CIRTEC Public Safety LTE System – EPC Equipment Solution Leas

This PWGSC office provides procurement services to the public in both official languages of Canada.

Changes history:
Amendment 1: modification to the Time Zone at closing date;
Amendment 2: modification to the GSIN
Amendment 3: to add "Questions and Answers" (#1) at the bottom of this notice. 
Amendment 4: add Q&A (#2) and bring a little change to the cover page of the solicitation documents.
Amendment 5: add Q&A (#3) and minor change to the Mandatory Technical Criteria.
Amendment 6: add Q&As (#4-5-6).
Amendment 7: Extension of the bid solicitation period and add Q&As (#7-8-9-10).
Amendment 8: add Q&A (#11).
Amendment 9: add Q&As (#12, 13).

REQUIREMENT:
Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) is posting this solicitation on behalf of the Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC) to lease a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Evolved Packet Core (EPC) to be used for R&D purposes as part of the Communications Interoperability Research, Test and Evaluation Centre (CIRTEC).  

The Work will be on an "as and when requested basis" using Task Authorization(s) (TA).  It is understood that CIRTEC will require EPC Equipment Solution from at least one vendor but the procurement strategy will strive towards obtaining EPC Equipment Solution from multiple vendors depending on the available budget. As such, Canada reserves the right to award multiple contracts for this requirement.

The period of any resulting Contract(s) should be from date of Contract Award (May 01, 2015) to March 31, 2017 inclusive (initial contract period). Any lease period will be from date of receipt and acceptance of equipment(s) to March31, 2017 (on a monthly basis).

Canada reserves the right to extend the period of the contract, as well as the lease period by up to four (4) additional periods of 6 months each or to buy the leased equipments at the end of the initial contract period.

The requirement is subject to the provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT).

EVALUATION PROCEDURE AND BASIS OF SELECTION:
Responsive bids will be ranked in ascending order of evaluated prices, the responsive bid with the lowest evaluated price being ranked first.  Of the highest ranked responsive bids in ascending order of evaluated prices, more than one (1) bidder may be recommended for award of a contract. 

For Research & Development purposes, it is the goal of the CRC to obtain one EPC Equipment Solution from multiple bidders that submitted a responsive bid. The number of EPC Equipment Solution to be acquired will be based on CRC available budget (budget will not be disclosed). Bidders are advised that Canada reserves the right to award only one contract to the highest ranked responsive bid, regardless of the available budget.

For further information, please refer to the solicitation documents. 

PROCUREMENT OFFICER: 
If you have questions concerning this solicitation, please contact the following procurement officer: 

Ian Potvin
819-956-9489
Ian.potvin@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RECEIVED DURING POSTING PERIOD:

Question 1: Under the Mandatory Technical Criteria 1 of the Attachment 2, would the crown accept bids where the EPC includes 4 of the 6 3GPP defined capabilities (S-GW, P-GW, MME, and PCRF, but not the HSS and SPR)?

Answer 1: No, the Contractor’s proposed EPC equipment solution must include all six 3GPP entities listed in mandatory technical criterion M1 (S-GW, P-GW, MME, HSS, PCRF and SPR).

Question 2: Is a bidder considered non-responsive if they decline to bid the Optional IMS?

Answer 2: No. A bid will not be declared non-responsive on the basis that bidder declined to bid on the DID OP-001, Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

Questions 3: Is a bidder considered non-responsive if their solution does not support the S9 Interface?

Answer 3: No. A bid will not be considered non-responsive if the proposed solution does not support S9 Interface. There is an error in the Mandatory Technical Criteria M9 and M10. No reference to the S9 Interface should have been made in these criteria. We invite bidders to consult changes made to ATTACHMENT 2, MANDATORY TECHNICAL CRITERIA, of the RFP (RFP Amendment 2).

Questions 4: Would Canada kindly consider a proposal in which the bidder helped arrange a lease solution by and between Canada and a 3rd party funding source under the assumption the financing arrangement will in no way relieve the bidder of its obligations to Canada under the sales contract?

Answer 4: Bidders must provide the items identified in the statement of requirements according to the terms and conditions of the RFP.  If bidders cannot meet the terms and conditions currently identified in the RFP, bidders are allowed to partner with a third party in order to submit a responsive bid. Bidders are responsible for determining and executing the parameters of their partnership.  Canada will not award a contract nor issue payments to a third party identified in a responsive bid.  Any resulting contractual obligations will be determined between Canada and the bidder (Prime) who submitted the responsive bid.

Questions 5: At Annex A, Section 10.0, Government Supplied Components and Services, subsection 10.1 indicates that ‘Backhaul to and from the main facility and remote sites’ ‘will be provided by the Technical Authority or are already in place within CRC’s wireless research network’.  Does this include the Ethernet/IP switching and routing between the EPC components, or should the vendor include a switch/router for all required intra-EPC connectivity?

Answer 5: Bid should not include Ethernet/IP switching and routing equipment as those are already in place within CRC’s wireless research network.

Questions 6: Several of the answers to the Mandatory Technical Criteria in Attachment 2 may require the disclosure of company confidential information.  Please explain how this confidential information is to be handled and protected from distribution outside of the evaluating technical authority?

Answer 6: Information provided within a bid may be subject to the Access to Information Act. Bidders should identify any submitted information that is to be considered as either company confidential or proprietary. There is no distribution of designated confidential or proprietary information outside of the technical evaluation conducted by the Technical Authority. In other words, Canada will not reveal any designated confidential or proprietary information to public and/or third parties.  These information will be handled in accordance with the policy on "Handling and Safeguarding of Classified and Protected Information" of the Government of Canada.

Questions 7: In Attachment 2 “Mandatory Technical Criteria” – M4 “IP/VLAN reconfigurability IP addresses associated to LTE interfaces/network elements must be reconfigurable. If one or more VLANs are associated to LTE interfaces/network elements, the VLAN ID(s) must be reconfigurable.” Could the CRC further explain what they are trying to achieve with this requirement?

Answer 7: The EPC Equipment Solution(s) obtained via this RFP will be integrated in an existing IP network infrastructure. In order to integrate the EPC Equipment Solution in the existing network and to support different operational scenarios, we require the flexibility to modify the EPC Equipment Solution IP addressing scheme as well as VLAN IDs if applicable.

Questions 8: In Appendix 1 to Annex A “[Optional] Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)” -  OP-001 Will the delivered solution be required to provide calls between VoLTE and the PSTN?

Answer 8: No, support for calls between VoLTE and the PSTN is not required.

Questions 9: In Appendix 1 to Annex A “[Optional] Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)”) - OP-001 Will a text messaging solution be required?

Answer 9: No, a text messaging is not required.

Questions 10: In order to provide more time to provide the most quality RFP response, would it possible to extend the period of the RFP until April 14, 2015?

Answer 10: Canada would like to recall that the initial bid solicitation period is set at 46 calendar days. In addition, Canada would like to begin the testing phase of the EPC Solution as soon as possible in order to obtain critical data which will be used under a sub-project. Therefore, Canada accepts to extend the bid solicitation period by one (1) week only. The new closing date of the bid solicitation period will be April 7, 2015.

Questions 11: Could the CRC please confirm that the EPC Equipment Solution must support 20 eNodeBs whereby each eNodeB is configured in a three cell sectorized deployment configuration?

Answer 11: Mandatory requirement M5 does not assume a specific eNodeB sector configuration. The requirement was written under the assumption that each eNodeB could be configured from a single to a three cell sectorized deployment.

Questions 12: The summary states that the leasing payments don’t start until delivery but the Financial Bid Presentation Sheet show 23 months plus a fixed buyout. Can we assume that the buyout is a variable based upon the actual number of months that payments are made?

Answer 12: The period of "23 months" indicated at Attachment 1, FINANCIAL BID PRESENTATION SHEET, was used to assist Bidders in presenting their financial information and also used for price evaluation in order to rank bids. The rental period is calculated based on the assumption that the contract(s) will be awarded by May 1, 2015 and valid until March 2017. It is Canada's intent to award a contract or contracts by the end of April 2015, however, the internal policies on the management of public finances require us to make lease payments only from the date of receipt and acceptance of the equipment. It is the Bidders’ responsibility to adjust their financial bid based on their evaluation of risk and possible delivery delay when providing a firm price for the purchase of the equipment at the end of the rental period.

Questions 13: Does the RFP response have to be paper submission or can we email a copy and then have the paper submission arrive on the 7th or 8th of April?

Answer 13: As indicated within the RFP document, submission of response (bid) must be sent by mail or courier (hard copy) to the address indicated on the cover page of the RFP document. Canada will not accept submission of response done electronically. Also, your bid must be received before the date and time indicated on the cover page of the RFP document.


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NOTE:   
1. 	Amendment(s) to this solicitation may be posted on GETS if there must be any changes to the Requirement, the Schedule of Tender Closing Dates or to any other information provided herein. It is the responsibility of the Bidders to assure themselves they receive all the amendments (if any) during the solicitation period.

2. 	The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.

3. 	Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.