6 June 2018 Request for Information Project Provide Enhance and Sustain Core Transport Capability Project Serial Number 2017/0CM03301 Capability Package (CP) 9C0123 NATO Core Communication Network Services NCI Agency Reference: RFI-CO-14797-LTX NCI Agency is seeking information from Nations and their Industry regarding the availability of Leased Transmission Services among all NATO Nations. NCI Agency Points of Contact Principal Contracting Officer (PCO) Mrs. Tiziana Pezzi Action Officer: Mr. Ian Chater E-mail: ian.chater@ncia.nato.int Page 1
To: Distribution List (Annex A) Subject: NCI Agency Request for Information RFI-CO-14797-LTX 1. NCI Agency requests the assistance of the Nations and their Industry to identify Leased Transmission Services that can meet or exceed NATO requirements under the scope of project 0CM03301 Provide Enhance and Sustain Core Transport Capability. 2. In addition to the firms noted in Annex D of this letter, NCI Agency requests the broadest possible dissemination by Nations of this Request for Information to their qualified and interested industrial base. 3. A summary of the requirements is set forth in the Annex B attached hereto. Respondents are requested to reply via the questionnaire at Annex C. Other supporting information and documentation (technical data sheets, marketing brochures, catalogue price lists, descriptions of existing installations, etc.) are also desired. 4. The NCI Agency reference for this Request for Information is RFI-CO-14797-LTX, and all correspondence and submissions concerning this matter should reference this number. 5. Responses may be issued to NCI Agency directly from Nations or from their Industry (to the staff indicated at Paragraph 8 of this Request for Information). Respondents are invited to carefully review the requirements in Annex B. 6. Responses shall in all cases include the name of the firm, telephone number, e-mail address, designated Point of Contact, and a description of the capability available and its functionalities. This shall include any restrictions (e.g. export controls) for direct procurement of the various capabilities by NCI Agency. Non-binding product pricing information is also requested as called out in Annex C. 7. Responses are due back to NCI Agency no later than 17:00 Brussels time 15 June 2018. 8. Please send all responses either via post or email to the following NCI Agency Point of Contact: To Attention of: Mrs Tiziana Pezzi Mr Ian Chater Postal address: Acquisition Directorate Boulevard Leopold III B-1110 Brussels Belgium E-mail: tiziana.pezzi@ncia.nato.int ian.chater@ncia.nato.int 9. Product demonstrations are not foreseen during this initial stage. At this stage, clarification requests or any further questions are not accepted in return. Respondents Page 2
NATO UNCLASSIFIED are invited, if they wish to do so, to explain both their pricing information and the solution approach on a maximum 2 hour session to be arranged on the 19th and 20th June 2018. Respondents are requested to await further instructions after their submissions and are requested not to contact directly any NCI Agency staff other than the POC identified above in Paragraph 8. 10. Any response to this request shall be provided on a voluntary basis. Negative responses shall not prejudice or cause the exclusion of companies from any future procurement that may arise from this Request for Information. Responses to this request, and any information provided within the context of this survey, including but not limited to pricing, quantities, capabilities, functionalities and requirements will be considered as information only and will not be construed as binding on NATO for any future acquisition. 11. The NCI Agency is not liable for any expenses incurred by firms in conjunction with their responses to this Request for Information and this shall not be regarded as a commitment of any kind concerning future procurement of the items described. 12. Your assistance in this Request for Information request is greatly appreciated. FOR THE DIRECTOR OF ACQUISITION: Enclosures: Annex A (Distribution List) Annex B (Request for Information - Summary of Requirements, Project 2018/0CM03301) Annex C (Request for Information - Questionnaire) Annex D (Potential Industrial Suppliers, NCI Agency Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) Holders on Distribution) NATO UNCLASSIFIED Page 3 NATO Communications and Information Agency Agence OTAN d'information et de communication Avenue du Bourget 140 1140 Brussels, Belgium www.ncra.nato.mt
Annex B to ANNEX B Summary of Requirements Project ID 2018/0CM03301, CP9C0123 Under CP9C0123 project 0CM03301, NATO is planning to procure Enhanced Leased Transmission Services to interconnect the three NATO Data Centre (DC) locations over a resilient ring (hereafter referred to as the Transport Core), as well as sustaining and enhancing connectivity between that Transport Core and all NCS HQs and NATO Points of Presence (PoP) in nations (hereafter referred to as the Transport Edge). The enhancements sought encompass higher capacity and increased resilience where required, in support of the various Communities of Interest (COI) served by the NCI Agency NATO wide. Enhanced Leased Transmission Services will: 1) Replace the current LTX Core with a resilient 100 Gbps Transport Core (also referred to as CAP-0). 2) Increase the capacity and resilience of the Transport Edge, selectively across three so-called Capability Segments (CAP-1, CAP-2 and CAP-3), with two levels of capacity (1 Gbps and 10 Gbps), and with varying degrees of transmission redundancy and diversity. The Transport Core and the Transport Edge are conceived and can be implemented as two separate and independent capabilities. The Transport Core will rely on 100Gbps E-line services delivered over Contractor Owned and Contractor (CO-CO) infrastructure, interconnecting NATO-owned and NATO-operated (NO- NO) P-Core Routers (PCR) at each Core node, with target operational availabilities higher than 99.99% between the Core nodes. The Transport Edge will rely on MEF 6.2 compliant Ethernet Transport services, delivered over CO-CO infrastructure. Services will be provided to NO-NO Protected Core Access (PCA) routers. Link capacity and operational availabilities end-to-end are tentatively allocated as follows: 1) CAP-1 nodes: up to 10G, in 1G increments, with a target end-to-end operational availability of 99.99% (less than 1 hour downtime per year). CAP-1 comprises 8 sites; 2) CAP-2 nodes: up to 10G, in 1G increments, with a target end-to-end operational availability of 99.9% (less than 8 hours downtime per year). CAP-2 comprises 16 sites; 3) CAP-3 nodes: up to 1G, in 100M increments, with a target end-to-end operational availability of 99.7% (less than 24 hours downtime per year). CAP-3 comprises 48 sites. Figure 1 (next page) provides a representation of the network, with the distribution of sites across the four CAP segments, and with the following notional approach to attaining the above listed availability levels: Page B-1
Annex B to 1) Transport Core (also referred to as the CAP-0 segment): transmission diversity as required, in order to guarantee the required 99.99% between any pair of Core Nodes. Diversity will be based on independent and disjoint transmission lines and paths, with separate entry points at each site; 2) Transport Edge: a) CAP-1 nodes: dual homing to two Core nodes, over two independent links and access providers, each link featuring path protection within the service provider network; b) CAP-2 nodes: dual homing to two Core nodes, over two independent links, without path protection over the service provider network; c) CAP-3 nodes: single homing to a Core node, over a single link, with or without path protection (depending on the site), and with options for dual homing to a Core node and to another CAP-3 node, a CAP-2 node, or a CAP-1 node. EDGE: CAP 1 tier 8 sites EDGE: CAP 3 tier 48 sites EDGE: CAP 2 tier 16 sites Total: 72 Edge nodes 3 Core Nodes CAP3 #2 CAP2 #1 #3 CAP2 #2 CAP3 #3 CAP3 #4 CAP3 #1 #2 CN 2 #4 CAP2 #3 #1 CN 1 CORE 3 sites #5 CAP2 #16 #8 CN 3 #6 CAP3 #5 CAP2 #11 #7 CAP3 #48 Figure 1 Notional Network View CAP 0 100G 99.99% CAP 1 CAP 2 up to 10G up to 10G CAP 3 up to 1G 99.99% 99.9% 99.7% Page B-2
Annex B to The Transport Core will be implemented and managed in complete independence from the Transport Edge. The number of sites and their allocation to CAP segments in the Transport Edge are linked to operational requirements. They may be subject to reviews and changes on a yearly basis. The Transport Edge services will be delivered as: 1) E-Line point to point EVC, port-based Ethernet Private Lines (100M or 1G), under a service provision framework that allows NATO to increase/decrease the number the E-lines per site, up to the capacity of the access network (1G or 10G); 2) Multipoint connectivity services based on VPLS, under a service provision framework that allows NATO to add or delete sites and to increase or decrease the capacity allocated to one or more VPLS networks. PCA routers and P-Core routers (PCR) will be provided as Purchaser Furnished Equipment (PFE). The routers will be interconnected as in Figure 2 below. PCA Router UNI EVC UNI P Core Router (PCR) Service Provider Edge Node NO NO NATO Site Line termination CO CO Line termination Figure 2 CO-CO and NO-NO boundaries NO NO Core Node NATO Site (Data Centre) In terms of quality of service and capacity, Transport Edge services will accommodate: 1) Path-protection for all EPL in CAP-1; 2) Two classes of EPL, High Assurance and Medium Assurance, corresponding to two different levels of availability, delay, jitter and loss; 3) A single pool of bandwidth, which will be subject of yearly reviews and adjustments. Changes in the number of EPLs allocated to a given site, or changes to the bandwidth allocated to one or more VPLS networks, will occur within the limits of the bandwidth pool. For the purpose of this RFI, the Transport Edge bandwidth pool is initially sized at 96 Gbps, with 32 Gbps allocated to each of the three CAP segments, i.e. 32 Gbps shared across 48 sites in CAP-3, 32 Gbps for 16 sites in CAP-2, and 32 Gbps for 8 sites in CAP-1. The bandwidth pool will be adjustable based on changes in the number of sites under each CAP level. Figure 3 (next page) provides the notional implementation view of the network in Figure 2 above, in line with the aforementioned capacity and availability specifications. Page B-3
Annex B to PCA @CAP 1 10G (8 sites) PCA @CAP 2 10G (16 sites) 100G PCA @CAP 3 1G (48 sites) PCR @Mons Core Provider Mx1G PCR @Lago Patria PCR @Evere Access Network Ingress PoP Backbone Network Ingress PoP Backbone Network Egress PoP Edge All routers on display are NATO owned and NATO operated (NO NO) Figure 3 Notional Implementation View The figure above represents the following components: 1) The three layers of transmission infrastructure involved: Access networks, Backbone network and Core network. 2) The NO-NO PCA routers at each of the Edge nodes, connected over Nx100M or Nx1G EPLs to the Access network termination devices. The Access network termination capacity will be 2x10G, 2x1G or 1G, depending on the CAP segment and the site. N will be sized (between 1 and 10) on a per-site basis. Page B-4
Annex B to 3) The NO-NO PCR at each of the Transport Core nodes. These routers connect to the Backbone network and to the Core network, over a separate and independent line termination infrastructure. The Backbone network termination capacity will be 2x 100G per Core node, and deliver Mx1G EPL from the Edge nodes, over two redundant paths (M sized in accordance to the number of sites and the N value for each site). Line termination devices will be equipped with SLA monitoring and performance reporting capabilities. Transmission resilience requirements over the access and backbone networks for the CAP-1 and CAP-2 sites are represented using the convention in Table 1 below. Table 1 Minimum Resilience Conditions for CAP-1 and CAP-2 sites Icon Minimum Condition for Resilience Two lines, two separate Access Networks, two separate ingress PoPs, path-protected EPLs Two lines, one or two separate Access Networks, with two separate ingress PoPs, no path protection on EPLs Separate Backbone Network ingress PoPs Separate Backbone Network egress PoPs (bulk access trunks to PCR) Page B-5
Annex C to ANNEX C Questionnaire Organisation name: Contact name & details within organisation: Notes Please DO NOT alter the formatting. If you need additional space to complete your text then please use the Continuation Sheet at the end of this Annex and reference the question to which the text relates to. Please feel free to make assumptions, HOWEVER you must list your assumptions in the spaces provided. Please DO NOT enter any company marketing or sales material as part of your answers within this Request for Information. But please submit such material as enclosures with the appropriate references within your replies. If you need additional space, please use the sheet at the end of this Annex. Please DO try and answer the relevant questions as comprehensively as possible. All questions within this document should be answered in conjunction with the summary of requirements in Annex B. All questions apply to Commercial or Government responders as appropriate to their Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) or Government off the Shelf (GOTS) product. You are invited to answer all questions. However, owing to the NCI Agency s intent to implement the Transport Core and the Transport Edge as two joint but independent capabilities, answers addressing only those questions relevant to one or the other capability will be accepted. Cost details required in the questions refer to Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) Procurement & Life Cycle cost, including all assumptions the estimate is based upon: - Advantages & disadvantages of your product/solution/organisation, - Any other supporting information you may deem necessary including any assumptions relied upon. Page C-1
N A T O U N C L A S S I F I E D Annex C to Do you currently provide Metro-compliant Ethernet Transport services over or exceeding NATO s geographical footprint, or will you be ready to provide them by the end of 2018, with levels of availability and capacity as presented in Annex B? Please list the standards these services are compliant to. Can you accommodate the levels of physical resilience of the Transport Core, as presented in Annex B? How would you assure the disjointness of two (or three) transmission paths leaving a NATO Core node? Can you accommodate the levels of physical resilience on access and backbone networks, as presented in Annex B for the various CAP segments of the Transport Edge, and for the number of sites contemplated under the CAP-1 and CAP-2 segments? Under CAP-1, how would you assure the disjointness of two transmission paths leaving a NATO Edge Node over two separate access providers? What are the availability levels of your backbone network? What are the service restoration times and how are those achieved? N A T O U N C L A S S I F I E D Page C-2
N A T O U N C L A S S I F I E D Annex C to What parameters are considered for defining the EPL availability (available, degraded and not available)? How would your backbone network interconnect with the access networks? Can you accommodate a service delivery framework with dynamic allocation and redistribution of capacity to EVCs (and VPLS networks), out of a fixed pool of bandwidth, as described in Annex B? If so: a. What would be the tools offered to NATO to request and monitor compliance with agreed capacity allocations and availability levels? b. Which notice periods for changes in capacity allocations would you be able to accommodate? c. Up to which percentage would you be able to increase or decrease the total pool of bandwidth, on a yearly basis, and under which notice period? How would you terminate the EPLs of the Transport Edge on the NO-NO PCA and P- Core Routers? How would you terminate the 100GE services of the Transport Core on the NO-NO P-Core Routers? N A T O U N C L A S S I F I E D Page C-3
N A T O U N C L A S S I F I E D Annex C to Which technology and which network equipment brand(s) are currently supporting the core routing and switching functions in your backbone network? How would you bill the Transport Edge services on a monthly or quarterly basis, considering that EVC capacities over the backbone network would in most cases be less than the physical capacity of the access links? Please provide a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) pricing schedule for the Transport Edge services as defined in Annex B, including monthly service payments as well as any installation costs relevant to attaining the stated levels of resilience. Assume a pool of bandwidth of 96 Gbps shared across the 72 sites of the Transport Edge, with 32 Gbps per CAP segment. Please provide a ROM pricing schedule for the Transport Core services as defined in Annex B. What price reductions (as a percentage of a 1-year service cost) would result from committing the Transport Core transmission services over periods of 3 years, 6 years and 9 years? N A T O U N C L A S S I F I E D Page C-4
Annex C to Continuation Sheet Please feel free to add any information you may think that may be of value to NCI Agency in the space provided below. Should you need additional space, please copy this page and continue with the appropriate page numbers. Page Of Page C-5