CAT1 Internet Access (E-Rate

ATTENTION VENDORS - DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO FULLY REVIEW AND COMPLETE THIS SOLICITATION. Wichita Falls Independent School District BEN 140959 Funding Year 2025 (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026) Form 470 #250005980
SERVICE SPECIFICATIONS – INTERNET ACCESS
 
Communications and Questions All communication with the Applicant regarding this solicitation must be submitted electronically via IONWAVE (www.wfisd.ionwave.net) by 12:00 PM CST on Wednesday, December 18, 2024. Verbal inquiries are not allowed. Clarifications, when applicable, will be posted as an attachment/addendum to the Form 470. Each Offeror is responsible for downloading the current version of the Form 470 and attachments, including any addenda. Applicant reserves the right to ask vendors clarifying questions during the proposal review process.
Contact initiated by an Offeror concerning this solicitation with any other Applicant representative other than those listed as Form 470 contacts is prohibited. Unauthorized contact may result in the offeror's disqualification from this solicitation.
Product demonstration meetings will not be granted during the competitive bidding period – requests for such will be ignored.
 
Site Visit For this solicitation, a site visit is NOT offered.
  Proposal Instructions Proposals must be submitted by the Proposal Submission Deadline in the Procurement Timeline.
Proposals must be submitted by the deadline for guaranteed inclusion in the evaluation. Proposals will be submitted electronically via IONWAVE (www.wfisd.ionwave.net) by 12:00 PM CT on Friday, January 17, 2025.
Proposals should include the following: • Applicant name • Form 470 number • SPIN (Service Provider Identification Number) • Service provider’s terms and conditions • Completed Pricing Attachment
Proposals must include all costs associated with providing service, including but not limited to: • Monthly recurring charges (MRC) include any recurring charge related to delivering the services, such as monthly charges for Internet access, IP addresses, basic terminating equipment, etc. • Non-Recurring Charges (NRC) include any one-time fee other than special construction charges. This includes but is not limited to installation charges, connection charges, and/or basic terminating equipment charges. • Special Construction Charges (SPC): one-time costs for deploying new fiber or upgrading network facilities for eligible entities. These charges are non-recurring and include the following components: construction of network facilities, design and engineering, and project management. • Failure to identify the monthly recurring, non-recurring, and special construction charges will result in the disqualification of the proposal. Respondents are encouraged to provide the estimated taxes and surcharges associated with the service. Submissions indicating that there may be additional MRC, NRC, or SPC related to delivering the services WILL be disqualified.
Proposal pricing must be included in the “25_WFISD_Pricing Attachment1_IA” and be submitted in xls or xlsx format.
Proposals must be in response to the specific requirements of this solicitation. Offers including a generic listing of services beyond the scope of this solicitation and/or encyclopedic price lists will be disqualified. SPAM and/or robotic responses will not be considered valid responses and will be disqualified from consideration.
Applicant reserves the right to consider its existing service as a standing proposal and evaluate it against the other submitted proposals.  
Service Requirements
Wichita Falls Independent School District (WFISD)is requesting bids for two Internet access circuits (Internet and transport combined). The service needs to be provided to the locations specified in the Pricing Attachment “25_WFISD_Pricing Attachment1_IA”. The proposed circuits must be provisioned and priced for 10 Gbps. Each circuit will support half of the district’s sites. Provider must extend service all the way to the desired handoff location at address(es) specified in the Service Request section of this document. Solutions bringing service to the property line but not to the demarcation point are not acceptable. The handoff can either be 10GBASE-SR or 10GBASE SFP+ DAC.
WFISD is seeking a solution that offers resiliency in its network including diverse pathways from provider hub site(s) to the WFISD’s network core to prevent a service outage from a single provider network event. Service provider must produce route maps (KMZ files or equivalent) to demonstrate compliance with the resiliency requirement. The solution’s resiliency should extend all the way to the provider’s facilities. It is at the provider’s discretion how they meet both the speed and resiliency requirements. Both circuits will be fully active. All routing, load balancing, and any other network technology needed to provide the resilient solution must be handled by provider equipment. Any equipment needed to accommodate this configuration must be provider equipment that is eligible under E-Rate Category 1.
To be considered, services must be within the specified bandwidth range. Refer to the Pricing Attachment “25_WFISD_Pricing Attachment1_IA” for the requested service levels. If the exact bandwidths listed are not available, vendors should include their closest comparable service level for consideration.  
Submissions meeting any of the below listed criteria WILL be disqualified. 1. Solution does NOT offer at least the minimum bandwidth. 2. Solution does NOT offer bandwidth dedicated to the applicant but instead, the bandwidth is dependent on the number of other customers on the network or some other factor that does not, generally, guarantee the minimum bandwidth as a committed information rate (CIR). 3. Solution includes caps on data usage or slows speeds based on data usage or other factors.
All solutions must terminate service or infrastructure at the demarcation point within the building, generally, the MDF. Solutions that only bring service to the property line but not to the demarcation point will be disqualified. The agreement must terminate service at an MDF designated by the Applicant. The Offeror should specify the exact demarcation setup included in the base fees, such as wall-mounted CPE and CAT6a handoff, rack mount patch panel, etc. The request for services to be delivered to the DMARC within the two separate groups listed below.   The district prefers a dedicated, symmetrical bandwidth (upload and download) minimum of 5 Gbps with Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantees to the specified site. The district prefers leased lit fiber or a service that is equivalent in quality and reliability. The district reserves the right to evaluate proposals to determine their equivalence to leased lit fiber
 
Service Grouping 1 - WFISD Elementary Campuses See specification sheet for details. WFISD is seeking 5-10 Gbps of Internet access to terminate at 1609 Blonde St. Wichita Falls TX. 76301. **Providers must support Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)** **Providers must be able to provide a /25 IP space** **Providers must provide District with the ability to manage their own DNS.** **Providers must also provide the District with the optic for the handoff.** ***Group 1 will need to have a different pathway than Group 2 as this will be a consideration during the evaluation process.***  
Service Grouping 2 - WFISD Secondary Campuses and Non-Instructional Facilities See specification sheet for details.  
WFISD is seeking 5-10 Gbps of Internet access to terminate at 1609 Blonde St. Wichita Falls TX. 76301. **Providers must support Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)** **Providers must be able to provide a /25 IP space** **Providers must provide District with the ability to manage their own DNS.** **Providers must also provide the District with the optic for the handoff.** ***Group 2 will need to have a different pathway than Group 1 as this will be a consideration during the evaluation process.***  
Service providers are requested to submit bids for 5 Gbps and 10 Gbps bandwidths. Bids should include Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantees to the specified site.
Service providers submitting bids for contracted service are requested to provide 36-month terms with the option to voluntarily extend the contract for three (3) one-year terms.
All contracts must allow for bandwidth increases up to 10 Gbps throughout the term of the contract without a change in term end date.
All bids must include all costs associated with delivering the service, such as installation and special construction fees.
This request for bid and the awarded bidder’s response may become an integral part of the resultant contract.  
Other
Per USAC E-rate rules, “cost of eligible services” will be the highest valued criterion in the bid evaluation process; however, other criteria with a lesser value may also be considered.
Respondents shall document the ability to participate in the E-Rate program by supplying their current SPIN (Service Provider Identification Number) as part of their proposal.
Proposals for multi-year contracts and contracts with optional renewals will be considered but are not required.
Subject to contract restrictions, services may be reevaluated for cost-effectiveness at any time during the life of the agreement.
Bidders proposing equipment whose prices may increase depending upon new U.S. government tariffs imposed on foreign imports are encouraged to (a) identify such products in their bids, and (b) propose an acceptable methodology for limiting price adjustments over the life of the contract.
Bidders proposing to temporarily loan equipment for product demonstration and/or evaluation purposes are required to clearly state that such loans are of limited duration. Product demos extending beyond thirty (30) days must be explicitly authorized by both parties and provided at a fair market rate.
By submitting a bid on the requested services herein, the vendor certifies that its equipment and services are compliant with the FCC’s recent Order (FCC 19-121) prohibiting the sale, provision, maintenance, modification, or other support of equipment or services provided or manufactured by Huawei, ZTE, or any other covered company posing a national security threat to the integrity of communications networks or the communications supply chain.
As required by E-rate rules, all proposals in response to this Form 470 must offer the Lowest Corresponding Price (LCP). See https://www.usac.org/e-rate/service-providers/step-2-responding-to- bids/lowest-corresponding-price/.
All proposals should be received by the Bid Close Date. Any offer, modification, revision, or withdrawal of an offer received after this Close Date may not be considered unless it is determined that an untimely submission was due to circumstances beyond the vendors control, a consideration of the offer would be in the best interest of the applicant, or the offer is the only proposal received.
All contracts are contingent upon funding by the E-Rate Division of the Universal Services Administrative Company (USAC) unless otherwise agreed upon by district.
For all of the items/services listed in this Service Specification, please consider services that are equivalent, more/less in quantity, better and/or more cost effective when submitting proposals.
If installation is requested, then installation must be included with the equipment and/or service requested. Otherwise, the bid may be considered non-responsive.
Any request for equipment is for owned equipment. Unless otherwise stated, any leased equipment responses may be deemed nonresponsive.
If special construction charges apply, please include the option for installment payments of up to 4 years
for the applicant’s non-discounted share.
Failure to follow any of the aforementioned, may lead to disqualification of the bid.  
Evaluation Criteria The criterium listed herein are to be utilized in the evaluation of offers to be considered. Individual criteria have been assigned a weight to reflect relative importance. Vendors are encouraged to provide details in their proposals that address the criteria outlined.   Bid Evaluation Factors Bidders should be aware that the evaluation of their proposals may be adversely affected by the following factors: Proposal does not provide definitive costs for the services. Proposal does not guarantee service by the requested date. Applicant may, at its sole discretion, extend the due date for the submission of proposals when it is in its best interest to do so. Such extensions shall be done via addendum posted in EPC.