STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Department of Administrative Services DAS RFB Communications Network Services VENDOR QUESTIONS WITH RESPONSES

Transcription

1 STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Department of Administrative Services DAS RFB Communications Network Services VENDOR QUESTIONS WITH RESPONSES Q1. Will the State consider extending the bid response due date by one week? A1. The bid due date will be extended to Thursday, May 31 at 2:30 P.M. Q2. Are the current contract rates available to vendors? A2. An abbreviated price listing follows: TYPE 1 ANALOG SERVICE Service Item Installation Cost Monthly Cost Additional Costs Toll Free Service Line $75.00 $19.97 / Line $..036 / Minute Toll Free Virtual Service $75.00 $10.00 per No. $.036 / Minute Basic Telephone Line $60.00 / Line $53.01 / Line Basic Rate ISDN, $ / Line $62.05 / Line0 Centrex, Concord, Portsmouth and Gilford $55.00 / Line $15.57 / Line Centrex Other Locations $55.00 / Line $45.20 / Line Basic Rate ISDN on Centrex $ / Line $ Concord, $61.92 non-concord Primary Rate ISDN on Centrex $ / Line $ / Line Centrex Call Processor $5.27 per Application $3.96 per Application Voice Mailbox, Concord, Portsmouth and Gilford Voice Mailbox,other locations $10.00 per Box $2.95 per Box $10.00 per Box $4.95 per Box Collect Calling/3 rd Party $1.65 per Call Tariff / minute rates Operator Assistance $1.65 per Call Person-to-Person Calling $3.55 per Call Tariff / minute rates NH LATA Toll Calling Interstate Intra-LATA Basic Rate ISDN, Non- Centrex Primary Rate ISDN, Non-Centrex $ / Line $ / Line $ / Line $.036 / Minute $.059 / Minute No Charge for Centrex to Centrex Calls; $.04 / Call; $.042 / minute per B Channel Outside of Centrex. $ Additional Charge for Unlimited Local Service Page 1 of 12

2 Service Item Installation Cost Monthly Cost Additional Costs DID 100 No. Block, Installation* $26.76 per Block $37.40 per Block T1 DID Service $ per $ per TYPE 2 LEGACY DATA Service Item Installation Cost Monthly Cost Additional Costs Special Service s $ per BANA Intraexchange $ per BANA Interexchange $ per FRNA Intraexchange $ per FRNA Interexchange $ per PLNA Intraexchange $ per PLNA Interexchange $ per RTNA Intraexchange $ per RTNA $32.00 per BANA Intra-exchange $32.00 per BANA Inter- exchange $32.00 per FRNA Intra-exchange $32.00 per FRNA Inter-exchange $35.00 per PLNA Intra- -exchange $35.00 per PLNA Interexchange $32.00 per RTNA Intraexchange $ per RTNA Inter-exchange $0.00 per Mile $9.50 per Mile $0.00 per Mile $9.50 per Mile $0.00 per Mile $9.50 per Mile $0.00 per Mile $9.50 per Mile Private Line Data 9.6 Kbps Intraexchange Private Line Data 9.6 Kbps Interexchange 9.6K or 19.2K Private Line Digital Data 56K Private Line Digital Data $ $76.00 per $ $ per point $ per point $43.00 (1 st channel per exchange) $83.80 Intra-office per 9.6K or 19.2K DDS $ Intra-office per 56K $32.00 Fixed Mileage Charge $1.45 per Mile $35.00 Fixed Mileage Charge $1.80 per Mile TYPE 3 DATA SERVICES Service Item Installation Cost Monthly Cost Additional Costs T1 Rate Point to Point- $ per $ per Concord to Concord $ per terminating in Urban or Suburban Density Zone $1, per terminating in Rural Density Zones Page 2 of 12

3 Service Item Installation Cost Monthly Cost Additional Costs T3 Rate Point-to Point $2.00 per $3, per Concord to Concord $5, per for locations with Same Serving Office $6, per terminating in Urban or Suburban Density Zone $7, per terminating in Rural Density Zones 56K Frame Relay $ per $99.00 per 384K Frame Relay 1.5 M Frame Relay 45M Frame Relay Mbps DS1 ATM within 50 miles of switch 45Mbps ATM 0 to 5 miles from switch $ per $ per $ per $ per $4, per $75.00 per $ per $80.00 per $2, per Includes first $10.00 per for 2 nd to 5 th $5.00 per for 6 th to 10 th $1.00 per for 11 th and Additional Includes first $10.00 per for 2 nd to 5 th $5.00 per for 6 th to 10 th $1.00 per for 11 th and Additional $0 for first $10.00 per for 2 nd to 5 th $5.00 per for 6 th to 10 th $1.00 per for 11 th and Additional Includes first $10.00 per for 2 nd to 5 th $5.00 per for 6 th to 10 th $1.00 per for 11 th and Additional Page 3 of 12

4 Service Item Installation Cost Monthly Cost Additional Costs 45Mbps TM 5 to 25 miles $80.00 per $5, per from switch 45Mbps ATM 25 to 50 $80.00 per $8, per miles from switch Single User 768/128Kbps Basic DSL $60.00 per $39.95 per 1.5Mbps/384Kbps DSL 384/384Kbps DSL 1.5Mbps/384Kbps DSL 7.1M/7684Kbps DSL $60.00 per $43.95 per $60.00 per $46.00 per $60.00 per $43.95 per $60.00 per $79.95 per Q3. Is a complete list of all telephone line numbers available to the Vendor? A3. No, many lines are unpublished. Releasing the information o the web will result in publication of these lines. Refer to Appendix D for line locations and Appendix H for exchanges used per city. Complete line numbers will be provided to contracted Vendor. Q4. What is the WAN equipment infrastructure? Is a complete inventory per location available? A4. An inventory is not available. Equipment is primarily manufactured by Cisco. Q5. Section 1.8 Pricing, page 7: The vendor must include individual pricing for all services specified within a service "Type" as listed...". What if a vendor does not offer the exact services but has a suitable alternative? Should we put a "no bid" in the pricing section and submit the alternative? A5. Vendor shall list the alternative service under the Substitute Technology (If Proposed) heading of the Award Items Table. Provide complete definition of each Substitute Technology as Service Substitute on page 98. Q6. Item 1.9, Contract Users, page 7: Does the vendor need to offer all terms and conditions as stated within the Bid to non-state entities? Page 4 of 12

5 A6. Services may be provided to non-state entities at terms and conditions mutually agreeable between the parties. All terms and conditions shall apply to State offices. Q7. Item 1.11, Contractor Certifications, page 8: Does the vendor need to provide the Certificate of good Standing from the Secretary of State along with the bid response? Do they need to be registered with the Bureau of Purchase and Property? A.7 No. These requirements only apply to Vendors awarded contracts. Q8. Section 2.0, page 9: Being the incumbent provider, does Verizon need to meet the requirements of this section and all subsections? A8. Yes, Verizon must agree to meet all requirements. Q9. Item Work Plan, page 9: Shouldn t any changes be mutually agreed upon by the Parties? A9. The State will work with the RFB awarded Vendor (s) after Bid award to insure specific details of service installations. Q10. Section 4.1 Response Submission, Deadline and Locations Instructions, page 16: Can original and copy responses be placed in the same shipping container to allow one box with separate bid containers? A10. Yes. Q11. Does the State specify font type and size? A11. No, but all text must be legible. Q12. Item 3.1, Schedule of Events, page 12: Vendor Inquiry Period ends 5/8. Will the State extended 1 week? Final date for Response submission 5/28. Will the State extended 1 week? A12. Vendor Inquiry Period will close on 5/8/2007 as stated in the bid. The final response submission date will be changed to 5/31/2007. Q13. Section , Project Manager, page 25: Does a Vendor need to provide the name and qualifications of the Project Manager? Page 5 of 12

6 A13. Yes, the Vendor must identify the Project Manager within the bid response and his/her qualifications as noted in section Project Staff. After Contract the Vendor may substitute personnel with the approval of the State as indicated in the third paragraph of this section. Q14. Section , Quantity of Service, page 32: The Vendor will require the State to maintain a minimum number of services in order to propose the best price for service. Will the State approve a minim service requirement as presented by the Vendor? A14. The vendor must offer services allowing the State to determine the quantity required of any service offered by the Vendor. The Vendor may offer quantity discounts in the Balance of Product Line section of Appendix C Pricing Worksheets. Q15. Item Dependability, page 32: What is the penalty for failure to meet dependability requirements. A15. The State, at its sole discretion, may choose to terminate services at any specific location and seek replacement service from another Vendor, or pursue any or all remedies as set forth in Appendix F: State of New Hampshire Terms and Conditions of the RFB. Q16. Item , Dependability, page 32: Verizon seeks to replace with the following: Vendors shall use commercial reasonable efforts to achieve a 99.9% dependability objective for its network services defined as; Private IP, ATM, Frame Relay, SES, Ethernet Private Line, and IP Trunks based upon a calendar month ( time period ). Objectives are measured as all lines of this category. If an objective is not met during the time period and a circuit or line becomes intermittent in connection or transport and repeatedly fails, Vendor will make commercially reasonable efforts to replace the circuit or line. For all other network services defined as; Centrex, Flexpath, ISDN PRI, BRI, 1MBs, Trunks, DDSII, Alarm s, Centrex Voice Mail, SuperPath T1, Conferencing, x DSL, provided Verizon, any failure of service continued for more than 24 hours and brought to the notice of the of Verizon within ten days, Vendor shall make a prorata credit adjustment of charges associated with the impacted service. For the purpose of determining the prorated adjustment, the time frame in the calendar month will apply Network dependability measurements will exclude service outage that is for scheduled maintenance or upgrades, or caused or delayed by customer, customer's equipment, customer agreements with other parties, or force majeure events as set forth in Appendix F section 11.0 A16. The section will remain as originally stated. Q17. Item Service Termination, page 32: Verizon submits the following amendment whereby the words failure rate and replacing them with objective : Page 6 of 12

7 In the event that any Type service experiences a 10% or more dependability objective event i.e.10% of all type services, lines or circuits become unavailable per the 99.9% up time dependability objective for a 7 consecutive day period, the state at its sole discretion, may choose to terminate all same type services at all locations and seek any or all remedies available under this contract A17. The section will remain as originally stated. Q18. Item Format, page 34: Does Verizon meet the requirements of this section? A18. Yes, Verizon currently meets the format requirements. Q19. Item , Monthly balance Reports, page 35: Does Verizon currently meet this requirement? A19. No, Verizon does not currently provide a master account balance report. Q20. Item Invoice Line/ Definition, page 37: Will the State allow the Vendor to list E911 and Federal fees separately: A20. Yes, as stated in item , All fixed monthly fees must be identified, inclusive of E911 or other government imposed fees that are applicable to State government operations. Q21. Item General Warranties, page 46 : Would the State consider removing this warranty? The State is already covered for third party infringements by the indemnifications located within Appendix F. However if the State requires a warranty it would be the State s sole and exclusive remedy. A21. This section will remain as originally stated. Q22. Item Software Warranties, page 47: Would the State consider removing this warranty? Because software that would be provided to the State is provided in accordance with the software publisher or by the equipment manufacture. A22. This section will remain as originally stated. Q23. Item , System Fraud Control, page 49: How will the Vendor be required to monitor network fraud control? Page 7 of 12

8 A23. The Vendor will be responsible to monitor fraud through network operations including detection of redundant operator access, third party calls, detection of line transfers to alternate contractors and invoice review among other vendor operations. Q24. Item Service Reports, page 63: Should this section appear elsewhere in the document defining a call distributor? Is this referring to the same service that Verizon has labeled a call processor? A24. This section is listed appropriately as a subsection under item Automated Attendant (Call Processor) Service. The requirement is to provide reports defining how the program tree and options under the tree function. Q25. Item , Priority Restoration, page 33: State must apply for Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) on lines (formal process defined by government) to receive official priority designation. A25. The vendor must work in conjunction with the State to insure any required forms are completed. Q26. Item , Corrective Data and Cut Sheets, page 35: Do current Verizon spreadsheets being provided to the State satisfy this requirement? A26. Verizon currently provides weekly installation service reports. The RFB requires daily reports. All other requirements of this section are met by Verizon. Q27. Item Monthly Balance Report, page 35: Do current Verizon billing formats satisfy this requirement? A27. No. Q28. Item , Billing Period, page 35: Verizon cannot meet this requirement for billing cycle to be changed to 1 st day of billed month for all services. Will State consider removing or modifying this requirement? A28. The requirement is to obtain billing based on a monthly cycle, from the first day of the billed month to through the last day of the billed month, inclusive. Bill month may start on any day of the month for each account. Verizon currently meets this requirement. Q29. Will the State accept partial bids for all service types? For example, if a vendor wishes to bid only intra/inter lata services, and not local? Page 8 of 12

9 A29. As noted in item 1. under Appendix C: Pricing Worksheets, vendor must propose all services within a Type service in order to provide an Offer. Partial Offers will not be accepted. Q30. Appendix C, Item 9, Page 83:. Disconnect Charge; In order to provide best possible rates, minimum lines quantities will apply. Verizon can waive termination for 20% of lines and allow for technology upgrade. Will the State consider modifying this requirement? A30. No, the requirement will remain as stated. The Vendor may provide alternate price offers within the Balance of Product Line table. Q31. Appendix C, Item 12, Page 84: If we price for demark extension of 150 feet on all installs, install price will increase on all installations. Will the State consider removing this requirement? A31. No, the requirement will remain as stated. Q32. Appendix C, items 18, 19 and 20, page 84. Verizon seeks the addition of the following new sub-bullets: 18. Subject to compliance with applicable law and regulation, rates for such tariffed services; Asynchronous Transfer Model (ATM), Business Basic service including Unlimited, Measured, Measured Service Four Element (4E), EPL, Direct Inward Dialing Service (DID) including 100 Number Group, Private Line Services, DIGIPATH Digital Service II, (DDSII), Digital PBX Services 1 FLEXPATH, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) Services ISDN Basic Service (BRI), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) Services ISDN Primary Service(PRI), Directory Assistance Service, Transparent LAN Service, Local Usage, will not be increased during the initial five (5) year term plus two (2) one year optional renewals thereof, or any such tariff increases will be offset in an equal amount by other rate reductions and/or additional credits or discounts provided by Vendor. 19. Verizon Business The following services Cisco Unity, Cisco IP Telephony, Verizon Managed IP PBX, Private IP and MNS services shall be provided pursuant to the rates, terms and conditions of the applicable Verizon Business Guides, located at Verizon Network Integration Corp. has included as the basis of its Alternative Solution response and governing documents, its Services Agreement and applicable Exhibits located within this Section of the RFP. Verizon will not assume any contractual obligations to provide the products described within this Alternative Solution response until NH and Verizon have enter into mutually agreed upon written agreement including but not limited to rates, terms, and conditions, covering such products and services proposed. Page 9 of 12

10 A32. Vendor must proposed fixed prices under special contract filing with the PUC if necessary. All prices must be included in the Bid response. The State will not be responsible to download pricing from other sources, nor allow variable pricing. The Bid requires firm, fixed pricing. The proposed sub-bullets will not be included in the RFB. Q33. Would the State accept pricing based on geography if it meant that the State could save money overall? A33. No. Variable pricing my be proposed in the Balance of Product Line table starting on page 94 of the RFB. Q34. Appendix F, Item 15.3, page 199: Does State mean section 15 here? A34. Yes, the item should read: This Section 16 shall survive termination of the Contract. Q35. Appendix F, Item 16.3, page 199: Does State mean section 16 here? A35. Yes, please see Addendum No. 1. Q36. Appendix G, Certificate of Vote, page 230: Will State accept Assistant Secretary Certificates for this again? A36. Yes. Q37. Appendix F, Terms and Conditions, item 7, page 194: Would the State accept the following addition to Section 7; Vendor reserves all rights under New Hampshire law to seek judicial resolution of the Contracting Officer s decision. A37. No. Q38. Appendix F Terms and Conditions, item 9, page 196: In Section 9 of Appendix F (Terms and Conditions), the State may terminate the contract if it determines that a conflict of interest exists. Please define "conflict of interest" A38. Conflict of Interest refers to conflicts which include, but are not limited to, ethical, legal, financial, or any other actual or apparent conflicts of interest prohibited under applicable state and federal laws and regulations, and common law. Page 10 of 12

11 Q39. Appendix F Terms and Conditions, item 10, page 196: In Section 10 of Appendix F (Terms and Conditions), the State may require the Vendor to deliver property to the State upon termination of the Contract. Please provide examples of what type of property the State would expect to be transferred upon termination. A39. Property for purposes of Appendix F, Section 10, include, without limitation, all communications and records prepared by the Vendor pursuant to the Contract such as papers, records, reports, charts and other documentation (e.g. telephone records and reports including line numbers, users, numbers dialed, etc). State Confidential Information shall not include Vendor s administrative communications and records relating to the Contract; ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques relating to data processing; and pre-existing works such as templates, prototypes, interfaces, screen designs, software tools, documentation, property methodologies, techniques, and processes. Q40. Appendix F Terms and Conditions, item 12, page 197 : Please define "State Confidential Information" for purposes of Section 12 of Appendix F. A40. State Confidential Information means all information obtained by Vendor from the state, or as authorized by the State, during the course of its performance of its obligations under the Contract that is not otherwise subject to applicable state and federal laws and regulations, including, but not limited to N.H. RSA Chapter 91-A. Q41. Appendix F Terms and Conditions, item 12.3, page 198: Section 12.3 of Appendix F (Terms and Conditions) states that this section survives termination of the Contract. Would the State consider an end date (i.e. 3 years after contract expiration or termination) at which time the State Confidential Information would no longer be confidential? A41. No. Q42. Appendix F Terms and Conditions, item 15.2, page : Shouldn t Section 15.2 of Appendix F (Terms and Conditions) be limited to US patents? A42. No. Q43. Appendix F Terms and Conditions, item 16.2, page Shouldn t the Section cited be 15.2 and not 16.2? A43. Yes, please see Addendum No. 1. Q44. Appendix F Terms and Conditions, item 25, page: Would the State accept the following amendment to Section 25; Page 11 of 12

12 The Exhibits referred to in and attached to the Contract are made a part of it as if fully included in the text. To the extent tariffs, guides, and service agreements apply, they are hereby incorporated by reference. A44. No. Q45. Item G2 Certificate of Vote, Page 203: Is it acceptable to provide a corporation Assistant Secretary s Certificate defining the positions and employees authorized to bind the company into a bid proposal in lieu of the Certificate of Vote? A45. Yes. The Vendor shall provide a current certificate of authority signed by the clerk or secretary of the corporation indicating that the vendor signature is authorized to execute and enter into an agreement with the State. RFB Appendix G-2 is an example of an approved form. Q46. Appendix G, G2 Certificate of Vote, page 203: Would the State accept a notarized Assistant Secretary Certificate certifying that the Vendor's signatory is authorized on behalf of the Vendor to execute and enter into agreements for products and services provided by the Vendor in lieu of the Certificate of Vote? A46. Yes, if the Certificate is signed by the Secretary, dated and stamped with the corporate seal. Page 12 of 12