







COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

#B800420

TO PURCHASE

HIGH SPEED INTER-REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY 
(IRC)  FOR WESTNET

December 9, 1994

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Section I. Background, Overview, and Goals 	 1

Section II. Administrative Information 	 2

A. Issuing Office 	 2

B. Purpose 	 2

C. Scope 	 2

D. Schedule of Activities 	 2

E. Invitation to Bid/Respond and Responsibility of Bidders 	 2

F. Inquiries 	 3

G. Addendum on Supplement to Request For Proposal 	 3

H. Proposal Submission 	 3

I. News Releases 	 3

J. Response Material Ownership 	 4

K. Incurring Cost 	 4

L. Acceptance of Proposal Content 	 4

M. Acceptance Time 	 4

N. Additional Data 	 4

O. Evaluation, Notification and Award 	 4

P. Bidder Selection 	 4

Q. Standard Contract 	 4

R. Installation Points For Proposal 	 5

S. Specification Requirements 	 5

T. Payment Terms 	 6

U. Bid Opening 	 6

V. Price Decreases 	 6

W. Additional Terms and Conditions 	 6

Section III. Westnet IRC Requirements 	 7

A. Overview with Figure 1 	 7

B. Exact Locations of Westnet Sites 	 7

C. Ordering of Selected Services 	 9

Section IV. Information Required from Bidders 	 10

A.1 Installation and Monthly Costs: Item 1 - IP Services at 3 mbps	 12

A.2 Installation and Monthly Costs: Item 2 - IP Services at 4.5 mbps	 14

A.3 Installation and Monthly Costs: Item 3 - IP Services at 6 mbps	 16

A.4 Installation and Monthly Costs: Item 4 - IP Services at 7.5 mbps	 18

A.5 Installation and Monthly Costs: Item 5 - IP Services at 9 mbps	 20

A.6 Installation and Monthly Costs: Item 6 - IP Services at 20 mbps	 22

A.7 Installation and Monthly Costs: Item 7 - IP Services at 45 mbps	 24

B. Additional Required Information 	 26

B.1 Vendors Network and Demarkation Points 	 26

B.2 NOC Interaction 	 26

B.3 Problem Resolution Procedures 	 26

B.4 Network Map 	 26

B.5 Aggregate Bandwidth 	 28

B.6 BGP-4 	 28

B.7 Quality of Service 	 28

B.8 Discussion with references 	 28

Section V. Acronyms and Abbreviations 	 29



List of Figures

Figure 1 Westnet Map 	 8

Figure 2 Vendors IP Network 	 27

SECTION I. BACKGROUND, OVERVIEW AND GOALS

Westnet is a regional data communications network serving the states of Arizona, Colorado, New 
Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, and southern Idaho. Westnet is a joint project of Colorado State Uni-
versity, which performs the management and administration, and the University of Colorado at 
Boulder, which provides technical support.  Westnet provides Internet Inter-Regional Connectivity 
(IRC) to these six states, as well as a Network Operations Center (NOC) and other technical sup-
port services.

This text of this request for proposal is available via anonymous ftp from westnet.net, as file irc-
dec94-rfq.txt.  It is in the anonymous ftp directory.  Those wishing to respond to this Request for 
Proposal must obtain a hardcopy of this file, in addition to our RFP package.  To obtain these, 
please contact:

Mr. Bob Siefken

Purchasing

Colorado State University

Fort Collins, CO 80523

Phone: (303) 491-5105

FAX: (303) 491-5523

E-mail: bsiefken@vines.colostate.edu



Bidders must respond using the RFP response package, in the form of hardcopy delivered to Mr. 
Siefken.

 The University is seeking proposals for high-speed Internet Services needed to support the 
National Science Foundations regional digital data network hereinafter called Westnet. Proposals 
are sought for full Internet Protocol (IP) services at data rates from approximately 3 million bits 
per second or mbps, through approximately 45 million bits per second. Quotations are sought for 
full layer 3 services, including IP, DNS and SNMP services. Section III of this Request for Proposal 
indicates the specific locations and requirements for these services. Section IV, Information 
Required from Bidders, contains specific instructions on information required from Bidders. Sec-
tion V, Acronyms and Abbreviations, concludes this Request for Proposal.

SECTION II. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

A. ISSUING OFFICE: This Request for Proposal is issued for the State of Colorado by the Col-
orado State University (CSU) Purchasing Department.

B. PURPOSE: This Request for Proposal provides prospective Bidders with sufficient information 
to enable them to prepare and submit proposals.

Definitions:

In the following Request for Proposal (RFP) the term University shall be understood to mean 
Colorado State University.

The term Bidder, as used herein, shall be understood to mean the individual, company, corpora-
tion, or firm to whom the contract is awarded. Until the contract is awarded, the term shall be under-
stood to mean the individual, company, corporation, or firm formally submitting a response to this 
RFP.

The term response, as used herein, shall be understood to mean a written offer to provide services 
and any required hardware in accordance with the general conditions, instructions, and specifica-
tions stated herein with exceptions clearly stated.

C. SCOPE: This Request for Proposal contains the instructions governing the proposals to be sub-
mitted, the material to be included therein, and other requirements to be met by each proposal.

D. SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES:

Note that the University will be closed December 26, 27 and 28.

1. RFP mailed to prospective Bidders 	December 9, 1994

2. Prospective Bidders inquire deadline 	Dec. 19, 1994 4:30 PM

3. Proposal submission deadline 	January 9, 1995 3:00 PM

4. Opening date & time for proposals 	January 9, 1995 3:00 PM

5. Completion date of committee evaluation 	January 16, 1995 (approx.)

6. Notification letters mailed 	January 21, 1995 (approx.)

7. Award Date 	January 28, 1995 (approx.)

8. Service installations 	Desired by May 1, 1995 (approx.)

9. Contract period       	from (approx.) May 1, 1995 to April 30, 1996

(subject to standard contract provisions as described in Section II.Q of this RFP)

E. INVITATION TO BID/RESPOND AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF BIDDERS: The Uni-
versity is hereby contacting prospective Bidders who have an interest or are known to do business 
relevant to this RFP. All interested individuals/firms who were not contacted are invited to submit 
a proposal in accordance with the policies, procedures, and dates as set forth herein. NOTE: In 
order to remain on the active Bidders list, it is imperative that all bids are returned. In the event 
of no bid, please sign bid, indicating no bid and return.

Please note that any reference to a particular brand name, model or manufacturer within the spec-
ifications of this proposal is intended For Reference Purposes Only to describe and delineate the 
level of quality or function desired.

F. INQUIRIES: Prospective Bidders may make written  inquiries concerning this Request for Pro-
posal to obtain clarification of requirements. Only written, FAX or electronic mail inquires will be 
accepted; the University will not respond to verbal inquires. No inquiries will be accepted after the 
time and date given in the SCHEDULE of ACTIVITIES. Inquiries must be directed to:

Robert Siefken

Purchasing Office, Aylesworth Hall 

Colorado State University 

Fort Collins, CO 80523

FAX: (303) 491-5523

Electronic Mail: bsiefken@vines.colostate.edu

Clearly specify that the inquiry pertains to RFP #B800420.

G. ADDENDUM OR SUPPLEMENT TO REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: In the event it 
becomes necessary to revise any part of this Request for Proposal, an Addendum to this RFP will 
be provided to each Bidder who received the original RFP by the Purchasing Department, Colo-
rado State University. Bidders shall not rely on any other interpretations, changes or corrections.

H. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION: 6 (total, including the original) copies of the proposal should be 
sealed in a package with the enclosed white Sealed Bid Return Envelope, appropriately completed 
and affixed to the outside of the proposal package. Each copy of the proposal shall include the Bid-
ders complete price response.

The proposal package must be received on or before the time and date given in the SCHEDULE 
OF ACTIVITIES. It is the responsibility of the Bidder to ensure that the proposal package arrives 
in the Office of Purchasing prior to bid opening time. The proposal package should be delivered or 
sent by mail to:

COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY PURCHASING DEPARTMENT

365 Aylesworth SE 

Fort Collins, CO 80523

Mark outside of envelope -- RFP #B800420

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CAN A TELEPHONE BID BE ACCEPTED!

The University reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive informalities and minor 
irregularities in proposals received and to accept any portion of a proposal or all items bid if 
deemed in the best interest of the University to do so.

Any restrictions on the use of data contained within a proposal must be clearly stated in the pro-
posal itself and indication of enclosed proprietary information clearly marked on the outside of the 
sealed proposal package. Proprietary information submitted in response to this Request for Pro-
posal will be handled in accordance with applicable State of Colorado procurement regulations.

If proprietary information is submitted, it must be placed in a separate, clearly marked envelope 
with Bid Number and marked Proprietary Information RFP #B800420.

Due to the Colorado State Universitys evaluation system for Requests For Proposals, the Univer-
sity cannot sign non-disclosure agreements with any Bidder.

I. NEWS RELEASES: News releases pertaining to this procurement or any part of the subject 
shall not be made without prior written approval of the Colorado State University Purchasing 
Department.

J. RESPONSE MATERIAL OWNERSHIP: All material submitted regarding this RFP becomes 
the property of the University and will only be returned to the Bidder at the Universitys option.

K. INCURRING COSTS: The University is not liable for any cost incurred by Bidders prior to 
issuance of an agreement, contract, or purchase order.

L. ACCEPTANCE OF PROPOSAL CONTENT: The contents of the proposal of the successful 
Bidder will become contractual obligations if acquisition action ensues. Failure of the successful 
Bidder to accept these obligations in a purchase agreement, purchase order, delivery order, or sim-
ilar acquisition may result in cancellation of this award and such Bidder may be removed from 
future solicitations. Under these conditions the University reserves the right to award this RFP to 
the next ranking Bidder.

M. ACCEPTANCE TIME: The University intends to use its best effort to make a bid selection 
for contract negotiation within the period indicated in the Schedule of Activities.

N. ADDITIONAL DATA: The Bidder should submit any additional information or data not 
requested in this RFP which the Bidder believes should be considered in the evaluation of a 
response. However, any such addition that materially affects pricing should be treated as an alter-
native with prices submitted under an alternative cover sheet and not as part of the major proposal.

O. EVALUATION AND AWARD: All proposals submitted in response to this RFP will be eval-
uated by a committee of University and Westnet personnel. Contracts/Purchase Order(s) will be 
awarded to the Bidder whose proposal, conforming to this RFP, will be the most advantageous to 
the University, price and other factors considered. Title 24, CRS 1973, as amended, Article 101 
through 112, and Rules adopted to implement the Statutes govern this procurement. All appeals 
must be submitted in writing within seven working days after such aggrieved person knows or 
should have known of the facts giving rise thereto. 

The Evaluation Committee will judge the merit of proposals received in accordance with the cri-
teria listed below. The listing does not reflect a prioritized ordering.

1. Completeness of response with regard to the information requested and compliance 
with terms, conditions, and other RFP provisions.

2. Quality of end-to-end services, especially regarding trouble-shooting, fault isolation, 
and repair, pro-active error detection, pro-active information transfer to the Westnet 
NOC and the NOCs at affected sites, etc.

3. Quality of technical approach.

4. Service installation cost and monthly (or usage) costs.

5. Quality of Interaction with the Westnet NOC and the NOCs at affected sites.

6. Information obtained from the vendors references, as described in Section IV-B-6.

7. Service installation and/or upgrade timing.

P. BIDDER SELECTION: The selection of a successful Bidder through this Request For Pro-
posal is not intended to be exclusionary. The University has made every reasonable attempt to 
ensure that all Bidders capable of supplying the hardware, software and services listed in this RFP 
have received a copy of the RFP. However, if any Bidder feels they have been overlooked, they 
should contact the Purchasing Department, Colorado State University, to receive a copy of the RFP.

Q. STANDARD CONTRACT: The University reserves the right to incorporate standard contract 
provisions into any contract negotiations as a result of a proposal submitted in response to this RFP. 
The required clauses to do business with the State of Colorado are listed below.

 1. The laws of the State of Colorado and the rules and regulations issued pursuant thereto 
shall be applied in the interpretation, execution and enforcement of this agreement.

2. The signatories hereto aver that they are familiar with CRS 1973, 18-8-301, et seq. 
(Bribery and Corrupt Influence) and 18-8-401, et seq. (Abuse of Public Office) as 
amended, and that no violation of such provisions is present.

3. The signatories aver that to his/her knowledge, no University employee has any per-
sonal or beneficial interest whatsoever in the service or property described herein.

4.   The Contractor agrees to comply with the letter and spirit of the Colorado Antidis-
crimination Act of 1957, as amended, and other applicable law respecting discrimina-
tion and unfair employment practices (24-34-402, CRS 1988 Replacement Vol.), and 
as required by Executive Order, Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, Dated 
April 16, 1975, and by the rules, regulations and Orders of the Governor, or pursuant 
thereto.

5. Financial obligations of the State and CSU payable after the current State fiscal year 
(except as shown on the said CSU Purchase Order) for services and/or products to be 
provided under the agreement are contingent upon funds for that purpose being appro-
priated, budgeted and otherwise made available as evidenced by the issuance of 
another CSU Purchase Order.  In addition, the parties recognize that as a result of the 
1992 passage of The Taxpayer's Bill of Rights amendment to the Colorado Constitu-
tion, all State contracts are required to terminate at the end of each fiscal year with 
renewal rights at the sole discretion of the State.  Therefore, any provision of this 
agreement notwithstanding, this agreement shall terminate on June 30 of each year, 
unless renewed at that time at the sole discretion of CSU.

6. INDEMNIFICATION: To the extent authorized by law, the contractor shall indemnify, 
save and hold harmless the State, its employees and agents, against any and all claims, 
damages, liability and court awards including costs, expenses, and attorney fees 
incurred as a result of any act or omission by the contractor, or its employees, agents, 
subcontractors, or assignees pursuant to the terms of this contract.

7. LIABILITY EXPOSURE: The parties hereto understand and agree that liability of the 
State of Colorado, its departments, institutions, agencies, boards, officials and employ-
ees is controlled and limited by the provisions of 24-10-101, et seq., C.R.S., as 
amended and 24-30-1501, et seq., C.R.S. as amended. Any provisions of this agree-
ment, whether or not incorporated herein by reference, shall be controlled, limited and 
otherwise modified so as to limit any liability of the State of Colorado to the above 
cited laws. 

R. INSTALLATION POINTS FOR PROPOSAL: All proposals shall be for services installed at 
the nodes referenced in Section III of this RFP, and shall include end-to-end set-up/installation and 
performance checks to the satisfaction of specifications and satisfaction of the Westnet Project 
Principal Investigator or his designated staff.

S. SPECIFICATIONS REQUIREMENT: All proposals must meet or exceed the specifications 
provided herein. Evaluation of the extent to which proposals meet specifications will be performed 
SOLELY and determined SOLELY by the Colorado State University Westnet Principal Investiga-
tor or his designated staff in concurrence with the Colorado State University, Department of Pur-
chasing.

T. PAYMENT TERMS: Complete payment for installation by Colorado State University will be 
made AFTER the service is installed and its proper functioning is accepted by the Westnet Principal 
Investigator or his designated staff. Payment will be month-by-month for services. Alternate pay-
ment proposals will be reviewed and evaluated by the Westnet Principal Investigator and Colorado 
State University, Department of Purchasing.

U. BID OPENING: Only the names of those Bidders responding to the Request For Proposal will 
be read aloud at the bid opening. Inspection of Bidders proposals will not be allowed until after 
award of the contract.

V. PRICE DECREASES: During the effective term of this contract it will be the responsibility of 
the Bidder to notify and pass-on immediately to the University any and all price decreases. The 
University must be given the benefit of the lower price.

W. ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Bidder must provide quotations for service 
installations and monthly IP service costs, beginning no later than May 1, 1995. If the Bidder can 
meet an earlier installation the Bidder is asked to so specify. Colorado State University intends to 
pay for those services ordered through April 30, 1995. Monthly service costs from May 1, 1995 
through June 30, 1995 will be paid for using one purchase order; monthly service costs beyond that 
will be paid on a separate purchase order. The University will not prepay any charges. All charges 
will be paid monthly in arrears.

CSU reserves the right to order none, any, or all of the services which are quoted.

SECTION III. WESTNET IRC REQUIREMENTS

A.  Overview with Figure 1

Westnet is seeking thee following six basic integrated Internetworking services:

1. Internet Protocol (IP) access at several specified locations and a variety of data rates.

2. Interconnection among these access points.

3. Interconnection between these connection points and the NSF priority NAPs.

4. Access to vendors NOC to report problems, receive assistance, and coordinate routing 
issues.

5. SNMP read access to appropriate operational network management information.

and

6. Timely notification of expected and unexpected outages - particularly along the paths 
between the Westnet access points and the NSF priority NAPs.

This Request for Proposal is being issued by Westnet as part of our Inter-Regional Connectivity 
(IRC) program, which is partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This Request 
for Proposal supersedes in part Westnet's Invitation to Bid for IRC issued on 17 March 1994, in 
that, because our state traffic has grown much faster than we had anticipated for some Westnet 
states, some of Westnet's states require higher bandwidth connections than were solicited in the ear-
lier Invitation to Bid. Because of the magnitude of this award, we are required by State Purchasing 
to issue this new Invitation to Request for Proposal. Westnets existing IRC, obtained under the 17 
March 1994 Bid, is shown in Figure 1.

Westnet shall aggregate IP sites behind those for which IRC is being requested.

B.  Locations of Sites

Arizona:

Arizona State University (ASU)

Old Main, Room 138 

Building 32 

Tempe, AZ 85287

Contact(s);:

Art Cantral (602) 965-1206

Steve Brown (602) 965-5922

University of Arizona (UA)

 University Computer Center

 Building 73, Room 150

 Southeast Corner of Speedway and Mountain 

1077 North Highland

Tucson, AZ 85721

Contact(s):

Ted Frohling (602) 621-4834

Colorado:

University of Colorado at Boulder (UCB)

3645 Marine Street

Rm 223A

Boulder, CO  80309-0455

Contact(s):

Scott Smith

(303) 492-3870 Idaho:

Utah:

University of Utah (UU)

3550 Merrill Engineering Bldg. 

Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Contact(s);

Allen Cole (801)581-8805

C.  Ordering of Selected Services

Westnet is asking for more services to be bid than will initially be ordered.  At some of the sites for 
which we request bids, services will be ordered immediately, but at others state approval is 
required, which may be forthcoming at any time during the year after the return date of this RFP.  
Thus, all vendors are asked to submit Quotations valid for any start date before May 1, 1996.

Westnet anticipates ordering services immediately to at least 2 of the sites in Section III.  We will 
make our selection of which services to order and for which sites services are to be ordered, based 
upon a variety of factors, including: traffic, cost of the services bid vs. cost of our existing services, 
funding available from within the region in addition to that available from the NSF, etc.

Individual items required to be bid are listed in Section IV of this proposal.

SECTION IV. Information Required From Bidders

IP Services to Be Bid

Westnet desires installation and operational (monthly) costs for services at the points of presence 
(POP's) given above in Section III. The bidder shall deliver full, layer 3 IP services, and shall 
assume end-to-end responsibility for installation, operation and maintenance of the services, 
including proper routing to all sites in the database of the NSF sponsored Routing Arbiter (RA), 
with no surcharges or requirement for settlements.

The bids are to be for one year of commitment from Westnet.  All services bid are to be full duplex, 
i.e. at specified data rate in both directions simultaneously. In particular, Bidders are to supply for 
each Westnet POP listed in Section III: (i) one time installation cost, and (ii) monthly recurring 
cost, for full duplex IP services at the following speeds:

1. Approximately 3 million bits per second (mbps), i.e. two T-1 data rate

2. Approximately 4.5 mbps, i.e. three T-1 data rate

3. Approximately 6 mbps, i.e. four T-1 data rate

4. Approximately  7.5 mbps, i.e. five T-1 data rate

5. Approximately 9 mbps, i.e. six T-1 data rate

6. Approximately 20 mbps, i.e. one-half T-3 data rate

7. Approximately 45 mbps, i.e. full T-3 data rate



Note that the above speeds are approximate, and vendor may choose to bid other speeds close to 
those cited above. For example, vendor may choose to bid 10 mbps rather than 9 mbps, or exactly 
one-half T-3 data rate, etc. Vendor must specify the speeds at which the offered services will oper-
ate.

Westnet has no preference in the technology used in the local loop.  However, Westnet notes that 
a T-3 local loop in our region is approximately ten times more expensive than a T-1 local loop, so 
at moderate bandwidths, it may be more economical to bid multiplexed or load-balanced T-1 ser-
vices, rather than sub-channels from a T-3 local loop.  Westnet reinforces that the lowest cost at 
each site separately will be an important criterion in the selection of the winner at each site, so ven-
dor is encouraged to consider this aspect fully when preparing their RFP.

Vendor shall supply IP services for each site in a manner that permits load balancing, such as might 
be accomplished by connection to a single card on vendor's router and a single card on Westnets 
router, or by inverse multiplexing.  However, other technologies may be used to accomplish this, 
at vendor's option.

Vendor shall supply as part of their RFP a complete description of the technology used to effect the 
connections in the local loop, and the method of transport inside vendor's network. Complete tech-
nical descriptions of the equipment are to be provided. For example, if inverse multiplexors are to 
be used, vendor shall include a complete specification sheet for the devices, together with a 
description of how the devices will be implemented in vendor's network and at the Westnet site. 
Also, vendor shall specify the interface on Westnet's routers to be used to connect to vendor's 
equipment.

The Westnet review team shall evaluate vendor's proposed solution from a technical standpoint.  In 
particular, Westnet will evaluate: (1) the routing, to determine whether Westnet can be guaranteed 
that load balancing will occur for both traffic to and traffic from the Internet, (2) the adequacy of 
spares, and spare equipment, (3) the adequacy of redundant paths to the NSF priority NAP's, and 
(4)  performance, i.e. latency and throughput.

Format of Response

Each Bidder must respond to every item in this section and each piece of submitted material MUST 
be labeled with the appropriate subsection identification. For example, all Bidders materials sub-
mitted in response to the second item of subsection IV-A-1:- Installation and Monthly Costs for 
Item 1 - IP Services a 3 mbps must be clearly labeled, IV-A-1. If a particular item is not sup-
ported or applicable, answer Not Applicable or N/A. Each Bidder MUST organize their RFP 
response to exactly correspond to the order in which information is requested in SECTION IV.

All pricing MUST include any educational discounts. Indicate the percent of any educational dis-
counts. Also, the Bidder shall provide all applicable discounts, including discounts for the State of 
Colorado and federal contracts such as apply to the National Science Foundation Internet. This 
project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation under contract NCR-8620369.

A.1 Installation and Monthly Costs for Item 1 - IP Services at 3 mbps

 Item 1: IP Services at approximately 3 mbps data rate. Annual prices are to be quoted by month.

                                                                     Installation 	Monthly Recurring

                                                                         Cost          	Cost

A.1.1 Cost of IP Services:

1.  ASU	__________________ 	_________________

2.  UA	__________________ 	_________________



A.1.2 Termination Equipment

Vendor shall indicate the type of termination equipment required, particularly the interface(s) 
required on the Westnet routers. Additional space may be used to describe the technology, as 
required.

                                                                    Description of Interface on Westnet Router

1.  ASU - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

2.  UA - AGS+4	_____________________________________________



A.1.3 Description of Technology Used

Vendor shall describe the technology used to effect the services at the present data rate.













A.1.4 Location of Vendors Router ____________________________________



A.1.5 Description of interface on vendors router























A.1.6 Time Schedule

Vendor shall describe a time schedule for the installation of services. How long will it take after 
vendor receives Purchase Order will services be made available?











A.1.7 Bandwidth of Services Bid: _____________________________ (mbps)

A.2 Installation and Monthly Costs for Item 2 - IP Services at 4.5 mbps

 Item 1: IP Services at approximately 4.5 mbps data rate. Annual prices are to be quoted by month.

                                                                     Installation 	Monthly Recurring

                                                                         Cost          	Cost

A.2.1 Cost of IP Services:

Vendor shall bid, in the cases of ASU and UA, the incremental costs of upgrading the 3 mbps ser-
vices to 4.5 mbps. In the cases of UCB and UU, vendor shall bid the costs of installation of services.

1.  ASU	__________________ 	_________________

2.  UA	__________________ 	_________________

3.  UCB	__________________ 	_________________

4.  UU	__________________ 	_________________



A.2.2 Termination Equipment

Vendor shall indicate the type of termination equipment required, particularly the interface(s) 
required on the Westnet routers. Additional space may be used to describe the technology, as 
required.

                                                                    Description of Interface on Westnet Router

1.  ASU - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

2.  UA - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

3.  UCB -  AGS+4	_____________________________________________

4.  UU - Cisco 7000	_____________________________________________



A.2.3 Description of Technology Used

Vendor shall describe the technology used to effect the services at the present data rate. In the case 
of upgraded service, such as for ASU and UA, vendor should describe a transition plan for the 
upgrade.











A.2.4 Location of Vendors Router ____________________________________



A.2.5 Description of interface on vendors router









A.2.6 Time Schedule

Vendor shall describe a time schedule for the installation and upgrade of services. In particular, for 
ASU and UA, vendor shall commit to a time schedule for upgrading the services from 3 to 4.5 
mbps. For UCB and UU, vendor shall commit to a time schedule for installation of services.











A.2.7 Bandwidth of Services Bid: _____________________________ (mbps)

A.3 Installation and Monthly Costs for Item 3 - IP Services at 6 mbps

 Item 1: IP Services at approximately 6 mbps data rate. Annual prices are to be quoted by month.

                                                                     Installation 	Monthly Recurring

                                                                         Cost          	Cost

A.3.1 Cost of IP Services:

Vendor shall bid the incremental cost of upgrading services to 6 mbps.

1.  ASU	__________________ 	_________________

2.  UA	__________________ 	_________________

3.  UCB	__________________ 	_________________

4.  UU	__________________ 	_________________



A.3.2 Termination Equipment

Vendor shall indicate the type of termination equipment required, particularly the interface(s) 
required on the Westnet routers. Additional space may be used to describe the technology, as 
required.

                                                                    Description of Interface on Westnet Router

1.  ASU - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

2.  UA - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

3.  UCB -  AGS+4	_____________________________________________

4.  UU - Cisco 7000	_____________________________________________



A.3.3 Description of Technology Used

Vendor shall describe the technology used to upgrade services to 6 mbps.













A.3.4 Location of Vendors Router ____________________________________



A.3.5 Description of interface on vendors router











A.3.6 Time Schedule

Vendor shall describe a time schedule for upgrade of services 6 mbps.













A.3.7 Bandwidth of Services Bid: _____________________________ (mbps)

A.4 Installation and Monthly Costs for Item 4 - IP Services at 7.5 mbps

 Item 1: IP Services at approximately 7.5 mbps data rate. Annual prices are to be quoted by month.

                                                                     Installation 	Monthly Recurring

                                                                         Cost          	Cost

A.4.1 Cost of IP Services:

Vendor shall bid the incremental cost of upgrading services to 7.5 mbps.

1.  ASU	__________________ 	_________________

2.  UA	__________________ 	_________________

3.  UCB	__________________ 	_________________

4.  UU	__________________ 	_________________



A.4.2 Termination Equipment

Vendor shall indicate the type of termination equipment required, particularly the interface(s) 
required on the Westnet routers. Additional space may be used to describe the technology, as 
required.

                                                                    Description of Interface on Westnet Router

1.  ASU - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

2.  UA - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

3.  UCB -  AGS+4	_____________________________________________

4.  UU - Cisco 7000	_____________________________________________



A.4.3 Description of Technology Used

Vendor shall describe the technology used to upgrade services to 7.5 mbps.













A.4.4 Location of Vendors Router ____________________________________



A.4.5 Description of interface on vendors router











A.4.6 Time Schedule

Vendor shall describe a time schedule for upgrade of services to 7.5 mbps.













A.4.7 Bandwidth of Services Bid: _____________________________ (mbps)

A.5 Installation and Monthly Costs for Item 5 - IP Services at 9 mbps

 Item 1: IP Services at approximately 9 mbps data rate. Annual prices are to be quoted by month.

                                                                     Installation 	Monthly Recurring

                                                                         Cost          	Cost

A.5.1 Cost of IP Services:

Vendor shall bid the incremental cost of upgrading services to 9 mbps.

1.  ASU	__________________ 	_________________

2.  UA	__________________ 	_________________

3.  UCB	__________________ 	_________________

4.  UU	__________________ 	_________________



A.5.2 Termination Equipment

Vendor shall indicate the type of termination equipment required, particularly the interface(s) 
required on the Westnet routers. Additional space may be used to describe the technology, as 
required.

                                                                    Description of Interface on Westnet Router

1.  ASU - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

2.  UA - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

3.  UCB -  AGS+4	_____________________________________________

4.  UU - Cisco 7000	_____________________________________________



A.5.3 Description of Technology Used

Vendor shall describe the technology used to upgrade services to 9 mbps.













A.5.4 Location of Vendors Router ____________________________________



A.5.5 Description of interface on vendors router











A.5.6 Time Schedule

Vendor shall describe a time schedule for upgrade of services to 6 mbps.













A.5.7 Bandwidth of Services Bid: _____________________________ (mbps)

A.6 Installation and Monthly Costs for Item 6 - IP Services at 20 mbps

 Item 1: IP Services at approximately 20 mbps data rate. Annual prices are to be quoted by month.

                                                                     Installation 	Monthly Recurring

                                                                         Cost          	Cost

A.6.1 Cost of IP Services:

Vendor shall bid the incremental cost of upgrading services to 20 mbps.

1.  ASU	__________________ 	_________________

2.  UA	__________________ 	_________________

3.  UCB	__________________ 	_________________

4.  UU	__________________ 	_________________



A.6.2 Termination Equipment

Vendor shall indicate the type of termination equipment required, particularly the interface(s) 
required on the Westnet routers. Additional space may be used to describe the technology, as 
required.

                                                                    Description of Interface on Westnet Router

1.  ASU - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

2.  UA - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

3.  UCB -  AGS+4	_____________________________________________

4.  UU - Cisco 7000	_____________________________________________



A.6.3 Description of Technology Used

Vendor shall describe the technology used to upgrade services to 20 mbps.













A.6.4 Location of Vendors Router ____________________________________



A.6.5 Description of interface on vendors router











A.6.6 Time Schedule

Vendor shall describe a time schedule for upgrade of services to 20 mbps.













A.6.7 Bandwidth of Services Bid: _____________________________ (mbps)

A.7 Installation and Monthly Costs for Item 7 - IP Services at 45 mbps

 Item 1: IP Services at approximately 45 mbps data rate. Annual prices are to be quoted by month.

                                                                     Installation 	Monthly Recurring

                                                                         Cost          	Cost

A.7.1 Cost of IP Services:

Vendor shall bid the incremental cost of upgrading services to 45 mbps.

1.  ASU	__________________ 	_________________

2.  UA	__________________ 	_________________

3.  UCB	__________________ 	_________________

4.  UU	__________________ 	_________________



A.7.2 Termination Equipment

Vendor shall indicate the type of termination equipment required, particularly the interface(s) 
required on the Westnet routers. Additional space may be used to describe the technology, as 
required.

                                                                    Description of Interface on Westnet Router

1.  ASU - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

2.  UA - AGS+4	_____________________________________________

3.  UCB -  AGS+4	_____________________________________________

4.  UU - Cisco 7000	_____________________________________________



A.7.3 Description of Technology Used

Vendor shall describe the technology used to upgrade services to 45 mbps.















A.7.4 Location of Vendors Router ____________________________________



A.7.5 Description of interface on vendors router









A.7.6 Time Schedule

Vendor shall describe a time schedule for upgrade of services to 45 mbps.













A.7.7 Bandwidth of Services Bid: _____________________________ (mbps)

B. Additional Required Information

The additional items in this section to be provided by the vendor are mandatory, but individual 
items may be marked confidential, in which case they will be treated as such.  The additional 
items are:

B.1 Vendors Network and Demarkation Points with Figure 2

A picture of Vendors Network is shown in Figure 2, with connections to customers (e.g. indicated 
as the Westnet site), and to the NSF priority NAPs (e.g. indicated in the upper right corner of the 
figure). The demarkation point at the Westnet site shall exist at connection point of vendors net-
work to the Westnet DSU(s), which Westnet shall supply. Vendor shall describe where the demar-
kation points exist at the three NSF priority NAPs, and the procedures and policies for interfacing 
with the NAP operations personnel at the NSF priority NAPs. Everything in between the demar-
kation points is hereinafter termed Vendors Network.

B.2  NOC Interaction

Vendor shall commit to working with the Westnet NOC and the NOCs at the affected sites, to iden-
tify, isolate and remedy problems within vendor's infrastructure and with routing of traffic through 
the Internet. When there is a routing or configuration problem, or a problem with vendor's equip-
ment at a Westnet site, or in the vendor's infrastructure, the vendor shall immediately contact West-
net personnel at the affected site(s) and at the Westnet NOC. For example, when there is a network 
problem which affects ASU, both the ASU NOC and the Westnet NOC are to be notified immedi-
ately.

Vendor shall describe procedures for NOC interactions, particularly for notifying Westnet sites 
affected of impending outages, or precipitous outages, even if such outages are beyond vendors 
control. Of particular importance here is vendors pro-active information transfer to Westnet. Spe-
cifically, if vendor has any specified times for escalation of problems, vendor shall describe them 
and commit to them in response to this section.

Note that Westnet uses SNMP to manage its network and network connections. Vendor shall spec-
ify the statistics to which vendor shall allow to be accessed by Westnet NOC personnel. Particu-
larly, vendor shall specify under what circumstances/conditions vendor will allow SNMP access to 
vendors routers directly upstream from Westnet POPs.

B.3 Problem Resolution Procedures

Vendor shall supply as part of their response vendors trouble ticket procedures for IP services, 
including escalation procedures. Specifically, vendor shall address vendors ability to interface 
with the national Remedy Trouble Ticket System. Also, as during a network outage, time is of the 
essence, vendor shall supply full escalation procedures, including the actions undertaken during 
each level of escalation, and the times at which escalation occurs.

B.4 Network Map

Vendor shall supply as part of their response a network map of vendor's IP network, showing all 
backbone and interconnect routers, circuits and indicating circuit speeds. Vendor shall also supply 
a description of how vendor interconnects at the NSF priority NAPs. Vendor shall also supply as 
part of their Quote a detailed description of the routing and communications equipment at vendor's 
network nodes.

B.5 Aggregate Bandwidth and Redundancy

The aggregate bandwidth within the vendor's infrastructure from the various Westnet POPs to the  
nearest NSF priority Network Access Point (NAP) must be greater than or equal to 40 million bits 
per second, full duplex.  This rate is required.  Additionally, there must be full redundancy at this 
speed or above in the portion of the vendor's network traversed by Westnet to the NSF NAP's, 
including both redundancy in services and in the hardware at vendor's nodes.

B.6 BGP-4 Routing

Vendor shall supply as part of their response a commitment to exchange routes via BGP-4 with 
Cisco routers at the Westnet POP's.

B.7 Quality of Service

Vendor shall specify parameters used to define and measure quality of service for Vendors net-
work, including parameters such as Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) and Mean Time to 
Repair (MTTR) for failures on a single connection between the customer and the NAPs, percent-
age of lost packets, latency in vendors network, percentage of routing errors, actual throughput, 
etc. Vendor shall specify how quality of service parameters are defined, measured and reported; 
what the vendor considers to be acceptable levels of service for each parameter, and generally how 
vendor corrects for performance problems revealed by these measurements.

B.8 Discussions with References

The bidder must supply at least four customer references.  As part of the evaluation process, West-
net will attempt to contact all references and Merit, to inquire about the reference's interactions 
with the bidder.  At least three reviews will be obtained in order to proceed.

In particular, the following issues will be addressed:

- Responsiveness to problems, queries, and changes;

- Satisfaction with problem tracking/resolution procedures;

- Apparent technical capability and soundness of technical advice;

- Handling of routing changes/problems;

- Timeliness and ease of installations and changes;

- Vendors proactive stance in communicating information about anticipated and/or existing 
problems;

-  Satisfaction with vendors local loop technology and connection;

- Professionalism and courtesy in interactions; and

- Current outstanding problems.

SECTION V. ACRONYMS AND NOMENCLATURE

ASU	Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ)

BSU	Boise State University (Boise, ID)

BYU	Brigham Young University (Provo, ID)

CSM	Colorado School of Mines (Golden, CO)

CSU	Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO)

INEL	Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (Idaho Falls, ID)

IP	Internet Protocol

ISU	Idaho State University (Pocatello, ID)

mbps	millions of bits per second

MTBF	Mean Time Between Failures

MTTR	Mean Time To Repair

NAP	Network Access Point

NMIMT	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (Socorro, NM)

NMSU	New Mexico State University (Las Cruces, NM)

NMT	New Mexico Technet (Albuquerque, NM)

NOC	Network Operation Center

NSF	National Science Foundation

POP	Point of Presence

RFP	Request for Proposal

SNMP	Simple Network Management Protocol

UA	University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)

UCB	University of Colorado at Boulder (Boulder, CO)

UCCS	University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (Colorado Springs, CO)

UCD	University of Colorado at Denver (Denver, CO)

UD	University of Denver (Denver, CO)

UNM	University  of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM)

USU	Utah State University (Logan, UT)

UU	University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)

UW	University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY)
