Circularized Letter Nº 01

Transcription

1 Circularized Letter Nº 01 PRIVATE CALL FOR BIDS UPON INVITATION N 02/2014 SUPPLY OF VSAT BROADBAND IP SATELLITE HUB Please be advised of the issuance of the following Clarification Letter: To the interested parties: Please be advised that: 1º) The date for submission of BIDS has been extended until October 30, 2014 at noon. 2º) The BID Opening Act has been extended until 12:30 p.m. of October 30, Please find the answers below in blue to all questions received. Administrative questions 1- Is it possible to obtain the MS Word version of the Espeficiaciones-Técnicas.pdf and términos-de-referencia.pdf documents for ease of use in the process of responding to ARSAT needs? A: No. It is not possible. 2- Is it absolutely necessary to submit the technical and commercial bid in physical format or can it be submitted in electronic format with acknowledged receipt from ARSAT? A: It must be submitted in physical format as stated in the RFP.

2 3- Section 9.i Contents of Volume VI- Financial BID. The FINANCIAL BID may be submitted in United States dollars, which shall be the currency of the contract. Q: Will payment be made in United States Dollars to international accounts or in Pesos to a local account in the Argentine Republic? A: Payment will be in Dollars to a foreign provider. 4- Section 14. The BIDDERS must submit their BID in ONE (1) envelope, box or package perfectly closed at the headquarters of the BIDDER until XXXXXX XX, 2014, at 12 p.m., Argentine time. Q: Does ARSAT expect the documents to be submitted to be directly issued by the manufacturer's Headquarters? A: Yes, the documents to be submitted are expected to come from the Manufacturer's Headquarters. 5- Section 14. PLACE, DATE AND METHOD FOR PRESENTATION OF THE BIDS Q: Is the time for submission of documents 12:00pm or before 12:00pm (noon), Argentina's local time? How soon may bids be submitted? A: Bids may be submitted as soon as they are available, with the deadline being the date and time of submission of Bids stated in the RFP OPENING OF THE ENVELOPES. Q: ARSAT states that envelopes will be opened in the presence of a notary public. Will such notary be provided by ARSAT for the reception of all bidders or each bidder's legal representative should submit the documents in the company of a notary public? A: The notary public will be provided by ARSAT for the reception of all bids. 7- Section 9. Bid - Subsection i. Contents of Volume VI - FINANCIAL BID The prices shall be listed CIF, excluding any expenses associated to the nationalization of those prices (shipping fee and other bank expenses, custom tariffs, statistical fees and any other taxes levied on those transactions) applicable to date. Please confirm if CIF prices should include transportation expenses and international insurance up to Argentina's port. A: Yes, they must include transportation expenses and international insurance up to Argentina's port. 8- Section 17. Examination and Comments to Bid Contents Bidders may examine the Bids within three (3) business days following the date of opening of the envelopes,...

3 During Bid review, is it possible to make copies or take photographs of Bids? A: It is NOT possible to make copies or take photographs of Bids during their review. 9- Q: Will the letters of credit for USD 500 for each objection not be executed if any such objections are admitted or if ARSAT finds them reasonable? - Please specify and list the circumstances under which the letters of credit will be executed.. - Please specify and list the circumstances under which the letters of credit will NOT be executed. - Please specify and list the criteria to be used to determine whether an objection is reasonable. 10- Section 19. Prequalification Decision The letters of credit for USD 10,000 for each challenge to another bidder shall not be executed if the comment is eventually admitted. - Please specify and list the circumstances under which the letters of credit will be executed. - Please specify and list the circumstances under which the letters of credit will NOT be executed. - Please specify and list the criteria to be used to determine whether an objection is reasonable. 11- Section 21. Award ARSAT s Board of Directors shall award the Contract to the most convenient BID, taking into consideration the Prequalification Decision issued by the Evaluation Committee and any other additional information aimed at guaranteeing the best possible contracting conditions. The contract shall be awarded to the most convenient bid for ARSAT. Please advise whether the contract will be awarded to the provider having the highest evaluation score (technical + financial) or if it may be awarded to other bidders in the event ARSAT considers them to be more convenient despite having a lower score (technical + financial) Section 27. Penalties for Various Breaches The document states the possibility of applying a penalty of 0.5% of the total amount of the Agreement for each day of delay.

4 Please advise whether there is a maximum amount for any accumulated penalties. We suggest it should be the usual amount for this type of contracts, i.e., 10% of contract value. A: There is no maximum amount. 13- Section Financial Evaluation The Evaluation Committee shall calculate the Net Present Value at a discount rate equivalent to LIBOR percentage points... Please advise whether it refers to 400 basis points or 4 percentage points (see Wikipedia). A: It refers to 400 basis points, or 4%. Technical questions 1- Section 1. Subsection 1.4. HUB VSAT Broadband shall be designed in rack space, power supplies, servers, modulators, demodulator slots, routers and licensed hardware equipment and software necessary to support at least the capabilities required, namely: Q. 1: The traffic table included in the document has a parameter called 'CR' with a value of 16. Please advise on the meaning of CR as it is not included in the glossary. A: CR: Contention Ratio Q. 2: If that CR is the CIR, does it mean that the minimum data rate expected for each station is 16Kbps for 800 simultaneous air stations? Based on a total network size in peak hours (before entering the VSAT network) of 16KbpsX800 sites: 12800Kbps, this value is deemed to be very low. A: CR refers to the maximum amount of simultaneous users who share a given bandwidth. 2- Section 1. Subsection 1.4 Q: The traffic table included in the document does not show the system oversubscription and/or concurrence rate and/or CIR rate. A: 256/128 Kbps CR 16 profile: Maximum throughput guaranteed for 200 users in the profile: 3,2 Mbps / 1,6 Mbps.

5 512/256 Kbps CR 16 profile: Maximum throughput guaranteed for 200 users in the profile: 6,4 Mbps / 3,2 Mbps. 1024/512 Kbps CR 16 profile: Maximum throughput guaranteed for 200 users in the profile: 12,8 Mbps / 6,4 Mbps. 1536/1024 Kbps CR 16 profile: Maximum throughput guaranteed for 200 users in the profile: 19,2Mbps / 12,8 Mbps. 3- Section 1. Subsection With the initial provision, it shall allow through L Band interfaces, simultaneous connection with at least two (2) antennas so as to operate and manage communications with two (2) different Outbounds / satellites simultaneously. Final capability for the equipment shall be scalable up to five (5) simultaneous Outbounds/ antennas/ satellites, with the addition of boards or modules in the existing chassis or servers. Q: It is not clear if the HUB hardware MUST be ready for operation with two (2) antennas/satellites simultaneously or if it should just activate one satellite, stating the scalability costs for another satellite (2 to 5) as described in section A: It must be ready to operate 2 Outbounds/IB which may be in the same satellite or in two different satellites. It must have the potential to expand from 2 to 5 OB/IB chains that may be in the same satellite or in different satellites. 4- Section 1. Subsection The Modem/ Routers of Remote Stations and VSAT Central HUB should implement without the addition of hardware or licenses, at least two (2) simultaneous Outbound carriers with different frequencies and parameters so as to support migration or operation with another satellite. Q: Regarding the need to handle two simultaneous Outbounds, is it required for migration issues or operation with another satellite? Does this mean that the Modem/Router MUST have two (2) stand-alone demodulators that may operate, but just one at a time, and not the two (2) of them simultaneously? A:

6 Remote Stations: It means being able to enter alternative OB parameters in remote stations for eventual migrations to another section within the same satellite. HUB: It means being able to transmit a simultaneous OB to perform migrations to another satellite. 5- Section 1. Subsection The system to be provided either through fixed or portable stations should at least allow the use of the following protocols and/or services: applications on UDP and TCP, and by way of example: virtual private networks (VPM), Digital Media Streaming, Video Conference under H.323 and SIP, Voice on IP under H.323, SIP, Routing protocols, RIP, RIP2, OSPF, BGP-4, IGMP, Multicast and Nat translation. Q: We understand that the need for multi-route protocols such as OSPF and/or BGP-4 applies from the HUB to the ground network and not to the satellite network. Since the satellite section is the only means of transmission possible between the HUB and the remote station, these types of protocols that add delay and headers to the network don't make any sense. Please confirm. A: It should be able to take on one end data routed through such protocols and deliver them on the other end under the same routing protocol. 6- Section 1. Subsection 1.29 Bidder should specify and justify the methods used for Bandwidth Optimization. Q: Will Arsat compare traffic with and without acceleration? Do satellite calculations to be delivered include both assumptions? A: Link calculations shall be submitted without acceleration. 7- Section 1. Subsection It should also offer the possibility of making Transmission Security over the satellite (TRANSEC). Q: Is this requirement optional or mandatory for remote stations? Do all remote stations have to support TRANSEC or is it enough to state that it is optional and include the cost per unit? A: It should have the ability to do it and the additional cost per unit should be quoted. 8- Section 1. Subsection 1.37/f It should enable secure connections by means of 128 bits 3 DES or AES minimum encryption between the HUB and the Remote Station Modem/ Routers Q: Must all modems have this default function as part of the proposal?

7 A: It refers to the HUB. 9- Section 1. Subsection 1.38/a Calculations shall be made for clear sky conditions and for a minimum 99.7% monthly Availability. Considering the HUB in Benavídez, Province of Buenos Aires, the remote points shall be as follows: Benavidez, Ushuaia, San Salvador de Jujuy, Mendoza, and Santa Rosa. As to traffic IP, 1024 Kbps on OB direction and 1024 Kbps on IB direction shall be taken as reference Q: What is the purpose of using only one profile type as reference when all of them are supposed to meet the 99.7% conditions? A: Only one profile and the conditions described in Annex I are taken as reference so that comparisons between providers are made under the same parameters. The phrase "types of Remote Stations stated in Item and 6.1.2" should read "types of Remote Stations stated in Item and " 10- Section 1. Subsection 1.38/a. Calculations shall be made for clear sky conditions and for a minimum 99.7% monthly Availability. Considering the HUB in Benavídez, Province of Buenos Aires, the remote points shall be as follows: Benavidez, Ushuaia, San Salvador de Jujuy, Mendoza, and Santa Rosa. As to traffic IP, 1024 Kbps on OB direction and 1024 Kbps on IB direction shall be taken as reference Q. Will the Link Budget's BERT rate be 10-8 for 99.97% both for Outbound and Inbound? A: Yes 11- Section 1. Subsection Inbound carrier in return channels should be MF-TMDA, RCS or IPoS, compatible with ACM coding. Q: Please kindly add dynamic FDMA to avoid discrepancies in terms that might rule out our proposal, which is dynamic FDMA, as we are on the list of invited providers. A: FDMA is added to subsection Section 1. Subsection 1.46 The proposed HUB should be able to set up outbounds and inbounds in multiple satellites and different transponders with different polarizations. The equipment units that make up each network should be operated

8 both in co-polarized satellites and in x-polarized satellites, without the need of changing or adding equipment units. Q: The System needs to include modulators for each satellite and the necessary components in order to have multisatellite ability in the Outbound. What is the minimum number of satellites or transponders that require design? See answer to question No Section 1. Subsection The proposed HUB should have a scalability of 45 Msps up to 156 Msps in 1-Msps steps. The Bidder should specify up to how many 45-Msps carriers may be operated, and up to how many satellites may be supported. Idem for return channels. Q: When it refers to "Idem for return channels", is it referring to capacity? To how many satellites may be supported, and not to the 45 Msps capacity? A: That's correct, please add maximum Inbound capacities in sps. 14- Section 1. Subsection Hub should support SCPC connections with some Remote Stations. The proposal should contemplate all Hardware and software necessary for 8 SCPC channels. It should also detail the cost of the addition of an additional SCPC channel. Q: What is the expected speed in these 8 SCPC stations? Will they have any of the 4 profiles described in the RFP? A: Up to 5 Mbps in both directions. If this is not possible, please state the maximum speed available. When ARSAT refers to SCPC, does it require the VSAT to have the resources available in the return channel and the bandwidth and frequencies exclusively and permanently without sharing the resource with other VSATs? A: SCPC bandwidth must be independent from that of the shared system. 15- Section 1. Subsection 1.51 The IB demodulators should be compatible with the standard DBV-S2 and with ACM (Adaptive Coding and Modulation). Bidder should indicate the assignment process and the policies of the different modulation schemes for the assignment of traffic from Remote Stations towards the HUB, stating if the different profiles and grouped and fixed or if they may be dynamically managed at individual level by each Remote Station.

9 Q: Does ARSAT expect the VSAT modem to handle dual RCS, TDMA, FDMA and DVBS2 operation? A: ARSAT expects the system to support the DVB-S2-RCS standard; additionally, it requests to know whether the Inbound bandwidth should be fragmented by modulation types or if it may be dynamically modified based on the requirements of each remote station. 16- Item 1: Supply of a VSAT Broadband IP Satellite HUB Item 1.5 Bidder should consider a 20% growth in the number of remote stations and profiles required in the previous point. Please advise whether the Hub to be supplied on the hardware level should be designed from day zero, to support the stated 20% growth in addition to the 800 remote stations. A: Confirmed, it should be designed including the provision for the additional 20%. 17- Items 1.27, 1.28, 1.38 and 18.1 Please confirm which calculation should be submitted: the calculation requested in items 1.27, 1.28 and 1.38 of the Technical Specifications? Or the calculation requested in section 18.1 Technical Evaluation of the Terms of Reference - Arsat RFP document? A: The calculation requested in the Technical Specifications document. 18- Item 7: Supply of Remote Stations Subsection 7.10 A satellite positioning system through Web interface should be provided. Please provide further detail on the functionality requested. A: An automatic communication system between the remote station and the Teleport is required, where polarization and power data may be obtained as measured in the central node. Access to data in the remote side should be made possible at least by one Web interface.