THE SCHOOL BOARD OF

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR

TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE

WEBSITE: http://procurement.dadeschools.net/bidsol.htm

PROPOSAL RETURN DATE: NOVEMBER 6, 2008 @ 2:00 P.M.

RFI NUMBER: 027-JJ04

NOVEMBER 2008

Miami-Dade County Public Schools

School Board Members Agustin J. Barrera, Chair

Perla Tabares Hantman, Vice Chair Renier Diaz de la Portilla Evelyn Langlieb Greer

Dr. Wilbert “Tee” Holloway Dr. Martin Karp

Ana Rivas Logan Dr. Marta Pérez

Dr. Solomon C. Stinson

Mr. Adam Wexelbaum, Student Advisor

Superintendent of Schools

Alberto M. Carvalho

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Purpose/General Information II. Scope of Request for Information

III. District specifics and size IV. Request for Information

I. PURPOSE The purpose of this Request For Information (RFI) is to identify qualified telecommunications providers who are interested in and capable of providing services to Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The Board may, at its sole discretion, enter into a contractual agreement with a provider, based on the submittal of qualifications. NAME AND ADDRESS OF REQUESTOR The School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida Office of Information Technology 13135 SW 26th Street Miami, Florida 33175 TERM OF AGREEMENT The Board may enter into agreements with successful proposer(s). The Board desires that the services offered under this RFI be available for a minimum of five (5) years, subject to annual negotiation. The agreements between the successful proposers and the Board will be non-exclusive. TIMETABLE The following is a proposed timetable developed for this project. Providers will be notified of any significant changes that might occur.

Task  Timeframe 

M-DCPS releases RFI to vendors Monday, October 7, 2008

Written questions due to M-DCPS 2pm, Monday, October 20, 2008

Proposals due 2pm, Thursday, November 6, 2008

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION The proposal must clearly indicate the name of the responding organization, as organization. The proposal must include the contact name for local service and account management staff which M-DCPS may contact directly. Sealed proposals, one original copy plus five hard copies and six electronic copies, (electronic copies should be on jump drives and attached to the hard copies) must be received by 2:00 p.m. (Local time) on October 29, 2008, at: The School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida Bid Clerk, Division of Procurement Management 1450 NE Second Avenue, Room 352 Miami, Florida 33132 The responsibility for submitting information to the District on or before the stated date and time will be solely and strictly the responsibility of the Proposer. The District will in no way be responsible for delays caused by the United States Postal Service or any other delivery service or caused by any other occurrence. The proposal package must contain all items requested. Failure to submit all information requested may cause the proposal not to be considered. Proposals should be enclosed in envelopes plainly marked on the outside as "REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE. ADDENDA TO RFI If any addenda are issued, a good faith attempt will be made to deliver a copy of each to all prospective proposers who picked up the RFI or were mailed an RFI by Procurement Management. However, PRIOR TO SUBMITTING THE PROPOSAL, IT SHALL BE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EACH PROPOSER TO CHECK THE WEBSITE AT http://procurement.dadeschools.net/bidsol.htm to determine if addenda were issued and, if so, to obtain such addenda for attachment to the proposal. Proposers should either acknowledge receipt of such addenda on their proposal, or attach such addenda to their proposal. USE OF PROPOSAL FORMS Proposers should use the Proposal Forms outlined in Section IV. All appropriate sections on the Proposal Forms should be completed. Supplemental information may be attached to the Proposal Forms. Failure to properly complete the Proposal Forms in all applicable sections may result in the proposal not being considered.

WAIVER AND/OR REJECTION OF PROPOSALS The Board reserves the right to waive informalities in any proposals, to reject any and all proposals in whole or in part, with or without cause, and to accept that proposal, if any, which in its judgment will be in its best interest. NON-WARRANTY OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Due care and diligence has been exercised in the preparation of this RFI, and all information contained herein is believed to be substantially correct. However, the responsibility for determining the full extent of the exposures to risk and verification of all information herein shall rest solely with the Proposer. The Board and its representatives and consultants shall not be responsible for any error or omission in this RFI, or for the failure on the part of the Proposers to determine the full extent of the exposures. DEVIATIONS FROM RFI The Board will consider all proposals received by the stated date and time that are substantially in compliance with the requested information in this RFI. However, Proposers are cautioned that restrictive deviations from the RFI must be clearly stated on the Proposal Forms. AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE The signature on the Proposer’s Warranty Form must be that of a duly authorized Officer of the company submitting the proposal. This manual signature shall pertain to the entire proposal. The original submittal must contain an original signature (in blue ink) on the Proposer’s Warranty Form. EVALUATION PROCESS The proposals received will be reviewed by the Board’s staff in order to ascertain which proposal(s) meets or substantially meets the requirements of the Request For Information and best meets the needs of the District. MANDATORY RECOMMENDATIONS Proposals should not be conditioned upon compliance with mandatory recommendations. If there are any such mandatory recommendations, they must be clearly stated on the Proposal Form.

E-RATE PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AND INVOICING PROCEDURES: In the event that the Board accepts a proposal and agrees to enter into a contractual agreement with a Proposer, the following procedures shall be followed: A. Where M-DCPS purchases are made using available E-Rate funding, the

selected Vendor/Contractor (known as the “Service Provider” throughout E-Rate program documents) is expected to:

1. Follow all vendor requirements, and be familiar with the E-Rate

funding process, as outlined in the SLD (Schools & Libraries Division) / USAC (Universal Service Administrative Corp) practices outlined under the “Service Provider” section of their website at: http://www.universalservice.org/sl.

2. Carefully scrutinize all line item components on the original quotes

provided and determine any non-eligible components within the proposal. These must be highlighted and identified so M-DCPS is cognizant of any line item to be paid at 100% of the cost, before sending the quote for analysis and subsequent funding by the SLD.

3. Assume financial responsibility, at time of final invoicing and

payment by the SLD, for any and all ineligible line items not originally identified by the Vendor/Contractor. This will be based on the SLD’s latest publication of their Eligible Services List guidelines at time of quoting and available through the SLD’s website at:

http://www.universalservice.org/_res/documents/sl/pdf/els_archive/2008-eligible-services-list.pdf.

4. Receive from M-DCPS, a Purchase Order identifying the line

items listed in the quote and prices established. This PO will be reflecting the percentage of the cost associated with M-DCPS portion of the total cost, according to E-Rate Program guidelines.

5. Understand that, the Purchase Order will be the only acceptable

document the vendor will receive from M-DCPS acknowledging contractual responsibility for the delivery of the listed products/services.

6. Receive reasonable M-DCPS support on all vendor attempts to

retrieve proper funding for equipment/services rendered through the E-Rate program.

7. Expect that M-DCPS would have timely posted all required FCC

E-Rate program forms and documents, according to the instructions provided by the E-Rate program under the “Applicant” section of the USAC/SLD website at: http://www.universalservice.org/sl.

8. Recognize that M-DCPS will NOT be liable for any unpaid

funding from the SLD to the Vendor. B. The Vendor/Contractor must follow the below steps for invoicing, both for

the recovery of the SLD/ USAC funding percentage, and the portion the Applicant (M-DCPS) is expected to pay under E-Rate program rules:

1. Submit the Service Provider Invoice (SPI) to M-DCPS only

AFTER services and/or equipment have been delivered, installed, and are operational – as duly noted and recorded by M-DCPS Field Services personnel – BUT BEFORE any invoicing is submitted to the SLD / USAC for reimbursement.

2. The SPI will be a complete invoice of ALL services and/or

equipment, reflecting all charges to M-DCPS (itemizing both eligible and ineligible components) and to USAC. This single and consolidated invoice will contain a comprehensive itemized breakdown of all charges and clearly set forth the appropriate percentage of payments due from USAC and M-DCPS respectively – and should total the agreed-upon amount for 100% payment.

3. The Vendor/Contractor will only be permitted to submit an SPI for

reimbursement to USAC once M-DCPS has reviewed and has returned a signed approval of said SPI to Vendor/Contractor. All SPIs will be reviewed within 14 calendar days of receipt by the M-DCPS Director of the E-Rate Program.

4. If, in the course of M-DCPS’ review of any SPI, M-DCPS finds

any variances between those items delivered and those for which a bill is being submitted, the M-DCPS E-Rate staff will notify the Vendor/Contractor, through CFS (Contract & Financial Services), that they have not approved the SPI and will indicate which items need to be modified. Once any variances are corrected, the Vendor/Contractor must resubmit the SPI to the M-DCPS Director of the E-Rate Program, through CFS (Contract & Financial Services), for his/her approval. M-DCPS will again have 14 calendar days to review the re-submitted SPI.

5. Vendor/Contractor agrees that, at any time, M-DCPS is free to verify with the SLD/USAC that only those M-DCPS approved SPIs have been submitted to the E-Rate Program for reimbursement. Any indication that non-approved SPIs have been submitted to SLD/USAC will be considered a material breach of the terms of the contract. Additionally, M-DCPS will, upon becoming aware of any non-approved SPI submissions, notify USAC so that they may take any additional steps available to them to prevent Waste, Fraud, and Abuse of Program funds.

6. Damages assessed to the Vendor/Contractor for submission of a

non-approved SPI may include and are not limited to suspension of the Contract, termination of the Contract, damages in the amount of the overpayments made to the Vendor/Contractor by M-DCPS or USAC, payment of related funding COMAD (Commitment Adjustments) forced upon M-DCPS by the SLD/USAC, or suspension or disbarment from participation in the E-Rate Program.

C. This contract shall not modify or limit the rights of SLD/USAC against the

Vendor/Contractor, also known as the Service Provider.

CONE OF SILENCE Respondents are precluded from contacting individuals who will be participating in the RFI process. Based on Board Rule 6Gx13-8C-1.212, Cone of Silence, the full definition is as follows: A. “Cone of Silence” means a prohibition on any communication regarding a

particular Request for Proposals (RFP), bid, or other competitive solicitation between:

1. any person who seeks an award there from, including a potential

vendor or vendor’s representative; and 2. any School Board member or the member’s staff, the Superintendent,

Deputy Superintendent and their respective support staff, or any person appointed by the School Board to evaluate or recommend selection in such procurement process. The Cone of Silence shall not apply to communication with the School Board Attorney or his or her staff, or with designated school district staff, who are not serving on the particular Procurement Committee, to obtain clarification or information concerning the subject solicitation. For purposes of this section, “vendor’s representative” means an employee, partner, director, or officer of a potential vendor, or

consultant, lobbyist, or actual or potential subcontractor or sub-consultant of a vendor, or any other individual acting through or on behalf of any person seeking an award.

B. A Cone of Silence shall be applicable to each RFP, bid, or other competitive

solicitation during the solicitation and review of bid proposals. At the time of issuance of the solicitation, the Superintendent or the Superintendent’s designee shall provide public notice of the Cone of Silence. The Superintendent shall include in any advertisement and public solicitation for goods and services a statement disclosing the requirements of this section.

C. The Cone of Silence shall terminate at the time the Superintendent of Schools

submits a written recommendation to award or approve a contract, to reject all bids or responses, or otherwise takes action which ends the solicitation and review process.

D. Nothing contained herein shall prohibit any potential vendor or vendor’s

representative: 1. from making public representations at duly noticed pre-bid

conferences or before duly noticed selection and negotiation committee meetings;

2. from engaging in contract negotiations during any duly noticed public meeting;

3. from making a public presentation to the School Board during any duly noticed public meeting; or

4. from communicating in writing with any school district employee or official (including representatives of Siver) for purposes of seeking clarification or additional information, subject to the provisions of the applicable RFP, or bid documents.

The potential vendor or vendor’s representative shall file a copy of any written communication with the School Board Clerk who shall make copies available to the public upon request.

E. Nothing contained herein shall prohibit the Procurement Committee’s

representative from initiating contact with a potential vendor or vendor’s representative and subsequent communication related thereto for the purposes of obtaining further clarifying information regarding a response to an RFP, or competitive solicitation. Such contact shall be in writing and shall be provided to the members of the applicable Procurement Committee, including any response thereto.

F. Any violation of this rule shall be investigated by the School Board’s Inspector General and may result in any recommendation for award, or any RFP award, or bid award to said potential vendor or vendor’s representative being deemed void or voidable. The potential vendor or vendor’s representative determined to have violated this rule, shall be subject to debarment. In addition to any other penalty provided by law, violation of this rule by a school district employee shall subject the employee to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.

QUESTIONS/ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Any questions regarding this RFI should be directed in writing to:

Vanessa Flores, Buyer Procurement Management Services Miami-Dade County Public Schools 1450 N.E. 2ND Avenue, Room 352

Miami, Florida 33132 Fax #305-523-2331

E-Mail: vyflores@dadeschools.net

All bidders should monitor continuously, the M-DCPS Procurement website, Questions & Answers column of the RFI posting, for any clarifications or additional information that may be posted prior to the opening of this Request For Information. The procurement website, which lists all bids, addendums, questions and answers and award information, is as follows: http://procurement.dadeschools.net (then click on) current bids/rfp’s under the cone of silence. The deadline for any inquiry, clarification or information regarding this RFI is nine (9) days prior to the due date of the RFI. PUBLIC ENTITY CRIME Proposers are hereby notified about Section 287.133(2)(a), Florida Statutes, which requires that: “A person or affiliate who has been placed on the convicted vendor list following a conviction for a public entity crime may not submit a bid on a contract to provide any goods or services to a public entity, may not submit a bid on a contract with a public entity for the construction or repair of a public building or public work, may not submit bids on leases of real property to a public entity, may not be awarded or perform work as a contractor, supplier, subcontractor, or consultant under a contract with any public entity, and may not transact business with any public entity in excess of the threshold amount provided in s. 287.017 for CATEGORY TWO for a period of 36 months from the date of being placed on the convicted vendor list.

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RFI for Telecommunications Service Miami-Dade County Public Schools

II SCOPE OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

The purpose of the Telecommunications Service Request (RFI) to seek out local service providers interested and capable of providing a multitude of services to Miami-Dade County Public Schools at a competitive cost. We encourage creative thinking. The information requested covers a broad range of services presently used as well as services that may be implemented in the foreseeable future. While our focus is on fiber to the premises we envision a wireless network to serve as a compliment to a FTTP network.

III DISTRICT SPECIFICS AND SIZE

Technologies employed must work together to provide services on both a District Wide level, Campus Wide level, Back Haul, Cellular Voice & Data, Wireless (wireless services on campus & surrounding community), and provide for the convergence of control systems such as Security, Video, Energy Management, Water & Irrigation.

Miami-Dade County located at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula covers 1,955 square miles. It is almost square, spanning 60 miles north to south and almost the same east to west. Urban areas begin in the east and become rural to west and the same follows from north to south. As a result, new construction and development follows the same pattern. The center of population continues to shift following the same pattern.. The population of Miami-Dade County was 2,402,208 people according to a US Census estimate in 2006, roughly one quarter were children under the age of 18.

Here are some specifics regarding Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS); The current student enrollment is 340,286. There are 50,361 employees 2006/2007. There are 335 schools 2006. M-DCPS provides support for an additional 63 charter schools in 2006. There are an additional number of administrative and support facilities.

M-DCPS Technology Mission Statement: Any Time, Any Where, & Any One Information Technology Services supports a portal that provides tools, information, and other resources to target segments of the community. These stakeholders are defined as follows; Students, Parents, Teachers, Administrative Staff & Employees, and Community. M-DCPS is extremely interested in technology that will reduce the digital divide; we encourage vendors to provide CIPA compliant access to the community. M-DCPS is also interested in technology that would provide asset tracking throughout the district.

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426 Locations are connected to the WAN. 351 Locations are connected on fiber (NMLI) at 10 mb. each has a frame relay as backup. 4 Locations are connected on fiber (NMLI) at 100 mb. 1 Location is connected on fiber (NMLI) at 1 gig. 477 Locations have Frame Relay with 51 locations having two circuits. 211 T1 Megalink circuits supporting Norstar key PBX. 216 T1 PRI circuits support Nortel Opt 11 & Avaya PBX switches. 900 Blackberry users 400 Data Cards 400 Cell Phone users

1500 Push to talk users

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IV. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Miami-Dade County Public Schools through its Information Technology Services (ITS) office is seeking telecommunications providers that will be able to meet its telecommunications needs. The present school system infrastructure is deployed over the entire Miami-Dade County area utilizing various levels of service at multiple locations. If your firm is interested in providing such services, please provide the following information. COMPANY NAME: ________________________________________________

1. Are you able to provide the following services? Provide attachments of geographic coverage of offerings and elaboration as needed.

Percentage of Facilities Leased

Comprehensive District wide managed

MTTR * (days/hrs/mins) Service Request **

(days/hrs/mins)

Wireless wide area networks YES / NO YES / NO Wireless local area networks YES / NO YES / NO Broad Band Wireless networks YES / NO YES / NO Wireless encryption services YES / NO YES / NO VSAT YES / NO YES / NO WiFi (Backhaul, End Device, Redundancy) YES / NO YES / NO WiMax YES / NO YES / NO GSM YES / NO YES / NO LTE (4G) YES / NO YES / NO HSPA YES / NO YES / NO Cellular services YES / NO YES / NO Dark fiber YES / NO YES / NO DS1 YES / NO YES / NO DS3 YES / NO YES / NO OC3 YES / NO YES / NO OC12 YES / NO YES / NO OC48 YES / NO YES / NO Point to point T1 tie lines YES / NO YES / NO ATM (Asynchronous Transmission Mode) YES / NO YES / NO NMLI (Native Mode LAN Interconnect) YES / NO YES / NO Metro Ethernet YES / NO YES / NO Megalink (channelized T1 services) YES / NO YES / NO Primary rate ISDN YES / NO YES / NO EBDO YES / NO YES / NO Frame Relay YES / NO YES / NO MPLS YES / NO YES / NO VPN YES / NO YES / NO DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) YES / NO YES / NO Note: If "NO" is selected for any of the services above please provide a detailed explanation. * Denotes meantime to repair for each service ** Denotes average turn around time to provide new service

Continued next page

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Request for Information Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Miami-Dade County Public Schools through its Information Technology Services (ITS) office is seeking telecommunications providers that will be able to meet its telecommunications needs. The present school system infrastructure is deployed over the entire Miami-Dade County area utilizing various levels of service at multiple locations. If your firm is interested in providing such services, please provide the following information. COMPANY NAME: ________________________________________________

1.(continued) Are you able to provide the

following services? Percentage of Facilities Leased

Comprehensive District wide managed

MTTR * (days/hrs/mins) Service Request **

(days/hrs/mins) Plain old telephone service (POTS) YES / NO YES / NO Long distance service - Intralata YES / NO YES / NO Long distance service - Intrastate YES / NO YES / NO Long distance service - Interstate YES / NO YES / NO Paging Services YES / NO YES / NO Voice Over IP / IP Telephony YES / NO YES / NO ISP (Internet access provider) YES / NO YES / NO Collocation Service (NAP) YES / NO YES / NO Web site hosting YES / NO YES / NO Application Hosting YES / NO YES / NO Managed Virtual Private Networks YES / NO YES / NO Managed Internet Access YES / NO YES / NO Managed Network Services YES / NO YES / NO Video Conferencing Services YES / NO YES / NO Firewall Services YES / NO YES / NO SPAM Filtering YES / NO YES / NO Internet Content Bridging YES / NO YES / NO Voice Conference Bridging Services YES / NO YES / NO Intrusion Protection Services YES / NO YES / NO Note: If "NO" is selected for any of the services above please provide a detailed explanation. * Denotes meantime to repair for each service ** Denotes average turn around time to provide new service

Note: Please add other technologies you may offer that is not included in the above list.

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Request for Information

Miami-Dade County Public Schools 2. Is your company listed with Miami-Dade County Public Schools as an authorized vendor? If so, what is your M-DCPS vendor number?

YES / NO M-DCPS Vendor Number ______________________________________________ 3. Are you a State of Florida authorized vendor for any of the services listed in 1 above? If so, what is your State of Florida vendor

number? YES / NO State of Florida Vendor Number ______________________________________________

4. Are you registered as a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier?

YES / NO

5. Are you registered with the FCC, Florida PSC and other organizations as a Common Carrier? YES / NO

6. Does your company participate in the federally funded E-Rate program?

YES / NO a. If so, what is your Service Provider Information Number (SPIN)? ____________________________

b. Are you willing to accept M-DCPS choice of payment for services rendered as provided by the E-Rate program? YES / NO

7. Do you submit your invoices for payment using CD/DVD format?

YES / NO 8. Is your company able to provide detailed reporting on performance, quality of service, trouble tickets and service requests via an online

portal or web access? YES / NO

9. Who conducted your audits and/or SAS70 review for the past 3 years and what were the findings?

Financial / Technical / Security ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

10. What industry certifications does your company hold?

For Example: a. Systrust b. ISO9002 c. ___________________________

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Request for Information Miami-Dade County Public Schools

11. List all partnerships and subcontractors that you company works with. 12. Provide a brief history of your company, including the following information.

a. How long has your firm been in the business of providing Voice/Data/Video and other telecommunications services? b. Names of officers and their experience in the Telecommunications field? c. Number of employees and their certification in telecommunications that can be dispatched? d. Most recent financial balance sheet.

13. Provide a short list (minimum of 5) of the multi site customers that are in the business and educational areas with the names and phone

numbers of persons that can be contacted as references: a. ____________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________ c. ____________________________________________ d. ____________________________________________ e. ____________________________________________

14. Provide a map of Miami-Dade County with your access locations marked on the map. Identify each location with a unique number and

projected plan for growth during the next year, 2 years, and 5 years. 15. Using the services listed in item 1, provide a chart listing the services available at each numbered location.

a. Like for Like service b. Alternative Technology service

16. Provide a detailed diagram of Miami-Dade County Public School sites illustrating connections to your network and the connections to

external providers of services or leased services and facilities; include emerging technologies and limitations to existing technology. 17. Provide a detailed list of account team participants that would be detailed to this account. Please make sure you cover all the areas of

service including technical, billing, and administrative. Please include work experience of each individual relative to this account and where they would be located.

18. Provide details pertaining to Service Levels and solutions for redundancies being offered and the types of contract terms.

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Request for Information

Miami-Dade County Public Schools

19. Provide a detailed comprehensive service continuity or disaster recovery plan for your network. Explain the role of your sub-contractors in the disaster recovery process. Describe how often tests are conducted of your disaster recovery plan and provide results of your most recent tests.

20. Please list what additional Managed Services you can provide and describe your Project Management Capabilities.

21. If you provide both Wireline & Wireless service do you offer bundled services or other advantages; if so please describe in detail.

Attachment: Typical Elementary School Site:

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Name of Firm: Address from which primary services will be provided: Telephone No.: Facsimile No.:

Signature of Authorized Representative 

Typed or Printed Name of Authorized Representative 

Title 

Date