ADDENDUM # 7 RFP DARK FIBER OPTIC CABLE INFRASTRUCTURE LEASE

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1 September 25, 2013 ( ed to all proposers on this date) ADDENDUM # 7 RFP DARK FIBER OPTIC CABLE INFRASTRUCTURE LEASE Please note the following answers to questions that were asked prior to the deadline for inquiries date of September 23, Q1: Clarification-- The RFP asks for 2 fiber strands and/or 4 strands initially terminated. ((The RFI contemplated 2 strands +2 spare DF or 4 strands + 2 spare DF to be terminated ). Clarifying that the site locations spreadsheet requesting 2 stands and or 4 strands for initial termination is the accurate requirement.? A1: The Dark Fiber infrastructure termination requirements are the minimum infrastructure ASU requires at each location. Service Providers may terminate additional strands for future use however this is not a requirement. Q2: Clarification The RFP calls out Ciena 6500 / 14 slot chassis with no initial specification for a day 1 configuration for carding, protocols, protection or circuit by circuit bandwidth requirements. Is this specification to be determined post award or are we to use any detailed information as it was spelled out in the RFI for day 1circuit specifications? A2: All the initial requirements for bandwidth are valid. ASU is looking for a 44 wave design with 7 nodes. Q3: Re: Section IV 3., second bullet Does the KMZ file have to be part of the single continuous document? A3: ASU will accept the KMZ file separately. Q4: Re: Section VIII 1-6 What are the point or percentage values of each evaluation criteria in 1-6? A4: Proposals will be evaluated on the criteria as listed in order of their relative priority with most important listed first. Q5: The attachment A shows seven locations without requirements for optics. Will a service provider be considered if these locations are omitted from the proposal? 1

2 A5: Suppliers will be considered if these locations are omitted, but may be considered less favorably to those who do provide solutions for these locations in their proposals. Q6: Page 16 mentions a timeframe of April 30th, while Page 20 mentions a timeframe of May 31st. Can you expand on the timeframe expectations? A6: The Infrastructure must be delivered by April 30th so ASU has 30 days to test/burn in the solution. The overall project must be complete and ready to turn over to ASU by May 31st Q7: Page 17 mentions integration with the Ticketing System. Can you expand upon that? A7: ASU wishes problem management to be as seamless as possible between the supplier and ASU s problem management system. Suppliers who express a commitment to work with ASU to allow their ticketing system to interoperate with ASU s ticketing system will be favorably considered with those who are not willing to make this commitment. Q8: Page 16 mentions University Change Control. Can you expand upon that? A8: ASU employs an ITIL standard change process. Changes to the network which may impact ASU must be planned, coordinated and announced via ASU s change management process. ASU wishes the suppliers change management process to interoperation as seamlessly as possible with ASU s change management system. Suppliers who express a commitment to work with ASU to allow their change management system to interoperate with ASU s change management system will be favorably considered with those who are not willing to make this commitment. Q9: Page 11, Part 29, subsection ii mentions scans, penetration test, malicious code, etc. Is there any expectation that a service provider would be required to fulfill any of these services? A9: We don't see it as the supplier's responsibility to do scans. Since we don't think they would have access to the fiber which we are leasing from them to do so. Q10: Page 18, Section V, Part 8 Arizona State University is requesting a 30 day maintenance notification from the providers, as well as a 48 hour reminder in advance of any maintenance to be performed. Industry standard is 15 days without a 48 hour reminder, that said, is the University willing to accept the 15 day interval for maintenance notifications that all providers are accustomed to providing? A10: ASU is willing to accept supplier proposals which commit to a 15 day interval for maintenance notifications, but suppliers who commit to a 30 day maintenance notification will be favorably considered. 2

3 Q12: Section VII, Page 34, Part 39 A performance bond is not typical in this type of RFP, therefore we request that Section VII, Page 34, Part 39 be removed from the RFP, unless it was intended. If it was intended, please clarify the specifics of the bond. A12: The needs for Bonds will be determined after reviewing the proposals. Q13: Will ASU consider an extension of the due date? A13: At this time no extension is being offered. The close date will remain at 10/1/13 at 3:00PM MST. Q14: Item 11 Small and Disadvantaged Business Will there be any advantages extended to Arizona based, Small or Minority owned Businesses? A14: There will be no advantage provided to small & disadvantaged business. Q15: Is Ciena a mandatory requirement or will ASU accept equal or superior hardware solutions? A15: Cienna is a mandatory requirement. Q16: Does the school already have existing Cienna gear in it s network? A16: Not currently Q17: Item 8, Maintenance ASU is asking for all vendor equipment to be under repair maintenance at no cost to the University for the full duration of the agreement. As ASU will take ownership of the hardware after 3 years, is there a requirement to provide support cost of the hardware specified beyond 3 years? A17: All vendor equipment installed shall be under repair maintenance at no cost to the University for the first three years until transfer of ownership to ASU. Q18: Item 10 As this network traverses several cities, and many, many major streets. Permitting may be the delimiting factor in completion of such a project. Is the a commitment to the May 31st a mandatory requirement or a desired date? A18: May 31st is a mandatory requirement due to the transition schedule. Q19: The pricing table ask for various terms for 3 Year Operating Cost then 5, 7 and 10 year Service Cost and Lease Cost. Please define what cost are to be identified in each of the following categories: A19: a. Operating Cost Service Provider monthly cost to fully maintain and operate the dark fiber infrastructure for a 3 year term b. Monthly Lease Cost Monthly cost to lease dark fiber infrastructure for 5, 7 and 10 year term c. Service Cost Service Provider monthly cost to provide break/fix and maintenance support for the dark fiber infrastructure during lease period. Please 3

4 provide 5, 7 and 10 year term costs that correspond to the dark fiber infrastructure lease options d. Clarify if Total Cost formulas are to include Service Cost + Lease Cost + Operating Cost or Service Cost + Operating Cost Total Cost = Service Cost + Lease Cost + Operating Cost Q20: Item 39 Performance Bond Please Define how ASU plans on calculating Bond Requirements. A210: Whether bonds are required and the dollar value will be determined after review of the proposals. Q21: While the Attachment of locations calls for Dual Entrances at 7 of the locations, it is not specifically define the requirement to have a completely diverse path dark fiber ring. Is a completely diverse path between the 7 locations with dual entrances a mandatory requirement or a desirable requirement? A21: The 7 locations specified to have dual entrances must have dual entrances. Q22: Will proposals that do not include complete path diversity be accepted? A22: Proposals that do not include complete path diversity will be considered against those which do. Q23: The buildings in the downtown area (350, 522, 445, 500, 424, 502, and 600) have no requirements for Ciena DWDM nodes. Does the node at 411 need to include any special cards to feed these locations or ill terminating electronics for all locations out of 411 be the responsibility of ASU? A23: ASU will provide the electronics between 411 and the other downtown locations. Q24: Given the proximity of 411 to 120, would ASU consider removing it from the Dual Entrance and Ciena node requirement? A24: 411 needs to be considered independently from 120 E Van Buren Q25: In the pre-bid it was mentioned that some early conceptual drawing detailing the schools desired topology would be made available, are these drawings going to be made available? A25: ASU may make additional drawings available at ASU s discretion. If we choose to do so, they will be uploaded to the SharePoint site. Suppliers should not assume these drawings will be made available or delay their proposals as a result of not having these additional drawings. Q26: Can a list of desired demarks for each location be provided? A26: ASU will specify and allocate the space for all Demarcs. 4

5 Q27: Is 12 strands a mandatory requirement, if 12 strands are not available on entire rout A27: The infrastructure should be such that it can accommodate at least twelve (12) strands of single-mode fiber that can be brought from the service provider s demarcation point to the various University locations. Q28: Can ASU commit to ensure that there are sufficient space and environmentals for each location requiring Ciena Gear? A28: ASU will provide adequate space, power and cooling for each location requiring Cienna gear. Q29: If not can site surveys of each location be surveyed to determine what will need to be done at each site to make ready for the Ciena deployment? Is there any desire to connect to Skysong? A29: Suppliers may provide a plan to connect to Skysong as a value-add. Otherwise, connectivity to Skysong will continue to be leased from commercial providers. Q30: Would ASU consider a fully managed DWDM network rather than Dark Fiber with a transfer of electronics after 3 years? A30: ASU Is requesting proposals for a dark fiber infrastructure with a three (3) year build, operate, train and transfer of the fiber optic hardware. Q31: What speed is ASU requiring for the Ciena nodes (10G/40G/100G)? It would be desirable for ASU to specify the required speed so that hardware cost will be consistent amongst bidders. A31: 100Gb Q32: Does ASU currently have an outside plant management software that fiber routes will need to be loaded into? A32: Yes Q33: During the Pre Proposal conference your representative said that the Dark fiber services in this RFP needed to be installed by May 31,2014 and not April 30, 2014 as stated on page 16, Item number 2. Can you please confirm? A33: The Infrastructure must be delivered by April 30th so ASU has 30 days to test/burn in the solution. The overall project must be complete and ready to turn over to ASU by May 31st Q34: Does any portion of the provider s service require services beyond Physical Layer 1 as defined below? Physical (Layer 1) This layer conveys the bit stream - electrical impulse, light or radio signal -- through the network at the electrical and mechanical level. It provides the hardware means of sending and receiving data on a carrier, including defining 5

6 cables, cards and physical aspects. Fast Ethernet, RS232, and ATM are protocols with physical layer components. A34: ASU is requesting a Layer 1 Dark Fiber infrastructure that will allow the overlay of various network protocols based on the university s needs/requirements. Q35: Will the Provider be required to operate a Network Operating Center (NOC) to monitor the hardware or, will the Provider receive alarms from ASU? A35: Yes. The provider will be required to operate a Network Operations Center to monitor the health of the network and respond to alarms. Q36: Locations that require dual entrance, will Provider be required to establish entrance(s) if they do not exist? A36: Yes Q37: Will ASU provide the building and room numbers at each location that will house the fiber and electronics? A37: Yes ASU will assign the space for the fiber and electronics Q38: Will ASU provide elevations and precise locations as to where the equipment is to be installed? A38: ASU will provide precise locations within the rooms where equipment is to be installed. It will be the supplier s responsibility to provide drawings, including elevations of the proposed hardware installation. Q39: Will ASU provide all facilities Power, Grounding, Cooling, Racks, and wall mounts where required? A39: ASU will provide power and cooling and the source ground will be identified. It will be the supplier s responsibility to extend the ground as required. The supplier will be responsible for providing racks and wall mounts where required per ASU specifications. Q40: What is the required fiber termination method in each building: Wall mount LIU, Rack mount LIU, other? A40: Wall and or rack mount solutions are acceptable, per ASU guidelines, depending upon available space. Q41: Does the RFP require the bidder to provide any electronics In the 7 location that do not have the Cienna 6500 Node, or is just terminated fiber required? A41: ASU will provide the electronics for the 7 nodes that do not have the Cienna 6500 s specified. Q42: In the locations with no Cienna equipment, is the service demarc the end of the leased fiber? A42: Yes. The fiber distribution panel will be the demarcation point. 6

7 Q43: If electronics are required in the locations with No DWDM Node Locations, what are the specific parts required? A43: ASU will provide the active electronics at the non-dwdm locations. Q44: Contract Schedule and Deliverables Does ASU require that the description of the plan to deliver, test and turn over the dark fiber to each location be included in the Proposal? A44: Yes, the supplier will need to provide a detailed plan that defines how they will deliver, test and turn over the dark fiber to each location. Q45: Moves, Adds, Changes & Deletions (MACD) ASU does not want to pay any costs for early terminations for any and/or all locations? If this is a requirement of this RFP then this is actually a month-to-month lease of the fiber, correct? A45: ASU is requesting a 5, 7 and 10 year lease term for the dark fiber infrastructure. ASU is not requesting a month to month lease. Although ASU does not anticipate making any changes to the core infrastructure design, ASU reserves the right to move services as required without early termination charges being applied. If Service Provider charges for early termination, Service Provider should provide an early service termination schedule for consideration. Q46: Technical Support As a clarification to the uptime guarantee of % averaged over a seven day period. Uptime measured only over a 7-day period of the outage must be less than 30.2 seconds to comply, will there be a financial penalty attached to this guarantee? If so, what is the formula? Does this guarantee include the Cienna equipment? A46: ASU expects suppliers to include in their proposal a plan for how they will guarantee the uptime specified in the RFP and to propose remediation to ASU for non-compliance. The Cienna equipment should be included in the uptime guarantee. ASU reserves the right to further negotiate SLAs/penalties with suppliers at a later in the selection process. Q47: All vendor equipment installed shall be under repair maintenance at no cost to the University for the full duration of the contract agreement. Are you expecting the Provider to continue maintaining at no cost to the ASU after Provider has transferred ownership to ASU and after the equipment warranties have expired? A47: All vendor equipment installed shall be under repair maintenance at no cost to the University for the first three years until transfer of ownership to ASU. Q48: All equipment necessary to provide this connectivity shall be provided with the option of transfer of ownership to the University. Is the University requesting that the transfer of ownership will be optional to the University? 7

8 A48: Yes Q49: Section IX Pricing Schedule: Do you want b. the Three year operating cost as the monthly cost or the total cost for all 3 years stated as one number? The costs are to be identified as follows in each of the following categories: A49: a. Operating Cost Service Provider monthly cost to fully maintain and operate the dark fiber infrastructure for a 3 year term b. Monthly Lease Cost Monthly cost to lease dark fiber infrastructure for 5, 7 and 10 year term c. Service Cost Service Provider monthly cost to provide break/fix and maintenance support for the dark fiber infrastructure during lease period. Please provide 5, 7 and 10 year term costs that correspond to the dark fiber infrastructure lease options d. Total Cost formulas are to include Total Cost = Service Cost + Lease Cost + Operating Cost Q50:If b. is stated as one number are you wanting the Total Price(s) to be stated as combinations of the monthly (5,7&10) cost and the 3 year total costs? A50: Yes Q51: This doesn t answer the question: Q1 There were no indications in the RFP as to what the traffic demands are for this final design. Can you please confirm what the traffic demands are for this RFP? A1: "The dark fiber infrastructure and final design must be able to handle the full throughput of the Ciena 6500 Packet-Optical hardware.".asu provided Ciena with a diagram back in January that identified all the 10GbE circuits and 4Gb Fibre Channel circuits that were required to interconnect the ASU locations. The question has to do with whether those circuit demands (traffic demands) are still valid or have they changed? The network will be designed to handle 44 10G/40G/100G wavelengths. However, we need to know how many wavelengths and circuit types are required for the day 1 deployment. Please advise ASAP as we cannot complete the bill of materials without this information. ASU provided Ciena with a diagram back in January that identified all the 10GbE circuits and 4Gb Fibre Channel circuits that were required to interconnect the ASU locations. The question has to do with whether those circuit demands (traffic demands) are still valid or have they 8

9 changed? The network will be designed to handle 44 10G/40G/100G wavelengths. However, we need to know how many wavelengths and circuit types are required for the day 1 deployment. Please advise ASAP as we cannot complete the bill of materials without this information. A51: All the initial requirements for bandwidth are still valid ASU is looking for a 44 wave design. With 7 nodes. Q52: Section VII: Item 3 Please further define the requirement to be an authorized distributor in the local area. A53: An authorized distributor is person or business certified and trained to sell and service the requested dark fiber products. Service Provider must demonstrate they are directly representing the services being offered or they are an authorized distributor for the services being offered. If you have any questions regarding this notice, please contact me at or Stacie.malekooti@asu.edu. Thank you, Stacie Malekooti, Sr. Buyer Arizona State University Purchasing & Business Services 9