MACOMBCOMMUNITY COLLEGE

RFP No. 5907

Next Generation firewall

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

No. 5907

FOR

NEXT GENERATION FIREWALL

Proposals Due: Thursday, June 25, 2015 at 2:00 P.M.

Submit Proposal to:

Macomb Community College

Purchasing Department

14500 Twelve Mile Road

Warren, MI 48088-3896 – Mailing Address

Request for Proposal No. 5907 Released May 7, 2015

Dennis Costello

Purchasing Administrator

(586) 445-7308

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1PROJECT OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND

1.1Project Overview

1.2Background Information

1.3Macomb Community College’s Technical Infrastructure

PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS AND CONDITIONS

1.4Intent

1.5Schedule of Events

1.6Proposal Clarifications

1.7Deadline for Proposals

1.8Requirements for Signing Proposal

1.9Examination of Work Site

1.10Security Bond

1.11Proposal Response Format

1.12Confidential Information

1.13Right to Request Additional Information

1.14Proposal Preparation Costs

1.15Standard Forms and Contracts

1.16Selection Criteria

1.17Selection Process

1.18Federal or State Sales, Excise or Use Taxes

1.19Right of Refusal

1.20Turnkey Solution

1.21Proposal To Become Part of Agreement

1.22Confidential Information

2PROPOSAL RESPONSE FORMAT

2.1Introduction

2.2Executive Summary (Section 1)

2.3Company Background (Section 2)

2.4Proposed Solution Summary (Section 3)

2.5Implementation Plan (Section 4)

2.6Implementation Support and Maintenance (Section 5)

2.7License and Maintenance Agreements (Section 6)

2.8Cost Quotations (Section 7)

2.9List of Clients and References (Section 8)

2.10Technical and User Documentation (Section 9)

2.11Exceptions/Deviations from Proposal Requirements (Section 10)

3SCOPE OF WORK

4GENERAL CONDITIONS

4.1Macomb Community College Locations

4.2Vendor as Independent Contractor

4.3Conflict of Interest/Disclosure

4.4Use of Qualified and Experienced Personnel

4.5Equal Opportunity Employer

4.6Compliance with Rules and Regulations

4.7Site Damage

4.8In the Event of an Accident

4.9Non-interference with Institution Operations

4.10Site Inspection and Clean Up

4.11Campus Identification Required

4.12Responsibility for Personal Property

4.13Copyright Indemnity

4.14General Indemnity

4.15Risk During Equipment Storage and Installation

4.16Submitting Disputes to Arbitration

4.17Advertising / Permission

4.18Survival Clause

4.19Governing Law

4.20Entire Agreement

4.21Effect of Regulation

4.22Termination

4.23Assignment

4.24Performance Bond

4.25Ownership of Documents

4.26Employment of Other Vendors, Specialists or Experts

4.27Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose

4.28Final Acceptance of the System

4.29Non-Collusion Covenant

4.30Vendor Not an Agent of Institution

4.31INSURANCE

5Appendix – Campus Maps

6Appendix “B” – Mandatory Bid Response Form

Page 1

MACOMBCOMMUNITY COLLEGE

RFP No. 5907

Next Generation firewall

1PROJECT OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND

1.1Project Overview

Macomb Community College located in Warren, Michigan is accepting competitive sealed proposals from qualified companies for a Next Generation Enterprise Firewall System with extensive experience in Enterprise Firewalls. MCC desires a "defense in depth" strategy: the deployment of multiple IT security defense mechanisms between adversaries and their targets including both protection and detection methods. The proposed system must meet MCC needs for the next five (5) to ten (10) years. The goals of this RFP are to increase visibility and understanding of applications and network flows; expand traffic control options beyond mere “allow/deny”; mitigate vulnerabilities and identify threats; eliminate the need to compromise between performance and security; reduce overall security costs; and simplify risk management.

The desired system must meet all of the mandatory minimum technical requirements as described under “Mandatory Minimum Requirements” in section #4.

In addition, MCC requires:

  • Professional services for implementation of the chosen system
  • Professional Services for post-implementation enhancements or support not covered but listed below
  • A unified Next Generation Enterprise Firewall system which meets or exceeds MCC Mandatory Technical Requirements
  • Immediate Training and Documentation as well as access to additional Training and Documentation as required
  • Enhanced Hardware/Software Warranty, Maintenance and Technical Support.

The project’s requirements are more fully described in Section 4 below.

1.2Background Information

Located in Southeastern Michigan, Macomb Community College (MCC) is the second largest community college in Michigan serving more than 43,000 degree-credit students pursuing coursework annually in 39 buildings on four campuses within Macomb County. MCC has been fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges since 1970. MCC offers pre-college programs, continuing and professional education programs, customized workforce training and many cultural and community service programs.

MCC is governed by 7 elected trustees and administered by approximately 1,900 staff, including 1,000 faculty members. Community outreach efforts consist of a large compliment of community education and professional certification courses. Rounding out the programming is the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts, the Cultural Center and the John R. Dimitry Student Community Center on our Center Campus, the John Lewis Student Community Center and the 61,000-square-foot Sports & Expo Center on South Campus, a Workforce Development Institute, and the Public Service Institute (Police and Fire Academies).

1.3Macomb Community College’s Technical Infrastructure

The technology environment can be described as follows:

Communications and Networking

  • Cisco Gigabit Ethernet backbone, soon to be upgraded to 40Gig. Specific to this RFP, the current firewall and IDS/IPS configuration in use:
  • Two Cisco ASA 5540 appliances configured in a H/A pair
  • Two Cisco SSM-40 IPS Modules configured in a H/A pair
  • Cisco WS-SVC-IDSM2
  • Cisco IronPort 370 Web and Cisco Ironport C370 Email Security units
  • Dedicated fiber plant between buildings. Dedicated redundant fiber between South and Center campuses. Fiber to East and MTEC campuses.
  • Systemax Gigaspeed copper cable from MDF/IDF to office and classroom locations; about 9,000 total drops.
  • Aerohive wireless network of 950 access points are deployed in the public areas of South and Center Campus.
  • Cisco IP telephony system. Includes Unity voice mail, CER, paging application and more.
  • Microsoft Exchange 2013 email system tied to Cisco Unity voice mail.
  • Approximately 90 network servers (combination of standalone and virtual machines on a Microsoft Hyper-V infrastructure) in a native-mode Active Directory environment running Windows 2008R2 and Windows 2012R2 operating systems. Examples include web, print, network control, database, storage and application servers.
  • Internet connection is through a dedicated (and redundant) 1 Gb fiber connection to the MERIT backbone.Bandwidth shaping and traffic control is accomplished with Exinda bandwidth shaping and Cisco IronPort devices.

Business Applications

  • Ellucian Colleague system used for Finance, Human Resource, Payroll and all Student records sub-systems, such as Admissions, Grading, Registration, etc.
  • Results Plus system used for Fund Development.
  • Ellucian systems run on the Unidata database system.
  • Ungerboeck (USI) Event Business Management System (EBMS) for Conference & Events management.
  • Web services are provided through several servers. provides general college information to the public, Ellucian’swebadvisorand SharePoint-based portal system provides registration and student records access to students, our intranet site provides college information to its employees, Ungerboeck’s EBMS web server provides information to Conference & Events clients, provides information for performing arts patrons.
  • Students can use a web-based system to register, check schedules, pay bills, check grades, etc.

Staff Workstations and Printers

  • Staff workstations and printers are all network connected to 100Mbs/1Gig Ethernet ports. Workstations run Windows7. A very small number in the Graphics department are Apple Macs.
  • Approximately 50% of staff computers are laptop computers. Faculty and instructional staff are given a choice between desktops and laptops, and administrators primarily use laptops.
  • Office 2010/2013 is the office productivity bundle used by staff.
  • All staff workstations have anti-malware protection updated continuously when connected to the College’s network or the public Internet.

Other

  • Classroom mediation and presentation systems of various age and feature sets supported byExtron and Crestron control systems.

PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS AND CONDITIONS

1.4Intent

It is the intent of Macomb Community College through this Request for Proposal and contract conditions contained herein, to establish to the greatest extent possible, complete clarity regarding the requirements of both parties to the Agreement resulting from the Request for Proposal. Providers (Vendors) with relevant experience and the ability to provide the necessary services in a timely fashion are encouraged to apply.

Specifications for the proposal are listed herein. All proposals must be for material, labor and services that meet or exceed all specifications described. Proposals for services that deviate from these specifications may be considered invalid.

1.5Schedule of Events

EVENT / Date
Deadline for Submitting Clarifications / May 28, 2015
Deadline for Proposals and Public Opening / June 25, 2015 @ 2:00 P.M.
Board of Trustees funding approval (anticipated) / August 18, 2015
Installation / See Section #4

1.6Proposal Clarifications

Clarifications will be accepted via e-mail until the cut-off period and include vendor name, contact name, phone number, e-mail address and reference to the line and Section/Subsection number(s) being addressed. Responses to clarifications will be shared with all organizations that were invited to submit a proposal, but without identifying the source of the inquiry. Macomb Community College will not be bound by any oral responses. E-mail questions to:

Dennis Costello, Purchasing Administrator

Macomb Community College

14500 E. 12 Mile Road

Warren, Michigan 48088

Email:

1.7Deadline for Proposals

Proposals will be received at the Purchasing Department Office, 14500 E. 12 Mile Road, Warren, Michigan 48088 (mailing address), 16000 Hall Road, Clinton Twp, MI 48038 (office location) or (e-mail address), until 2:00 P.M. on Thursday, June 25, 2015 at which time and place proposals will be publicly opened. Proposals submitted via email, should not include any zipped or executable files as these will be blocked by the College’s security system and may not be considered as received on time. See Section 6 Appendix for a map of South Campus and location of the Purchasing Department Office.

Vendors are required to prepare and submit, at their own cost, one signed originaland two copies of the original proposal. Submission must include the Vendor’s full response including all attachments, product services and specifications, and required Vendor documentation. Electronic submission must be Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Word format. Vendors are encouraged to submit each proposal response under single cover (preferably soft sided).

The outside of the envelope must identify name of Vendor and address of the party that received the RFP, and the name of project for which the proposal is submitted (see title page).

1.8Requirements for Signing Proposal

Each Vendor, by making a proposal, represents that this document has been read and is fully understood.

The proposal must be signed in ink by an individual authorized to legally bind the person, partnership, company or corporation submitting the proposal.

All manual signatures must have the name typed directly below the line of the signature.

1.9Examination of Work Site

All respondents are expected to have examined the premises and project site prior to submitting their proposal. Failure to do so will not relieve the successful Vendor from providing any product or performing any labor or services that may be required to carry out the intent of the contract.

1.10Security Bond

A Security Bondis not required for this project.

1.11Proposal Response Format

Proposals must follow the format designated in Section 3. Proposals not complying with this format may be considered non-responsive and may be removed from consideration on this basis.

1.12Confidential Information

Information contained in proposals may be subject to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests.

1.13Right to Request Additional Information

MCC reserves the right to request any additional information, which might be deemed necessary after the completion of this document.

1.14Proposal Preparation Costs

The Vendor is responsible for all costs incurred by the Vendor or his/her subcontractors in responding to this request for proposal.

1.15Standard Forms and Contracts

Any forms and contracts the Vendor proposes to include as part of any agreement resulting from this proposal between the Vendor and MCC must be submitted as part of the proposal. Any forms and contracts not submitted as part of the proposal and subsequently presented for inclusion may be rejected. This requirement includes, but is not limited to, the following types of forms: subcontractor, franchise, warranty agreements, maintenance contracts, and support agreements.

1.16Selection Criteria

Vendors will be evaluated based on the following selection criteria:

1.16.1Compliance to Specifications

  1. Submission deadline compliance
  2. Proposal format
  3. Completeness of information supplied

1.16.2Experience

  1. Success with similar projects
  2. Experience with similar tools and applications
  3. Pertinent experience, qualifications, certifications and past performance of proposed personnel that will be directly involved in providing services, including Subcontractors
  4. Experience in similar college environments
  5. Ability to provide timely on-site services, problem resolution and telephone support
  6. Ability to provide training and comprehensive documentation
  7. General impression of Vendor’s ability to successfully provide the required services
  8. Credentials of actual installation team members.

1.16.3Proposal Price and Value

  1. Alignment of response to the College’s need
  2. The ability of equipment to interoperate with existing systems or those of a different manufacturer should one vendor offer products more appealing to the College
  3. Management system features
  4. Comprehensiveness of reporting
  5. Labor rates and other charges or expenses
  6. Value of the proposal to MCC
  7. Cost
  8. Continuing costs
  9. Preference will be given to installation Vendors/resellers that maintain a local office and retain key staff residency within 40 miles of Warren, MI
  10. Reference checks

1.17Selection Process

  1. MCC staff will evaluate, rate and select the winning Vendor based on the written information provided in the proposal.
  2. Vendors may be required to participate in a presentation and interview process where MCC representatives will further inquire about the firm’s qualifications and experience. Vendors may also be asked to provide a brief overview of their company, key personnel and how they would approach providing services.
  3. If MCC is unable to successfully negotiate and execute a contract for services with the company offering highest ranked proposal, MCC reserves the right to interview the second-ranked proposal.

1.18Federal or State Sales, Excise or Use Taxes

Vendors shall include all applicable taxes, (Federal, State, and Local) in the proposal price. Macomb Community College is exempt from State Sales Tax.

1.19Right of Refusal

Macomb Community College reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, either in whole or in part, or to waive any informalities or irregularities therein that are in the best interest of MCC.

1.20Turnkey Solution

The proposal price will be the total dollar amount of all services, material, equipment and labor described herein inclusive of warranties and shipping FOB Macomb Community College. The proposal amount is to be held firm for at least ninety days from the proposal opening date scheduled for June 25, 2015.

All prices quoted must include all equipment necessary to make the system specified fully operational for the intent, function, and purposes stated herein.

1.21Proposal To Become Part of Agreement

This RFP, Vendor’s response and any subsequent written communications, along with any formal, signed agreement will become part of the contract documentation governing performance of this project. Where conflicts exist, the later dated document will govern.

1.22Confidential Information

Information contained in the vendor’s proposal that is company confidential must be clearly identified in the proposal itself. Macomb Community College will be free to use all information in the vendor’s proposal for the owner’s purposes.

2PROPOSAL RESPONSE FORMAT

2.1Introduction

To facilitate the analysis of responses to this RFP, vendors are required to prepare their proposals in accordance with the instructions outlined in this section.

Proposals shall be prepared as simply as possible and provide a straightforward, concise description of the vendor’s capabilities to satisfy the requirements of the RFP. EMPHASIS SHOULD BE PLACED ON ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, AND CLARITY OF CONTENT. All parts, pages, figures, and tables should be numbered and labeled clearly. The proposal should be organized as follows:

Section / Title
1 / Executive Summary
2 / Company Background
3 / Proposed Solution Summary
4 / Implementation Plan
5 / Implementation Support & Maintenance
6 / License & Maintenance Agreements
7 / Cost Quotations (using the bid response form from Appendix “B”)
8 / List of Clients & References
9 / Technical & User Documentation
10 / Exceptions/Deviations from Proposal Requirements

Instructions relative to each part of the response to this RFP are defined in the remainder of this section.

2.2Executive Summary (Section 1)

This part of the response to the RFP should be limited to a brief narrative not to exceed two (2) pages, describing the proposed solution. The summary should contain as little technical jargon as possible, and should be oriented toward non-technical personnel. The Executive Summary should not include cost quotations.

2.3Company Background (Section 2)

Vendors must provide information about their company so that Macomb Community College can evaluate the vendor’s stability and ability to support the commitments set forth in response to the RFP. The Vendor should outline the company’s background including a brief description (e.g., past history, present status, future plans, company size, etc.). This section should also include a brief description of the company’s experience performing services similar to those described herein and the type of work in which the vendor specializes.

Vendor may be required to submit audited financial information for the two (2) most recently completed fiscal years, which includes income statements, balance sheets and statement of cash flows.

Privately held companies wishing to maintain confidential financial information must provide information detailing the company’s long-term stability.

2.4Proposed Solution Summary (Section 3)

Describe how vendor will address all of the requirements included in Section 4 – Scope of Work. Include descriptions of the approach, any proposed hardware and software applications, sample designs, and prototypes that describe your recommended solution.

Also, identify and provide resumes of personnel to be directly involved with providing the products and/or services that are proposed herein, including:

  1. Project Manager
  2. Network Engineer
  3. Firewall Engineer
  4. Other personnel. List all relevant experience and qualifications of other personnel within your company that might be expected to provide services to MCC.
  5. Subcontractors. List all relevant experience and qualifications of any known subcontractors that might be expected to provide services to MCC in partnership with your company.

Also provide a listing of any pre-existing conditions required of Macomb Community College to begin work on the project, and a list of decisions that will need to be made by the College before the project can begin. Describe any requirements for housing Vendor staff during the project, at Macomb Community College.