Request for Proposals Broadband Upgrade Project Timmins, Black River Matheson Issued by: NEOnet 12 Elm Street North Timmins, ON P4N 6A1 Phone: 705.360.1353 Web: www.neonet.on.ca Deadline for Submission: 5:00 p.m. April 9, 2015 All inquiries regarding this RFP are to be directed to: Chris McLaughlin, Director of Operations, NEOnet Inc. cmclaughlin@neonet.on.ca
1. Project Overview 1.1 Purpose The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals from vendors who wish to improve the broadband infrastructure and asymmetrical high-speed Internet service delivery to the unserved/underserved communities listed below. The review committee is interested in solutions which will provide a minimum of 10Mbps download speed upon completion of the project, as well as those which address improvements to the backbone infrastructure (i.e. Fibre backhaul where sustainable) to allow for scalability of the service delivery to 25Mbps by 2020. Specifically, the communities involved in this project are: City of Timmins Kamiskota Connaught Hoyle Town of Black River Matheson Shillington Val Gagne Ramore Town of Iroquois Falls Cochrane, Unorganized South East and West The Committee will accept and review vendor responses that address service delivery in any one, portion or all of the listed communities. Vendors are encouraged to form partnerships and submit joint responses, which address the service delivery needs for the project area as a whole. 1.2 Goals and Objectives The goal is to identify and select a vendor/vendors to bring broadband distribution (local loop) and if necessary backhaul infrastructure to the region that best meets the requirements as identified in this RFP. Preference will be given to the vendor who will deliver the best possible solution(s) to: provide open platform commercial broadband services for both public and private sector customers, which are capable of connecting with locations from across the region and with locations beyond individual communities provide a link from the national broadband network to the communities provide broadband service to community public institutions and public access sites offer broadband connectivity to a large majority of local businesses and residents provide complete solution(s) to broadband transport and local loop. 1.3 Identified Challenges The major challenges to providing broadband connectivity in the community are: significant distances between small, low-density pockets of population..1.
the difficulty in providing a solution that will offer all communities equal opportunity for this planned high-speed upgrade initiative. 1.4 Areas of Responsibility The following tables further define the responsibilities of the vendor, the community and the potential customers in the community. Roles and Responsibilities Years 5 Responsibility Definition Vendor Community Customer Network Customer premises equipment Management systems hardware and software Central Services Engineering, furnishing, installation, operations and maintenance Furnishing, installation and maintenance Engineering, furnishing, installation, operations and maintenance Customer service, sales, marketing, billing, collections, accounting ü ü ü ü 2. RFP Process and Vendor Submission Requirements 2.1 Contact and Submission Information Summary of Key Dates Intent to Submit deadline: February 9, 2015 Information session for interested vendors: February 13, 2015 Final date to submit questions via e-mail March 30, 2015 Submission deadline: 5:00 p.m. April 9, 2015 2.1.1 INTENT TO SUBMIT Interested vendors should (but are not required to) register an Intent to Submit by the date indicated in Section 2.1. Vendors should send an e-mail to the attention of the NEOnet Project Contact in Section 2.1.4 with the following information: Stated intent to submit a proposal Name of vendor s designated project contact for the purposes of this proposal Contact information 2.1.2 INFORMATION SESSION FOR INTERESTED VENDORS NEOnet will hold an information session for vendors at its offices in Timmins or via teleconference. This is an optional session that will provide vendors with an opportunity to ask specific, detailed questions about the RFP, its expectations, the evaluation process, and project implementation. NEOnet will provide more details on the time and location shortly before the session..2.
2.1.3 QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RFP AND PROJECT Vendors questions about the RFP should forward them via email to the NEOnet Project Contact. NEOnet will remove all identifying marks from the e-mail and forward the original question, with an answer, to all vendors who registered during the Intent to Submit process. NEOnet will not respond to questions by telephone or in person. 2.1.4. NEONET PROJECT CONTACT Refer all questions, and send all proposal materials to: Attention: Chris McLaughlin, Director of Operations NEOnet Box 3211 Timmins, ON P4N8R6 Tel: (705) 360-1353x32 email: cmclaughlin@neonet.on.ca 2.1.5 SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS Vendors must submit five hard copies and one electronic copy of their proposal. The printed versions must be of letter quality, single-spaced and single-sided on standard letter size 8.5 x 11 inches paper, with margins no less than 1 inch. The size of type must be at least 12 points or 10 characters per inch. An electronic copy is defined as an emailed version of the document in Adobe Acrobat or MS Word/Excel file formats. Other file formats will not be accepted. The electronic version may be supplied with the hard copies if it is burned on a good quality, multi-platform CD suitable for use with either Macintosh or Windows platforms. 3. Proposal Content 3.1 Format 3.2 Headings Note: Failure to follow the Proposal Format may result in the disqualification of your proposal. Your document MUST follow the numbering scheme and content used in this section. In order to ensure that there is uniformity to the proposals and to facilitate the comparison between vendors, all proposals MUST contain the following content, organized according to the nine headings in this section. General: The vendor s name must appear in the upper right-hand corner of each page and each page should be numbered consecutively. Cover Page Containing legal name, address and contact information for the vendor.3.
1. Executive Summary maximum 2 pages key information from each of the proposal sections, including a short summary of the project cost, requested public assistance, and any value added the vendor will bring to the project 2. Technical and Functional Specifications description of proposed broadband services, including bandwidth available maps showing local loop infrastructure that will be needed to provide the service confirmation that the technology will be open access description of other equipment required to become an internet service provider description of option for vendor to provide billing and collection services on a fee for service basis confirmation that products and services will be sourced from Canada; in the event that this is not the case for all project line items, provide an explanation 3. Project Management Description name of vendor project management contact name of vendor project administration contact, if different than above composition of project management team proposed timeline and major milestones, i.e. schedule for engineering plan development, ordering equipment, timing of service availability anticipated risks and actions that will be taken to address them 4. Vendor Qualifications and References description of similar projects successfully implemented the name, e-mail address, telephone number and mailing address of two references involved in similar projects you have managed 5. Financial Component indication of both initial installation and monthly costs for households, business and volume users of the service estimate of take-up rates in the community cost to develop the network and implement the infrastructure required to provide the services (including ISP management hardware and software) amount contributed by the vendor, if any amount required from the public sector pro-forma income statements for five years proving that the network will be sustainable for the vendor.4.
6. You must complete this chart and place it in the Executive Summary: Financial Summary Vendor Contribution $ % Public Sector Request $ % Total Project Costs $ 100% 7. Value Added Describe any other services or contributions the vendor can provide as part of this project. 8. Other Information, Considerations or Concerns Provide additional relevant information if applicable Identify considerations and areas of concern regarding the project as presented 9. Official Signatures Include a letter from the vendor s signing authority approving the submission of the proposal and the content therein. 4. Evaluation 4.1 Proposal Evaluation Criteria The awarding of any contract(s) to a vendor(s) will be based on the review, analysis and negotiation of the proposal(s) which best meets the needs and objectives of the community and the availability of sufficient government funding to proceed with the project. The RFP Review Team reserves the right, at the time of evaluation of any proposals, to request any additional information or changes to the proposal that it deems necessary in order to make a decision on any proposal. Responses to the RFP will be the primary source of information used in the evaluation process. Therefore, vendors are advised to be as complete as possible in their responses. However, selection may not necessarily be based on the proposal as submitted. Further negotiations and modifications to responses with the respondents are expected if and once a short list has been established. NEOnet reserves the right to negotiate with several vendors or not to proceed with any vendor s proposal..5.
The following scale will be applied when reviewing submissions. Proposal Criterion Points Understanding of Scope of Work 5 Administrative (Compliance) Requirements meeting RFP requirements 5 Technical Requirements 25 Proposed Methodology 25 Project Management Requirements 20 Price 10 Presentation, demonstration, references 10 Total 100 4.2 Pricing Vendors should be advised that: price will be considered as part of the proposal evaluation process, and vendor contributions nearing 20% of total project cost are anticipated the award of the contract will not necessarily be to the proposal with the lowest bid or the highest vendor contribution, if the bid is otherwise considered inadequate on any of the evaluation criteria. 4.3 Local Partnerships For the purposes of developing their submissions and business cases, Vendors are urged to investigate the potential of forming partnerships with local telecommunications services providers. 4.4 Validity Period The respondent shall explicitly commit and state in its proposal that the proposal is valid from the closing date until December 31, 2015. This will allow sufficient time for the RFP Review Team to review, assess, meet with vendors as necessary, select the successful respondent(s) and secure funding. NEOnet will prepare and submit funding proposals to obtain the capital necessary for the project. The selected vendor(s) will be required to assist the Project Team by providing additional information as may be necessary to respond to queries from the funding agencies. Review and decisions by funding agencies normally require four to eight months. Once funding decisions are received and funding agreements are in place between the NEOnet and the funders, NEOnet will negotiate agreements with the successful vendor(s). NEOnet will then authorize the successful vendor(s) to proceed with the agreed-upon deployment and services. The award of any contract(s) to vendors is dependent upon receiving sufficient funding from government agencies..6.
4.5 RFP Review Team The project s RFP review team will include representatives from NEOnet s staff and board members. 5. Claims 5.1 Signing The signing of an agreement between NEOnet and the selected vendor is dependent on NEOnet s receipt of a one-time government subsidy for the project. 5.2 Ownership All materials submitted in response to the RFP become the property of NEOnet. Proposals and supporting materials will not be returned to vendors, nor will NEOnet consider any expenses that the vendors may occur in preparing these proposals. 5.3 Rights to Reject and Modify NEOnet reserve the right to reject any or all proposals and to assess proposals by applying the stated criteria as it sees fit in its absolute discretion. NEOnet reserve the right to increase or decrease the scope of this proposal or to eliminate entirely one or more components, as a result of a change of requirements. 5.4 Notification of Successful Vendor Vendors should be notified of the RFP review team s decision by the end of June 2015. Prior to that date, the RFP review team reserves the right to interview the potential short-listed vendors..7.