANCES, CODES, ETC. The successful Bidder will comply with all applicable laws, codes, ordinances, rules and regulations applicable to the work to be performed PATENT INFRINGEMENTS The successful Bidder shall agree to indemnify the Purchaser with respect to any legal suit, claim or proceeding which may be brought against it claiming that the use of the proposed system constitutes an infringement of any patent or trade secret. The successful Bidder will further agree to defend the Purchaser against any such claims and to pay all litigation costs, attorneys' fees, settlement payments and any damages awarded or resulting from any such claims IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE (a) Each Bidder is required to submit with the bid response a detailed Implementation Schedule outlining major milestones and associated time frames and methods of project control. This Implementation Schedule has to comply to the overall milestones specified in Annex 1 Project Timing. (b) The successful Bidder shall assign a Project Manager who will assume overall responsibility for the project. (c) All appropriate details shall be specified in the Implementation Schedule. (d) The dates for commencement and completion of the specified work are essential conditions of the contract. The successful Bidder is required to proceed M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 12 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

13 with the work at a rate of progress which will ensure full completion within the contract time, subject to delays caused by Purchaser. It is expressly understood by and agreed upon by the successful Bidder and the Purchaser that the contract time for completion of the work as stated in Annex 1 Project Timing is reasonable PROJECT RESPONSIBILITIES (a) The selected bidder will be considered the primary contractor and will assume total responsibility for providing the Purchaser with all software, hardware and documentation and other services needed to make the system fully operational by the date agreed upon. The Purchaser will require references, names and responsibilities of those to be assigned to this project. (b) If the primary contractor decides to use the services of one or more subcontractors, the following applies: the Purchaser reserves the right to select and approve subcontractors; the primary contractor must agree to be responsible for the actions and quality of workmanship of the subcontractor(s). The primary contractor, at all times during performance and until work is completed and accepted, shall have a competent project manager, satisfactory to the Purchaser and with authority to act for the primary contractor. This project manager will be the single point of contact during the whole duration of the project CONTRACT DURATION (a) [Full service offer only] The proposed contract duration is set to five years. (b) [Solution offer only] The Bidder shall include a maintenance contract covering five years PAYMENT SCHEDULE All Bidders shall submit a detailed payment schedule showing percentage payment requirements and the corresponding anticipated dates for work completion in respect with the final acceptance policy of paragraph 2.8. No excessive upfront payment will be considered by the Purchaser. 2.4 INSTALLATION PROCESS DOCUMENTATION Prior to the final system acceptance, the successful Bidder shall submit two (2) complete sets of system manuals including system description, detailed protocol description, installation, operation and maintenance procedures to the M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 13 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

14 Purchaser. The successful Bidder agrees to update these manuals as updates are published and shall grant the Purchaser permission to copy any or all portions of these documents for internal use PROGRESS REPORTS During the installation process, the successful Bidder shall: Submit monthly progress reports pertaining to all aspects of the fulfillment of the installation process. Meet with Purchaser's personnel in Luxembourg at least eight times or when needed to discuss the progress of the installation CHANGES TO THE CONTRACT (a) During the course of the installation process, the Purchaser will, as requested or as seems desirable, issue clarifications about the specifications. Any clarification that constitutes a change to the contract shall be notified in the form of a Change Proposal identifying all associated changes and their cost impact. (b) During the course of the installation process, either party may issue requests for changes in the contract. This shall take the form of a Change Proposal which, if accepted by both parties, shall be executed as a change to the contract which will thereby be amended to the extent of the change. If, according to the Purchaser, a need for immediate action exists, the successful Bidder may be instructed to proceed with the proposed change on a time and materials basis. In no event shall changes involving extra cost to the Purchaser be allowed without his prior approval RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PURCHASER DURING THE INSTALLATION PROCESS The Bidder shall clearly define the expected responsibilities and arrangements of the Purchaser during the installation phase of the project TESTING (a) The Bidder shall clearly define all post-installation tests to be performed, and propose a detailed test schedule, clearly stating the parties involved in the respective tests. After completion of the tests a detailed test report will be given to the Purchaser. (b) During the testing phase, the successful Bidder shall give testing support to the operators at no additional costs and until the respective link is successfully set up and fully functional. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 14 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

15 2.5 WARRANTY (a) The successful Bidder shall warrant that all software is bug-free and working as expected, that all materials and equipment furnished according to the contract are new and in good working order, free from defects and in conformity with system specifications. All installed equipment must comply to the manufacturer's official, published specifications. The warranty shall begin at the system acceptance date and remain in effect for a period of one (1) year from that date. The successful Bidder shall agree to repair, adjust and/or replace any defective equipment, materials or other parts of the system at his own cost. The Purchaser will incur no costs for service or replacement of parts during the warranty period of one (1) year. (b) The successful Bidder shall warrant that the system will accommodate traffic at the levels specified in all appropriate sections of this Request for Proposal. 2.6 MAINTENANCE (a) Each Bidder is required to provide a complete maintenance plan including periodic routine maintenance, and emergency interventions within escalation procedures including phone hotline, remote access and on-site interventions. The maintenance plan shall cover a least normal business hours from Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 17:00 and optionally during the following extended time frame: Monday to Saturday, 7:00 to 19:00. (b) Each Bidder shall clearly state and explain his maintenance policy, including the expected evolution of his solution. He shall furthermore provide the financial and technical descriptions and conditions for the introduction of new services and for the compliance to existing and future standards in the telecom industry. (c) [Solution offer only] All associated costs shall be included in this section. The maintenance contract shall include on-site interventions and bug fixing. (d) The successful Bidder shall certify the ability to provide spare parts and the ability to maintain the system for at least ten (10) years and shall not have the right to terminate or assign its obligations without the prior written consent of the Purchaser. (e) The successful Bidder shall offer a software escrow mechanism with defined levels of access to protect against business discontinuity. This mechanism shall guarantee source code maintenance continuity, even in circumstances where business continuity of the successful Bidder is no longer guaranteed. (f) The successful Bidder must provide contact names and details to be used in case of ordinary and extraordinary problems. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 15 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

16 2.7 TRAINING (a) [Solution offer only] The successful Bidder shall provide training for up to three (3) employees of the Purchaser or any appointed third party on how to operate and maintain the system. Each Bidder shall clearly describe user training provided, including materials and procedures employed. The successful Bidder shall provide all reference manuals, booklets and other materials required for training. (b) [Solution offer only] The Purchaser may under certain circumstances handle his own equipment maintenance. Bidders are requested to indicate availability and approximate costs of suitable training programs. 2.8 FINAL SYSTEM ACCEPTANCE POLICY (a) The successful Bidder conducts a final acceptance test in conjunction with the Purchaser to validate that work has been completed in accordance with the terms and conditions of the above; that all defects have been eradicated; that all accounts for extra work and material and allowances for omissions have been rendered and agreed upon; and that the system has functioned at a normal operating load for a period of forty (40) continuous working days. (b) [Full service offer only] Final acceptance of the system is a mandatory condition before the Mobile Number Portability service can be charged to operators and ILR. (c) [Solution offer only] A standard 20% holdback of the Contract Price will be implemented and final payment will not be released until the final system acceptance. 2.9 PENALTIES DELAYS AND NON-PERFORMANCE (a) The successful Bidder agrees to the defined overall milestones specified in Annex 2 Project Timing. For each week of delay caused by the Successful Bidder, a global discount of 2% will be applied to the overall amounts to be invoiced. (b) [Full service offer only] In case of a full service offer, the discount caused by project delays will be applied to all fees to be charged in the first 3 years of operation. (c) If the delay exceeds 12 weeks, the project will be considered as 'Non- Performance'. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 16 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

17 (d) In the event of non-performance on the part of the successful Bidder (i.e., failure and/or inability to meet agreed upon deadlines and specifications as outlined herein), consequential damages may be claimed by the Purchaser. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 17 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

18 3 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (a) For each of the System Requirements listed in this section, the Bidder must indicate the statement that best describes how his system meets the requirement. (S) -- SUPPORTED (P) -- PARTIALLY SUPPORTED (N) -- NOT SUPPORTED (b) In addition to the formal answers, detailed descriptions on provision and implementation of requested functions are required for paragraphs listed in Annex 2 Types of responses. In addition, a global description of the system as a whole shall be submitted. 3.1 FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION (a) The proposed system has to provide number portability to mobile operators in Luxembourg with the possibility to extend this scope to fixed network operators. (b) All required central facilities, functions, protocols, procedures, mechanisms to provide MNP as well as all related necessary software and hardware are within the scope of this RFP. The major functional aspects are described in the following paragraphs. (c) Aspects related to call routing and signalling between the operators including adaptations to be made on the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) equipment and related applications (e.g. Customer Care and Billing System) are outside the scope of this RFP. 3.2 ARCHITECTURE FULLY AUTOMATED PROCESS (a) The number portability process shall be a fully automated process requiring no manual intervention between operators to perform a porting. (b) However, in order to also provide support for smaller fixed line operators, a manual number porting procedure shall be possible via a standard Webbrowser. (c) The compatibility between manual and automated procedures shall be guaranteed. For instance a number could be ported manually by the recipient and M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 18 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

19 automatically by the donor. This mixed mode is also intended for testing purposes and to allow getting started rapidly ARCHITECTURAL OPTIONS (a) For the current RFP two (2) architectural options will be accepted : A. Architecture with centralized reference database and a centralized communication management B. Architecture with centralized reference database and with distributed communication management (b) The Bidder may chose the option that will enable him to provide advanced functionalities at the lowest overall costs. The bidder shall clearly indicate which option constitutes the basis of his proposal. Figure 1: Option A with fully centralized architecture M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 19 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

20 Figure 2: Option B with distributed communication CENTRAL REFERENCE DATABASE The central reference database will at least contain the information about the mapping between MSISDN and the operator of the ported numbers. This database will be the reference for any number portability user. Data integrity must be guaranteed by the system. Beside this information, the central reference database shall contain transactions information about ongoing porting processes and a history log of accomplished porting processes CORE PROTOCOLS The protocols 1a, respectively 1b and 3b (depending on the chosen variant) are a mandatory part of the Bid. As these protocols, workflow and general principles that implement the porting procedures are essential elements of the entire number portability solution, they shall be described in detail TRANSACTION MODULES AND RELATED PROTOCOLS (a) As an alternative to the transaction modules (message handler) shown on figure 1 and 2, the proposal can be based on a defined interface 1a respectively 1b (depending on the chosen architectural option). M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 20 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

21 (b) The protocols 2a respectively 2b (depending on the chosen architectural option) between the transaction modules and the operator environments may be offered on an optional basis with the transaction modules. 3.3 TECHNICAL ASPECTS APPLICATION SERVER (a) The centralized part shall be based on a commonly used web application server architecture with a commonly used relational database system (e.g Oracle, MSQL, MySQL, or similar). (b) The used standards and development languages shall be part of one of the following frameworks: Sun ONE (JAVA, XML,...) Microsoft.NET COMMUNICATION NETWORK (a) As a communication network, the usage of VPNs over the Internet (IPsec encrypted) is planned. Backup routes between all involved sites over switched ISDN have to be offered. (b) It can be assumed that connectivity to the Internet and one ISDN basic rate access are available on all sites. The Bidder has to include any additionally needed hard- and software (e.g. Router, encryption module, etc..). (c) SOAP 1.1 or 1.2 is the preferred technology for the implementation of the protocols identified in chapter MANAGEMENT AND REPORTS (a) Management and supervision of the system shall be possible via a standard web browser. (b) Statistical reports on the porting activity shall be made available to operators and the ILR. Access to the log files and the status of ported or to be ported numbers shall be possible via web browser (c) An export possibility into a commonly available file format (e.g. Microsoft Excel) is required. (d) Facilities for the management of the national numbering plan as described in paragraph in addition to the management of the reference database for M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 21 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

22 ported numbers have to be provided. The time schedule for the software development of these facilities is estimated at 60 man/days. 3.5 MNP LOOK-UP (a) A MNP Look-Up accessible through the internet shall be offered optionally. This will allow end users to look up the hosting operator of any mobile number in order to provide pricing transparency. (b) As this application is directly connected to the Internet, an appropriate security architecture has to be proposed. 3.6 QUALITY OF SERVICE CAPACITY (a) The offered system or service shall be designed to handle at least peak porting activity of 100 portings per hour and a yearly porting capacity of portings. (b) Even at peak capacity levels, normal system management tasks (report generation, etc.) shall be performed at reasonable speed. (c) Application server, web server and database server may be operated from a single platform if the capacity requirements are still met AVAILABILITY (a) The porting process shall be designed in such a way that no service interruption occurs to the user of a ported number. This means that at all times calls made to the user shall be successfully routed. (b) All involved hardware shall at least be redundant on the following levels: Hard-disk redundancy (Raid 1 or Raid 5) Power-supply redundancy (c) Spare parts availability of all hardware used in the project shall be guaranteed to be on-site within 3 business days. (d) A mechanism for daily backups of all data has to be provided for. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 22 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

23 3.6.3 SECURITY (a) As the access to the system is already limited by the VPN, and there is a very limited group of potential users, a simple authentication mechanism with usernames and passwords is sufficient. (b) Hierarchical levels of access to the porting application and to statistics and reports with at least the following levels are required: system administrator access: operate the system regulators (ILR) access: view all reports and statistics operator read only access: view own reports and statistics operator manual port access: manual actor in the porting process operator system access: system access for automated porting TEST EQUIPMENT A test environment shall be offered as an option. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 23 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

24 4 PRICING As indicated in paragraph 2.2.2, the Bidder may propose two alternatives : a full service offer or a solution offer. 4.1 PRICING FOR THE FULL SERVICE OFFER For a full service offer, besides the pricing indications, the Bidder shall provide a detailed description of the assumptions made in his business plan. In respect to the pricing of a full service offer, a detailed description of offered services with a precise pricing per offered service shall be submitted. The Bidder shall indicate at least: a porting fee on a per porting basis, an initial fee for initialisation, testing and training, an annual subscription fee including maintenance costs by defined service level agreement, possible extension costs on a per operator basis / service basis, participation at meetings of the Working Group for Mobile Number Portability, especially for presentations, explanations and likely slight adaptations of pre-implemented porting procedures. 4.2 PRICING FOR THE SOLUTION OFFER The proposed solution shall enclose all required hard- and software and services like installation, testing, training, project supervision, maintenance (service level agreement), documentation, extensions, communication network etc. with a precise pricing per offered service item. The solution offer shall describe and price all aspects in respect to a potential new user, e.g. mobile or fixed operator, of the proposed solution offer. The offer shall include the participation at meetings of the Working Group for Mobile Number Portability during the implementation process of the Project, especially for presentations, explanations and likely slight adaptations of preimplemented porting procedures. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 24 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

25 Annex 1 : Project timing* Task Deadline Order placement 29 th Week 2003 ( ) Protocol specifications ready 32 th week 2003 ( ) Procedures ready 44 th week 2003 ( ) System set-up, ready for testing 45 th week 2003 ( ) System ready for production 47 th week 2003 ( ) Go live 48 th week 2003 ( ) Final reception 5 th week 2004 ( ) * Revision of this Project timing may be proposed by the Bidder, taken into account that the order will not be made before week 29 and the task 'Go Live' has to be completed at latest during week 48. M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 25 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003

26 Annex 2 : Types of responses In addition to the formal responses (according instructions under and 3) that are required for each paragraph, selected ( ) paragraphs or chapters in the table below, require detailed descriptions or explanations. Paragraph Heading Detailed descriptions and explanations required 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 GENERAL REMARKS 1.2 MNP CONTEXT IN LUXEMBURG 1.3 SELECTION CRITERIA 2 GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS 2.1 DEFINITIONS 2.2 INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS 2.3 CONTRACT ISSUES 2.4 INSTALLATION PROCESS 2.5 WARRANTY 2.6 MAINTENANCE 2.7 TRAINING 2.8 FINAL SYSTEM ACCEPTANCE POLICY 2.9 PENALTIES 3 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 3.1 FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION 3.2 ARCHITECTURE 3.3 TECHNICAL ASPECTS 3.4 MANAGEMENT AND REPORTS 3.5 MNP DIRECTORY 3.6 QUALITY OF SERVICE 4 PRICING 4.1 PRICING FOR THE FULL SERVICE OFFER 4.2 PRICING FOR THE SOLUTION OFFER M-PLIFY S.A., Luxembourg page 26 of 26 Mobile Number Portability RFP, 4/2003