·        Before the listed deadlines, all Questions and Bids must be submitted using the on-line IFCB system. Bids submitted before the bid deadline outside of this system will be disqualified. If the system is down before the deadline, please email your bid to info@crwconsulting.com or fax it to 918.445.0049. Bids or questions submitted in this fashion will be disqualified if the on-line system is active at the time of submission. The applicant reserves the right to request and obtain bids outside of the website system if the bid deadline has passed and zero or one bid is received (the intent for this is to follow USAC guidance on obtaining cost-effective bids).

·       For all requested services and/or products listed on this IFCB: proposals that include generic/encyclopedic price lists will be considered non-responsive and will be disqualified. SPAM and/or robotic responses will not be considered valid bid responses and will be disqualified from consideration.

·        Bidder must agree to participate in USF Program (AKA “E-rate”) for the corresponding funding year.

·        Please include the correct Service Provider Identification Number (SPIN) on your bid.

·        By submitting a bid, bidder certifies that the bidder does have a valid (non-red light status) SPIN for the E-rate program at the time of submission. Should the Applicant discover that the bidder is on red light status, or if the FCC classifies the bidder as on red-light status before work is performed and invoices are paid, the contract will be null and void and the applicant will have no payment obligations to the bidder.

·        Bidder is expected to provide the lowest corresponding price per E-rate rules.  See https://www.usac.org/e-rate/service-providers/step-2-responding-to-bids/lowest-corresponding-price/ for details.

·        Contracts must not prohibit SPIN changes.

·        Bidder must agree to provide the Applicant the choice of discount methods (SPI or BEAR).

·        Bidder will be automatically disqualified if the District determines that the bidding company has offered any employee of the District any individual gift of more than $20 or gifts totaling more than $50 within a 12 month period. This does not apply to the recent FCC exemptions of the Gift Rule for the COVID pandemic.

·        All contracts awarded will be contingent upon E-rate funding and final board approval.  The applicant may choose to do all or part of the project upon funding notification.

·        All applicable fees, surcharges, and taxes must be identified on the bid. E-rate rules require the applicants to evaluate the price of eligible goods and services that will be listed on the 471 application during the competitive bidding process. Fees and surcharges that apply but are not listed on the bid will be the responsibility of the bidding company, should their bid be awarded.

·        If there is a request for Internal Connections (Category Two) equipment, or Category One equipment listed on this IFCB the applicant will accept bids for functionally equivalent equipment.

·        E-rate rules require applicants to evaluate the cost of eligible goods and services, and to cost-allocate out the amount for ineligible services from their funding request. If your company will be bidding internet access service, please identify the amount to be cost-allocated out for the ineligible services – email service, web hosting, content filtering, or other bundled ineligible services.

·        INTERNET ACCESS DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Any and all installation charges must be identified on your bid. If you submit a bid indicating that installation charges may apply without listing those charges, we will consider your bid incomplete and disqualify your bid.

·        INTERNET ACCESS DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Bids submitted for services to an incorrect address will be disqualified.

·        INTERNET ACCESS DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Bidders who are not eligible to provide OUSF support will be disqualified. By placing a bid for these services, the bidder agrees to file the completed OUSF affidavit within 90 days of the start of service (applicant agrees to complete their portion in a timely fashion after the request for completion by the winning bidder).

·        DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: The applicant will not accept bids from manufacturers of equipment deemed a national security threat by the Federal Communications Commission. The list of prohibited equipment is available here: https://www.fcc.gov/supplychain/coveredlist. Vendors that submit bids that include these manufacturers will have their bids disqualified.

·        DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Vendors must complete and include the C2 Cover Page with their bid. Bids received without the cover page will be disqualified.

·        DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: It will be the bidder’s responsibility to provide documentation about the compatibility requirements listed in this IFCB. Vendors that submit bids without documentation demonstrating the required compatibility listed in this IFCB will have their bids disqualified, unless that vendor has bid the preferred make/model number listed.

·        DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Applicant will not accept bids for refurbished equipment. Any bids containing refurbished equipment will be disqualified.

·        DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Service providers are required to bid an entire Project A or Project B.  Bids for individual components of a single project, or bids that do not include all of the requested items for a single project will be disqualified.

Category 1

Internet Access – District currently has 10 GB bandwidth. Please provide bids from 10 GB up to 100 GB bandwidth in 10 GB increments. Please also include pricing for a leased router. District would like a five year contract with annual renewals. Circuit terminates at 753 NW Fort Sill Blvd, Lawton, OK 73507. Please indicate on your bid if the following services are included:

· 24/7 helpdesk support

· 24/7 network monitoring tools for instant access to usage information
· DDos attack mitigation
· DNS hosting
· IPv4 an IPv6 addresses provided with internet service

E-rate rules require applicants to evaluate the cost of eligible goods and services, and to cost-allocate out the amount for ineligible services from their funding request. If your company will be bidding internet access service, please identify the amount to be cost-allocated out for the ineligible services – email service, web hosting, content filtering, or other bundled ineligible services.

NOTE: Applicant will accept any technologies bid. It is our intention to meet all OUSF Fair and Open Competitive Bidding requirements. If you are a NECA/tariffed company, bids for your tariffed rates are allowed. If any of the specified bandwidth speeds are not a tariffed/NECA rate, please bid the closest rate you have available, within the limits of the bandwidth range specified on the 470.

INTERNET ACCESS DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Any and all installation charges must be identified on your bid. If you submit a bid indicating that installation charges may apply without listing those charges, we will consider your bid incomplete and disqualify your bid.

INTERNET ACCESS DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Bids submitted for services to an incorrect address will be disqualified.

INTERNET ACCESS DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR: Bidders who are not eligible to provide OUSF support will be disqualified. By placing a bid for these services, the bidder agrees to file the completed OUSF affidavit within 90 days of the start of service (applicant agrees to complete their portion in a timely fashion after the request for completion by the winning bidder).

Category 2

Internal Connections – No installation or configuration is needed for either project.

UPDATE 9/18/24 For the Firewall Project – Project A – we mistakenly listed that we were looking for a Crowd Strike solution. However, Crowd Strike is our current Anti-Virus solution, not our current firewall. Our current firewall is a virtualized/cloud-based solution from Palo Alto (PA-VM, Panorama Version 10.2.8). Our preference is a similar cloud-based/virtualized Palo Alto solution. Bids for functionally equivalent solutions will be accepted. 

Project A – Firewall

NOTE: We are requesting firewall licensing on this IFCB, which sometimes may be categorized as BMIC or MIBS by USAC (the BMIC and MIBS boxes on the 470 have been checked to cover this scenario).

Project B – AP & UPS devices

The district does not need any drops for equipment.

NOTE: We are requesting AP licensing on this IFCB, which sometimes may be categorized as BMIC or MIBS by USAC (the BMIC and MIBS boxes on the 470 have been checked to cover this scenario).

COMPATIBILITY REQUIREMENT

All equipment must be compatible with existing Meraki infrastructure. 

DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: The applicant will not accept bids from manufacturers of equipment deemed a national security threat by the Federal Communications Commission. The list of prohibited equipment is available here: https://www.fcc.gov/supplychain/coveredlist. Vendors that submit bids that include these manufacturers will have their bids disqualified.

DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Vendors must complete and include the C2 Cover Page with their bid. Bids received without the cover page will be disqualified.

DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: It will be the bidder’s responsibility to provide documentation about the compatibility requirements listed in this IFCB. Vendors that submit bids without documentation demonstrating the required compatibility listed in this IFCB will have their bids disqualified, unless that vendor has bid the preferred make/model number listed.

DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Applicant will not accept bids for refurbished equipment. Any bids containing refurbished equipment will be disqualified.

DISQUALIFICATION FACTOR INTERNAL CONNECTIONS: Service providers are required to bid an entire Project A or Project B.  Bids for individual components of a single project, or bids that do not include all of the requested items for a single project will be disqualified.