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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRFI - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - 8366 GIGABIT SPEED INTERNET1 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) 8366 GIGABIT SPEED INTERNET I. Introduction The City of Fort Collins (the “City”) issues this Request for Information (RFI) for the purpose of gauging the interest of entities to engage with the City to make Gigabit speed internet available to all Fort Collins homes and businesses. This initiative, which envisions a Citywide fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) or similar performing technology, will enhance the broadband connectivity of the City’s residents, businesses, and local education institutions by expanding the range and quality of available broadband and data transport services. The City has initiated this RFI to expand the City’s knowledge of the marketplace and to potentially identify one or more firms for the City to engage in exploratory discussions to enable, or directly provide, high-capacity broadband services to end users within the growth management area of Fort Collins. The City seeks input from potential providers to assess possibilities, capabilities, and business model alternatives and the terms and conditions under which they would participate in such a project. We are interested in providers who will use a robust infrastructure to provide ubiquitous Gigabit speed internet access within a reasonable timeframe (3 – 5 years). Each market and business model represents a unique combination of opportunities and challenges. The City has identified three business models to pursue additional information – municipal-owned and operated (“retail”), public/private partnership (“wholesale”) and franchise. The City is not seeking responses from vendors for the retail model at this time. We seek responses that focus on the public/private partnership and/or franchise business models that share technological capabilities, operational responsibilities, and financial risk between the City and the successful respondent(s). The City will also consider a range of construction, operation, and ownership models associated with public-private partnership (PPP), non-exclusive franchise, and other appropriate innovative business models. The City, local education institutions, data oriented businesses, residents and community leaders recognize the increased importance of Gigabit speed internet serves for everyone in the community. Responses to this RFI should state how the respondent’s approach will further the City’s goals to deploy cost effective Gigabit speed internet throughout the City. We encourage respondents to share their expertise, which may be used to shape the direction and formation of the network. Respondents may work together to respond to this RFI. The City is open to creative solutions that will maximize the efficiency of the investment while providing reliable and high-quality services to meet the needs of its citizens. Financial Services Purchasing Division 215 N. Mason St. 2nd Floor PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6775 970.221.6707- fax fcgov.com/purchasing 2 We welcome the responses of all respondents, including incumbent service providers, as well as competitive providers, nonprofit organizations, public cooperatives, nontraditional providers, and other entities. II. RFI Objectives and Scope The City’s objectives of the RFI process are as follows: 1. Identify entities interested in engaging with the City to make Gigabit speed internet available Citywide. 2. Identify and evaluate innovative and cost-effective business models to deploy Gigabit speed broadband Citywide. 3. At the City’s option, meet with select respondents for in-depth discussions regarding the entities recommended approach, capability, business model, and terms & conditions. Discussions may be expanded to jointly develop details of a potential partnership, non- exclusive franchise, or other business arrangement. Based on the outcome of the RFI and subsequent discussions with select entities, the City will determine next steps based on the City’s best interest. Next steps may include, but are not limited to: - Initiate a Request for Proposal (RFP); or - Negotiate with one (1) or more entity(s) a business arrangement to deploy Gigabit speed internet Citywide; or - Initiate a new City utility to launch Gigabit speed internet independently without a private partner; or III. Project Background and Preliminary Market Demand 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 161,000 (approximately 66,500 housing units), 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. 3 The City of Fort Collins is a full-service municipality that operates under the Council/Manager form of government. The City’s mission, vision and values provide the foundation for the City of Fort Collins’ 2015-2016 Strategic Plan’s seven key outcome areas: Community and Neighborhood Livability, Culture and Recreation, Economic Health, Environmental Health, Safe Community, Transportation and High Performing Government. The City’s strong commitment to providing world-class municipal services for an exceptional community underlies every strategic objective. More information about the City’s Strategic Plan can be found at: http://www.fcgov.com/citymanager/pdf/strategic-plan-2015.pdf The City also makes certain GIS data sets available on line that may be helpful to consultant responding to this RFP. This data is available at http://www.fcgov.com/gis/downloadable- data.php. The City of Fort Collins’ Broadband Plan’s overall objective is to bring ultra-high speed internet to the City of Fort Collins while making an informed decision through evaluation of risks and opportunities. Additional benefits being sought include competitive pricing, an affordable Internet tier price for low income residence, universal coverage throughout the Fort Collins growth management area (GMA), underground infrastructure for improved reliability, and providing services within a reasonable timeframe. On November 3, 2015, 83% of Fort Collins voters supported Ballot Issue 2B, which overturned Colorado Senate Bill 05- 152, removing legal barriers for the City’s involvement, direct or indirect, in providing telecommunication services. This vote allows the City and citizens to consider and pursue the best decisions based on the needs and desires of the community. Fort Collins Market Demand Study The City, in collaboration with a third party consultant firm, completed an initial market demand study in March 2016, including three market segment (residential, small business, large business/institutional) studies to identify unique needs (services) by sector of population and/or geographical areas, and estimate demand and take-rate (i.e., potential subscribership rate) assumptions by sector. A summary of the survey findings follows: Residential Market Fort Collins has approximately 62,000 residences. The residential market demand survey asks questions around Internet, voice and video services as part of the overall inputs for the financial feasibility analysis. A high speed Internet service is the primary focus of the broadband study, but the appeal of bundling services at a minimal cost is being investigated. The study confirmed that almost all Fort Collins households use the Internet. Governing.com’s “America’s Most Connected Cities” stated that 91.4% of Fort Collins residents have at least one wired connection. Ninety-nine percent of Fort Collins households surveyed use Internet at home. Of these connected homes, cable modem and digital subscriber lines (DSL) have the vast majority of the market share at 94%. Additionally, the study indicated that Internet usage is prevalent across all income and age groups. 4 Questions around customer service satisfaction levels were also surveyed, as this plays a role in the market demand for alternative broadband services. Respondents were asked to rank customer satisfaction from a scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being “totally satisfied” and 1 being “not at all satisfied,” by service categories: cable television, satellite television, non-pay television (i.e., antenna, basic channels), DSL, cable modem, telephone and electric utility. The average customer satisfaction was high for electric utility at a mean rating of 8.7, while the average mean for DSL was 6.8 and cable modem was 6.6. Sixty-four percent of the respondents rated the City’s Utility brand a 9 or 10 rating. Other internet services had significantly lower customer service satisfaction. Lower prices, increased Internet speed and reliability dominate the wish list of service improvements respondents identified for broadband. Branding and bundling were secondary in importance. Additionally, 81% of respondents acknowledged the importance of having low cost, high-speed Internet. Additional information can be found here or enter the following into your internet browser: http://citydocs.fcgov.com/?cmd=convert&vid=72&docid=2697600&dt=&doc_download_date=AP R-26-2016&ITEM_NUMBER= Small to Mid-Size Business Survey The City of Fort Collins has approximately 8,000 small- to mid-size businesses (SMB). A similar survey was deployed to the small-to-mid-size business segment. The survey found that Comcast and CenturyLink are the only two Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with SMB market share in Fort Collins (about 96% of respondents). Two-thirds of SMB respondents in Fort Collins are under contract for their Internet and voice services. Additionally, SMB respondents had similar responses to the residential respondents in regard to customer satisfaction by service and customer needs. One item to note is that SMBs put a larger emphasis on the need for improved reliability, most likely due to reliance on technology and the Internet for business operations. Large Business/Institution Qualitative Survey The objective of the large business/institution qualitative survey is to qualify the current and future capacity needs, unmet needs, and interest and level of support for the development and implementation of a fiber broadband network. Some of those interviewed could be potential customers as major commercial accounts, or they could be an influencer in the community. In total 24 interviews were conducted and the responses aggregated for confidentiality. The survey found that due to multiple incumbent providers competing in the large business/institution segment, fiber is not only deployed, but activated to many of these business locations. Advance data needs are being met with dedicated connections for the business/institutions sole usage. As a result, the City does not see large business/institutional organizations as primary customers of the City’s broadband efforts. 5 Estimated Subscribership (“Take”) Rate The consultants engaged by the City utilized a conservative research technique from the Packaged Goods sector to estimate potential subscribership rate. This technique has been utilized for over 30-years and was developed as firms realized research respondents, for various reasons, overstate purchase intentions during research as compared to the eventual penetration of a product that was commercially launched. Municipal systems, which are not-for-profit enterprises, measure a broadband project “success” by the level of their “take rate” - that is, the percentage of potential subscribers who are offered the service that actually subscribe. The consultants estimated that the take rate for residential Internet service in Fort Collins at 38.8% and 45% for small business (i.e., 38.8% of residents are estimated to subscribe to the fiber network, if offered). With the potential launch of DOCSIS3.1 by Comcast, the residential take rate estimate has been revised to 30.2% as a result of the additional anticipated competition within the market place. Online Broadband Survey Due to interest, staff made the majority of the residential phone survey available online to anyone who wanted to participate. This was not intended to be statistically valid, but rather to allow more residents to engage in the conversation. Over 1,800 responses were received and the results were in line with the statistically valid, residential phone survey. The exception being that online questionnaire saw a higher response from younger demographics. Major themes include improvements in:  Speed (33%)  Price (26%)  Reliability (17%)  Customer Service (10%)  Miscellaneous (14%) IV. RFI SUBMITTAL Qualified entities who may have an interest in engaging with the City to deploy Gigabit speed internet are encourage to respond to this RFI. Respondents are encourage, but not required to provide the following information in response to this RFI. 1. Company name, address, website 2. Organization Type (Corporation, Subsidiary, Partnership, Individual, Joint Venture, Other) 3. The name and contact information (email, phone) of the company representative responsible for providing further information 4. A brief overview of the company’s capabilities, experience and role in planning, engineering, implementing, or operating Gigabit speed internet particularly in collaboration with a public municipality 6 5. Provide evidence your firm is financially strong including recent (last two fiscal years) audited financial statement including balance sheet and income statement. 6. A brief, high-level description of company’s solution/product(s) including but not limited to: a. Address key components of your business model including the elements of the network implementation your firm supports and proposed ownership structure b. Summarize project cost and cost of service c. Identify financing and funding elements including the City’s level of participation. d. Identify key provisions required to enter into a partnership or non-exclusive franchise arrangement including important terms & conditions. e. Highlight the unique features of the solution/product(s), including a general description of the program and any unique benefits provided by your firm. All respondents must complete and execute the Non-Disclosure Agreement (Appendix A). As part of the City’s commitment to Sustainable Purchasing, RFI response submission via email is preferred. RFI response submittals 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 RFI response instead, please mail to the City of Fort Collins' Purchasing Division, 215 North Mason St., 2nd floor, Fort Collins, Colorado 80524. RFI response submittals must be received by 5:00 p.m. (our clock), September 12, 2016 and referenced as RFI 8366. If mailed, the address is P.O. Box 580, Fort Collins, 80522-0580. Please note additional time is required for RFI responses mailed to the PO Box to be received at the Purchasing Office. V. RFI SCHEDULE The preliminary RFI schedule follows: • Issuance of RFI August 29, 2016 • RFI Responses Due September 12, 2016 • Discussion Period Starts September 13, 2016 • Public Engagement On-Going VI. QUESTIONS Questions concerning the RFI should be directed to the Project Manager SeonAh Kendall, 970- 416-2164, skendall@fcgov.com. Questions regarding the RFI process should be directed to Gerry Paul, Purchasing Director at 970- 221-6779, gspaul@fcgov.com. 7 VII. MISCELLANEOUS A copy of the RFI may be obtained at www.rockymountainbidsystem.com. The City is not obligated for any cost incurred whatsoever by firms in the preparation of the Request for Information or potential travel to Fort Collins. 8 Appendix A: Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement Please provide two signed copies of the following Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement. MUTUAL NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT THIS MUTUAL NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”), effective as of the day of 2016, is between the City of Fort Collins, a Colorado home rule municipal corporation (the “City”), and (“Vendor”). The City and Vendor may hereinafter be referred to individually as a “Party” or collectively as the “Parties.” WHEREAS, Vendor and the City m a y e n g a g e in discussions concerning Gigabit speed internet services and a potential business arrangement (the “Purpose”); and WHEREAS, in the course of negotiations or communications, each Party may disclose to and/or receive from the other Party certain information belonging to the disclosing Party or its affiliates (collectively, the “Discloser”) that includes trade secrets, privileged information, or confidential commercial and information (“Confidential Information”); NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing and of the mutual covenants and promises set forth herein and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the Parties agree as follows: 1. Records maintained by the City are subject to public disclosure pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act (“CORA”). Certain confidential business records are exempt. If Vendor provides to the City documents that include trade secrets, privileged information, or confidential commercial or financial information, Vendor shall segregate any documents including such information from other documents provided to the City and shall clearly identify such documents with a stamp, watermark or other clear mark identifying the documents as confidential pursuant to CORA. 2. The Party receiving Confidential Information (the “Recipient”) (i) shall use such Confidential Information only for the Purpose; (ii) shall reproduce such Confidential Information only to the extent necessary for the Purpose; (iii) shall restrict disclosure of such Confidential Information to its, and its affiliates', employees and agents who need to know such Confidential Information to carry out the Purpose and who are not direct competitors of the Discloser (and require such employees and agents to undertake confidentiality and use obligations at least as restrictive as those Recipient assumes herein); (iv) shall not disclose such Confidential Information to any other Party without prior written approval of Discloser; and (v) shall protect such Confidential Information with at least the same degree of care as it normally exercises to protect its own proprietary information of a similar nature, which shall be no less than reasonable care. If Recipient discloses Confidential Information to an employee, affiliate, or other person in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, any subsequent disclosure or use of such Confidential Information by such employee, affiliate, or other person shall be deemed a disclosure or use by Recipient and Recipient shall be responsible for such disclosure or use. The Recipient shall immediately notify the Discloser upon the discovery of any loss or unauthorized disclosure or use of the Confidential Information of the Discloser. 3. The restrictions on use and disclosure of Confidential Information shall not apply unless such Confidential Information, when in tangible, electronic or viewable form is marked confidential or proprietary by Discloser, or when disclosed only orally is both identified as confidential or proprietary at the time of disclosure and summarized in a writing so marked and provided to Recipient within thirty (30) days following the oral disclosure; except that any unmarked material and any verbally disclosed information that Recipient knows or reasonably should know to contain Confidential Information of the 20 Discloser, including but not limited to business or technical information not generally known to the public, such as patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, as well as all written or oral pricing and contract proposals exchanged between the Parties shall be subject to the use and disclosure restrictions of this Agreement. Within the 30-day period referenced above, all Confidential Information communicated only orally shall be subject to the use and disclosure restrictions of this Agreement. 4. The restrictions on the use or disclosure of Confidential Information shall not apply to any information: a. Which is independently developed by the Recipient as evidenced by documentation in such Party's possession; or b. Which is lawfully received from another source free of restriction and without breach of this Agreement by the Recipient; or c. After it has become generally available to the public without breach of this Agreement by the Recipient; or d. Which at the time of disclosure to the Recipient was known to the Recipient free of restriction as evidenced by documentation in such Party's possession; or e. Which the Discloser agrees in writing is free of such restrictions. 5. All Confidential Information shall remain the exclusive property of the Discloser, and no license under any intellectual property right is either granted or implied by this Agreement or the conveying of Confidential Information to Recipient hereunder. Discloser makes no representations, warranties, assurances, guarantees or inducements of any kind, and, in particular, with respect to the non- infringement of any intellectual property rights, or other rights of third persons or of Discloser. 6. Neither this Agreement nor the disclosure or receipt of Confidential Information hereunder shall constitute or imply any promise or intention by either Party to enter into any transaction or business relationship, nor is it an inducement for either Party or its affiliated companies to spend funds or resources or purchase or provide products or services, nor is it any commitment by either Party or its affiliated companies with respect to the present or future marketing of any product or service. No such agreement will be binding unless and until stated in a separate writing signed by authorized representatives of both Parties. 7. Each Party agrees not to announce or disclose to any other person (other than persons described in Section 1(iii), above) the Confidential Information or the nature of any discussions concerning the Purpose without first securing the prior written approval of the other Party. All Confidential Information furnished hereunder shall be returned or destroyed upon written request or upon Recipient’s determination that it no longer has a need for such Confidential Information, except that Recipient’s legal counsel may retain one copy in counsel’s files solely to provide a record of such Confidential Information for archival purposes. 8. The restrictions on use and disclosure of Confidential Information disclosed hereunder shall survive for a period of three (3) years from the date of last disclosure of any such Confidential Information (except in the case of software, for an indefinite period). Either Party may terminate this Agreement upon thirty (30) days advance written notice to the other. 9. All notices or communications required or permitted as a part of this Agreement shall be in writing (unless another verifiable medium is expressly authorized) and shall be deemed delivered when: A. actually received, B. upon receipt by sender of a certified mail, return receipt signed by an employee or agent of the Party, C. upon receipt by sender of proof of email receipt, or D. if not actually received, ten (10) days after deposit with the United States Postal Service authorized mail center with proper postage (certified mail, return receipt requested) affixed and addressed to the respective other party at the address set forth in this Agreement or such other address as the Party may have designated by notice or Agreement amendment to the other Party. 21 The consequences of failure to receive a notice due to improper notification by the intended Recipient of a new address will be borne by the intended Recipient. The addresses of the Parties to this Agreement are as follows: <Vendor Name> City of Fort Collins <Vendor Address Line 1> 215 N. Mason <Vendor Address Line 2 PO Box 580 <Vendor Address Line 3> Fort Collins, CO 80521 Attention: Project Manager Attention: Purchasing Director 10. This Agreement shall not be construed to limit either Party's right to independently develop or acquire products or services without use of the other Party's Confidential Information. 11. The restrictions on disclosure of Confidential Information under this Agreement shall not preclude Recipient, on the advice of counsel, from complying with applicable law, regulation, other governmental requirement or other demand under lawful process, including a discovery request in a civil litigation, if Recipient first gives Discloser notice of the required disclosure and cooperates with Discloser, at Discloser’s expense, in seeking reasonable protective arrangements. In no event shall Recipient be required to take any action which, on the advice of Recipient’s counsel, could result in the imposition of any sanctions or other penalties by a court or government body. 12. Neither Party has any obligation to disclose Confidential Information to the other. Either Party may, at any time: (i) cease giving Confidential Information to the other Party without any liability, or (ii) request in writing return of Confidential Information previously disclosed. 13. Recipient acknowledges that Confidential Information provided under this Agreement may be subject to U.S. export laws or regulations. Recipient shall not use, distribute, transfer or transmit Confidential Information (even if incorporated into products, software or other information) except in compliance with such laws and regulations. If requested, Recipient shall sign written assurances and other export-related documents as may be required to comply with such laws or regulations. 14. Each Party agrees that all of its obligations undertaken herein as Recipient shall survive and continue after any termination of this Agreement, subject to Section 8 above. 15. No amendment or modification of this Agreement shall be valid or binding on the Parties unless made in writing and signed by duly authorized representatives of each Party. 16. Subject to the limitations set forth in this Agreement, this Agreement will inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the Parties. This Agreement may not be assigned by one Party without the other Party's prior written consent. 17. If any provision of this Agreement shall be held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect to the greatest extent permitted by law. 18. No forbearance, failure or delay in exercising any right, power or privilege is waiver thereof, nor does any single or partial exercise thereof preclude any other or future exercise thereof, or the exercise of any other right, power or privilege. This Agreement is binding upon and inures to the benefit of the Parties and their heirs, executors, legal and personal representatives, successors and assigns, as the case may be. 19. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, U.S.A., without regard to its conflicts of law principles. Each Party acknowledges and agrees that a breach by it or one of its affiliates, employees or representatives of any of the covenants set forth in this Agreement will cause irreparable injury to the other Party and its business for which damages, even if available, will not constitute an adequate remedy. Accordingly, each Party, for itself and its affiliates, employees and representatives, agrees that the other Party, in addition to any other remedy available at law or in equity, shall be entitled 22 to the issuance of injunctive relief (including, without limitation, specific performance) by a court of competent jurisdiction in order to enforce the covenants and agreements contained herein. 20. Any judicial proceeding brought by or against any of the Parties on any dispute arising out of this Agreement or any matter related hereto shall be brought exclusively in the state district court sitting in Larimer County, Colorado, and by execution and delivery of this Agreement, each of the Parties accepts for itself the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the aforesaid court as trial courts. Each Party expressly waives any objection (including, without limitation, objections based on forum non conveniens) which any Party may have now or hereafter to the laying of venue or to the jurisdiction of any such suit, action, or proceeding, and irrevocably submits generally and unconditionally to the jurisdiction of any such court in any such suit, action, or proceeding. Each Party agrees that its attorneys shall accept service of process. 21. This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding between the Parties as to the treatment of Confidential Information disclosed for the Purpose and merges all prior discussion between them relating thereto. Each Party has read this Agreement, understands it and agrees to be bound by its terms and conditions. This Agreement may be executed in counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original, but all of which taken together shall constitute one single agreement between the Parties. Signatures exchanged by facsimile or other electronic means are effective for all purposes hereunder to the same extent as original signatures. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties have executed this Agreement as of the date first set forth above. City of Fort Collins, Colorado By: By: (Typed or printed name) (Typed or printed name) (Title) (Title)