High Speed Internet Deployment In the Back of the Yards Neighborhood

High Speed Internet Deployment In the Back of the Yards Neighborhood For Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council 1 P a g e

Table of Contents 1 General Invitation to Respond... 4 2 General Terms and Conditions... 4 2.1 Conformity with RFP... 4 2.2 Uniformity of Proposals... 4 2.3 Request for Additional Information... 4 2.4 Legal Information... 4 2.4.1 2.4.1 Limitation of Liability... 5 3 Submittal Requirements... 5 4 Evaluation Criteria and Basis of Award... 5 4.1 Evaluation Criteria... 5 4.2 Oral Presentation... 6 4.3 Selection... 6 5 Back of Yards Neighborhood Council Rights... 7 5.1 Rights... 7 6 Scope of Services... 7 6.1 RFP Overview and Objectives... 7 6.1.1 Defining the Service Area... 8 6.1.2 Service Area Businesses... 9 6.2 Service Area Requirements... 10 6.2.1 BYNC working to help meet the needs of local businesses... 10 6.2.2 Service Area Business Feedback... 10 7 High Speed Internet Service Requirements... 10 7.1 Bandwidth Delivery to the Back of Yards Neighborhood Service Area... 10 7.2 Service Support... 10 7.3 Customer Service Hours... 10 7.4 Service Level Agreements... 11 2 P a g e

7.5 Monitoring and Management... 11 7.6 Service Security... 11 7.6.1 Service Personnel... 11 7.6.2 Service Area Laws and Regulations... 11 8 RFP Response Requirements... 11 8.1 Cover Letter... 11 8.2 Qualification of the Company... 11 8.3 Examples of Similar Project... 11 8.4 Qualifications of the support personnel... 11 8.5 Interrogatories... 12 8.6 References... 12 8.7 Financial Statements... 12 8.8 Service Implementation Plan... 12 8.9 Insurance Requirements... 13 8.10 M/WBE Support Participation... 13 8.11 Joint Ventures... 14 8.12 Licensing and Designations... 14 8.13 Legal Status... 14 8.14 Relationship... 14 8.15 Service Level Agreements... 14 8.16 Cost Proposal... 15 3 P a g e

The term BYNC is used in this RFP to refer to the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council. 1 General Invitation to Respond This Request for Proposal (RFP) is offered to solicit proposals from qualified vendors to provide a High Speed Internet Deployment for businesses in a one square mile coverage area in the Back of the Yards neighborhood identified in Section 6.1.1 in this RFP. In order to receive considerations, the vendors must meet the proposed system requirements as outlined in this RFP. Copies of this RFP can be found online at http://www.bync.org 2 General Terms and Conditions 2.1 Conformity with RFP All proposals must conform to the requirements included in this RFP. Proposals that do not follow the conformity may be rejected. Exceptions to any requirement must be clearly identified by respondent s response to the RFP. 2.2 Uniformity of Proposals All proposals must be submitted in a uniform format described in Section 8 of this RFP. 2.3 Request for Additional Information All requests for information relative to this RFP should be directed by mail to the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council, Attn: Roger Sosa, 1751 W. 47 th Street, Chicago, IL 60609 (773) 523-4416, Fax (773) 254-3525; or by email to rsosa@bync.org. All material submitted by the BYNC must be treated as confidential and cannot be used for any other purpose than the response to this RFP. Information submitted by any respondent will be considered confidential to the BYNC and will not be used for any other purpose than evaluating respondent responses. Copies of this RFP can also be found online at http://www.bync.org. 2.4 Legal Information The apparent successful bidder will be expected to enter into a contract which is substantially the same as the sample contract and its general terms and conditions submitted by respondent in its RFP response. The BYNC will not be liable for any costs incurred by the Respondent in preparation of a proposal submitted in response to this RFP, in conduct of a presentation, or any other activities related to responding to this RFP. This RFP does not obligate the BYNC to contract for services specified herein. The BYNC reserves the right at its sole discretion to reject any and all proposals received without penalty and not to issue a contract as a result of this RFP. 4 P a g e

Responses received after the identified due date and time or submitted by any other means than those expressly permitted by the RFP will not be considered. Suppliers responses must be complete in all respects, as required in each section of this RFP. 2.4.1 2.4.1 Limitation of Liability The Respondent hereby indemnifies and holds BYNC harmless from and against the full amount of any and all claims and liabilities, including legal fees and costs, which are or may be made, filed or assessed against BYNC at any time and based on, or arising out of, breach by the Respondent of any of its representations or warranties under the Contract, regardless of whether such representations and warranties are explicitly incorporated here in or are referred to in any attached Appendices. 3 Submittal Requirements Vendor must provide Six (6) Electric copies on CD and One (1) original binder with hardcopies with original signatures. All proposals shall be addressed and returned to the address below before the RFP response deadline date: Back of Yards Neighborhood Council Attn: Roger Sosa 1751 W. 47 th Street Chicago, IL 60609 RFP Response Deadline: PROPOSALS MAY BE RECEIVED PRIOR TO, BUT NO LATER THAN, FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 2013, AT 10:00 A.M. CENTRAL STANDARD TIME AT THE ABOVE ADDRESS. LATE PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Pre-Submittal Conference A Pre-Submittal Conference will be held on Thursday, December 13, 2012, at 1:00 P.M. Central Standard Time, 125 S. Wacker Drive, 2nd Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60613 4 Evaluation Criteria and Basis of Award 4.1 Evaluation Criteria A number of factors will influence the BYNCs decision in vendor selection. These factors (in order of importance) include cost, vendor qualification and experience, personnel resources, and the proposed technical solution. These factors include a technical evaluation based upon the vendor s ability to deliver these services in a timely manner. Equally important is a vendor evaluation based upon vendor reputation, past performance with similar projects, service and support resources, experience and knowledge working with non-profit organizations, etc. Please note that the BYNC will evaluate costeffective solutions based on features, functionality, implementation difficulties, as well as cost, and is not obligated to select the lowest price bidder. 5 P a g e

4.2 Oral Presentation Should an oral presentation of a proposal solution be desired by BYNC, the presentation shall be arranged in advance at a date, time and location acceptable to BYNC. Oral presentation should not exceed two hours in length and vendors should be prepared to discuss their full solution in detail as described for the BYNC. 4.3 Selection The Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council (BYNC) is one of the oldest social service agencies in the United States. Founded in 1939, the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council is a community organization whose mission is to enhance the general welfare of all residents, organizations, and businesses in our service area. We accomplish this by integrating social service and economic development programs. Our motto is, and always has been, We the people will work out our own destiny! As part of its mission to stimulate the economic development of the community, the BYNC manages four (4) SSA s or Special Service Areas. Special Service Areas are a tool used by industrial, commercial, and residential areas to fund additional services and programs in neighborhood business districts. An SSA utilizes a local property tax levy to guarantee special services and programs in addition to the ones already provided by the City. When a Special Service Area is approved, a local SSA Commission is created. The Mayor appoints businesses and property owners to this Commission. The members of the commission provide input on services and oversight to the SSA. This group manages funding from the tax levy, which can only be used on services within the Special Service Area. Special Service Areas will fund small scale capital improvement projects, and a variety of programs and services, including security services, beautification efforts, area marketing and advertising assistance, promotional activities like parades and festivals, and safety programs. One of the SSA s managed by BYNC, SSA #13, consists primarily of industrial companies located in the Stockyards Industrial Park. A map of this park can be found in section 6.1.1 of this RFP. The companies in this industrial park have experienced limited options in terms of Internet access and data communications. In order to seek options, the Board of Commissioners of SSA #13 has tasked the BYNC with issuing an RFP to find alternatives to the current situation. By issuing this RFP, the BYNC is seeking solutions from qualified providers for the Internet access and data communications issues as outlined in this RFP. The BYNC is authorized by the Board of Commissioners to review the RFP responses and recommend a solution to the Board. The BYNC has the authorization to provide the following to the Respondent selected as the winner of the RFP process. 1. Endorsement from the SSA Board of Commissioners as the preferred Internet Access Solution for the Stockyards Industrial Park and SSA #13. 2. A list of all companies in the SSA #13 with contact information. 3. Targeted introductions to key early adopter and high data usage companies in SSA #13. 4. Marketing support from BYNC and SSA #13 in targeting and reaching all potential prospects in the area including seminars and other outbound marketing efforts. 6 P a g e

5. Speaking opportunities at BYNC SSA #13 events. 6. Preferential pricing for sponsorship opportunities for BYNC events. 7. Opportunity to begin planning solution for SSA s #10, #7, and #39. If the Respondent is chosen as the winner of the RFP, this does not guarantee business from any particular company or from any company at all. 5 Back of Yards Neighborhood Council Rights 5.1 Rights The BYNC retains all rights to its name, logo and licenses. The Respondent is not authorized to use any of these trademarked items without express written consent from the BYNC. 6 Scope of Services 6.1 RFP Overview and Objectives The reason for this RFP is to identify a vendor that can provide High Speed Internet services to the customers in Back of Yards Neighborhood. Currently the area has few options for high speed Internet. The typical options include DSL, or NxT1 type connectivity only which is not meeting the needs of the local businesses. The BYNC conducted a survey of businesses a large portion expressed the need for business class high speed internet service. BYNC has developed this RFP to identify a vendor that will work with the BYNC to bring high speed interest service to the defined service area described below. Customers in this coverage area have bandwidth and technology requirements included, but not limited to, bandwidth in excess of 20MBs, low latency, and/or managed connections. Vendor responsibilities will include, but are not limited to, the planning, scheduling, provisioning, management, administration, monitoring and troubleshooting of the proposed High Speed Internet Deployment infrastructure and service to customers in the defined service area. The following are the primary objectives the BYNC expects to achieve though the procurement of services resulting from this RFP solicitation. a) Vendor to complete the necessary work to provide Internet connectivity to the coverage area b) Vendor to provision and maintain a reliable, scalable and secure high speed Internet connection to the customers c) Vendor to meet the customer bandwidth and connection requirements d) Vendor to provide end-to-end network monitoring and management of the infrastructure put in place e) Vendor will maintain the customer service relationship including billing and support f) The Respondent if chosen as the winner of this RFP will pay BYNC a residual commission equal to ten percent (10%) of the monthly recurring charge (MRC) for Retail Customers (i.e. Customers that do not resell the respondent s Products and Services) that are closed and service orders submitted as a result of the endorsement and marketing efforts of BYNC. No 7 P a g e

commissions will be paid on Service Orders and for Customers that are currently using Respondent s services or have implemented Respondent s services within the past three months. The commissions will be paid as long as the customer is on the Respondent s service and current with its payments. For upgrades, Respondent will pay BYNC a residual commission equal to ten percent (10%) of the monthly recurring charge (MRC) for upgrades for Retail Customers where BYNC was compensated for the original Service Order. The commissions for an upgrade will be based on the incremental increase in the MRC. Vendor will provide Service Level Agreements with defined service response 6.1.1 Defining the Service Area The proposed service area for the High Speed Internet is a one square mile area from the below addresses: Street From To: 47 th Street 1600 W 47 th St 800 W 47 TH St W. Pershing Road 1600 W Pershing Road 800 W Pershing Road S. Halsted Street 3900 S Halsted St 4700 S Halsted St S. Ashland Avenue 3900 S Ashland Ave 4700 S Ashland Ave 8 P a g e

6.1.2 Service Area Businesses The Back of Yards neighborhood is composed of wide range of businesses including but not limited to retail stores, manufacturing, food processing and distribution. The area has seen a growth in businesses for the past three years: Rate of new development Industrial Park There is a total of 75 companies up from 67 for a growth rate of 11.9% on the industrial side over the past 3 years or about 4% per year. There is still open capacity in the industrial park for about 25 more companies, so the park is at 75% capacity. Retail Corridor There are 11 new businesses have opened in the Ashland/47 th St corridor. This has brought the total number of businesses to 278 which represent a growth rate of 4.1% or 2.0% annually. Occupancy Rate 9 P a g e

Industrial Park the park is 75% occupied with at least 15 large land parcels available for new development. Retail Corridor The current vacancy rate in the retail corridor is 19.7%. This is down from 23.9% vacancy rate 6 months ago. 6.2 Service Area Requirements 6.2.1 BYNC working to help meet the needs of local businesses The BYNC is committed to helping the local businesses in the area grow and be competitive. The need for reliable, cost effective, high speed internet is essential part of the growth plan for these businesses. Many of the businesses surveyed would like to take advantage of newer technologies like Voice over IP (VoIP) technology which requires more bandwidth and less latency than the Internet connections currently provide in the area. 6.2.2 Service Area Business Feedback Local businesses were surveyed to provide feedback regarding the size of their businesses and high speed Internet needs. Feedback is expressed by a sample of the responses below in Example A. Example A: Company Employees Computers How many employees use computers at work? Do you have internet access? Percentage of computers online Primary Internet Connection Backup Internet Connection Company A 125 20 27 Yes 100% DSL Yes Company B 9 12 12 Yes 100% 2 x T1 Yes Company C 85 35 70 Yes 66% T1 No Company D 75 15 25 Yes 100% T1 No Company E 16 9 9 Yes 100% DSL Yes Company F 250 50 50 Yes 100% 2 x T1 Wireless Yes Company G 40 40 40 Yes 100% Wireless (20MB) 2 x T1 Yes Company H 200 65 65 Yes 100% Hardwire (10MB) Cable No Does your org plan to upgrade bandwith in the next two years? 7 High Speed Internet Service Requirements 7.1 Bandwidth Delivery to the Back of Yards Neighborhood Service Area The High Speed Internet connections can be provided by a hard-wire, wireless, or a combination of hardwire and wireless. Service will need to be available to all of the businesses in the service coverage area. Internet connections must provide low latency, high speed and synchronous connections. 7.2 Service Support The respondent is required to provide technical support for the maintaining the infrastructure responsible for service and to end users or subscribers. The respondent should provide a detailed plan on how the infrastructure is serviced. 7.3 Customer Service Hours The respondent must be able to provide customer service and support 24x7x365 to assist with customer needs. Service includes but not limited to: 10 P a g e

- Account Management and Billing. Access to a dedicated customer portal preferred. - 24X7 Customer Service and Support 7.4 Service Level Agreements The respondent must be able to provide Service Level Agreements including but not limited to, a response time to a customer for service related issues as well as defined escalation procedures to vendors (Telecommunication, hardware or electrical) impacting service delivery. The respondent should provide an expected service availability percentage of the service area (example: 99.9%, 99.999%) with an example of how these metrics are achieved. 7.5 Monitoring and Management The respondent must be able to demonstrate how they monitor and manage the high speed Internet infrastructure and service to ensure performance and availability. 7.6 Service Security Vendor must demonstrate how they provide network security to ensure protection of customer data or unauthorized access to the service. 7.6.1 Service Personnel The respondent will be responsible for staffing the appropriately skilled personnel or subcontractor(s) to meet any service level agreements or commitments provided by the vendor. 7.6.2 Service Area Laws and Regulations The respondent must follow all state and local laws. 8 RFP Response Requirements The vendors RFP response will meet the submittal requirements as defined herein and will include responses to the following sections: 8.1 Cover Letter The letter shall also include a brief narrative description of the company and its Service offerings. It shall also identify the contact person for contractual negotiations, administration and for arranging an oral presentation. 8.2 Qualification of the Company Describe your company s qualification and experience in providing the Services requested in this RFP. 8.3 Examples of Similar Project Please provide a minimum of three (3) references from implementing services of similar scope and magnitude as defined herein. 8.4 Qualifications of the support personnel To provide assurance of capability provide an overview of the training, education and experience of personnel that will provide the support services to the business in the service area. Describe any 11 P a g e

training or certification requirements needed to ensure they can provide the services required. Provide an organizational chart or description of your service organization. 8.5 Interrogatories 1) How do you plan to deliver services into the designated service area? (Wireless or Wired) o Please provide technical overview of the solution including diagrams and technical specifications 2) What commercial carriers do you uplink too currently and at what connection speed? 3) How does your service offering provide redundancy to clients requiring it? 4) What does your oversubscription / redundancy model looks like. 5) What should the expected latency of your transit network to the internet be? (i.e., if a wireless transit, what is the latency from the client to your upstream connection?) 6) Can your service support high quality Voice over IP (VOIP) services? How does your service ensure Quality of Service? 7) What connectivity speeds would be available for clients, and what would the restrictions be on speeds? (Distance, line of sight, etc.) 8) Please provide specific client profiles with pricing ranges. Examples are: o Client A needs a low speed <5mg connection, no hosting services, just internet browsing o Client B needs a low speed connection, but needs to host basic services (email for example) o Client C needs a medium speed connection of 20mg bi-directional, and wants to host a number of inbound as well as outbound services o Client D needs a high speed bi-directional connection of 50+mb o Provide additional examples if warranted 8.6 References Please provide (3) references of businesses receiving your services today. The telephone number of the contact person shall be provided. BYNC reserves the right to contact these references. 8.7 Financial Statements The Respondent must provide two (2) years of audited financial statements. These should include, but are not limited to, Profit & Loss (P&L) Statements, Balance Statements, and other documents required to show the ongoing financial stability of Respondent. 8.8 Service Implementation Plan Please provide an implementation plan that outlines how your company will provide the Services as outlined herein including: Installation and Configuration of the High Speed Infrastructure including timeline to for service to be available in the designated service area. o Are there build out timelines associated with being able to provide service to the area? o If yes, please elaborate on what will be required before you can begin servicing clients 12 P a g e

Technical Architecture of the proposed solution. Diagrams and technical specifications. o Please include an overview of the main components of the system and how they are used to provide services. For a wireless option, tower locations outside the area, and what is required inside the service area For a wired option, what build out is required, what redundancy options would be built in, etc. Support Services including customer service, billing and reporting 8.9 Insurance Requirements The Respondent if chosen as the winner of this RFP is to furnish the BYNC with a certificate(s) of insurance executed by a duly authorized representative of each insurer, showing compliance with the insurance requirements set forth below. The Respondent shall, at its own expense, obtain and keep in force insurance coverage which shall be maintained in full force and effect during the term of the contract. The Respondent shall furnish evidence in the form of a Certificate of Insurance that insurance shall be provided, and a copy shall be forwarded to the BYNC within fifteen (15) days of the contract effective date. Liability Insurance 1) Commercial General Liability Insurance: Respondent shall maintain commercial general liability (CGL) insurance and, if necessary, commercial umbrella insurance, with a limit of not less than $1,000,000 per each occurrence. 2) Additionally, the Respondent is responsible for ensuring that any subrespondents provide adequate insurance coverage for the activities arising out of subcontracts. 3) Business Auto Policy: As applicable, the Respondent shall maintain business auto liability and, if necessary, commercial umbrella liability insurance with a limit not less than $1,000,000 per accident. Such insurance shall cover liability arising out of Any Auto. Business auto coverage shall be written on ISO form CA 00 01, 1990 or later edition, or substitute liability form providing equivalent coverage. Workers Compensation Coverage The Respondent will at all times comply with all applicable workers compensation, occupational disease, and occupational health and safety laws, statutes, and regulations to the full extent applicable. The state will not be held responsive in any way for claims filed by the Respondent or their employees for services performed under the terms of this contract. 8.10 M/WBE Support Participation The BYNC encourages participation in all of its contracts by firms certified by the City of Chicago Department of Procurement Services Minority and Women-Owned Business (M/WBE) Certification Program. Participation may be either on a direct basis in response to this solicitation or on a subcontractor basis. While the BYNC has a preference for doing business with Minority or Women s Business Enterprises (M/WBE), no minimum level of M/WBE participation shall be required as a 13 P a g e

condition for receiving an award and proposals will not be rejected or considered non-responsive on that basis. 8.11 Joint Ventures This RFP is not a solicitation to form a joint venture with BYNC. The winner of this RFP will not become a joint venture partner with BYNC. 8.12 Licensing and Designations The Respondent must maintain all licenses required by the State of Illinois and/or the City of Chicago to provide services in the State of Illinois. Respondent should be ready to provide copies of these licenses upon request if required by BYNC. 8.13 Legal Status This RFP and any contract that should arise from a proposal submission will be governed by the laws of the State of Illinois. The Respondent is responsible for following all applicable local, state and federal laws. The Respondent shall be considered as having the legal status of an independent Respondent and as such there will be no employer/employee relationship between BYNC on the one side and the Respondent or any person used by the Respondent on the other side. Thus the Respondent shall be solely responsible for the manner in which the work is carried out. BYNCS shall not be responsible for any loss, accident, damage or injury, including, but not limited to, damage to test equipment, spare parts and other property, suffered by the Respondent or persons or entities claiming under the Respondent, arising during or as a result of the implementation or execution of the Contract, including travel, whether sustained on BYNCS premises or not. The Respondent shall obtain adequate insurance to cover such loss, accident, injury and damages, before commencing work on the Contract. The Respondent shall be solely responsible in this regard and shall handle any claims for such loss, accident, damage or injury. 8.14 Relationship Independent Contractor: The Respondent is an independent contractor with respect to all aspects of this Agreement. The Respondent and its principles, officers, directors and employees are not employees, agents or servants of The BYNC. The Respondent shall have no authority and shall not represent that it has the authority to execute contractual documents or any other documents on behalf of BYNC or otherwise assume or incur any obligation or make any representations of any kind in the name of BYNC. 8.15 Service Level Agreements The respondent shall present a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for review by the BYNC. The SLA shall warrant that Services shall be provided as requested. Respondents are encouraged to provide recommendations for addressing performance failures when Service levels are not met including financial disincentives. 14 P a g e

8.16 Cost Proposal The Proposer shall provide a price list for all services that can or will be provided to the business in the service area. The Proposer shall submit the following: a) Price list for High Speed Bandwidth Service offering a. Setup Cost (one Time fees) for each offering b. Monthly Service Cost for each offering c. Additional Costs (if applicable) d. Term for pricing (example: 1 year, 3 years?) e. Service Activation Timeframe (example: 7 days, 30 days?) f. Revenue Sharing Arrangement b) A detailed list of assumptions on which the pricing is based. 15 P a g e