CANCELLED Request for proposal for Provision of Closed User Group, End-to-End solution that will allow to connect, collect, & deliver data to secondary schools in 1500 disparately located sites for Ministry of Education across Ethiopia.

Tender cancelled on 2020-06-14 10:49 UTC. Dear Bidders, Kindly be informed that this tender is cancelled as the requirement is de-scoped by the requestor ( end user). To mention specifically, end user approached UNOPS to de-scope the requirement by making the following Major Revision, 1. Delivery of equipment and hardware with in  FCA 3 weeks ( instead of 5 weeks DAP) & UNOPS Freight forwarders will ship the items to the final destination2. To train only  20  Ministry technical on Installation for  maximum of 3 days 3. To exclude '' Provision of supervision and technical support to Ministry installers during installation''Accordingly, this tender is cancelled and a Request for Quotation was sent to potential bidders based on the revised requirement via email through emergency procurement process   .

New amendment added #2: In the original post, Proposal security was requested instead of performance security.But in this amendment proposal security is stated to be ‘’ Not Required’’, while Performance Security is required with the following Details.“ Performance security shall be required from the awarded Bidder in the amount of 5 % of the total Contract amount, in the form of a Bank Guarantee as set out in Section VI: Contract Forms. To minimize Credit Risk, UNOPS will only accept Bank Guarantees from Banks or other Financial Institutions with a minimum Long Term Credit Rating of BBB- with Standard and Poor’s, a minimum Long Term Credit Rating of Baa3 with Moody Investor Services, or a minimum Long Term Credit Rating of BBB- with Fitch Ratings. Any Bank Guarantee issued by a financial institution with a credit rating below the outlined credit ratings will require prior validation from UNOPS.’’

New clarification added: Dear vendor, Thank you for your clarification request. Kindly find our response below under the questions. To reach 70% CIR as the new requirement, C-Band should be used instead of KU-Band which highly increase the cost of equipment and specially the Antenna size for no technical reasons. the solution can work perfectly with 70% CIR at MoE and no more than 50% CIR in schools.Hence, please confirm that you need 70% CIR in the MoE and up to 50% CIR in schools.Answer: As per the requirement set by the end user, CIR should not be below 70 % as due to the topography of the schools and during bad weather transmission will be affected if the CIR is below 70 %. Hence, to all 1500 schools and MoE, CIR 70% is a critical requirement and the end user is willing to accomodaite the cost as long that it fulfils this requirement.   

New clarification added: Dear Bidder, Thank you for your clarification request. Kindly find our response below under each questions, 1- It is mentioned in the schedule of requirement document, under Objectives : "UNOPS Ethiopia Operational Hub"Do you have a VSAT HUB/Teleport  in Ethiopia that we can use instead of German HUB/Teleport?Answer: UNOPS Ethiopia Operational Hub is mentioned in the schedule of requirement document, under Objectives, just to inform bidders that this project is based on the project agreement that is signed between UNOPS and MoE to handle procurement process by UNOPS.UNOPS ETOH Operational HUB is name of the country office for UNOPS in Ethiopia that oversees projects at Djibouti , Ethiopia and Sudan and it has nothing to do with HUB/Teleport in your sense. Hence, you can use your proposed HUB/Teleport.

New clarification added: Dear Bidder, Thank you for your clarification request. Kindly find our response below under each questions,1- In the Schedule of Requirement doc,UNOPS Minimum Technical requirement table, point # 16" Should have Transmissions that could incorporate advanced features/ elements that includes of minimum of Transmitter Software, Bandwidth Controller Application and file cast application". Please clarify what do you mean with Transmitter Software?This is to mean an application that can be able to schedule for educational content for transmission  including Network traffic management, band width optimization, monitoring  and file casting.2- In the Schedule of Requirement doc,UNOPS Minimum Technical requirement table, point # 16"Should have transmissions that enables advanced Forward Error Correction (FEC) to deliver reliable data to all locations".- Please clarify what do you mean with " should have transmissions"?- Please clarify for which purpose this point is required?  Answer: Forward error correction (FEC) is a digital signal processing technique used to enhance data reliability. It does this by introducing redundant data, called error correcting code, prior to data transmission or storage. FEC provides the receiver with the ability to correct errors without a reverse channel to request the retransmission of data.This feature is used for data reliability. MoE might also need it to make sure data exchange between the sites is reliable. The bidders need to include FEC feature on their Proposal.2- To reach 70% CIR as the new requirement, C-Band should be used instead of KU-Band which increase the cost of equipment and specially the Antennas from 1.2m to 2m per site.    Please clarify whether you need the 70% CIR in all 1500 schools or only in Ministry of Education site?Answer: The band choice can still be C band , uplink/downlink 6/4gHz. MoE interested on 70% CIR as this is important for proper functionality and transmission during bad weather. Hence this is required in all 1500 schools including Ministry of Education site.3-  Do you need a point to point solution which is (School VSAT-SAT- VSAT Ministry) or you need to go via Teleport which is (School VSAT-SAT-TELEPORT- VSAT Ministry)?     Answer: We need - School VSAT-SAT- VSAT Ministry.

New clarification added: Dear Bidder, Thank you for your clarification request. Kindly find our response under your question below As COVID lock down, we are unalbel to reach offices for letters and other certification which was kept at office. we request you to please extend the submit date for this tender work order.Answer:  Since the project is urgent, no decision is made to this time to extend the bid. What you are saying is about letters of testimonies and certifications you want to collect from other offices, you can ask them to give their testimony via email and you can attach the email you received instead of scanned hard copy letters. ​UNOPS Procurement Team.   

New clarification added: Dear Bidder, Thank you for your clarification request. Kindly find our response below under each questions, 1- VSAT connection is as follows : VSAT-SAT-Teleport.- How the Ministry of Edycation will be connected to Teleport is it via Internet VPN or via VSAT as well?Answer: We cannot determine the choice right now. Bidders should come up with the right solution. bidders should propose whatever they think is appropriate based on what is stated under schedule of requirement.- If the Ministry will be connected via VSAT, do you need VSAT equipment to be installed for the Ministry of Education as well, so the total number will be 1501 set of VSAT equipment?Answer: Yes, in addition to the 1500 schools, VSAT equipment need to be installed for the Ministry of Education as well.2- Please clarify which bandwidth you need for each site and whether you need a dedicated bandwith for each site or  pool bandwidth which will be shared between the 1500 sites?Answer: Bidders should propose a bandwidth that could provide the desired service as stipulated in the schedule of requirement. In General, Download Speed 30mbps to 10 mbps. upload 2+mbps is prefered. This bandwidth is preferred considering optimal available technology in the market and reasonableness of price.3- As per the new requirements "Connectivity latency to be below 400ms". please note that technically with VSAT a latency below 400ms doesn't exits. The best latency reachable via VSAT is 550ms between the VSAT and the Teleport and from Teleport to Ministry another 550ms will be added. Hence, please confirm that a latency within the 1000ms is accepatbel.Answer:  In the current market, there is technological capability for latency about 700ms round trip. Therefore 400ms (800ms round trip ) is attainable. 4- Delivery for Satellite Equipment, receivers, connectivity materials & accessary by vendor  – DAP MoE warehouse - within 5 weeks of contact signature.    - Please clarify whether you need the 1500 set of VSAT equipment to bedelivered within 5 weeks or only the sample training kit?    - What is the maximum delivery time acceptable for the 1500 set of VSAT equiment?  Answer: All necessary equipment should deliver to MOE warehouse with in 5 weeks of the contract signature. The project will deploy on one site  to demonstrate apilot by directly installing all the required components for one school, which will be chosen by MoE and checking the network connectivity to MOE and install the  application software for the requested solution for testing before roll out to all schools network connectivity to MOE and install the  application software for the requested solution for testing before roll out to all schools. 

New clarification added: ​Dear Bidder, Thank you for your clarification request. Kindly find our response below under each questions(1) Per the RFP, MOE will be clearing all goods through customs. In section 12.3.3 of the Procurement Manual however, DAP is recommended for the use of already imported products or products produced in the country of destination. The goods requested are not produced in Ethiopia and are not already imported. FCA is the preferred method for international procurement. Given the impact of the pandemic on global supply chains and shipping, if bidders can only provide an FCA quote, would this be acceptable under the tender requirements? Answer: For this RFP, Bidders must quote both on the FCA and DAP terms as clearly indicated on the Form C- Financial Proposal Form. If the awarded bidder (Who quoted using both FCA &  DAP) is unable to deliver the goods using DAP incoterm due to the impact of COVID 19 , this will be discussed and a solution may be sought up on mutual understanding and discussion between UNOPS and the awarded supplier considering the real situation and challenge at hand. The solution may go to the extent of using UNOPS freight forwarders (if this is believed to be a solution) by considering the FCA cost offered by the supplier. However, this issue will be discussed and solutions will decided when the actual real situation happens and the awarded supplier is challenged to deliver the goods using DAP incoterm due to the impact of the pandemics. (2) Please confirm a performance security is not required, as stated in the Tender Particulars.Answer: Kindly note performance security of 5% is required and this was mistakenly written as proposal security and proposal security details under the particular section .  Kindly note proposal security is not required but 5% of performance security is required to mitigate the risk of supplier non-performance and breach of contractual obligations. We will do a correction on the tender within the next 24 hours.(3) The Tender Particulars state that a proposal security in the amount of 5% of the total contract is required. Section 6.5.2(j) of the Procurement Manual states that the proposal security must be a specified lump sum instead of a percentage. RFP Section III Returnable Bidding Forms - Final Amended, states that a proposal security form is Not Applicable. Please confirm a proposal security is not required. Given the impact of the pandemic on the banking industry globally, any form of security would be difficult, if not impossible, to provide.Answer: Performance Security of 5 % is required to mitigate the risk of supplier non-performance and breach of contractual obligations. However, proposal security is not required and the proposal security detail written under the particular section is a mistake. It was to be written under performance security . We will correct this on the tender within the next 24 hours. ( See our response for question no. 3 above also) (4) COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the global economy. Particularly hard hit are the banks, which are experiencing a huge backlog of financing requests. Lockdowns around the world have exacerbated this situation, making it exceedingly difficult to reach banking staff, who for the most part are working from their homes. Importing products of this type within the 5-week delivery schedule would be challenging at best, but will be extremely difficult given the pandemic’s impact on global shipping and supply chains. Without bank financing or with delays in such financing, bidders are expected to experience financial hardships and significant risks to meet their obligations through no fault of their own. Will UNOPS entertain advance payment under these unprecedented circumstances?Answer: Our procurement policy states that ‘’ Except where normal, commercial practice or the best interests of UNOPS so require, no contract shall be made on behalf of UNOPS that requires payment(s) in advance of the delivery of products or the performance of contractual services’’. Hence, the RFP states under the particular section that Advance Payment is not allowed. However, the point you have raised is rational and such requests by the awarded vender will be presented latter to higher authorities for further decision.   UNOPS ETOH Procurement Unit 

New clarification added: ​Dear Bidder, Thank you for your clarification request. Kindly find our response below under each questions, What is the required bandwidth for each school? (Upload / Download)     Answer: A bandwidth that could provide the desired service as stipulated in the schedule of requirement is acceptable. In General Download Speed 30mbps to 10 mbps. upload 2+mbps. This bandwidth is preferred considering optimal available technology in the market and reasonableness of price.      2. What is the required bandwidth for the Ministry of education? (Upload / Download)        Answer: The supplier can decide on the upload and the download  bandwidth at the ministry by considering number of  devices to be deployed at each sites, number of users need of connection at a time  and online applications and services access required by the users.​        3. How many simultaneous sites will be connected to the ministry?           Answer:  All 1500 schools should be able to connect to the ministry at a time    4.  Regarding equipment (VSAT, receiver, solar system), Would you like to own them in each site or to rent them for 5 years?     Answer : Ministry of Education will own the ground appliances    5. Please note that the VSAT needs transmission license in Ethiopia, Please confirm that the Ministry of education or the end user will arrange the transmission license?      Answer: Bidder should include any additional cost they anticipate (including fees for transmission licenses) in their financial proposal. But If MoE gets the transmission license from the government free of charge, the fee proposed by the vendor will be deducted from the total project cost.​    6.  Can you please provide us with the exact addresses of these schools?       Answer:  Answer:  The exact address of all the 1500 schools will be provided for the awarded supplier at latter stage    7.   Are they all accessible or should we arrange special methods of transportation to reach some of them? if so, how many are difficult to reach by regular transport methods (vehicles) and what are the exact addresses of these shools?     Answer : All schools are accessible by regular land transportation.  Thank you. UNOPS ETOH Procurement Unit. 

New amendment added #1: The following amendment is done to this RFP 1. The deadline for submission is amended to  2020-04- 20 -  09:00 UTC , due to the urgency demanded by the partner. 2. From the scope of the RFP – the requirement for solar power generator has been excluded as it will be the responsibility of the End user to avail the solar power generator and accessories at the end.  2.  The list of equipment to be supplied (such as satellite equipment, receiver, other aceesaeries  , etc.. ) are omitted from the scope and in the amendment bidders are requested to propose their own solution ( by indicating the list, specification and quantity  that will fully meet the UNOPS minimum technical requirement and provide the required one total solution system) - this is indicated as note to bidders  under form C- Financial Proposal Form and also under section 4.1 of the Form D: Technical Proposal Form.3- The following mandatory parameters are included as UNOPS minimum technical requirement under the schedule of requirement section-          Satellite provider need to have good data rate for east Africa-          Should not be below 70% of CIR during the bad weather-          Connectivity latency to be below 400ms5. Under the technical evaluation criteria - Oral presenation ( Point 10) is included.6. Under the particular tab – the following amendment is givenTechnical evaluation will be 2 stage.-          Phase I - Technical Proposal –  90 points-          Phase II - Oral Presentations - 10 PointsThose bidders who have achieved a minimum cumulative score of  65 /90 points will be candidate for oral presentation evaluation