HomeMy WebLinkAboutBFI Operator RFP FINAL 11-9-15
Bozeman Fiber Request for Proposals for Bozeman Fiber Network Operator Page 1 of 14
Bozeman Fiber
Request for Proposals for Professional Services
Bozeman Fiber Network Operator
1 - GENERAL INFORMATION
1.1 Bozeman Fiber seeks to procure a qualified professional network operator to operate its
open access, multi-provider, multi-service fiber optic network.
1.2 The Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) must be received by Bozeman Fiber at 2000
Commerce Way, Bozeman, MT 59715 no later than 12 noon local time on December 1, 2015.
1.3 Questions pertaining to the selection process should be directed to Brit Fontenot,
Secretary, Bozeman Fiber at bfontenot@bozeman.net.
1.4 Bozeman Fiber shall not be held responsible for any oral instructions. Any changes to
this Request for Proposals (RFP) will be in the form of an addendum, which will be sent to
firms that have indicated their interest in responding to this RFP in writing via email to the email
address provided by each interested firm.
1.5 The network operator will be selected on the basis of demonstrated competence and
qualification for the type of services required and thereafter Bozeman Fiber will negotiate the
services agreement with what it deems to be the most qualified firm for the particular project.
Bozeman Fiber reserves the right to select any contractor based on any combination of
qualifications it deems most suitable for this project.
1.6 Bozeman Fiber believes that having a single firm serve as both network operator
and as a service provider on an open-access network represents an unacceptable conflict of
interest. Bozeman Fiber’s selection of a firm to serve as network operator precludes the
selected firm from being a service provider on the Bozeman Fiber open access network.
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2 ‐ PRELIMINARY SCOPE OF SERVICES
After being selected, the selected operator will execute a professional services agreement
with Bozeman Fiber to provide services based primarily on the preliminary scope of services set
forth in Exhibit A. The operator and Bozeman Fiber shall negotiate a final scope of services after
selection.
Bozeman Fiber may, in its sole discretion, select more than one network operator to provide the
services set forth in Exhibit A, depending on that firm’s relevant expertise.
3 ‐ QUALIFICATIONS EVALUATION CRITERIA
3.1 The network operator will be selected through a qualification‐based selection process.
Firms interested in providing the requested scope of services (or any part thereof) to Bozeman
Fiber must submit a SOQ that includes the submittal requirements and addresses the
following evaluation criteria. Information included within the SOQ may be used to evaluate
your firm as part of any criteria regardless of where that information is found within the SOQ.
Information obtained from the SOQ and from any other relevant source may be used in the
evaluation and selection process.
3.2 Qualifications Criteria.
Respondents to this RFP shall be evaluated based on criteria deemed relevant by Bozeman Fiber,
which may including the following criteria, with Bozeman Fiber choosing, in its opinion, the
most qualified firm to provide the services required for the proposed project:
a. The qualifications of professional personnel to be assigned to the project;
b. Successful related experience on similar projects involving open access networks owned by cities, or economic development and community benefit entities;
c. Successfully negotiating agreements with service providers and coordinating marketing
activities;
d. Capability to meet time and budget requirements;
e. Present and projected workloads; f. Demonstrated knowledge of the Bozeman Fiber Initiative and Bozeman Fiber Master
Plan;
g. Location of the firm in relation to the project; and
h. Examples of recent and current work of similar type and scale as that proposed in the
Bozeman Fiber Master Plan. i. Approach to comprehensively operating the Bozeman Fiber Network on behalf of the
Bozeman Fiber Board of Directors
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j. Detailed approach to monetizing the Firm’s operator role.
4 ‐ SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS
4.1 All SOQs must contain the following information:
a. A one-page cover letter;
b. Describe your approach to comprehensively operating the Bozeman Fiber Network on
behalf of the Bozeman Fiber Board of Directors;
c. Describe in detail your approach to monetizing the Firm’s operator role vis-a-vis
operations charges to Bozeman Fiber;
d. At least 5 case studies (no more than 2 pages each) to demonstrate the firm’s
qualifications and experience on projects similar to the preliminary scope of services;
e. At the discretion of the firm, no more than five (5) typewritten, single-spaced pages more
fully describing the firm's qualifications for the specific project and including all
information required by this section;
f. Description of: (i) any litigation, arbitration, or claims filed by the submitting firm
against any other client as a result of a contract dispute within the past ten (10 years);
(ii) a list of any contract or negligence claims filed against the submitting firm within
the past ten (10 years); and (iii) a list of similar service agreements wherein termination
occurred prior to final completion of the project within the past ten (10) years;
g. Any other information necessary to address the criteria included in Section 3, above and
the scope of services but subject to the page limitation stated above;
h. A list of references from similar projects; and
i. At the discretion of the firm, a company brochure.
4.2 The SOQ must be submitted to Bozeman Fiber at, c/o Gallatin Foundation Inc., 2000
Commerce Way, Bozeman, Montana 59715, by [12 noon] local time, [December 1, 2015]. Seven
(7) copies must be submitted to the address above prior to the deadline + one (1) digital version
provided on a flash drive.
4.3 Failure to comply with the following criteria may be grounds for disqualifications:
• Delivery of submission by the specified cut‐off date and time.
• Provide the required number of originals and/or copies of the submittal specified.
• Adherence to maximum page requirements.
• Submit required non-discrimination affirmation statement.
4.4 Adherence to the maximum page criteria is critical; each page side (maximum 8 1/2” x
11”) with criteria information will be counted. Pages that have photos, charts and graphs will be
counted towards the maximum number of pages.
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5 ‐ SELECTION PROCEDURE AND SCHEDULE
5.1 The board of directors of Bozeman Fiber or a committee designated thereby will evaluate
each SOQ according to the above criteria. It is currently expected that each respondent will be
ranked and, if necessary, the board or committee may select respondents for interviews. The
purpose of the interview will be to expand on the information provided in the SOQ, not to
repeat information already provided. Respondents selected for interviews will be provided
additional instruction by Bozeman Fiber. Respondents not selected for further consideration will
be notified. The final selection will be based on an evaluation of the written responses to the RFP
and, if conducted, interviews. Award of the project will be made following contract negotiations
to the most qualified respondent, as determined by Bozeman Fiber in its sole discretion, at a
price which Bozeman Fiber determines to be fair and reasonable taking into account the
estimated value of services to be rendered, as well as the scope, complexity, and professional
nature thereof.
5.2 Following the interviews the board of directors or committee will determine a ranking for
each firm based on the published criteria in Section 3. Consideration will be given to both the
written SOQ and interview.
5.3 Requests for briefings or selection decisions shall be made in writing to Bozeman Fiber.
All information submitted by firms and related board of directors or committee evaluations and
rankings shall be considered confidential.
5.4 Bozeman Fiber will enter into negotiations with the selected respondent and execute an
agreement for professional services upon completion of negotiations. If Bozeman Fiber is
unsuccessful in negotiating a contract with the highest ranked firm, Bozeman Fiber may then
negotiate with the second or third highest ranked firm until a contract is executed, or may decide
to terminate the selection process at any time and for any reason. As set forth in Section 6,
Bozeman Fiber is not obligated to execute an agreement with any party.
6 – RESERVATION OF RIGHTS BY BOZEMAN FIBER.
The issuance of this RFP and the acceptance of a submittal do not constitute an agreement by
Bozeman Fiber that any contract will actually be entered into by Bozeman Fiber. Any costs
incurred by respondents in preparation of a response to this RFP are the sole responsibility of the
respondents. Any or all disputes arising under this RFP and any contract negotiated as a result of
this RFP shall be governed by the laws of the State of Montana. Bozeman Fiber reserves the
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right to issue written notices of any change in the submittal process should Bozeman Fiber
determine, in its sole and absolute discretion, that such changes are necessary or desirable.
In addition and notwithstanding any other provision of the RFP, Bozeman Fiber reserves the
right to:
1. Waive any immaterial defect or informality in a submittal;
2. Extend or otherwise revise the submittal due date;
3. Reject any or all submissions or portions thereof;
4. Cancel this RFP at any time;
5. Reissue a new or revised RFP; and
6. Request additional information or require one or more teams to submit a more detailed
submittal.
7. Add addenda to this RFP.
This solicitation does not require Bozeman Fiber to award a contract, to pay any cost incurred
with the preparation of a qualifications statement, or to procure or contract for services. Bozeman
Fiber may divide the preliminary scope of services into separate sub-projects, and award
contracts on that basis. Bozeman Fiber reserves the right to accept or reject any submittals
received in response to this request, to negotiate with any qualified source, or cancel in whole or
part this process if it is in the best interest of Bozeman Fiber. Prior to negotiations, prospective
entities may be required to submit revisions to their qualifications statements.
7 – SUBMITTAL REJECTION/RIGHT TO DISQUALIFY
Submittal of terms, conditions and/or agreements may result in rejection if such terms,
conditions, or agreements are deemed unacceptable by Bozeman Fiber in its sole discretion.
Bozeman Fiber. reserves the right to disqualify any entity who fails to provide information or
data specifically requested herein or who provides materially inaccurate or misleading
information or data. Bozeman Fiber reserves the right to disqualify any entity on the basis of any
real or apparent conflict of interest. This disqualification is at the sole discretion of Bozeman
Fiber.
8 – BOZEMAN FIBER’S NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY
Each entity submitting under this notice shall affirm, on a separate form provided by Bozeman
Fiber, that it will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital
status, national origin, or because of actual or perceived sexual orientation, sexual preference,
gender identity, or disability in fulfillment of a contract entered into for the services identified
herein and that this prohibition on discrimination shall apply to the hiring and treatment of the
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submitting entity’s employees and to all subcontracts it enters into related to fulfillment of the
services identified in this RFP.
Failure to comply with the above shall be cause for Bozeman Fiber to deem the submittal non-
responsive.
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EXHIBIT A
PRELIMINARY SCOPE OF SERVICES
Background:
A coalition of key stakeholders support the development of an integrated, open access (Layer 2),
community fiber optic network. This new network will support the public sector, bridge service
gaps, enhance redundancy, and provide access to high capacity fiber to enable private vendors to
better deliver network services, and promote economic development. The network will aggregate
demand and create financial incentives for increased private sector investment in regional and
interstate connectivity.
In July 2014, the City of Bozeman, Prospera Business Network and the Northern Rocky
Mountain Economic Development District engaged consultants to develop a Bozeman Fiber
Master Plan to create a phased build plan for an open access network connecting community
anchor institutions and central business districts. The plan details a ringed active Ethernet
architecture to promote redundancy with a plan for a hybrid architecture enabled for long term
growth. The plan integrates a number of areas where the City had already planned or engineered
a fiber and/or conduit system for City purposes into the larger network.
Based loosely upon the Bozeman Fiber Master Plan, Bozeman Fiber developed a build plan for
its initial network. This plan includes approximately 23 miles of fiber covering selected business
districts, connecting schools and government buildings and closing loops to provide for
redundancy. The network is expected to expand gradually over time as revenues allow for
expansion.
A link to the Bozeman Fiber Master Plan and Feasibility Study is available at
http://weblink.bozeman.net/WebLink8/0/doc/78575/Electronic.aspx
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Preliminary Scope of Services
Bozeman Fiber is seeking a third party network operator with experience comprehensively
operating open access networks owned by cities, non-profits, or economic development and
community benefit entities. Bozeman Fiber wishes to turn over the vast majority of day-to-day operational duties to a partner that knows business- and consumer-focused layer 2 open access
networks (e.g. OnLight Aurora, Access Eagan, UTOPIA, and New Hampshire Fast Roads) and
has experience operating such networks on behalf of a network owner that is not the network
operator. The firm should be able to describe comprehensively how it plans to structure billing Bozeman Fiber for operating its network.
The following services may be required of the selected operator:
Operations Planning
• Policies and Procedures
• Legal and Administrative
• Service Provider Management and Recruitment
Operations
• Marketing and Awareness
• Start-up Network Testing and Integration
• Start-up Policies and Procedures
• Network Management
• Business Operations
A detailed description of what these services might entail is set forth below. The services outlined below may be divided into several sub-projects, and separate contracts may be negotiated over a period of time with a number of the qualified firms responding to this RFP based on the firms’ respective qualifications. Bozeman Fiber’s current intent is to
develop a ranked list of prequalified firms; subsequent technical proposals and/or
interviews may be requested prior to actual consultant selection and contract negotiation.
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Operations Planning - Policies and Procedures
Identify network operations staffing, network operations policies and procedures; business and administrative tasks; bookkeeping, accounting, and financial management policies and
procedures. Identify outside plant maintenance and repairs policies and procedures.
• Identify day to day network operations, maintenance, and repair procedures and
policies.
• Identify out of hours monitoring strategies using network software tools and other automated alarms and alerts.
• Document procedures for diagnosing and troubleshooting problems reported by service
providers.
• Document procedures for replacement of defective or failing equipment.
• Document procedures for routine and emergency repairs by network operations staff.
• Document procedures for providing assistance to service providers in determining faults in customer reported troubles.
• Document procedures for collection of metrics on network performance.
• Document procedures for software and firmware patches on schedules recommended by the vendors.
• Document procedures for network management software upgrades.
• Document procedures for firmware upgrades for network equipment.
• Document procedures for creation of billing extracts needed to prepare monthly service
provider invoices.
• Document procedures for maintaining proper asset management records in the asset
management system (e.g. new splices, new cable routes, new and replaced equipment,
etc.).
• Document procedures for provisioning new services from providers.
• Document procedures for provisioning services for new connected customers (of
providers).
• Document procedures for the resolution of billing and service disputes between users
and service providers.
Operations Planning - Legal and Administrative
Contracts development and negotiation, accounting oversight, and coordination with legal
counsel.
• Develop payment schedules and fee calculations for hard asset leases.
• Assist legal counsel with the technical requirements needed in a master network
agreement for service providers.
• Develop acceptable use policies for service providers.
• Develop colocation agreement for lease of rack space and cage space in the colo
facility.
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Operations - Service Provider Management
Work with, recruit, and contract with service providers to educate them on pricing, encourage innovative service offerings, provide information on the technical characteristics
of the network, coach them on marketing in a competitive environment.
• As an agent of Bozeman Fiber, negotiate agreements and contracts with service
providers to provide services on the Bozeman Fiber network for consideration by the
Bozeman Fiber Board of Directors.
• Meet with service providers to discuss pricing and network service opportunities.
• Develop service provider handouts and rate sheets.
• Coach service providers on how to properly evaluate business opportunities in an open access environment.
• Coach service providers on how to adjust their internal business case models to account
for lower and no cost for capital expenditures to reach the next customer.
• Coach service providers on the potential to successfully market low volume, high
margin services on an open access network.
• Meet with service providers periodically (e.g. quarterly) to solicit feedback on marketing, pricing and technical support.
• Facilitate and monitor the physical and logical network interconnection of Service Providers to the network
• Design, implement and monitor such interconnect point(s) and provision virtual
connections within network
• Monitor and report on performance of the performance metrics found in Service Provider agreements.
Operations - Marketing and Awareness
Marketing the network as a whole to service providers, businesses, residents, community groups, and political bodies.
• Collaborate with Bozeman Fiber’s marketing firm to develop a strategic marketing plan
that identifies both short and long term goals, with special attention to take rate projections and marketing activities that will positively affect take rates.
• Collaborate with Bozeman Fiber’s marketing firm to develop appropriate marketing
materials, including brand name(s), logo, promotional items, and handouts.
• Collaborate with Bozeman Fiber’s marketing firm to develop Social Media (Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, others) profiles and strategies
• Collaborate with Bozeman Fiber’s marketing firm to develop short term and long term marketing plans that support the broad financial and take rate goals of the project.
• Track take rates for both geographic service areas and for specific services and measure
against the business plan.
• Provision project Web site to provide information about the project, services and
prices, FAQs, etc.
• Collaborate with Bozeman Fiber’s marketing firm to design general information handouts and FAQs for distribution to interested parties.
• Handouts may include:
• General information tri-fold brochure
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• FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) brochure
• How to sign up for service brochure
• Brochures for small, medium, and large businesses
• Brochure for property owners and managers
Operation Start-up - Testing and Integration
Configure and test equipment to meet the specific requirements of the network.
• Conduct power up tests for all generators (i.e. generator starts and runs).
• Conduct power fail cut over tests for all generators (i.e. automatic cut over switch
works properly and generator starts and runs properly).
• Conduct power fail tests for all UPS power supplies.
• Attend on-site vendor configuration and training for routers, switches, and CPE.
• Develop router, fiber switch, and CPE default configuration profiles.
• Verify any required software upgrades and patches to equipment.
• Verify configuration files in router, switch, and CPE equipment.
• Provide initial service configurations needed for end to end testing.
• Perform power up and burn in testing for all network servers.
• Verify network monitoring software on server.
• Verify trouble ticket software on server.
• Verify OSS/BSS software on primary and backup servers.
• Verify configuration and test OSS/BSS software.
• Connect first service providers to the network and configure/test initial set of services.
• Connect first customers and/or test locations to the network and conduct end to end
service delivery tests.
• Update asset management system for any final changes to equipment, splices, patch panels, etc.
• Verify that out of band/out of network access to data center and network is operational.
• Test and verify remote access (SNMP) to all network devices that require monitoring
(e.g. core router, all fiber switches, any specialized CPE, servers, data center FMS,
etc.).
• Set up syslog file management and syslog backup procedures.
• Set up network alarms and monitoring systems. Conduct pre-operational testing of all
alarm monitoring systems and software (e.g. NAGIOS, GroundWork, data center FMS).
• Coordinate testing of alarms and monitoring with stakeholders and staff.
• Build master table of network and system login data and test security access, review ACL management process with network owner.
• Test and configure service provider(s) services on the network (tagged VLAN verification, end to end Layer 2 circuit delivery).
• Begin adding service provider(s) to service management system.
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• Hold training session for service providers to outline help desk procedures, provide
overview of service provisioning, demonstrate features of the software for customer
management and service pricing management.
• Begin dry run pre-operations NOC monitoring and systems tests.
Operations Start-up - Policies and Procedures
• Organize all equipment manuals, spec sheets, and configuration documentation for use by network owner.
• Make final changes to NOC policies and procedures documentation as necessary.
• Initialize Help Desk online forms, including trouble ticket forms, new customer request form, new service provisioning form, escalation trouble ticket form, and drop request
form.
• Develop mailing lists for operational updates (e.g. data center operations updates, network operations updates).
• Review any existing operations policies and procedures with stakeholders and
contractors. Convert any existing “stub” procedures to fully defined NOC procedures based on installed equipment and systems.
• Meet with the Outside Plant (OSP) maintenance and repair contractor to establish routine and emergency repair procedures.
• Meet with the OSP fiber contractor (that will be constructing new drops) to establish
order initiation, order processing, and order completion processes.
• Maintain list of “Critical Customers” Map list into fiber restoration order for each
major network segment.
Operations - Network Management
Provisioning
• Create and maintain Service Templates on the network elements and systems.
• Receive and validate orders from Service Providers for services for adding, modifying or changing services for existing subscribers.
• Activate orders for services in the appropriate OSS/BSS/NMS as required to enable
services
• Transmit to the appropriate parties the work generated by such orders to contractors for fulfillment.
• Managing order process from receipt through an active and billed customer
• Review and validate orders to ensure compliance with applicable policies and procedures
• Adding the physical end user network port and CPE into the monitoring database so that any alarms received on these devices or ports triggers the appropriate action in the
NOC.
Order Management
• Notify and request dispatch of appropriate contractors for orders
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• Coordinate between and among contractors to ensure proper and timely completion of
orders
• Track the status of orders
• Initiate, adjust or discontinue wholesale billing activities, as applicable
• Update order management systems and inventory management systems, upon proper
and timely completion of orders
• Review the accuracy of bills from contractors and recommending approval or denial of
payment.
Monitoring
• Maintain all BSS/OSS and NMS systems on behalf of network.
• Provide a support 24x7 desk to perform second and third tier problem management for
the the network using NMS alarms;
• provide problem management
• coordinate with, and escalate such problems to, the appropriate contractors or
Service Providers for resolution as needed
• track and manage such trouble tickets through resolution.
• Monitor network element alarms and isolate, identify and resolve alarms.
Outage Reporting and Service Restoration
• Manage trouble tickets to log the problem and to provide the appropriate tracking and
reporting required.
• Manage restoration of services through EMS, NMS tools, initiate break-fix if required
• Continuously monitor the network fault until the repair is made and full service is
restored.
• Contact Service Providers or “Critical” Customers as necessary during the restoration process.
• Manage 3rd party support including contractors or vendors during the restoration
process.
Performance Reporting and Metrics
• Track customer complaints, categorized by customer type (“Critical”, ISP, Retail
Customer) and nature of complaint
• Report on ticket management: outstanding, closed, total, average daily new tickets,
reasons for tickets
• Report on network outages, stratified by repair time and reason for outage.
• Report on service provisioning statistics, including number of connected services, new
services added, services dis-continued.
• Provide monthly billing detail by provider and by service.
• Provide monthly network congestion and traffic statistics.
• Monitor and report on performance metrics of contractors and Service Providers, in support of the network.
Network Equipment Maintenance
• Maintain dates of warranty coverage and maintain current maintenance contracts for all
network elements and servers.
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• Install all necessary firmware and software updates to network elements.
• Provide both routine and emergency maintenance on all active network components,
including scheduled upgrades
Help Desk
• Maintain 24x7, 365 days a year help desk for Service Providers and “Critical”
customers
Inventory Management
• Maintain version control process for network elements.
• Maintain all backups for network elements, servers, and databases.
• Maintain fiber maps including strand maps that identify in-use and spare fiber strands.
• Generate reports and information for splice work.
• Track equipment location, in-service dates, serial numbers, model numbers, and other pertinent information on equipment.
• Track firmware and software upgrades and patches.
• Maintain current locations of all customers using network services.
• Provide location reports on demand for technicians and service providers.
Network Security
Manage network security policies both physical and virtual.
• Installing all required security patches to hardware and software.
• Monitoring for unauthorized access.
• Enforced password complexity and routine password rotation.
• Emergency password rotation upon termination of personnel or suspected compromise.
• Strict firewall policies for access to internal systems and services.
• Monitoring for DoS, bots and viruses.
• Maintain customer data.
• Respond to CALEA requests as required.
Operations - Business
• Maintain wholesale billing database
• Generate monthly service provider invoices by customer connection/circuit.
• Maintain an operational monthly budget tracking report that identifies all items purchased by Operator