RFP 02 is now CLOSED

Two informational conferences are planned.  All vendors who intend to respond to the RFP are strongly encouraged, but not required, to attend both conferences. To ensure adequate space, vendors are encouraged to pre-register for these conferences by sending an email to fcc@mphi.org at least three (3) business days before the event. Please include your organization’s name and the number of attendees. Please limit attendance to no more than three (3) individuals per vendor. Pre-registration will not be acknowledged by MPHI.

1st Vendor Conference – 11/30/2009, 1pm to 3pm:
General information and background on the project and initial Q&A session.

2nd Vendor Conference – 12/16/2009, 1pm to 3pm: 
The project team will respond to questions and provide additional instruction, if necessary. This will be a final opportunity for prospective vendors to meet with the project team in person.

Both conferences will be at the MPHI’s Interactive Learning Center located at 2436Woodlake Circle, Suite 380, Okemos, Michigan 48864. A map and directions can be found at http://www.mphi.org/directions.aspx

 

1st Vendor Conference – 11/30/2009

Slides

- Summary-

Ten telecommunications firms (listed below) attended the first RFP 02 vendors’ conference.  Jeff Shaw, the manager for the project, used a PowerPoint slide show (see “Slides” immediately above the link to this Summary) to describe the project and what MPHI wants from responding vendors.  The presentation was followed by a question and answer session, summarized below.

Several items were added to the Q&A page as result of the discussions during the vendor conference.

General Items

Sustainability.  The vendor will own the network, with some equipment exceptions noted below.  HCPs participating in this FCC-subsidized network will know what their operating costs will be for the first five years.  After five years of operation, the vendor and health care provider are free to negotiate new rates.  The FCC’s normal program may be able to subsidize the HCP’s costs.

Ownership of Equipment beyond the Site Demarcation Point.  The health care provider will eventually own the VPN device and the switch-plus-router located at its site.  However, the vendor will retain ownership of its demarc, e.g., switches incorporating expensive opticals.

VPNs.  VPNs, as used in this RFP, enable health care providers to communicate point to point in an encrypted manner.  A VPN may be the equivalent of a firewall; however, “VPNs” are eligible for FCC funding; “firewalls” are not.  Larger organizations may decline such VPN devices, as they may be redundant with their own security provisions.  Many HCPs want their data to be encrypted before it leaves the site.

Excess Bandwidth/Capacity.  On March 17, 2009, the FCC issued an “Excess Bandwidth and Excess Capacity Scenarios” document that purported to describe nine scenarios under which a vendor could build excess bandwidth or capacity for its own use along with the capacity devoted to the RHCPP.  This document is available here.

Revised Appendix G.  In Appendix G, some Secondary Tier numbers are higher than the corresponding Primary Tier number.  MPHI will amend the spreadsheet so that the Primary Tier service level (bandwidth) is always higher than the Secondary Tier’s.  MPHI will then repost the spreadsheet on the RFP 02 website, http://fcc.mphi.org/rfp/RFP02.html .  Vendors are expected to submit one bid using the Primary Tier bandwidths, and a second, separate bid using the Secondary Tier bandwidths.  After looking at Appendix G, if this explanation is not clear, please call us.

Project Costs in Excess of Available Funds.  If it is necessary to reduce the overall project cost, MPHI can drop the last sites to sign up.  Alternatively, it can increase available funds by increasing the HCPs’ share of the costs above 15 percent.  On the other hand, if there are excess funds because HCPs have dropped out of the project, either the finalists or all vendors may be asked to submit revised numbers.

Invoicing.  All invoicing must be done by the winning vendor (using its SPIN), so subcontractor costs must be billed through the winning vendor.  MPHI will work with the winning vendor’s accounting function to develop an appropriate invoicing process.

SPIN.  Check to be sure that your SPIN is eligible for payment from the Rural Health Care Support Mechanism.  FCC Form 498 is used to request a SPIN and to revise your SPIN information.  The form is available in PDF format at http://www.universalservice.org/fund-administration/forms/ .  Or call 1-888-641-8722, the USAC helpline [select 1 from the first menu, select 4 from the second menu (Rural Health Care), and then select 1 from the third menu (Form 498)].

 

Attendees:

• ACD.net
• Arialink
• CDW
• Great Lakes Comnet
• Level (3) Communications
• Merit Network Inc.
• Northern Michigan Broadband Cooperative
• Qwest
• Secant Technologies
• US Signal

 

2nd Vendor Conference – 12/16/2009

Slides

- Summary-

Jeff Shaw, the Project Manager, used a PowerPoint presentation to review the Rural Health Care Pilot Program (RHCPP) and Michigan’s statewide RHCPP project.  The 20-slide PowerPoint presentation is available at the link shown immediately above.

All e-mail communications regarding the project should be directed to fcc@mphi.org.  Postal mail should be addressed to MPHI, Attn: FCC Team, 2436 Woodlake Circle, Okemos, MI 48864.  Information about the project, including Questions and Answers, will be posted on the project website http://fcc.mphi.org.

The due date for vendor responses to RFP 02 has been extended to Monday, February 15, 2010.

When the RFP was posted, 521 sites were listed in Appendix G.  An updated list of health care provider (HCP) sites, including a telephone number that rings at each site, will be posted on the project website by COB on Friday, Jan. 8.  This new list will show which sites have been dropped.  There have also been a few address changes for health care facilities that relocated.  We expect the new list to contain approximately 510 sites.

The last date to ask questions is Friday, January 15.  All Questions and Answers will be posted on the project website.

The project is intentionally biased toward a high initial cost and a low ongoing cost.

Due to sensitivity about patient confidentiality, health care facilities do not want to transmit data unless it is encrypted, so the project includes VPNs.

Section 3.7 of the RFP is now optional.

For each project, just one company can submit invoices to USAC, as USAC can pay only one service provider.  To be more specific, USAC can direct payments to only one Service Provider Identification Number (SPIN) per project.

The five nines uptime requirement should be considered a goal.  Vendors will be scored on the actual number of nines offered.

The USAC invoice process described in section 3.10.9 and 3.10.10 of the RFP is mandated by USAC.  Every invoiced cost must be associated with an HCP site.  Any vendor proposal that does not conform to this requirement will be rejected.

Work must be completed, inspected, and accepted before it can be invoiced.

The initial bid (due Feb. 15) should cover all 510 or so sites.  MPHI will then provide cost figures to the sites and ask them to confirm their participation or withdraw from the project.  Vendors who have passed the initial hurdles will then be asked to revise their bids based on the number of sites that confirm their participation.

The individual HCPs will own the switch/router device and the security device after the termination of the contract, normally at the end of five years.  The vendor is responsible for maintaining the equipment until ownership transfers.  HCP ownership does not include a demarc that the vendor installs.  The vendor will own everything else, including any fiber that is built.

When a vendor responds to Part 2 of the RFP (“Description of Infrastructure, Products, and Services Sought”), MPHI must be able to understand the technology the vendor is proposing.  The equipment to be used at each site (router/switch and VPN) must be specified.  Enough detail must be provided so that the network’s reliability can be evaluated.  But in response to a specification such as 2.3.6 (“Public Health Emergencies”), it is sufficient to state that the vendor will comply.  However, a blanket statement regarding compliance with Part 2 will be deemed insufficient.

The costs detailed in the initial and follow-up (second round) vendor bids will have to be detailed and site-specific.  They will have to be detailed and site-specific for the first round because those costs will be used to solicit confirmation of HCP participation.  They will have to be detailed and site-specific in the second round because these costs will be used for obtaining USAC approval of the contract and for invoicing.

In Michigan, health care use is regional within the nine Medical Trading Areas, but MPHI does not have hard data on traffic patterns.

All bandwidth specifications are synchronous (up and down).

Can a subcontractor carry the insurance required by the RFP?  Or must the lead vendor carry the insurance?  MPHI is indifferent.  Can workers compensation insurance cover employer liability?  Yes.  MPHI is concerned that the coverage is present; it is not concerned about the structure of the insurance policy(ies).

Attendees:

• ACD.NET
• Arialink
• AT&T
• CDW
• Comcast
• Comlink
• CTS Telecom, Inc.
• Great Lakes Comnet
• Merit Network Inc.
• Qwest
• US Signal
• Zayo Enterprise Networks

Last updated on 02/18/2010 9:43 AM