CalREN REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: Education Briefing Sessions: San Francisco Bay Area December 7, 1993 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM San Francisco Airport Hilton Terrace Ballroom San Francisco International Airport Greater Los Angeles Area December 8, 1993 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM Los Angeles Hilton & Towers Sierra Ballroom 930 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles Date to Submit Applications: March 14, 1994 by 5:00 PM Where to Submit Applications: The CalREN Program Attn: Education Proposal Registrar c/o Pacific Bell 2600 Camino Ramon, Room 3S306 San Ramon, CA 94583 I. INTRODUCTION I.A CalREN Overview CalREN, the California Research and Education Network, is Pacific Bell's program to stimulate the development and dissemination of high-speed data communication applications. CalREN's goal is to promote the development of applications that: - Improve education and health care delivery - Improve business and governmental processes - Facilitate new business development and job creation - Improve the economic competitiveness of California CalREN, an established trust of Pacific Bell, will promote applications development by sponsoring demonstration projects which are dedicated towards these goals. CalREN will fund the high-speed data communications component of approved collaborative projects. CalREN will sponsor approved projects for six to eighteen months from project implementation. CalREN funding is targeted for the Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Areas. For CalREN purposes, the San Francisco Bay Area consists of the majority of area codes 415, 510, and 408 (as far south as Watsonville). The Greater Los Angeles area consists of the majority of area codes 213, 310 and 818. In both the Northern and Southern California CalREN geographies, those areas served by GTE are excluded unless special arrangements have been made with GTE. Additional CalREN overview information can be found in CalREN Briefing Package No. 1 (6/30/93), Briefing Package No. 2 (9/7/93) and Briefing Package No. 3 (10/6/93). In any instance of conflict, the information in this RFP takes precedence over information provided in previous briefing packages. For copies of these documents, please fax your request to CalREN at (510) 277-0673. I.B Request for Proposal (RFP) Categories CalREN issued RFPs for applications involving Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) in the Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Areas in September and October. This Request for Proposal (RFP) is for the solicitation of CalREN projects focused on specific educational applications. Both public and private educational organizations are eligible to apply. The CalREN Education RFP is being issued simultaneously with RFPs for applications to improve (1) Health Care and (2) Community, Governmental and Commercial Services. Schedule specifics for these two RFPs are provided in CalREN Briefing Package No. 3 (10/6/93). Applications submitted under the Education, Health Care or Community, Government and Commercial Services RFPs must include one or more of the following Pacific Bell data communication services: - Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS) - Frame Relay - Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) - Switched Digital Services 56 (SDS-56) Additional information on these services is provided in Appendix A. Project submissions which require ATM service must be submitted to the ATM RFPs. (Note: traditional residential or commercial phone service is not included in CalREN funding.) CalREN recognizes that a proposed application may fall into more than one CalREN RFP category. In these situations the decision regarding which RFP to respond to should be based on the nature of the project, the primary project beneficiaries and the project leader's area of expertise/mission/work activities. For example, a proposed application might involve the establishment of a wide-area network of community service and educational organizations to provide training for health care professionals. In this situation the application should be submitted under the Health Care RFP because health care professionals are the primary beneficiaries. CalREN reserves the right to recategorize RFP project submissions as deemed necessary to be in the submitter's best interest. CalREN will only recategorize a project if the project's objectives are more closely aligned with the criteria of another RFP . If you have questions regarding which RFP to respond to, contact the CalREN staff. I.C Restrictions CalREN will fund Pacific Bell switched, data communication services for up to 18 months from project implementation. If projects extend beyond 18 months, the project participants will be responsible for ongoing tariffed charges. CalREN may allow some flexibility in the 18 month limitation for the implementation of larger projects. Requests will be considered on a project by project basis. Projects will not be assessed installation charges for services already in place upon completion of CalREN funding. CalREN's support of a project cannot directly cause the disconnection or deferment of commercial telecommunications services from any telecommunications carrier. Project results must be openly available to the public. At a minimum, this refers to a project's final report or findings. CalREN and Pacific Bell assume no liability for disclosure of proprietary information. Do not include any proprietary information in your proposals such as trade secrets, proprietary commercial or financial information, or confidential personal information. Information contained in unsuccessful proposals will remain the property of the proposer. CalREN and Pacific Bell will, however, retain copies of all proposals. Pacific Bell assumes no liability for the costs associated with the preparation or submission of proposals. There is no commitment by CalREN to make any awards on any application or to make a specific number of awards. CalREN Education RFP Summary: This is one of five RFPs to be issued for solicitation of CalREN projects. Geography: Greater Los Angeles & SF Bay Areas Briefing sessions will be held in both geographies Target Services: SMDS, Frame Relay, ISDN, SDS-56 Issue Date: November 1, 1993 Submission Date: March 14, 1994 Approval Date: April 15,1994 Implementation: Staggered after April,1994 II. PROJECT GUIDELINES AND CRITERIA Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria. II.A Project Description CalREN seeks collaborative projects which focus on the development of a specific educational application. Generally approved projects will be pilot or demonstration in nature. These educational applications must involve the use of high-speed data communications, benefit a broad community of users, and address one or more of the educational priorities highlighted below. II.A.1 Educational Applications In support of recent national and state educational initiatives and reform efforts, CalREN recommends that proposed projects address at least one of the following goals to enrich the quality and scope of education. (a) Promote life-long learning environments i. Improve the quality and effectiveness of instruction and learning through the use of communications technology. ii. Use data communications to increase access to the informational, instructional and technological resources necessary to support life-long learning iii. Facilitate the integration of communications technology into school curriculum aligned with the instructional frameworks and guidelines for each education segment. (b) Improve administrative efficiency i. Facilitate home/school communications through communications technology. ii. Improve school management of learning resources to insure access to and effective use of technology-based resources. iii. Increase school staff development focusing on the use of communications technology for instruction and learning resources management. II.A.2 Use of Data Communications Proposals must describe how high-speed data communications will be used to achieve project objectives. The use of data communications should be consistent with site (district, school, etc.) technology plans as appropriate. The targeted CalREN services are outlined in Appendix A. Examples of potential uses of data communications include: (a) Distance learning applications CalREN encourages distance learning applications which integrate voice, data and video through such data communication services as ISDN. Potential applications might include team teaching, tutoring, and teacher training through video teleconferencing or desktop video. (b) Internet-based instructional applications CalREN supports collaborative projects which demonstrate the educational value of high-speed Internet access. Potential Internet applications might involve curriculum development, on-line research, primary data collection, on-line mentoring of students and/or teachers and other uses. (c) Digital library applications CalREN also encourages the use of high-speed data communication services to create digital libraries of electronic information. Potential digital library applications might be used to increase access to educational materials and other computing resources and promote database resource development amongst other uses. This list of applications is intended to be illustrative, not all inclusive. II.A.3 Expected Benefits Proposed educational applications are expected to use communications technology to increase the availability and impact of educational resources and/or reduce the cost of access to these resources. (a) Target population Projects should target a clearly defined population of beneficiaries. The beneficiary population might include one or more of the following groups: students, parents, teachers and school administrators. Project benefits and/or potential benefits should extend to the widest possible segment of the California population. Proposals must include a description of the target population, its size, needs and demographic characteristics. Projects which extend the availability of an existing application to a new or expanded set of users are encouraged. (b) Under-served communities Special consideration will be given to applications which extend the educational benefits of CalREN applications to under-served communities, i.e., those communities that do not typically enjoy access to technology. Under-served populations might include students with learning disabilities, disabled students or students from rural or lower socio-economic communities. (c) Dissemination plan Proposed projects must clearly identify and document the expected and potential benefits and accomplishments that will be delivered at the conclusion of the project. Proposals need to include how benefits will be measured, documented and distributed. The project's findings or final report will be available to the public. II.B Project Management CalREN seeks projects which demonstrate significant collaboration, strong project leadership and effective project management. II.B.1 Collaboration CalREN strongly encourages collaboration and cooperation in project formation. Generally, multiple organization participation is expected. CalREN seeks project participants from all segments of the education community such as public, private, K-12, post-secondary, libraries, vocational and adult education. Projects that cross these educational segments and/or link the education and other communities will be favored. Partnerships between public and private organizations are encouraged under CalREN. CalREN seeks project teams with a wide spectrum of experience and specific expertise related to the project priorities. CalREN encourages the participation of small businesses, and minority or woman-owned businesses along with the under-served communities as described in Section II.A.3. Participants must contribute to the project in one or more ways. Each participant's contribution should be specified. Examples of contributions include funds, in-kind services, equipment, applications, application development, personnel, or other (non-Pacific Bell) communication services. In cases where projects do not lend themselves to significant contributions from all participants, a project might consider supporting a disadvantaged user group's access to the application. For example, a university may adopt a K-12 school and provide the means for that school's participation or a lead school might provide teacher training to other participant schools. II.B.2 Project Leader Each project must have a designated project leader. Pacific Bell and CalREN will not formulate or lead projects. The project leader will be the primary liaison with CalREN and is expected to demonstrate strong project management skills and relevant technological expertise. The project leader and participants should provide information on their experience in using technology-based classroom resources and in educational content and/or instructional design. Success in other collaborative projects is a positive factor in proposal review. II.B.3 Management Plan Projects must have well-defined objectives, measurable milestones and time frames. CalREN seeks projects of six to eighteen months duration, measured from the installation date. The duration of the project should be long enough to develop, implement and measure the benefits of any particular application. Projects must justify the duration of requested services. The project management plan should follow the format included in Section III: Proposal Process. III. PROPOSAL PROCESS III.A Proposal Submission Project proposals for CalREN funding must be received by 5:00 pm on March 14, 1994. Receipt of proposal submissions will acknowledged in writing. Proposals must be limited to 15 pages in length, including the executive summary. A maximum of 10 additional pages may be included in attachments as specified in Section III.B: Proposal Format. Please send five copies of the proposal to: The CalREN Program c/o Pacific Bell 2600 Camino Ramon, Room 3S-306 San Ramon, CA 94583 Briefing sessions are planned for December 7, 1993 in San Francisco and December 8, 1993 in Los Angeles to answer any questions about CalREN and/or this Request for Proposal. The San Francisco briefing session will be held at the San Francisco Airport Hilton, San Francisco International Airport, from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM. The Los Angeles briefing session will be held at the Los Angeles Hilton, 930 Wilshire Blvd., Sierra Ballroom, from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM. Information presented at the Los Angeles and Bay Area briefing sessions will be identical; two locations are planned for the convenience of attendees only. Attendance at these meetings is not required and is not necessary to develop a promising proposal. A summary of these meetings will be distributed to all those on the CalREN mailing list. If you have any questions contact CalREN staff at: E-mail: CALREN@PACBELL.COM Phone: 1-800-CALREN7 FAX: (510)277-0673 III.B Proposal Format All proposals must be submitted according to the following outline, including the use of section and subsection numbering. Section 1: Executive Summary (1- 2 pages) This executive summary will be evaluated based on its merit before the remainder of the proposal and will be influential in the identification of high interest offerings. CalREN plans to make public the executive summaries of approved projects. 1.a Project Title 1.b Project Geography Identify whether the project is planned for the Greater Los Angeles and/or San Francisco Bay Area geography. Note that projects which require transport between the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Areas will need to receive support from an inter-exchange (long distance)carrier. 1.c Project Description Enumerate the project's specific objectives and summarize the anticipated benefits and targeted beneficiaries of the proposed project. 1.d Project Use of Data Communication Services Describe which Pacific Bell data communication services will be used to achieve project objectives. Specify the number and location of connections, and the requested service duration. The number and duration of data communication services requested must be justified in the body of the proposal. 1.e Project Leader and Participants Clearly identify the project leader including their name, address, telephone number and organizational affiliation. Identify the key personnel who will be collaborating in the project. 1.f Project Plan Provide a brief summary of the work to be completed. The summary should indicate what is planned, how and where the work will be carried out, a schedule of major milestones, and when the final product (such as a final report) is to be delivered. Section 2: Project Description 2.a Project Title 2.b Project Application Fully describe the project and the target educational application. Specify the project's purpose and objectives. Justify the scope, duration and use of the requested data communication services. 2.c Network Configuration 2.c.i Pacific Bell Data Communication Services State the physical locations, by street address, where the data communication service access is required. Specify the requested service duration and estimated monthly usage requirements where appropriate. 2.c.ii Project Participant Components List all major non-Pacific Bell components of the project (customer premises equipment, computer equipment, software and personnel). Specify the source of acquisition of each project component. 2.c.iii Site Technology Plan Indicate if any of the participants have site (district, school, etc.) technology plans. Describe how the proposed project is consistent with the applicable site technology plans. Attach technology plan (or summary) as Appendix 5.c. 2.d Expected Benefits 2.d.i Expected Benefits Summary State the expected benefits that will be delivered at the conclusion of the project. Describe the project's impact in advancing educational reform priorities. Outline any other educational goals of the project. 2.d.ii Project Beneficiaries Clearly define the target beneficiaries, their size, needs and demographic characteristics. Provide documentation supporting the projected beneficiary population as appropriate. 2.d.iii Under-served Communities Identify those project beneficiaries which represent under-served communities. Describe the benefiting communities including their size, needs and demographic characteristics. If these communities require additional support, describe how the project plans to provide this additional support to under-served groups. 2.d.iv Dissemination Plan Include a plan for broadly disseminating the results of the proposed activity. Describe the measurement, documentation and distribution procedures to be used. 2.d.v Final Report State how the project's findings or final report will be made available to the public. Identify who will be the authors of the final report. Section 3: Project Leadership and Management Plan 3.a Qualifications of Project Leader Identify the governing or managing entity with clear responsibility for performance of the project activity. Provide information on the project manager's leadership experience. Include a resume or other relevant information on the quality and depth of experience of the project leader in Attachment A. 3.b Qualifications of Project Participants Describe qualifications of project participants and key staff members (supporting documentation can be included in Attachment A). Provide evidence of effectiveness of the participants in the development and implementation of other projects involving educational technology. Include any letters of support from other project participants or supporters in Attachment B. 3.c Small, minority and women-owned businesses Identify if any of the project participants represent small businesses and minority and women-owned businesses. For purposes of this RFP a small business is defined as an independently owned, operated and organized for profit; not dominant in the field of operation in which it is proposing; and has less than 500 employees. 3.d Project Management Plan Indicate what is planned, how and where the work will be completed and the final product to be delivered. Provide a timetable for project implementation including start and completion dates and a schedule of project milestones. The methods planned to achieve each objective or task should be discussed explicitly and in detail, including the process for project monitoring and review. The anticipated results of the application if the project is successful should be stated. Section 4: Project Budget 4.a Total project budget 4.b Data communication costs 4.c Participant contributions Section 5: Attachments to Proposal 5.a Qualifications of project participants and key staff members 5.b Letters of support from project participants/supporters 5.c Site (school, district, etc.) technology plans as available 5.d Other supporting materials as appropriate III.C Proposal Review Upon receipt, CalREN staff will initially review the proposals to verify compliance with proposal requirements, and to ensure that the proposed project is within the scope of CalREN. CalREN staff will also complete a review to ensure technical fit. After CalREN staff review, the applications will be evaluated by the CalREN Education Council. Council members will be selected based on their expertise in curriculum and instructional design, and communications and educational technology. The council will include a cross-section of representatives from the education community. The selection criteria will focus on the quality and cost effectiveness of proposals and responsiveness to the project guidelines outlined in Section II. Where project evaluations are essentially equal in merit, several factors will be given additional consideration in the proposal evaluation process. In cases where the evaluation of proposals is substantially equal, preference for award will be given to those proposals which include (1) benefits to under-served communities, (2) minority or woman-owned business participants, and/or (3) small business participants over those which do not include such benefits or organizations. Also, projects of greater scope will be favored over projects of limited scope. For example, a project which integrates sites across several school districts and/or geographic regions (within the same Pacific Bell service area) will be favored over a project limited to a single local area or school district. CalREN plans to award at least 20 projects under this RFP. CalREN seeks to balance the distribution of these projects between the North and South geographies. Proposed projects are not subject to a monetary limit and are expected to range in size and scope. For example, one project might involve 30 to 40 ISDN lines to connect several school sites for curriculum development and home/school communications. Another might require only 4 to 5 SMDS or Frame Relay connections between educational and community service organizations to provide distance learning. CalREN plans to notify award recipients by April 15, 1994. CalREN expects to receive many more worthwhile proposals that it can fund. Because of this budget limit, we may have to decline meritorious projects. This does not in any way reflect on the value of the idea or organization involved, but rather is a result of limited resources.