The Board seeks to contract with the Proposer to provide Data Network Upgrades to the Board in conjunction with and under the rules and guidelines of the Federal E-Rate Program and other network project services (collectively the “Services”). The Services may include or require that Proposers provide the Board with certain equipment, software and devices, including but not limited to switches, wireless access points and other network devices (collectively “Products”). The services will be rendered in any Board owned or leased facility including schools, administrative offices and data centers. Qualified Proposers interested in this RFP are invited to submit proposals for the Services and Products described herein. The Board will evaluate the proposals based on the Federal Communication Commission’s “E-Rate” program rules to provide discounts on eligible products and services to eligible schools and libraries. Price is the dominant consideration for the Board in evaluating proposals and in making the final service provider selection. The RFP process will also adhere fully to the Board’s and Illinois’ procurement rules and requirements. It is anticipated that a substantial portion of the Services and Products obtained as a result of this process will be eligible for E-Rate discounts. With the award of this Contract, the Board intends to implement system improvements of Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Network (WAN) up to one hundred and fifteen(115) schools per year that includes such services as: (1) an infrastructure assessment of the existing environments; (2) planning and design for improvements; (3) coordination of the ordering of equipment; (4) staging of new equipment; (5) related construction and cabling activities; and (6) removal and replacement of switches, wireless access points and other network devices that have been replaced. This Request for Proposals (RFP) is intended to determine the most cost effective, resilient and scalable method to connect all of the CPS schools, datacenters and the Internet. The Wide Area Network (WAN) RFI that was released in August 2018 informed the Board of multiple designs which has been integrated into the options the Board is considering. Currently the Board utilizes leased fiber circuits from the local carrier. The Board is looking for a solution that is based on either: 1. A fully managed WAN with leased circuits that will be eligible as a E-Rate Category 1 service. 2. A dark fiber network with a distributed hub and spoke design. Objectives The Board is seeking an innovative yet cost effective method to connect CPS schools and administrative offices to the Internet and the District’s data centers. CPS is seeking to transform the way it provides these services to achieve operational efficiencies, resiliency, redundancy, reduced costs, better support of real time applications such as voice and/or video, access to public and/or private cloud computing services, prioritization of critical business traffic, and to take full advantage of available funding sources such as E-Rate and/or grant funding.
