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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRFP - 8849 DOMAIN NAME SERVICES (DNS) FOR A MUNICIPAL GIGABIT BROADBAND NETWORKRFP 8849 Domain Name Services (DNS) Page 1 of 8 REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL #8849 DOMAIN NAME SERVICES (DNS) FOR A MUNICIPAL GIGABIT BROADBAND NETWORK The City of Fort Collins is requesting proposals from qualified firms to purchase and implement a turn-key Domain Name Services (DNS) solution for the successful deployment of a municipal gigabit broadband solution. As part of the City’s commitment to Sustainable Purchasing, proposals submission via email is preferred. Proposals shall be submitted in a single Microsoft Word or PDF file under 20MB and e-mailed to: purchasing@fcgov.com. If electing to submit a hard copy proposal we require one (1) hard copy and one (1) electronic copy on a jump drive to be received at the City of Fort Collins' Purchasing Division, 215 North Mason St., 2nd floor, Fort Collins, Colorado 80524. Proposals must be received before 3:00 p.m. (our clock) on January 11, 2019 and referenced as Proposal No. 8849. If delivered, they are to be sent to 215 North Mason Street, 2nd Floor, Fort Collins, Colorado 80524. If mailed, the address is P.O. Box 580, Fort Collins, 80522-0580. Please note, additional time is required for bids mailed to the PO Box to be received at the Purchasing Office. The City encourages all Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) to submit proposals in response to all requests for proposals. No individual or business will be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, sex, or national origin. It is the City’s policy to create a level playing field on which DBEs can compete fairly and to ensure nondiscrimination in the award and administration of all contracts. All questions should be submitted, in writing via email, to Gerry Paul, Purchasing Director at gspaul@fcgov.com, with a copy to Project Manager, Brad Ward, at bward@fcgov.com, no later than 5:00 PM MST (our clock) on January 4, 2019. Please format your e-mail to include: RFP 8849 Domain Name Services in the subject line. Questions received after this deadline may not be answered. Responses to all questions submitted before the deadline will be addressed in an addendum and posted on the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System webpage. Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System hosted by Bidnet A copy of the RFP may be obtained at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado/city-of-fort-collins. This RFP has been posted utilizing the following Commodity Code(s): 72523 Fiber Optics and Interconnect Components 918-28 Computer Hardware Consulting 918-30 Computer Network Consulting, Network Consulting 918-95 Telecommunications Consulting 920-37 Networking Services (Including Installation and Maintenance) RFP 8849 Domain Name Services (DNS) Page 2 of 8 Public Viewing Copy: The City is a governmental entity subject to the Colorado Open Records Act, C.R.S. §§ 24-72-200.1 et seq. (“CORA”). Any proposals submitted hereunder are subject to public disclosure by the City pursuant to CORA and City ordinances. Firms may submit one (1) additional complete proposal clearly marked “FOR PUBLIC VIEWING.” In this version of the proposal, the Firm may redact text and/or data that it deems confidential or proprietary pursuant to CORA. Such statement does not necessarily exempt such documentation from public disclosure if required by CORA, by order of a court of appropriate jurisdiction, or other applicable law. Generally, under CORA trade secrets, confidential commercial and financial data information is not required to be disclosed by the City. Proposals may not be marked “Confidential” or ‘Proprietary’ in their entirety. All provisions of any contract resulting from this request for proposal will be public information. New Firms: The City requires new Firms receiving awards from the City to fill out and submit an IRS form W-9 and to register for Direct Deposit (Electronic) payment. If needed, the W-9 form and the Firm Direct Deposit Authorization Form can be found on the City’s Purchasing website at www.fcgov.com/purchasing under Firm Reference Documents. Please do not submit with your proposal. Sales Prohibited/Conflict of Interest: No officer, employee, or member of City Council, shall have a financial interest in the sale to the City of any real or personal property, equipment, material, supplies or services where such officer or employee exercises directly or indirectly any decision-making authority concerning such sale or any supervisory authority over the services to be rendered. This rule also applies to subcontracts with the City. Soliciting or accepting any gift, gratuity favor, entertainment, kickback or any items of monetary value from any person who has or is seeking to do business with the City of Fort Collins is prohibited. Collusive or Sham Proposals: Any proposal deemed to be collusive or a sham proposal will be rejected and reported to authorities as such. Your authorized signature of this proposal assures that such proposal is genuine and is not a collusive or sham proposal. The City of Fort Collins reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and to waive any irregularities or informalities. Utilization of Award by Other Agencies: The City of Fort Collins reserves the right to allow other state and local governmental agencies, political subdivisions, and/or school districts to utilize the resulting award under all terms and conditions specified and upon agreement by all parties. Usage by any other entity shall not have a negative impact on the City of Fort Collins in the current term or in any future terms. Sincerely, Gerry Paul Purchasing Director RFP 8849 Domain Name Services (DNS) Page 3 of 8 City of Fort Collins Request for Proposals (RFP) #8849 Domain Names Services (DNS) For A Municipal Gigabit Broadband Network I. Section 1 – Project Background Fort Collins is nestled against the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and alongside the banks of the Cache La Poudre River. With an estimated population of 170, 000 (approximately 70,000 premises), Fort Collins is among the nation’s fastest growing metropolitan areas. The City includes many assets and amenities that provide a competitive advantage including: Colorado State University, abundant natural resources and agricultural land, highly educated and creative workforce, a historic downtown, and many miles of trails, parks and bike paths. Fort Collins has one of the highest rates of patents per capita in the world with a major research institution – Colorado State University – a cluster of federal laboratories and such high-tech companies as Hewlett-Packard, AMD, Intel and Broadcom. During the Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO) community outreach in 2014, the community prioritized and identified a need to address the lack of reliable, universal and affordable broadband services. The City of Fort Collins addressed the broadband situation by identifying the following strategic objective in the 2015/2016 & 2018 Strategic Plans: “Strategic Objective 3.7 –Deploy reliable, high-speed internet services throughout the community.” The overall objective is to bring reliable, high speed internet to the city of Fort Collins, while making an informed decision through evaluation of risk and opportunities. The FCC formally defines broadband as internet download speed of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload of 3Mbps or faster. However, a popular benchmark of high-speed broadband is commonly known as gigabit speed (Gbps), and is seen in many cities across the country including Longmont, CO. More information about the City’s Strategic Plan can be found at: https://ourcity.fcgov.com/update-the-citys-2018-strategic-plan. In November 2017, the citizens of Fort Collins approved ballot measure 2B, giving the City the authority to provide high-speed broadband services to the community. In July 2018 Fort Collins Connexion was unveiled as the City’s answer to Strategic Objective 3.7 to provide gigabit broadband triple-play services. II. Section 2 - Project Overview The City of Fort Collins is soliciting bids to purchase and implement a turn-key DNS solution for the successful deployment of a municipal gigabit broadband solution. It is the intent of the City to provide broadband services, beginning with a phased roll-out beginning in Q3 2019 with network construction completion in late 2020. The City estimates up to 35,000 residential and commercial customers. Proposals must be submitted in accordance with the conditions outlined in this Request for Proposals (RFP). RFP 8849 Domain Name Services (DNS) Page 4 of 8 The Fort Collins Connexion network will consist of two fully redundant cores, including redundant routers, switches, and upstream Internet connectivity at both cores. The proposed DNS Solution should be able to provide full redundancy between two or more identical core locations as described above (and shown in diagram below). Section III - Individual Service Requirements The proposed solution will meet the following requirements. Requirements listed as optional refer to aspects the City encourages the vendor to include in their proposal, however such items are optional and not required. Please include a detailed response of the proposed DNS solution’s capabilities and/or how the proposed solution will meet these requirements. 1. DNS Server(s) The proposed solution will include one or more redundant DNS Servers with the total load capacity to meet our expected customer bases’ needs. This includes the ability to create and deploy records, respond to queries, support IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack and IPv6- only customers, etc. 2. DNS Security a. Describe your DNS security solution to address threats for both internal (data infrastructure) and external (Internet facing) use cases. b. Describe your solution’s ability to protect applications (and caching resolvers serving those applications) from using forged or manipulated DNS Data. 3. Protected Master DNS Server (integrated in the solution or standalone) a. Describe the topology details of the Zone Master, Zone Slaves, and Caching Resolvers. RFP 8849 Domain Name Services (DNS) Page 5 of 8 b. Describe how this topology creates and ensures resiliency in the overall DNS application. 4. Scalable a. Describe the scalability of your proposed DNS solution. Please include details on scaling of the DNS application itself and include details on scaling the underlying appliances or virtual server hardware that may be needed to implement your solution. b. Describe how your solution efficiently uses virtualization resources when running as a VM (virtual machine). c. Describe how your solution scales when ran as an appliance-based model. What sizes of appliances are available and would be recommended for this implementation? Describe the underlying OS (operating system) and hardware infrastructure of your appliance-based DNS solutions. 5. High rate of caching, caching response, and response per second (RPS) a. Describe your solution’s ability to store and reuse DNS records based on time-to- live (TTL) to provide a seamless customer experience. b. Provide details on the proposed DNS solution’s RPS. What is the average expected value and estimated peak expected value for DNS RPS based on end customer estimates provided? 6. Integrated monitoring or options for monitoring various DNS services (e.g., SNMPv3, Syslog, etc) a. Describe your solution's ability to export logging information either via Syslog, SNMPv3 Traps/Informs etc. Include all available options for exporting logs from your DNS solution in detail. b. Describe how typical ISP customers would monitor your DNS solution. Does your proposed DNS solution provide integrated monitoring and health check tools? Please describe these monitoring and health check tools as applicable. 7. Supports DNS64 and Dual-Stack environment a. Describe your solution’s dual-stack capabilities for integration of IPv4 and IPv6 network topologies. The City’s preference is for a single solution that supports both dual stack IPv4/IPv6 and IPv6-only customers. b. Describe any special considerations that must be taken for using an IPv6 only network for end-users. What challenges might this present, and how can your solution overcome these challenges? 8. Hardware and licensing a. Provide options for virtualized and/or appliance-based services including any limitations of one solution vs another. b. Describe all licensing costs for the proposed DNS Solution. Include any non- recurring and recurring charges that may be applicable for licensing. c. Describe the proposed solution’s hardware specifications (if appliance based) or hardware requirements for City of Fort Collins provided equipment (using commodity off the shelf hardware). RFP 8849 Domain Name Services (DNS) Page 6 of 8 d. Provide a list of any open source used in the propose solution, including details such as version numbers, support options, etc. 9. Professional Services for integration purposes (as needed into our triple-play network) a. Describe the professional services that will be included in delivering this turn-key DNS solution. b. Describe any knowledge transfer or training opportunities available for the City of Fort Collins staff while the DNS solution is being implemented. 10. Optional - Load Balancing with integrated DNS Servers a. Describe any load balancing services that may be included in your proposed DNS solution. Provide examples of load balancers that are both integrated with the proposed DNS solution and that are fully separate from the proposed DNS solution. b. Provide all software, hardware, and licensing requirements for the load balancers being proposed. 11. Optional – IP Address Management (IPAM) a. Describe your solution’s ability to provide a centralized and automated solution to manage multiple carrier grade IP Addressing schemes including IPv4 and IPv6. b. Provide all software, hardware, and licensing requirements for the IPAM solution being proposed. Section IV – Submittal Requirements The RFP response needs to contain answers to the following questions in this order and format. A. Pricing 1. Provide pricing for a 10,000 customer base with potential growth to 35,000 subscribers. 2. Provide a detailed list of all recurring, non-recurring, licensing, and maintenance charges that may be applicable to City of Fort Collins for your solution. 3. Provide detailed list of features and package pricing options. 4. If the solution includes a virtualized server option, provide virtualization specifications. 5. The city reserves the right to purchase any, all, or none of the products and services offered in responses. City of Fort Collins will not pay charges that are not specifically defined within the Bidder’s response. B. Describe all phases and costs associated with implementation of your recommendation to include: 1. High-Level Design RFP 8849 Domain Name Services (DNS) Page 7 of 8 2. Deployment and Integration into Network 3. Support & Maintenance Include timelines for each of the phases described above. C. Solution Description 1. Please describe in detail the system and related equipment. 2. What are the requirements for any equipment needed to implement your recommended solution? Include details of any necessary equipment for both City of Fort Collins’s facilities and customers’ premise. 3. Define in detail the implementation timeline upon contract acceptance including total time to in-service date. 4. Describe any interface for maintaining the system available for use by City of Fort Collins. 5. Provide list of deployments of similar solutions deployed by responding bidder and describe their current deployment status (Evaluating, Testing, Production, etc.) 6. Describe your Service Level Agreement (SLA). Section V – Other Details Anticipated Schedule The following represents the City’s target schedule for the RFP. The City reserves the right to amend the target schedule at any time. • RFP issuance: December 28, 2018 • Question deadline: 5:00 PM MST on January 4, 2019 • Proposal due date: 3:00 MST (our clock) on January 11, 2019 • Interview via Webex: Week of January 14th, 2019 • Award of Contract (tentative): January 2019 Interviews In addition to submitting a written proposal, the top-rated Firms may be interviewed by the project team and/or asked to meet with the team to obtain clarification on the details of the proposal, explore alternative capital structures, and the conditions or covenants proposed. Subcontractors Firms will be responsible for identifying any subcontractors in their proposal. Please note that the City will contract solely with the awarded Firm; therefore subcontractors will be the responsibility of the Firm. Laws and Regulations The Firm agrees to comply fully with all applicable local, State of Colorado and Federal laws and regulations and municipal ordinances. RFP 8849 Domain Name Services (DNS) Page 8 of 8 Section VI – Review and Assessment Criteria Proposal and Interview Criteria Firms will be evaluated on the following criteria. These criteria will be the basis for review and assessment of the written proposals and optional interview session. At the discretion of the City, interviews of the top-rated Firms may be conducted. WEIGHTING FACTOR CRITERIA 25% Assessment of the proposed solution(s) 15% Time and resources required to implement 10% Assessment of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) 50% Proposed value including costs for design, deployment, integration, maintenance and support, etc. Reference Evaluation Criteria Prior to award, the City may check references and negative responses from references may impact the award determination.