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3.h Discussion on soliciting proposals for broadband partnership REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 1 of 12 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Scandia, Minnesota SECTION 1 – INTRODUCTION The City of Scandia, Minnesota is soliciting proposals for the selection of a partner(s) to work with the City to bring next generation communication services to our businesses and residents over a middle mile broadband backbone infrastructure including but not limited to a fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) broadband network. Submitted proposals should include all of the following requirements listed within this Request for Proposal (RFP) to ensure that our 4,000 residents (roughly 2,000 locations), businesses, and community organizations have access to sustainable, leading edge broadband services. Submittals will be accepted no later than TBD. Submissions must be made via emailed to n.soltis@ci.scandia.mn.us SECTION 2 – BACKGROUND Scandia, Minnesota believes that affordable, high-speed broadband services are essential to support the needs of our residents, businesses, and anchor organizations throughout the Community. The City is requesting proposals for a community wide next generation broadband network. The goal of the partnership is to use the strengths and assets of each entity to negotiate a balanced partnership that is equally beneficial to the network end user, the city, and the selected provider. SECTION 3 – PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP The City seeks a partner to design, engineer, project management, build and operate a citywide fiber to the premise network with ten gigabit speeds to all addresses by 2026 in alignment with the MN Office of Broadband Development1. Scandia desires to have some level of ownership and control of the fiber network, where possible and reasonable within the partnership, but wants to partner with one or more companies to maintain, operate and provide services on the network. Scandia desires to have a partnership with a service provider that can share revenue in a manner that helps expand the network and that provides positive long-term financial benefit to the City. SECTION 4 – SCOPE OF WORK (SOW) The City is willing to invest in the design and construction of a fiber optic broadband backbone to interconnect key City sites, providing high-capacity, and redundant fiber for internal operations and to support future utility needs. Furthermore, the City is seeking a partner to assist with the design and engineering, build out, and maintenance of a public fiber optic network; and invest, build out, and 1 It is a state goal that (1) no later than 2022, all Minnesota businesses and homes have access to high -speed broadband that provides minimum download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second and minimum upload speeds of at least three megabits per second; and (2) no later than 2026, all Minnesota businesses and homes have access to at least one provider of broadband with download speeds of at least 100 meg abits per second and upload speeds of at least 20 megabits per second. https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/broadband/goals/ REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 2 of 12 maintain the last mile to complete the fiber-to-the-premise broadband network. The City also seeks a partner able to provide customer service and technical support for future customers. The full scope of work contemplates three (3) phases; design, engineering, and construction. All phases of design, engineering and construction are to be complete within a reasonable period and identified in the proposal. The breakdown of the three phases are detailed below: 4.1 Design and Engineering The City is seeking a partner that can design and engineer a fiber to the premise network. This network will require two path diverse connections for middle mile connectivity including a connection to the nearest dedicated IP Transit (IPT) connection. Also required is an engineered design to extend fiber from said network to all addresses within the City limits to connect residents, businesses, and anchor institutions to internet services with capabilities ranging from 1 Gbps through 10 Gbps symmetrical dedicated internet service. Responsibilities of the partner will include activities required to undertake and accomplish a full and complete project design, including, but not limited to, the following: 1. Conducting and attending meetings and design conferences with the City to coordinate or resolve design matters. 2. Preparing detailed design and construction plans, technical specifications, and documents. 3. Developing design schematics, sketches, environmental and esthetic considerations, project recommendations, preliminary layouts and cost estimates. 4. Recommending methodologies for conduit placement such as boring, trenching, micro trenching, or plowing and should include estimated cost for each option. 5. Providing strategy for connecting residential properties. (i.e. neighborhood microwave technology or direct connections) 6. Providing copies of plans, specifications, and contract documents for review. 7. Preparing necessary engineering reports. Design Phase Expectations 1. The City shall remain fully engaged in the design process, able to provide input, able to understand the design approach and rationale, and able to adjust the approach as the project proceeds. 2. Network design must include redundancy. 3. The design phase shall include discussions about build options related to potential funding received from the State of Minnesota. • If funding is received from sources it will not cover construction of a fiber network to areas considered “served” by broadband. Respondents to the RFP can provide estimates with this consideration on construction completion and timelines. 4. The design specifications should contemplate aerial vs buried and should be designed in the most cost-effective manner for both the short and the long term. The partner shall make a recommendation regarding construction method. 4.2 Construction This phase includes all basic services of a construction contract, including, but not limited to the following: 1. Acting as project manager for all construction phases. REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 3 of 12 2. Preparing construction management plan and reviewing of contract construction schedule. 3. On site construction inspections and management, involving the services of an inspector or manager, full time or periodically during the construction or installation phase of the project as required by the City. 4. Observing or reviewing performance test(s) required by specifications. 5. Making final inspections and submitting a final construction report for the completed project to the City. The network construction includes phases and are shown in order of importance, those include: 1. Construction of or acquisition of a connection to the IPT and an additional middle mile provider or path diverse route to IPT. 2. Business and Industrial Areas 3. Residential neighborhoods 4. Residential neighborhoods already considered “served” by Broadband Construction phase expectations: 1. Construction should commence as quickly as possible after receiving notice to do so, and work should be done in a timely manner as to fully support the completion of the project within the construction timeline. • The project is seeking state funding; construction plans should be made in accordance with the need to spend funds within the specified time limit. 2. As available, fiber drops should be installed, and fiber should be lit to expedite service to end users. 4.3 Minimum Mandatory Requirements Attachment A shows the Minimum Mandatory Requirements for the proposed solution and partnership. Vendors that do not meet these minimum requirements will not move forward in the evaluation process and will not have the rest of their proposals reviewed. 4.4 Service This phase includes the partner assuming the operations and maintenance functions of and delivery of services to the residents and businesses. The service phase includes but is not limited to: 1. Funding the drops, wireless distribution, and equipment needed to provide retail broadband services to residents, businesses, and community organizations. 2. Operating and maintaining functions of the network by providing all management functions of the infrastructure. 3. Providing an estimated maintenance schedule for the fiber network to the City. 4. Providing competitively priced retail services. 5. Providing billing and provision assistance. 6. Ability to provide 1 Gbps or faster service to all end users with future enhancement capabilities. REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 4 of 12 Service expectations: Please see Attachment C for required responses to service level responses. 1. The City expects Gigabit to the with a monthly cost expectation that includes both the fiber line cost and Internet Service Provider (ISP) cost. 2. The selected provider will be the face of the project to the customer. They will install equipment and services into the customer premises, maintain the equipment and services, provide end customer service, provide equipment and service upgrades, and generally be responsible for customer service and satisfaction. 4.6 Timeline The suggested project timeline proposed by the City is as follows: RFP Submission Period January 7 - February 1 2019 DEED Grant Submission Deadline September 1, 2019 DEED Grant Funding Award Dates December 2019 Contract and Partner Negotiations February – April 2019 Design and Engineering Phase May – July 2019 Construction Phase January 2020 – March 2021 Completion of project. (Fiber to every home) March 2021 Through the engineering and design process, the project timeline is subject to change. Any submitted timeline proposals should include a timeline for the design, engineering, and construction phases of the project broken down into a number of major milestones. It is the expectation of the City that a substantial amount of construction will be completed within 12 months of start date and will be required to be completed within 18 month of any funding received by the State of Minnesota. 4.7 Partnership Considerations The City is investing in this project to enhance the infrastructure of the City and to cater to the needs of our businesses, community organizations, and residents to be determined based on proposal. Partner Contributions City contributions include: 1. Access to City Street and Alley Right-of Ways 2. Access to City Infrastructure and Utility Poles 3. Ability to expedite right-of-way permitting for identified partner 4. Ability to expedite pole attachments for identified partner 5. Potential financial contribution 6. Authorization to negotiate rates for leased bandwidth Partner assets should include: 1. Design and engineering expertise and capabilities 2. Construction experience, expertise, and capabilities REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 5 of 12 3. Financial and other resources necessary to complete the build out and operate the network 4. Ability to act as service provider 5. Maintenance capabilities for broadband/fiber network 6. Other assets not included to be identified by partner 4.8 Partnership Proposal Please describe your proposal to the ideal roles of each party in the private-public partnership with Scandia. Please describe what level of ownership and/or control your partnership will provide the City over the completed network. Please describe how your partnership will limit the amount financial impact and risk to the City. In addition to your proposed description of the partnership, please use Attachment B, the Responsibility Assignment Matrix, to illustrate your proposed partnership. Vendors should indicate the expected roles in the partnership with the City using the RACI model. R = Responsible. A = Accountable. C = Consulted. I = Informed. Vendors should indicate exactly one A (Accountable) for each role. In the Responsibility Assignment Matrix, unless otherwise noted with an R (Responsible), the Accountable party will also be the Responsible party. All parties are advised that some of the services listed in Attachment B may not be required and the City reserves the right to initiate additional procurement actions for any services not included in the initial procurement and/or partnership. The fourth column labeled “City’s Representative” in Attachment B is an independent third- party agent working on behalf of the City to ensure that their interests are represented in the construction of the network. SECTION 5 – COST PROPOSAL The vendor must submit a separate cost proposal allowing costs to be evaluated independently of other technical, scope, or project criteria in the proposal. Inclusion of any cost or pricing data within the technical proposal may result in your proposal being deemed as non-responsive. The Cost Proposal must be attached as a separate document and identified as “Cost Proposal” with your company. The following formula shall be used to determine the cost score to the City and subscriber: Weight Rating Percentage*((2-(proposed cost/lowest proposed cost)). The following formula shall be used to determine the investment score by the partner: Weight Rating Percentage*(proposed investment/highest proposed investment). The Cost Proposal Form Attachment C included in this RFP must be completed and submitted for your proposal to be considered. Please include with the following with your Cost Proposal Form: 1. A funding plan and description on the sources of planned costs either to the partner or the City and how your plans limit costs to the City or the taxpayer. The plan should include funding expectations and capital investment. REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 6 of 12 2. The past two fiscal years of audited financial statements to demonstrate financial strength, including a complete list of partner assets. SECTION 6 – SELECTION PROCESS A short list will be developed from submittals received. Upon review each company will be asked to attend an interview for the City to hear proposals, and to make a final partner selection. A schedule of fees will then be negotiated with the selected partner for services to be performed. SECTION 7 – PROPOSAL RESPONSE FORMAT The Proposals should include 1. A cover letter. 2. Partnership plan describing in detail the anticipated relationship between the City and proposer. 3. Business and technical plan describing its approach to the project described in this RFP. The business plan shall describe the Provider’s approach to design, construction, operation and management of the Network and the services to be provided over the Network in sufficient detail to allow the City to effectively consider the proposal. 4. Discussion of the anticipated middle and last mile deployment strategy, last mile phases, scope and timing of the proposed rollout. The discussion should identify the levels of committed demand necessary to trigger rollout obligations and any factors likely to influence the scope or timing of the rollout and explain how those factors impact the strategy. 5. Establish timelines for project milestones. 6. Broadband service offerings (type of broadband service, speed tiers, differences between business and residential offerings). See Attachment C. 7. A completed Cost Proposal Form, funding plan, and financials as described in Section 5. 8. Submittals must contain the name, address, email, and daytime telephone number for the individual authorized to enter into a contract with the City. 9. In addition, all submittals must be submitted in a PDF format via a link to OneDrive, Dropbox or other cloud-based storage platform. Email to broadband@kaysvillecity.com with “Proposal for Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) Partnership” in the subject line and the link to your proposal with your contact information in the body. 10. Following the selection process, the proposal for the selected Proposer shall be made available for public review, except for any items that the Proposer has requested, in writing, to remain confidential under applicable law. The City invites interested parties to submit proposals to perform the above-described services. Respondents should submit proposals via Email no later than Monday, October 22, 2018 2:00PM MT. SECTION 8 – REQUESTS FOR CLARIFICATION REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 7 of 12 All questions about the meaning or intent of this request are to be submitted to the Information Systems Manager in writing via BidSync. Questions received less than seven (7) calendar days prior to the date for submission deadline will not be considered. Interpretations or clarifications considered necessary by Information Systems Manager in response to such questions will be issued by Addenda and made available to all parties upon request via BidSync. SECTION 9 – PROPOSAL EVALUATION The criteria to be used to evaluate proposals, listed with their relative weight in points are as follows: Mandatory Minimum Requirements: Responses to Attachment A – Mandatory Minimum Requirements will be evaluated on a Pass/Fail basis. Vendors that do not meet these minimum requirements will not move forward in the evaluation process and will not have the rest of their proposals reviewed. Technical Proposal Requirements: CRITERIA POINTS POSSIBLE Capability to perform all aspects of project 25 Presented costs to City and Fiber Customers and ability to meet schedules within budget 25 Proximity and availability of key personnel to City’s customers 15 Demonstration of desire and commitment to developing a successful partnership 10 Degree to which the response accomplishes the project’s goals 10 Demonstration of collaborative approach to project 5 Familiarity with the project location and understanding of the City and proposed project 5 Strong sense that Proposer is genuinely interested in the Scandia community and providing quality services now and in the future 5 TOTAL 100 SECTION 10 – GENERAL PROVISIONS The City herein expressly reserves the following rights: 1. To negotiate separately with any source whatsoever in any manner necessary to serve the best interests of the City. The City does not intend to award a contract solely on the basis of any response made to this request for proposals or in any way to pay for information solicited or obtained. The information obtained will be used in determining what seems to best serve the interest of the City. 2. To consider the competency and responsibility of proposers and of their proposed sub consultants in awarding any contract. REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 8 of 12 3. To make the award based on the City’s best judgment as to which proposal best meets the City’s expectations of a project of the highest quality and innovation. 4. To negotiate the terms and conditions of the contract, including but not limited to the statement of work and contract price, in order to meet the City’s project expectations. 5. To make such changes or correction in plans, specifications or quantities of the RFP as City may deem necessary or desirable during the RFP process. It is Proposer’s responsibility to monitor the RFP throughout the RFP and subsequent processes. 6. The right to withdraw the entire project or any Project Element(s) from award consideration if it is in the best interest of the City to do so. 7. To select, assign, and remove partner(s) from the Network Operator role. 8. Besides retaining ownership of initial and future infrastructure, City will maintain suggestion and approval rights. 9. Submit any responses, or refusal to respond to the RFP as part of the package to request funding to the State of Minnesota as evidence of response from existing operators in the area. A short list may be developed from submittals received. Upon review, some companies may be asked to attend an interview for the City to hear proposals, and to make a final partner selection. A schedule of fees and contract would then be negotiated with the selected partner for services to be performed. Scandia reserves the right to skip the interview process and choose a consulting partner without conducting interviews. REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 9 of 12 INSERT City Standard Terms and Conditions for procurement for Services INSERT City Standard Terms and Conditions (Request for Bids / Proposals) INSERT if needed, Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement INSERT Map from CTC of City - assume this is public information that city paid for and can be included REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 10 of 12 Attachment A Vendor: Date: Instructions: Vendors should respond to the following questions by marking an "x" in either the yes or no column. Vendors that do not meet these minimum mandatory requirements will not move forward in the evaluation process. No Question Yes No 1 Can you or you affiliated partners provide Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) solution to residents and businesses in Scandia, Minnesota? 2 Can you or your affiliated partners provide Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) in Scandia, Minnesota using existing fiber backbone infrastructure? 3 Can you or your affiliated partners reserve appropriate quantities of fiber strands in the existing fiber backbone infrastructure for Scandia business use and its own private network? 4 Can you or your affiliated partners provide symmetrical internet speeds up to 10 Gbps on a dedicated fiber connection to residents and businesses in Scandia, Minnesota by 2026? REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 11 of 12 Attachment B Vendors should indicate the expected roles in the partnership with the City using the RACI model. R = Responsible. A = Accountable. C = Consulted. I = Informed. Vendors should indicate exactly one A (Accountable) for each role. In the Responsibility Assignment Matrix, unless otherwise noted with an R (Responsible), the Accountable party will also be the Responsible party. Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) in Scandia, Minnesota Vendor: Date: Instructions: Vendors should indicate the expected roles in the partnership with the City of Scandia using the RACI model. R = Responsible. A = Accountable. C = Consulted. I = Informed. Vendors should indicate exactly one A (Accountable) for each role. In this Responsibility Assignment Matrix, unless otherwise noted with an R (Responsible), the Accountable party will also be the Responsible party. Function or Role Partner Partner's Affiliates Scandia City's Representative Funding Project Management Permitting & ROW Design/Engineering QA/QC on Design/Engineering Warranties on Design/Engineering Construction QA/QC on Construction Warranties on Construction Network Operations & Upgrades Customer Service Internet Service Provider (ISP) N/A Billing & Provisioning REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FIBER TO THE PREMISES (FTTP) PARTNERSHIP Page 12 of 12 Attachment C Service Expectations Questions: 1. Please describe the service level expectations for City, business owner, and home owner. 2. Please describe the expected response time to a service level disruption. 3. Please describe the expected recovery time to a service level disruption to most common outages. 4. Please describe the expected support level the City can expect from your service to the home and business owner. 5. Please list the Internet Service Providers you can provide to the consumer of fiber internet. 6. Please list the locations of customer service call centers and support locations. 7. Please list the suggested customer plan options and associated monthly costs.