Portage Township Schools Request for Proposals - 2027 Internet

Description: Portage Township Schools (the "District/Applicant") seeks Internet Access and Data Transmission Services. We seek symmetrical bandwidth at 10 Gbps scalable to 30 Gbps with guaranteed throughput to the Applicant's head-end located at Portage High School, 6450 US Highway 6, Portage, IN 46368, beginning July 1, 2027. Please provide laddered pricing in 1 Gbps increments in all bids and contracts. Cost proposals must reflect the LCP (Lowest Corresponding Price), GSA pricing, and any available governmental unit discounts including existing state purchasing agreements or contracts. Any proposal referencing an existing state purchasing agreement or contract must include that information in the proposal. Bid prices must be complete for the services proposed and shall include all associated costs, even if the amounts are estimates based upon current applicable taxes, surcharges, or fees. The Applicant requires that the selected vendor be willing to utilize the E-Rate SPI form of invoicing (discounted invoices). We will require 60 +/- public IPv4 addresses, and intend to use Border Gateway Protocol if the selected proposal features diverse paths. If additional IP addresses will be required to utilize BGP for the proposed solution, please provide pricing for the quantity required. Please provide individual or block pricing for additional addresses to account for potential growth during the term of the contract. You may also provide optional pricing for the technical equivalent number of IPv6 addresses. Your proposal must include any service provider owned onsite equipment necessary to hand off service to the Applicant's head-end equipment, and you should describe your proposed hand-off as part of your response. (The Applicant requests fiber handoffs.) Additional features included or available, such as basic firewall service and DDoS protection, should also be described in your proposal. Each respondent must provide a proposed Service Level Agreement (SLA) with their response. The proposed SLA must include a description of the services provided, and where applicable, describe how these services will be measured. At a minimum, the SLA should describe that the vendor will make all reasonable efforts to ensure 99.99% network availability of each circuit, and it should provide frame/packet loss, network latency, and network jitter commitments. Additionally, each SLA should describe 24x7x365 trouble-reporting procedures, offer commitments with regard to the time to repair outages, and describe provisions offered in the event of chronic trouble. The minimum commitment to be guaranteed is a two-hour diagnosis and a four-hour temporary or permanent repair. Respondents should describe monthly and annual service reports offered, showing peak usage, downtime, and impaired performance versus the SLA, for each link. The services described in the SLA shall be maintained to the specifications of these commitments throughout the term of the contract, and the selected Service Provider shall remediate any deficiencies at no cost to the Applicant. If there are any separate installation or special construction costs necessary to bring a service to our head-end, the cost proposal must clearly describe those costs separately from monthly recurring costs, and the service provider must be prepared to assist with any USAC review questions concerning those costs. We may request that the undiscounted portion of any upfront, nonrecurring costs be paid in installments as allowed by Section II.A.2. of FCC 14-189 (AKA the Second E-Rate Modernization Order). However, please note that the Applicant prefers a fixed monthly recurring charge with no separate up- front installation or construction costs. Questions/Site Visits No informational meetings or building visits will be scheduled. Any questions related to the technical aspects of this document should be directed to Matt Melton, Director of Technology and Data Services, at matt.melton@portage.k12.in.us and copied to dan@adtecerate.com, no later than 1:00 PM prevailing on November 11, 2026. Answers to any written questions or any additional information, revisions, or clarifications to the RFP will be provided in the form of an addendum to be posted with the FCC Form 470 on the Universal Service (E-Rate) website. It is the sole responsibility of the Service Provider to check for any addenda that may be issued. Contract Requirements The Applicant seeks a three-year contract with up to two optional voluntary one-year extensions; other terms will be considered. Extension terms and pricing must be spelled out in the proposal. Open-ended, automatically renewing, or "evergreen" terms are not acceptable and will not be considered responsive. The contract shall be subject to the laws of the state in which services are provided, and any provision to the contrary is void. The Applicant will not accept terms requiring it to indemnify the Service Provider against the Service Provider's own negligence or misconduct. Bidders are advised that this procurement will be contingent upon the successful obtaining of E-Rate funding, and the contract agreement between the Applicant and the selected vendor must recognize that contingency. Compliance with Specifications By submitting a proposal, the Service Provider certifies that it has read and agrees to the following terms and conditions. Failure to meet any requirement outlined herein is adequate cause to reject your proposal. • The Service Provider has clearly listed any exceptions to any requirements or conditions set forth in this RFP with which it is unable or unwilling to comply and has included all relevant standard or additional contract terms and conditions with its proposal. Such exceptions, terms, and conditions must be set forth with specificity and may not be incorporated by reference. A general or blanket exception to the RFP as a whole does not satisfy this requirement. • The Service Provider agrees that the final contract shall incorporate and not override any terms or conditions set forth in this RFP, minus any agreed-upon exceptions, and that the RFP will be incorporated into the final contract. • The Service Provider agrees to follow and abide by the rules of the E-Rate program as promulgated by USAC and the FCC and certifies that it has not been suspended, debarred, or placed on Red Light Status within the prior three years. Service Provider further agrees that any costs not funded by the E-rate Program due to Service Provider violations of Program rules will be the sole responsibility of the Service Provider. Response Format All bids must include the following information: 1. A description of services to be provided with detailed information regarding any required construction, including a timeline for completion of every phase of work necessary to demonstrate service delivery by July 1. 2. Complete pricing for the services described herein. Your proposal must clearly indicate non- recurring costs, recurring costs, and fees for the service being proposed, for each service tier. If your proposed agreement has a built in "price escalator" clause, that escalator must be detailed within your bid response (not merely mentioned in a sample agreement). 3. Proposed Service Level Agreement. 4. Three (3) reference sites where your company has performed a similar service, including business name, contact name and contact information. It is preferable that at least one reference should be for a school district of similar size within 200 miles of the Applicant. 5. Your E-Rate SPIN Number. (You must have a current SPAC form on file with USAC). 6. A sample contract which includes the proposal requirements and the E-Rate contingencies outlined herein. (Failure to provide a contract in a timely fashion may be considered grounds for disqualification.) The Applicant's review of information will be primarily focused on the substance of the details provided in response to the requirements herein including but not limited to pricing and terms, technical details, SLA, experience and references, and compliance with the requirements laid out in this document. Per E- rate rules, the cost of eligible goods and services will be the most heavily weighted evaluation factor. Proposals must be prepared with specificity with regard to the services listed herein. Bids merely listing a general menu of services available from a vendor, bids appearing to be automatically generated without specificity in relation to the requirements of this RFP, and bids missing substantial information but inviting the applicant to contact the bidder to refine the bid and/or discuss specifics will not be considered valid bid responses and will be disqualified from consideration. This includes any SPAM and/or robotic responses. For more information, please review the USAC E-Rate News Brief of February 15, 2024. Proposal Delivery The Applicant reserves the right to reject each and every bid, and to waive informalities, irregularities, and errors in the bidding to the extent permitted by law. This includes the right to extend the date and time for receipt of bids. In the event that a responsible bid is not received or if it is determined that the low bid received is too high, the bid received will be rejected and the project will be cancelled or re-bid. Bids should be e-mailed to Nicholas Gron, Chief Financial Officer, at nic.gron@portage.k12.in.us, and copied to dan@adtecerate.com and matt.melton@portage.k12.in.us, by 1:00 PM prevailing on December 3, 2026.