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Erate
Burke County Public Schools
BEN: 127065
470 Application # 504680000972255

Request for Proposal, RFP BCPS-01
Student Safe Email with Communication Tools,
such as Homework Dropboxes and Blogs
Quantity: Approximately 10,113 students in Grades 3-12
 
 
Burke County Public Schools (“The District”) is requesting proposals from service providers to provide Student Safe Email with Communication Tools, such as Homework Dropboxes and Blogs for our district. Our intent is to enter into a one year contract that includes voluntary extensions. The purpose of this service will be to provide educational services in a safe, secure environment at the best price and service features that will facilitate teacher, student, and parent communication. Quantity: Approximately 10,113 students in Grades 3-12.
 
Proposal Due Date: Thursday, January 12, 2012, no later than 12:00 PM EST. All proposals must be in a sealed envelope. Any proposals received later than the specified date and time will not be considered. In the case of duplicate proposals being received from your company, the decision of the district will be final.

Request for Information:
All requests must be submitted in writing to Angie Blalock at least 5 business days prior to bid opening. Email any questions to ablalock@burke.k12.nc.us . If a response is issued, both the question and answer will be posted on the district’s web site at:  http://www.burke.k12.nc.us/technology/erate/pages/default.aspx or http://tinyurl.com/294bcwp

Submit proposals (2 copies) via mail or delivered to:

Angie Blalock
Chief Technology Officer
Burke County Public Schools
700 East Parker Road; P.O. Drawer 989
Morganton, NC 28680-000
ATTN: Student Safe Email Proposal, RFP BCPS-01
(If hand delivering, please keep in mind that our school district facilities are closed on weekends and holidays.)

Terms of Contract:
The terms of the contract will be July 1, 2012 - June 30, 2013, with an option to renew annually for additional years at the school district’s determination. Our intent is to enter into a one year contract that includes voluntary extensions. The contract may be canceled at any time by the district with a 30-day written notice of cancellation.

All awards are contingent upon Burke County Public Schools receiving Erate funding to supplement local funding for support of the project. The project may not begin until Burke County Public Schools is in receipt of a Funding Commitment Decision Letter (FCDL) from the SLD which gives notification that P1 funding has been granted.

Vendor shall have, at a minimum, a working knowledge of the federal Universal Service Support Mechanism for Schools and Libraries (commonly known as "Erate"). Vendor shall agree to participate in the Erate Program and to cooperate fully and in all respects with the Universal Service Administrative Company ("USAC") and any agency or organization administering the Erate Program to ensure that our school district receives all of the Erate funding for which it has applied and to which it is entitled in connection with Vendor services and/or products.

Vendor shall provide Burke County Public Schools with Item 21 attachments itemizing all eligible and ineligible services in a format compatible with SLD requirements.

Vendor agrees to retain all relevant Erate documentation and, upon request, provide it to Burke County Public Schools for a period of five years after the last date to receive services.

Should Erate funding be denied or rescinded due to action or inaction of the Vendor, the Vendor shall continue service at the authorized Erate discount rate.

The Burke County Public School district reserves the right to accept or reject any or all of the proposals submitted, and to waive informalities and accept that proposal which appears to be in the school system's best interest.


Requirements to be included in the Proposal:
Clearly distinguish between Erate eligible and ineligible costs, any optional costs, estimated monthly fees and taxes, and grand totals.
Describe how the price is adjusted if student count goes up or down during the year.
Describe any training included in the proposal and additional options for training.
Give cost(s) for training.
Describe computer platform and browser compatibilities.
Describe the features of: web interface for students and teachers/administrators, searching capabilities, language translation, support for student safety, custom domains, chat rooms, etc., as well as the features that relate to restrictions that can be placed on the accounts.
Explain the account storage space per user.
Describe the proposed technical support system. Include average response time to customer inquiries via phone and email.
Failure to submit this information may disqualify the vendor's proposal.

Vendor Information:
Company Name:
Erate SPIN Number:
Quote Number:
Years of Experience:
Tax Identification Number:
Contact Information:

Name:
Phone:
Address:
Email Address:
Vendors may be contacted with questions.

Bid evaluation considerations will include the following:
Cost of Eligible Services listed
Cost of Ineligible Products listed
LEA Experience with Vendor
References from other school districts
Years of Experience
Availability
Technical Support
Minority Business Status
In State Preference
Project Management Expertises
CIPA (Children Internet Protection Act) Compliant
Tax Identification Number provided
Service Provider Identification Number (SPIN)

Please note: A SAMPLE chart of how to submit your company's proposal is attached below. When you try to open the document, you may be asked to login, please just click "cancel" a few times and it will open for you. 
TypeUse SHIFT+ENTER to open the menu (new window).
  
NameUse SHIFT+ENTER to open the menu (new window).
  
Modified ByUse SHIFT+ENTER to open the menu (new window).
  
Sample Chart for Student Email Proposal.docSample Chart for Student Email ProposalNo presence informationWillms, Terri
 

 Questions and Answers

 
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Question
Answer
Other Info
 

What are you currently using for student and staff email?

​We currently are under a one year contract with Gaggle, July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012.  The contract was primarily for student email addresses however staff are provided email addresses through Gaggle as well. Gaggle is not the primary email system for staff. Staff members using locally hosted Microsoft Exchange 2010.

​Note that our Form 470 addresses safe school email with communication tools.

 

​What are you currently using for web hosting and/or collaboration

​In terms of this Form 470, our students are mostly using Gaggle.  We also use Moodle and a locally hosted Sharepoint 2010 server.

 

​Are chat rooms a necessary requirement?

​Since chat rooms are a large part of web collaboration, chat rooms will be a highly valued tool in a web collaboration suite.

 

​What is the ideal storage space per user? Do they have restrictions for student storage?

​Current storage restrictions in our present system is 7 GB 

 

​Can you tell me the number of lines that you currently have in the CenturyLink areas?  Also, can you provide an estimate of the district wide LD minutes used?

​We have approximately 130 CenturyLink lines, and use an estimated 4,250 long distance minutes.

 

​Can you tell me the number of lines that you have per CenturyLink school?

​Our CenturyLink schools are Hildebran Elementary, Ray Childers Elementary, Icard Elementary, George Hildebrand Elementary, Rutherford College Elementary, Valdese Elementary, East Burke Middle, Heritage Middle, East Burke High, and Jimmy C. Draughn High.  Each elementary school has 5 lines, and each middle and high school have a PRI.

 

​When is the due date for information on your local and long distance Form 470?

​Our allowable contract date for Form 470 Application Number 253930000963681 is January 5, 2012.

 

​What options would Burke County Public Schools prefer when looking at voluntary extensions?

​We would like to review several options:  a 1-year extension, a 3-year extension, a 5-year extension, and a 7-year extension.

 

​When is the last day for you to be able to receive a proposal for your wireless services?

​For Form 470 Application for Cell Phones, Friday, February 10, 2012 - no later than 12:00 PM EST

 

​Can you please verify how many total lines of service you would like included in your proposal?

​165 existing phones plus 35 new ones

 

​How many of these lines are feature phones, smart phones or data cards?

​105

 

​Are all of the lines under one wireless carrier or with multiple carriers?  If so, who?

​Yes, Verizon

 

​Are all of your current wireless numbers local to your area?

​Yes

 

​How many anytime shared minutes or included minutes per line do you currently have?

​400 per line

 

​Do you have unlimited data on any smart phones or data cards?

​Unlimited data on all smart phones

 

​Are you currently tethering any of the devices to a laptop for a wireless high speed connection or utilizing mobile hot spot?

​Yes

 

​Are any of your smart phones Blackberry devices?  If so, do you have a BES server installed?

​Yes, and yes

 

​What email platform are you utilizing in your organization (Outlook, Exchange)

​Outlook/Exchange 2010

 

​Should we include pricing on text options as well as insurance?

​Our application is for Cellular Telecommunication Service, Cellular Internet Access/Data Service, and Text for Cellular

 

​What are your expectations of your wireless carrier?

​To provide wireless coverage for each device

 

​Do you currently have an employee program where all employees receive a discount from your current wireless carrier?

​Yes, this is provided by Verizon Wireless

 

​How many copies of our proposal will need to be submitted?

Two (2).

 

​At what address should we deliver our proposal and to the attention of who?

​Submit proposals (2 copies) via mail or delivered to:

Angie Blalock
Chief Technology Officer
Burke County Public Schools
700 East Parker Road; P.O. Drawer 989
Morganton, NC 28680-000

(If hand delivering, please keep in mind that our school district facilities are closed on weekends and holidays.  Also, if you are submitting a bid regarding StudEmail2012, please be sure to follow our RFP guidelines.)

 

​When will you be making your final decision?

​For Student Email, sometime after the due date, by the end of January 2012.

 

​I see where you need a quote on 165 lines but it is hard to determine how many lines of smart, feature, and data cards; if any. 

Total wireless devices - 156
Smart Phones (Blackberry, Motorola Droid, iPhone) - 102
There are no data cards.  We do have about 12 users with smart phones that are currently using the mobile hotspot feature.  That number changes and could go up but that is just an added feature.​

 

 

 

​It appears that the number of total handsets has decreased to 156 from 165.

​No, 156 phones is what we currently have, 165 phones plus 35 new ones is our projection for the next school year (July 1, 2012 - June 30, 2013.)  Remember, we must project ahead.

 

Should the other 9 be feature phones or smart phones?

​Smart Phones - 108
Cell phones - 57

 

Your 470 for cellphones changed to include an additional 35 lines. (Form 470 # 791690000996307). Would they be regular cell phone lines (feature phones) or smart phones?

​These lines are projections for next school year, July 1, 2012 - June 30, 2013.  At this time, we do not know exactly where our needs will be - and our needs later will determine the type of phone lines that are installed.

700 East Parker Road PO Drawer 989 Morganton, NC 28680 Phone: 828-439-4312 Fax: 828-439-4314

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