The United States General Services (GSA) Great Lakes Region is requesting information from contractors, Local Exchange Carriers (LECs), and others, capable of providing intra-Local Access Transport Area (LATA) telecommunication service within the Chicago city limits and the Chicago metropolitan calling areas. The information will be used in the preparation of an acquisition to replace the Chicago Metropolitan Area Acquisition contract scheduled to complete May 2007. The purpose of this RFI is to provide information and solicit comments to the extent that industry can meet the Government’s requirements. We invite comments on all aspects of the Local Services that can be provided in products and the delivery of services, pricing structure, management and operations, and transition requirements. The intent is not to obtain product literature or marketing materials. This RFI is being issued in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201 (e). The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or changes by the Government will arise as a result of submission of responses to this RFI and the Government’s use of such information GSA is seeking to identify sources and obtain information regarding service availability and pricing information for the following categories of telecommunication services, as a minimum: I. Basic Services: Circuit Switched Services (CSS) based on circuit/time – division switching technologies in voice services and data services subcategories, as described below: 1. Local Voice Service 2. Circuit Switched Data Service CSS contractors are requested to provide information regarding availability and pricing (recurring and non-recurring) for the services that reflect capabilities such as: loop (including local switching and associated features), local transport between terminating locations within the Chicago/metro service area, access to local long distance services, and access to and from inter-exchange carriers including basic capabilities, features, performance, and interfaces of CSS. Dedicated Transmission Service (DTS) which allows the aggregation of bandwidths for transmission of voice and data traffic. DTS is considered to be categorized in the following two groups: 1. Local Dedicated Transmission Service 2. Dedicated Transmission Service access to an inter-exchange carrier point of presence (IXC POP) DTS contractors are requested to provide information regarding availability and pricing (recurring and non-recurring) for dedicated circuits between sites within the MAA service area as well as between a local service site and an IXC POP. Request the contractor provide detailed specifications for basic capabilities, features, performance, and interfaces of DTS. II. Enhanced Services: The contractors are requested to provide information and pricing for all, or as many of the following as are available, to include: 1. Foreign exchange service, 2. customized intercept and recorder announcements, 3. E-911 trunks 4. Interfaces to end user PBX: a. Signaling System 7 (SS7) Interface b. DS3, at line rate of 44.736 Mb/s and information pay-load data rate of 43.008 Mb/s 5. Circuit switched data service (CSDS) features: a. Multi-rate DSO: Range from DSO (64 kb/s clear channel) to N times DSO data rates, where N varies at specific numbers from 2 to 23. b. Multi-rate DS1: Range from DS1 to N times DS1 Data rates, where N varies at specific numbers from 2 to 27 c. DS3: 44.736 Mb/s data rate 6. DTS features: a. Multipoint Connection, including the following capabilities: • Branch-Off (also known as Drop and Continue) • Drop and Insert (also known as Add-Drop-Multiplexing) c. Service Assurance/Reliability: Ability to implement real time, seamless automatic restoration and reconfiguration. d. Route or Path Redundancy/Diversity: Ability to provide service via multiple, physically separated routes for DTS circuits e. Route or Path Avoidance: Ability to provide the capability for a specified provisioning route, i.e. ability for the customer organization to specify a geographic location or route to be included or avoided when provisioning the circuit path. f. Fractional DS1: Ability to provide multiple DSO clear channels, over an interface with a line rate of 1.544 Mb/s, in increments of one DSO channel to a maximum capacity of 12 DSO channels. Address the need and location for multiplexing equipment. g. Fractional DS3: Ability to provide multiple DS1 clear channels over an interface with a line rate of 44.736 Mb/s. Address the need and location for multiplexing equipment. h. Ds3: 44.736 Mb/s line rate i. Voice over Internet Protocol Service (VoIP) j. Data Service Lines (DSL) k. Radio circuits, (2 wire and 4 wire terminations) l. Local Area Networks m. Inside wire. III. Management and Operations Services: Request the contractor describe the management and operation of its services, to include quality control, network reliability and security. IV. Features: The contractor is requested to fully define and describe the basic capabilities, features and components of the services. Basic capabilities of the service are those that are in the base price of the service. The contractor is requested to identify capabilities included in its basic services that are not specified in this request for information. Features of a service are additional capabilities that are required to be provided by the contractor and priced separately from the basic service price. Request any additional services and features that are newly emerging and available, or anticipated to be available, be included in the responses to this request. V. Service Delivery Points: It is requested the contractors include information to describe its service delivery point (SDP), the interface for the physical delivery of a service, the points at which performance parameters will be measured to determine compliance with specifications, and the points used by the contractor to identify the charges for services rendered. The SDP is typically defined as the combined physical, electrical, and service interface between the contractor’s network and the government on-premise equipment, off-premises switching and transmission equipment, and other facilities (such as those provided by telephone central offices). The Government intends to accomplish the following objectives with this acquisition: 1. Service Continuity. Ensure customers have continued access to products and services currently available. A contract term is anticipated to have a two year base period and three, one year options. 2. Competition. Leverage service volume and structure an acquisition to attract multiple offerors for award, drive favorable pricing, and foster competition over the life of the program. Termination liability will not be considered. 3. Alternative Sources. Provide customers with access to multiple competing vendors. 4. Convergence. Promote migration to a converged environment through access to emerging technologies with continuous refreshment. 5. Small Business Opportunities. Promote small business participation. It is requested that information provided in response to this inquiry be directed to Mara Shultz no later than 5 PM, CST on 12/15/05. The points of contact for this Request for Information are: 1. Mara Shultz, FTS Contract Specialist, 618.622.5808, e-mail
[email protected] 2. Yjuania Still, FTS Contract Specialist, 618.622.5809, e-mail
[email protected] Address: 1710 Corporate Crossing, Suite 3, O'Fallon, IL 62269 NOTE THAT THE PHONE NUMBERS AND ADDRESS LISTED ABOVE ARE ACCURATE.