Bethel Park School District Firewall Bid Project
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January 12, 2018 Bethel Park School District Firewall Bid Project For use with 2018-2019 eRate bid process and / or as a general purpose bid compliant with the laws of the state of Pennsylvania for Public School Districts Ideas and Concepts expressed herein are property of the Bethel Park School District and / or the respective referenced vendors and except for the public nature of this bid, this information is otherwise proprietary and confidential – Except by vendors responding to this bid request; this bid is not to be copied, duplicated, excerpted or otherwise replicated for private or public use beyond this intended use without written permission from the Bethel Park School District BPSD Firewall Bid Objectives and Specifications 2018 1.) Bid Purpose Introduction Statement The Bethel Park School District seeks bids for firewall and closely related solutions via the eRate Category 2 process. The solutions we seek will by necessity include hardware, software and licensing for at least a five year term (where applicable). Some of these will be eRate discount eligible and some will not. Our evaluation will require selection of the most cost effective five year solution (after eligible discounts) that substantially meets our specifications and is able to demonstrably satisfy our intended purposes. The 2018 eRate eligibility list for both Category 1 and Category 2 can be found here: https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-17-973A1.pdf (remember, this bid is for Category 2) 2.) eRate Eligibility Statement The first step of this process is to post a 470 form (along with these more detailed specifications) which is the eRate version of the public bid process. Because a substantial portion of what we are seeking is likely eligible for eRate category 2 funding discounts we are requiring any vendor wishing to participate in this bid to be authorized and eligible to participate in the eRate process; i.e. having an eRate SPIN number and currently in good standing with eRate and having no pending or past eRate investigation or litigation regarding accusations of wrongdoing or improper conduct. If you are not an eRate qualified or eligible service provider you can learn more here - http://www.usac.org/sp/about/getting-started/default.aspx. Under no circumstance will Bethel Park School District delay our process nor do we have the authority to delay the eRate process due to provider eligibility issues or providers awaiting eligibility certification. If a non-eRate eligible or certified vendor would like to bid and believes that they can provide a comparable or lower cost solution without the use of Bethel Park’s anticipated 40% eRate reimbursement on eligible purchases then you are welcome to do so. 3.) Local Presence and Vendor Qualification Requirement Because Bethel Park School District resides in a Pittsburgh suburban location we have access to many qualifiable local vendors as well as qualifiable national vendors with a strong local presence. All vendors (both national and local) interested in submitting a proposal for this request must have a strong local presence. For purposes of this bid specification, strong local presence is defined by the following: ● Having a local sales and support office within 50 miles of the Bethel Park School District ● Having a local sales presence with at least one full time sales person residing and operating continuously for at least 2 years in the South Western Pennsylvania region. ● Having a local engineering presence with at least one and preferably two certified engineers who are certified in the products, software and licensing being proposed ● Having a local engineering presence operating from within the Southwestern Pennsylvania Region for at least two years. ● Verifiably manufacturer certified and approved as a reseller on all aspects of proposed solution. ● Extensive prior experience migrating from Palo Alto firewalls to proposed solution - references will be required. Vendors are required to have at least one currently certified or recently past certified (with in 18 months) former Palo Alto engineer(s) on staff. 4.) Current Environment and Future Horizon Bethel Park School District presently has an existing Palo Alto 3050N next generation firewall. Our current Firewall WAN connection consists of a single 1GB WAN link to a Fatpipe appliance that aggregates incoming WAN connections from three separate ISPs. The ISPs are DQE RWAN (up to 10Gb link, 500Mb commodity, Page 2 of 11 BPSD Firewall Bid Objectives and Specifications 2018 up to 10Gb Internet2 traffic), Comcast Business Class Internet (150Mb/s fixed IP cable modem), Verizon Fios (75Mb/s fixed IP fiber modem) This firewall has a maximum throughput capacity of 1Gb/s and is currently nearing the end of its fourth year of service. When this firewall was selected the district had not yet fully embraced 1:1 computing and had much lower Internet bandwidth requirements than is true today. The current firewall is nearing capacity and incapable of being upgraded. It also lacks adequate CPU processing capacity to decrypt, inspect, next gen filter and re encrypt all likely future encrypted Internet traffic. The only viable solution is to procure a new firewall with adequate current and future capacity. Our future horizon for the lifespan of the new firewall is at least five years from the date of acquisition. We anticipate the date of acquisition to be as soon as April of 2018 pending Board approval. Receiving expected eRate approvals in advance would be ideal but is not anticipated. Due to time constraints available for firewall project implementation the district intends to purchase in advance of and regardless of hoped for eRate approval and seek reimbursement if and when approval is received based on a selected solution offered by an eRate vendor complying with all requirements previously identified in this document and according to eRate vendor eligibility rules. 5.) Intent and Evaluation of Requested Solution In this new solution we have several objectives which we need to accomplish. The bid specifications listed will be evaluated with regards to meeting the specific ability of being able to accomplish each of these objectives. Because vendor products vary widely with regards to the mechanisms used to implement functionality and features we anticipate that it will not be possible to create a direct comparison of the various products and solutions that will likely be proposed for consideration based on features alone. As a result of the difficulty of comparing specific feature or function with specific feature or function we will also be evaluating on the ability to accomplish our objectives. Vendor written statements accompanied by their agreement to demonstrate stated functionality or objective achievement will be counted as having met the objective for purposes of substantial consideration. If a vendor makes a statement that their solution complies with a requested feature or addresses an objective they must be able to identify, within the manufacturer literature, where this feature is implemented or how it addresses our objective. Final selection will require successful demonstration or written performance assurance of what has been stated and / or agreed to by earlier submission of their bid. As required by Pennsylvania State Law, the bidder proposing the lowest responsible overall five year bid cost (initial acquisition of hardware and licensing + services + support for each of 5 years) which contains must have features and accomplishes the stated objectives will be recommended for approval to the School Board of Directors. 6.) Security and Clearances All personnel (contractors and subcontractors) that will be working on this project in the schools must observe all security and safety procedures of each school facility and must secure all record checks required by law (and submit the results thereof) such as: 1. For Pennsylvania Residents: Form SP4-164-Pennsylvania State Police “Request for Criminal Record Check” – Call 717-783-5494; Act 34 2. Pennsylvania “Child Abuse History Clearance” – Call 717-783-6211; Act 151 3. Fingerprints, as required, Act 114 Page 3 of 11 BPSD Firewall Bid Objectives and Specifications 2018 On-site work at the school sites cannot commence until the Vendor / Vendor employees have obtained all relevant clearances. If the vendor is unable to obtain or maintain clearances for required certified engineers or other personnel by the anticipated project start date and through the end of the project (no earlier than 4/1/2018) the district will have grounds to disqualify the vendor. 7.) Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension, Ineligibility and Voluntary Exclusion By signing and submitting this proposal, Vendor certifies that neither it nor its principals is presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from participation, by the State of Pennsylvania or by any Federal department or agency, from transactions involving the use of Federal funds. Where Vendor is unable to certify to any of the Statements in this certification, Vendor shall attach an explanation to their offer. 8.) Additional Information for Vendors The District reserves the right to: ● Reject and cancel or amend and repost this proposal or not award any contract. ● Subject the Administration’s recommended vendor solution for Board Approval ● Utilize any and all ideas submitted in the proposals received; ● Request providers to clarify their proposals; ● Request vendors to physically