Request for Proposal(RFP) for Provision and Management of Bandwidth in School Knowledge Centres (SKCs) Under the Bandwidth Aggregation Project
Universal Service Provision Secretariat
Nigerian Communications Commission Head Office, 9th Floor,
Plot 423, Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama District, Abuja, FCT. www.uspf.gov.ng
Request for Proposal(RFP) for Provision and Management of Bandwidth in School Knowledge Centres (SKCs) Under the Bandwidth Aggregation Project
- Introduction
The Universal Service Provision Fund “USPF” was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria to facilitate the achievement of national policy goals for universal service and universal access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in rural, un-served and under-served areas in Nigeria. As part of the mandate, the USPF has over the years provided grants to facilitate access to basic ICT- enabled learning tools in several schools across the country under its SRC programme.
In order to sustain these projects and to ensure that their impact is realized by the beneficiaries, the USPF is providing additional support in form of bandwidth connectivity for all its SKC projects.
The project is grouped into Lots as follows:
| S/N | Lot No | Zones | Number of Locations |
| 1 | Lot 1 | SKC/SAP (North Central) | 172 |
| 2 | Lot 2 | SKC/SAP (North East) | 205 |
| 3 | Lot 3 | SKC/S AP(North West) | 230 |
| 4 | Lot 4 | SKC/S AP(North East) | 135 |
| 5 | Lot 5 | SKC/S AP(South South) | 163 |
| 6 | Lot 6 | SKC/S AP(South West) | 144 |
Important Notice:
Vendors can only Bid for a Maximum of Two (2) Lots.
- Objectives
The main objective of the bandwidth aggregation is for the implementer to provide and manage Internet bandwidth for SKC projects ineach of the lots stated above. In addition, the project will enable the USPF to have a common connectivity platform and solutions for managing bandwidth provision across the locations in each lot.
- Project Scope
a) Survey and conduct site assessment to determine the equipment and associated peripherals to be replaced or provided in all the schools in the lot or lots being quoted for.
b) Determine total required bandwidth in the lot and provide it via a shared Sink such that every school will experience a minimum upload/downlink Internet speed of 256/1024 kbps with a maximum contention ratio of 4:1.
c) Establish a fully functional Network Operating Centre (NOC) at the implemented premises where all schools/project locations are linked and integrated with a view to monitoring the utilization and generation of reports.
d) Upgrade the existing monitoring centre in the USPF to an advance monitoring platform through supply and installation of hardware, software and other required equipment to support configuring and monitoring of link status, bandwidth utilization and uptime for a minimum, of 2500 connected clients.
e) Prepare necessary operational and technical documentation on both NOC and connectivity infrastructure at connected facilities and provide training to USPF technical personnel on operation and use of implemented NOC facilities.
f) Provide 1 year post implementation support.
4. Deliverables
a) A comprehensive completion report of Internet bandwidth provisioning in all schools in the lot or lots with graphic presentation of Internet usage per school per lot. The report should indicate equipment provided or replaced in all the schools, bandwidth utilisation chart, etc.
b) A catalogue of IP addresses, details of contact persons & GPS coordinates of each school in both electronic and hardcopy format.
c) Quarterly post implementation report detailing all the relevant statistics in the preceding period e.g. availability, usage, etc., as well as maintenance work undertaken, equipment repaired or replaced, etc.
d) Final project report covering the entire contract duration.
- Eligibility Criteria
a) General Conditions
Eligible companies must submit the following:
- Evidence of Incorporation or registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission. Companies must enclose Certificate of Incorporation and Form CO7.
ii. Articles and Memorandum of Association of the Company which must show that the Company has ICT related activities as part of its objects.
iii. Three years Tax Clearance Certificate for the year 2011, 2012 and 2013.
- Certificate of VAT and evidence of past remittances.
- Audited accounts for the last three years.
- Verifiable evidence of financial capacity to execute the project and such evidence must come from a reputable bank.
- Evidence of a proper understanding of telecommunication solutions for rural areas.
viii. Evidence of similar works carried out in the past such as award letters. - A company profile and organizational structure, including names and resumes of key personnel and technical staff with addresses and phone numbers.
- Submit detailed evidence of compliance with Pensions Act, 2004, including evidence of remittances.
xi. Evidence of Industrial Training Fund (ITF) contribution.
b) Specific Conditions
Proponents shall be required to demonstrate the following minimum competencies:
- In-premise functional NOC deployed for similar assignment carried out in the past.
- A thorough understanding of National and International trends in the ICT and Networking industry.
- Experience in bulk bandwidth provisioning.
- Experience in Internet service delivery.
- Experience in VSAT installation.
- Proponents must demonstrate the ability to use not less than 25% of local content (especially bandwidth) inthe implementation of this project.
- Collection Of Request For Proposal
Qualified Companies wishing to respond to this invitation must purchase a copy of the RFP document from the Procurement Department, USPF by payment of a non-refundable fee of N250,000.00 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) only per Lot. which must be payable in bank draft in favour of “Universal Service Provision Fund, Abuja”. The draft should be submitted to the Funding and Subsidy Department, USPF and copy of the receipt attached to the bid document upon submition.
- Submission of Documents
The prospective bidders shall enclose Three (3) bound copies each of the detailed Technical and Financial Proposals in separate sealed envelopes, and enclose the two envelopes in one sealed outer envelope clearly marked ‘Request for Proposal for SKC Bandwidth Lot……’ on the top right hand corner which shall bear the lot description, the name and address of the company on the reverse side of the envelope.
- Pre Bidders Meeting
All bidders are to note that a Pre Bidder’s Meeting will be held as follows:
Date: Tuesday September 23rd 2014
Venue: NCC Conference Room
Time: 2.00pm
- Deadline for Submission of Proposals
All tender documents must be Delivered by Hand and should reach the Office of the undersigned on or before Tuesday 11th November, 2014 by 5:00pm.
The Secretary
Universal Service Provision Fund
USP Secretariat 9th Floor
Nigerian Communications Commission
423 Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama – Abuja
- Disclaimer
a) Late submissions shall be rejected.
b) The Fund will not be responsible for any cost or expenses incurred by any interested party in connection with any response to an inquiry nor shall it entitle any party submitting documents to claim any indemnity from the Fund
c) The Fund is not bound to shortlist any bidder and reserves the right to annul the bidding process at any time without incurring any liabilities and assigning any reason thereof.
d) This advertisement is published for information purposes only and should not be construed as a commitment or obligation on the part of the Fund to award a contract.
For further clarification on the RFP, please email: uspfbids@ncc.gov.ng or uspfprocurement@ncc.gov.ng
Signed:
Secretary
Universal Service Provision Fund
