TO ALL INTERESTED BIDDERS

Transcription

1 BID CONFERENCE MINUTES OF MEETING RFP/UNDP/OIST-LTA/002/2011 Assignment Name: VSAT Services Date & time: Tuesday, 15 March 2011 at 10:00 AM, UNDP Closing Date: Friday, 29 April 2011 at 5:00pm [New York Time] TO ALL INTERESTED BIDDERS Here below are Answers to Questions raised regarding the above assignment: 1. How will various UNDP groups make known their VSAT requirements to the holder of the LTA? a. Once LTAs are established UNDP HQ will inform the various UNDP Country offices on availability and usage of VSAT services from LTA bidders. The Country Offices will communicate their requirement via UNDP/HQ that will be managing and administering the Long Term Agreements. 2. How many bidder LTAs are anticipated? It is anticipated to have at least two LTAs to ensure coverage and availability of the four categories of services listed under to UNDP Country Offices as per the RFP. 3. Who is the current provider(s) of VSAT services today? a. Two contractors from private sector. 4. How many offices/locations make up the 35Mbps in-route and 65 Mbps out-route defined in page 8? a. UNDP has 166 offices around the world, currently 79 country offices using VSAT make of 35Mbps in-route and 65 Mbps out-route. Additional UNDP offices may use the LTA, which may increase the volume.

2 5. What are the expected terms of service for contracted services under the LTA? a. The purpose of this Request for Proposal is to conclude Long Term Agreements (LTAs) for the period of three years for VSAT services with qualified bidders.. The successful bidder shall be contracted for an initial period of one year, with the contract renewable up to three years subject to satisfactory performance. After completion of three year the LTAs might be further extended for another two years. 6. Are bidders expected to offer all of the technologies defined in section or to offer the most efficient solution? a. UNDP is seeking four different category of services listed in section Bidders are encouraged to offer more than one technology for service categories in section Can UNDP more specifically define what it means by satellite phoned based broadband Internet access in 4.2.1? a. It refers to type of service which is portable by single person and can be connected to laptop to have Internet access. For example: BGAN. 8. What specific make/model of equipment components are available for possible reuse at each site? a. The list of equipment in 79 locations with VSAT service may vary from site to site but typically as follows: Antenna Prodelin 2.4 and 3.8 Modem Radyne D20 and Comtech 570L BUC 5 and 10W Switch Cisco and 3Com Routers Cisco b. Equipment detailed list can be provided during migration period 9. Can UNDP more clearly define what is meant by Section 4.3.7? a. Technology proposed should be non proprietary and preferably open standard, so that it is interoperates, 10. Can UNDP provide specific UNDP security policies that are expected to be adhered to as referenced in Section 4.4.2?

3 a. UNDP will provide this information to the winning bidder. 11. Please clarify which terrestrial backhauls are being referenced in 4.4.4? a. Terrestrial backhauls are from Hub Stations to UNDP New York and UNDP Copenhagen. 12. Please clarify at what locations UNDP requires secure hosting rack space and remote hands service per 4.4.5? a. There must be option for UNDP to secure rack space at Satellite Hub Station and remote access to UNDP hosted equipment in that Hub. 13. Please define more specifically the requirement to follow ITL framework for change management in 4.6 and how UNDP expects this to be demonstrated in the proposal. a. In the proposal bidder can provide example of how they are applying ITIL practices to their change management process. 14. Does UNDP expect out-of-band remote access per even for satphones? Can more specificity of this requirement be provided? Does UNDP expect redundant access via different media at each site to meet this requirement? a. Out of band access is not applicable for sat phones. Out of band access is for the VSAT solution only. 15. Does UNDP require physically diverse terrestrial backhaul from our teleports to designated locations in addition to Tier-1 Internet access, or does this requirement describe the requirements for getting from our teleports to a Tier-1 Internet access location? a. UNDP requires that the bidder provides physical diverse for both terrestrial backhaul from bidder s teleports to designated locations including to Tier-1 Internet access. 16. Please confirm that UNDP only requires support of various traffic types, i.e. video, video conferencing, voice and is not required to provide equipment that generates this traffic, vtc systems, voip phones, etc. a. Bidder should provide support for the various traffic type e.g. video; voice; data; multicast video stream. Bidders are required to provide voice gateway. 17. Can UNDP please provide a delineation of items that are to be included and/or excluded from SLA calculations? a. SLA should include the following as minimum: i. 99.5% uptime

4 ii. iii. iv. 48 Hours meantime to repair (MTTA) Unlimited spare parts and replacement including service or repair visits Periodic preventative maintenance 18. Are the availability specifications for BER, RTT and packet loss, etc. equal to the availability purchased for the site, i.e. If a 98.5% service is contracted, a site would be required to deliver <600ms RTT from the hub to the remote device in the highest priority queue 98.5% of the time? a. If any agreed SLA indicator(s) are infringed upon the site is considered unavailable. 19. Can UNDP please specify the percent of time that traffic will exceed 80%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% of the contracted capacity? The reason for this question is that deliverable RTT is related to UNDP offered traffic levels that the contractor does not have control over other than by limiting traffic other than RTT monitoring traffic to values that do not interfere with monitoring traffic being able to meet the <600msec RTT requirement. a. This data is not available. 20. Please provide a clarification of units used in various places in the TOR. Examples, Is 4MB to be interpreted a 4 Mega Bytes or 4 Mega bits per second? Similarly, units of MB, KBps and kbps are used. It is important that these units be interpreted in the manner intended by UNDP. a. Please note that bandwidth should be referred to as megabit per (Mbps) second and kilobit per second (Kbps). 21. Are routers to be included by the contractor as part of this procurement, or is UNDP to provide these? Which party is responsible for configuring and managing routers in this procurement? Is the interface between the contractor and UNDP to be a single Ethernet (or FastEthernet or other) interface or something else. The TOR does not indicate a need for interconnecting multiple devices at the site to the contractor provided equipment. a. Bidders are required to supply routers/switch including at least five fast-ethernet interfaces. The bidders are also responsible to install; configure and manage the equipment. 22. The TOR specifies leased terrestrial lines are to be provided to the data centers. Can these lines be Internet VPN, MPLS or other terrestrial network technologies or must they be standard leased lines? a. It can be MPLS or terrestrial leased lines.

5 23. To make sure that we understand the restitution formula, please confirm that the restitution formula gives the following result for a 10 hour outage in a 720 hour month: A=10 % of Availability = 10 / 720 = 1.4% AV = ( )% x 10 = 98.6% x 10 = 9.86 Restitution = ( ) / 720 x B = 0.14 / 720 x B = x B Please refer to below calculation A=10 % of Availability = 10 / 720 = 100% - 1.4% = 98.6% AV = ( %) x 10 = 0.14% x 10 = 1.4 Restitution = (10 1.4) / 720 x B = 8.6 / 720 x B = x B 24. The TOR requests that the offerer propose sla penalty schemes. Is this in lieu of the restitution formula or a request to define proposed implementation of the restitution amounts. a. This refers to restitution formula in the RFP, point Regarding SNMP and NetFlow, is UNDP looking to have access to our SNMP and NetFlow tools or instead or in addition to is UNDP asking to give SNMP access to our devices dedicated to UNDP and/or have our devices send NetFlow packets to UNDP collectors? a. Bidders are required to provide comprehensive site monitoring system including dash board including permitting UNDP s internal monitoring system to collect SNMP and Netflow data. 26. Can UNDP provide statistics regarding quality of local power at each site so that we can assess the impact on any UPS equipment and batteries that we provide? a. This data is not available. 27. Can UNDP please provide a definition of the phrase Actual Throughput used in the TOR? The TOR wording with regards to throughput exclusive of caching and other improvements, etc can be subjectively interpreted in a manner that is not consistent with UNDP intentions. a. Actual Throughput refers to the definite amount of data transmitted in real-time without the influence of any artificial enhancement(s). 28. What is UNDP desires with regards to potential ownership of components located at the teleport location for this procurement?

6 a. Equipment located at the bidder s Teleport is the property of the bidder, however bidders are required to provide SNMP access to equipment through which UNDP offices will be connected. 29. Can UNDP provide it s definition of pre and post policy statistics QoS statistics? Is UNDP assuming or requiring that QoS be implemented on external routers rather than use embedded capabilities of the VSAT components? a. QoS statistics is not available. If Qos is available in the satellite modem itself, it is fine with UNDP. At present condition, all QoS are implemented in the Edge Router. 30. Does the max MTTR requirement of 96hours for inaccessible locations include travel time to the location? In cases where travel is not required a. The time includes diagnosing the problem, finding the resolution and rectifying the problem. 31. Can UNDP please define what is meant by an off-site location with regards to storing configuration data? Does this mean a location other than the remote site or other than the contractor management/noc location? a. This is to facilitate Disaster Recovery. In the event of a disaster or major problem at the VSAT Hub station, all configurations should be stored in safe off-site location other than VSAT hub station to enable expedited services restoration 32. For each individual evaluation criteria will rating be either 0 or the number of points attainable, or will the rating be scaled to be a value between the two? a. Evaluation point attainable can be from 0 to attainable points. 33. What is the purpose of the A-E columns under Company/Other entry in the evaluation tables? a. Letters A to E represents bidder name. Each bidder s individual score will be compared in this table. 34. Can UNDP provide instructions with regards to completing the proposal submission form? a. Bidder should complete Section 7 in the RFP document, and submit Technical submission 7.1 and financial submission 7.2 is two different envelopes, separated as described in the RFP. In addition the bidders need to be guided by provision 1.3 Memo to Bidders (Examples of Bid rejection).

7 Country Office 35. Can you provide a list of all the endpoints or the countries needed to cover by SAT in the RFP? Also can you share the split of bandwidth per country so we can calculate the capacity requirement and properly price this out? a. UNDP may require VSAT services in any part of the world (166 UNDP field offices) depending on the local situation or requirements. Bidders are required to provide single rate of price for VSAT service in all regions. This should be based on a price calculator which considers antenna size and bandwidth requirements. Additionally herewith below, a list of UNDP country offices currently operating VSAT stations (79 out of 166 field offices). This list may change with upgrades; downgrades; installations and or service termination. Antenna size Uplink Bandwidth Downlink Bandwidth Afghanistan 3.8m 1024 kbps 2048 kbps Angola* 3.8m 512 kbps 768 kbps Bangladesh 3.8m 512 kbps 1024kbps Benin 3.8m 384kbps 512kbps Bhutan* 3.8m 384 kbps 768 kbps Botswana 3.8m 512 kbps 1024 kbps Burkina Faso 3.8m 512 kbps 1024kbps Burundi 3.8m 768 kbps 1536 kbps Cameroon 3.8m 512 kbps 768 kbps Cape Verde 2.4m 256 kbps 512 kbps CAR 3.8m 416 kbps 704 kbps Chad 3.8m 384 kbps 768 kbps Chad - Gozbeida 2.4m 128 kbps 256 kbps Chad - PROJECT OANET- Ndjamena 2.4m 128 kbps 256 kbps Chad - Abéché 2.4m 128 kbps 256 kbps Comoros* 3.8m 512 kbps 768 kbps Congo Owando 2.4m 128 kbps 256 kbps Congo Pointe Noire 2.3m 128 kbps 256 kbps Congo DR Kishansha (DRC) 3.8m 1024 kbps 1536 kbps Congo PDR Brazaville 3.8m 512 kbps 1024 kbps Cote d'ivoire 3.8m 512 kbps 768 kbps South Sudan - DDR- Bor - 128k uplink/ 384k downlink 2.4m 128 kbps 384 kbps South Sudan - DDR- Juba - 512k downlink/512k uplink 2.4m 512 kbps 512 kbps

8 South Sudan - DDR- Rumbek - 128k uplink/ 384k downlink 2.4m 128 kbps 384 kbps South Sudan - DDR- Torit - 128k uplink/ 384k downlink 2.4m 128 kbps 384 kbps South Sudan - DDR- Wau.- 128k uplink/ 384k downlink 2.4m 128 kbps 384 kbps South Sudan - DDR-Malakal- 128uplink/ 384 downlink 2.4m 128 kbps 384 kbps DPRK ( North Korea) 3.8m 384 kbps 768 kbps East Timor 3.8m 1024kbps 2048kbps Equatorial Guinea 3.8m 384 kbps 512 kbps Eritrea* 3.8m 512 kbps 768 kbps Ethiopia 3.8m 384 kbps 768 kbps Gabon 3.8m 256 kbps 512 kbps Gambia* 3.8m 384 kbps 512 kbps Ghana* 3.8m 512 kbps 768 kbps Guinea 3.8m 512 kbps 1024 kbps Guinea Bissau* 3.8m 512 kbps 768 kbps Haiti 2.4m 1024 kbps 2048 kbps Haiti 2.4m 512 kbps 1024 kbps Kenya 3.8m 192 kbps 192 kbps Lesotho* 3.8m 384 kbps 768 kbps Liberia 3.8m 768 kbps 1536 kbps Madagascar* 3.8m 512 kbps 768 kbps Malawi 3.8m 512 kbps 768 kbps Malawi 3.8m 512 kbps 1536 kbps Mali 3.8m 256 kbps 384 kbps Mauritania* 3.8m 384 kbps 704 kbps Mozambique 2.4m 384 kbps 768 kbps Mozambique 2.4m 256 kbps 640 kbps Myanmar 3.8m 768 kbps 1536 kbps Namibia* 3.8m 512 kbps 768 kbps Nepal 3.8m 256 kbps 512 kbps Niger* 3.8m 192kbps 512kbps Nigeria 3.8m 1024 kbps 1792 kbps Papua New Guinea* 2.4m 384 kbps 512 kbps Rwanda 3.8m 512 kbps 1024 kbps Sao Tome & Principe* 3.8m 256 kbps 256 kbps Senegal 3.8m 256 kbps 256 kbps Sierra Leone 3.8m 768 kbps 1536 kbps Somalia Biadoa 2.4m 256 kbps 512 kbps

9 Somalia Garowe 2.4m 512 kbps 1024 kbps Somalia Hergeisa 2.4m 640 kbps 1536 kbps Somalia Mogadishu 2.4m 256 kbps 512 kbps Somalia Nairobi 2.4m 1024 kbps 2048 kbps Somalia Villa 2.4m 512kbps 512kbps South-Sudan Aweil 2.4m 128 kbps 256 kbps South-Sudan Bentiu 2.4m 192 kbps 256 kbps South-Sudan Juba 2.4m 768 kbps 1536 kbps South-Sudan Local GB 2.4m 192 kbps 256 kbps Sudan - Khartoum 3.8m 896 kbps 1280 kbps Swaziland 2.4m 384 kbps 1024 kbps Tanzania 3.8m 512 kbps 1024 kbps Togo 3.8m 512 kbps 1024 kbps Uganda 3.8m 512 kbps 1024 kbps Zambia* 3.8m 512 kbps 960 kbps Zimbabwe 3.8m 1024 kbps 2048 kbps Zimbabwe 3.8m 768 kbps 1536 kbps 36. The services to be supported which are mentioned on page 19 / 20 of the RFP like internet access / firewalling / hosting / off-net dialing / on - net dialing / dial -Please clarify whether these are to be only supported by the infrastructure or to be included as part of the service offering. a. It must be included as part of service Financial compliance table -Shall we duplicate the OTC table for each additional Agency? if yes, how many agencies should be assumed. a. Cost of establishing additional agency should be standard. The number of actual additional agencies may vary and depend on local requirements. 38. Does UNDP expect 2 pricing structures? It states one based on a 5 year term and another one is left blank. Please clarify a. The bidders should provide pricing based on 3 years contract with possibility to extend for another two years. There should also be pricing for short term bandwidth, 3 to 18 months.

10 39. What is the difference between Monthly Recurring Cost and Monthly recurring charges for the same acronym MRC. a. It is the same, MRC means Monthly reoccurring Cost (this the amount each site will pay inclusive of bandwidth charge, hub fee or SLA charges) except cost of off-net voice calls. 40. After the table for OTC there is a table for bandwidth but it is listed under Moves/Additions/Changes & deletion. Please clarify if this is intended to cover MRC for Bandwidth as well as MACDs. Additionally does it mean the provider needs to price per bandwidth per antenna size not taking into account the locations? a. On number of occasions, UNDP operations are relocated to a new or different premise. In such a case bidders is required to indicate the total cost related to decommission and re-commission the affected site. Bidders to also indicate cost of change request e.g. bandwidth upgrade or downgrade; policy change on routes, addition of new VLAN e.t.c., if cost is applicable Telephony Service pricing - Please explain what components need to be covered here. a. It should cover the cost of establishing off-net VoIP calls to different countries, using the bidder s voice gateway. 42. Is the 4Mbps in paragraph 2.1 (page 10) part of the 65/35Mbps? a. 4Mbps is in addition to 65/35Mbps capacity. 43. Who should provide the PBX for the on-net extensions (paragraph 3.1.3, page 11)? a. UNDP provides PBX in UNDP offices. 44. For how long is the equipment working there? a. The VSAT equipment is covered by SLA which means obsolete or failed equipment is replaced with new equipment hence length of time in service varies from site to site or device to device. 45. Please provide full addresses for all UNDP offices. a. Addresses will be provided during the time of migration. 46. Do we need to supply the ethernet switch at each office?

11 a. If the bidders design requires a switch, it should be included in the equipment supplied to the country office. 47. What type of telephony is interfacing the service (ip phones / legacy telephones/ PBX)? a. There are mix of IP and TDM PBX. 48. Can upper Saharan countries (Algeria, Libya, Egypt, etc.) be provided with KU-band? a. Yes bidders can offer a mix of both Ku and C band. OTC should reflect accordingly. 49. Do you currently have active DID? If so, how many per site and what numbering plan are they? a. We currently have 8 DID numbers per site. These DID numbers are assigned by current service providers. 50. Is there a public opening and can we send representative to it? a. No, this is RFP process and there is no public bid opening. 51. In page 52, paragraph 7.2 part d, what do you mean by Other Services? a. Other Services are cost to move, add policies or change polices or delete polices, or decommission site. 52. Can we postpone the due date for submitting the bid? a. Deadline for submission is now extended to 5p.m. Friday 29 April 2011 New York Time.