RFQQ-02-2009
for
Enterprise Antivirus Protection
for the
Public Higher Education Institutions
of the
State of Washington
Released by
Green River Community College
12401 SE 320th Street
Auburn, WA 98092
June 9, 2008
Contents
SECTION 1 1
1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1
1.1. Definition of Terms 1
1.2. Purpose 1
1.3. General Information 1
1.4. Acquisition Authority 2
1.5. Eligible Customers Defined 3
1.6. Master Contract 3
1.7. Term of Contract 3
1.8. GRCC Contract Administration Fee 3
1.9. Quantity/Usage 3
1.10 Committed Institutions 3
1.11 Participation 3
SECTION 2 4
2. ACQUISITION SCHEDULE 4
SECTION 3 5
3. ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS 5
3.1. RFQQ Coordinator 5
3.2. Response Template 5
3.3. Mandatory Requirements (M) 5
3.4. Mandatory Scored Requirements (MS) 6
3.5. Price (MS) 6
3.6. Acceptable Alternative Responses Defined 6
3.7. (M) Letter of Intent 6
3.8. Number of Response Copies Required 7
3.9. (M) Delivery of Responses 7
3.10. Cost of RFQQ Response Preparation 7
3.11. Response Property of GRCC 7
3.12. Proprietary Information 7
3.13. Waive Minor Administrative Irregularities 7
3.14. Errors in Response 7
3.15. RFQQ Amendments 8
3.16. Right to Cancel 8
3.17. (M) Contractual Requirements 8
3.18. Contract Terms and Conditions 8
3.19. Multiple Award 8
3.20. Incorporation of RFQQ into Contract 9
3.21. Best and Final Offer 9
3.22. No Costs Chargeable 9
3.23. No Obligation to Buy 9
3.24. (M) Subcontracting 9
3.25. Non-Endorsement 9
3.26. Withdrawal of Response 9
3.27. Announcement of Apparent Successful Vendors 11
3.28. Optional Vendor Debriefing 11
3.29. Protest Procedures 11
3.30. RFQQ Available Electronically 11
3.31. Vendor Complaints Regarding Requirements and Specifications 12
SECTION 4 13
4. SERVICE/PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS 13
4.1. (M) Registered and Authorized Reseller 13
4.2. (MS) Minimum Product Sales Volume 13
4.3. (M) Vendor’s Account Representative 13
4.4. (MS) Vendor’s Customer Support 13
4.5 (MS) Adding other colleges/universities and products 13
4.6 (MS) Pricing Options 14
4.7 (MS) Technical Proposal - Enterprise Antivirus Protections system components proposed and pricing. 14
SECTION 5 16
5 (MS) Product Pricing 16
SECTION 6 17
6. VENDOR QUALIFICATIONS 17
6.1. (M) Vendor Status as a Washington State Business 17
6.2. In-State Presence 17
6.3. Legal Status 17
6.4. Name, Address, and Telephone Number of Principal Officers/Account Manager 17
6.5. (MS) Prior Contract Performance 17
6.6. (MS) Customer References 17
6.7. (MS) Customer References 18
SECTION 7 19
7. EVALUATION PROCEDURES 19
7.1. Evaluation Methodology 19
7.2. Evaluation Process 19
7.3. Final Score 20
APPENDIX LIST 21
APPENDIX A - Response Template 22
APPENDIX B - Certifications and Assurances 25
APPENDIX C - Terms and Conditions 26
APPENDIX D - Protest Procedures 26
ii
SECTION 1
1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1.1. Definition of Terms
College: Green River Community College (GRCC) is the Institution of Higher Education
of the State of Washington that is issuing this RFP.
Proposal: A formal offer submitted in response to this solicitation.
Vendor: Software Vendor/Company
Publisher: Manufactures Anti-Virus Software
Software Reseller: Sells Manufacture/Vendor/Company software - Individual or
company submitting a proposal in order to attain a contract with the COLLEGE.
Node: Computer and/or workstation
License: Right to use software. Does not include media. Each license purchased indicates the number of nodes with the right to use the software.
Support: Technical advice and guidance provided by the Publisher via telephone, fax, and e-mail to eligible institutions.
Reseller’s Customer Support: Advice and guidance provided by the Vendor to the software reseller via telephone, fax, and e-mail to eligible institution’s questions pertaining to administrative issues.
1.2. Purpose
Green River Community College (GRCC) is a state agency in the State of Washington. GRCC is releasing this Request for Quotation and Qualification (RFQQ), on behalf of higher education institutions in Washington State to include four-year public higher education institutions, for the purpose of establishing qualified vendor to serve Washington’s higher education Enterprise Antivirus Protection needs. The apparent successful vendor will be awarded an “Optional Use Contract” that will be available to all of public higher education institution.
1.3. General Information
Green River Community College is a two-year public college in Washington State that offers degrees and certificates in academic and professional and technical programs, as well as courses in continuing education and developmental education. Located on 186 acres, Green River has been committed to maintaining the ecological integrity of the campus’s forested growth.
This solicitation document is for an Enterprise Anti-Virus software solution. The estimated number of desktop computers per college is 1,100 or 37,400 for all 34 Washington State Community and Technical colleges. The two-year colleges serve nearly 500,000 students each year. This is equal to 60 percent of all students enrolled in public higher education. (See http://www.sbctc.ctc.edu/public/a_index.aspx). These students will become familiar with the Anti-Virus software solution being used at our college which will likely influence their future purchasing decisions. College staff and student technicians will also be trained to install and support the selected Anti-Virus solution. In addition, the contract(s) awarded will be available for use by Washington’s six four-year colleges. We are looking for extremely aggressive pricing appropriate for this large potential market
GRCC is the only committed partner at this time. We are seeking an Enterprise Anti-Virus software solution for our main campus and three remote campuses. The estimated number of desktop computers is 2,600.
· Multi-layer defense at all access points in the network.
· Single point of contact administration, monitoring, and management.
· Centralized management updates and policy enforcement.
· Protection for a Microsoft Windows Server/Desktop environment, ISA 2006, SharePoint Server 2007, Exchange 2007, SQL 2008 and Windows XP Professional.
· Protection to 2600 computers and scalable to 4000 computers.
1.4. Acquisition Authority
The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) amended, Chapter 43.105, established the Washington State Information Services Board (ISB). While the ISB does not purchase for agencies, it regulates the manner in which state agencies may acquire information technology equipment, software, and services. ISB publishes policies and standards that determine when goods must be competitively acquired. The ISB has delegated its purchasing approval authority to CIS on behalf of the community and technical colleges of the State of Washington. Authority for the establishment of Contracts is in accordance with ISB Information Technology Policies and Procedures. CIS has delegated authority to each institution for purchases less than $100,000 each.
GRCC is releasing this Request for Quotation and Qualification under the delegated authority of the ISB and CIS. Green River Community College is referred to as GRCC or the State throughout this document and resulting Contract.
1.5. Eligible Customers Defined
Eligible Customers utilizing any resulting Contracts will be Washington State public Colleges, Universities, Community Colleges, Community and Technical Colleges, The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and the Center for Information Services. The public higher education institutions of the State of Washington established an Inter-local Agreement in 1996. The Public Higher Education Inter-local Agreement authorizes the sharing of purchasing information and Contracts for goods and services. Therefore, the public four-year higher education institutions of the State of Washington will also be included on the Eligible Customers list. (Reference Schedule A, Authorized Purchasers).
1.6. Master Contract
The contract from this acquisition process will NOT be a Department of Information Services (DIS) Master Contract.
1.7. Term of Contract
The initial term is for one year.
Extensions will be executed by GRCC by giving written notice to Vendors not less than thirty (30) days prior to the expiration date of the term of the Contract, subject to any revised terms and conditions that may then be in effect. Contract not to exceed five years, extensions to be one year at a time.
1.8. GRCC Contract Administration Fee
A GRCC Contract Administration Fee will not be applied to this Optional Use Contract.
1.9. Quantity/Usage
Since any contracts that result from this RFQQ will be designated as “Optional Use”, no guarantee of volume or usage can be given.
1.10 Committed Institutions
A list of committed institutions at the time of this RFQQ release are:
Green River Community College1.11 Participation
Each institution that chooses to use this contract will create their own purchase order based on the information in the resulting contract. Each institution will be invoiced and pay as required.
SECTION 2
2. ACQUISITION SCHEDULE
RFQQ Released / June 10, 2008Responses Due / June 24, 2008 / 2:00 PM
Vendor provide Software License codes for review of products / June 24, 2008 / 2:00 PM
Presentations (if requested) / June 30, 2008 / TBD
Notifications of “Apparent Successful Vendor) / July 8, 2008 / 2:00 PM
Vendor Debriefing (No Later Than) / July 16, 2008 / 2:00 PM
Begin Contract Negotiations / July 17, 2008 / 2:00 PM
Contract Execution, tentative / July 24, 2008
Contract Available for Orders
Transition from current product to new / August 1, 2008
August 1, 2008- Sept 30, 2008
GRCC reserves the right to revise the above schedule.
SECTION 3
3. ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS
3.1. RFQQ Coordinator
Upon release of this RFQQ, all Vendor communications concerning this acquisition must be directed to the RFQQ Coordinator listed below.
Patty Sikora, RFQQ Coordinator, Director of Purchasing
Green River Community College
12401 SE 320th Street
Auburn, WA 98092
Telephone: 253-288-3301
Fax Number: 253-288-3427
E-mail: psikora@greenriver,.edu
Unauthorized contact regarding the RFQQ with other state employees may result in disqualification. Any oral communications will be considered unofficial and non-binding on GRCC. Vendors should rely only on written statements issued by the RFQQ Coordinator. Responses to verbal requests for information or clarification will be considered unofficial until received in writing.
3.2. Response Template
A template (Appendix A) is provided as part of this RFQQ and must be used as Vendors’ response to this RFQQ. The Mandatory and Mandatory Scored items in the following text will be listed on this template. Vendors’ response to each Mandatory and Mandatory Scored item must be inserted after each item listed on this template. Space between each item may be expanded to accommodate the response. Where indicated, Vendors will attach documents to the template. Each of these documents will include the section number and the title of the RFQQ item it is meant to respond to. No other material will be considered in the evaluation of the vendor’s response.
3.3. Mandatory Requirements (M)
Vendors must respond to items marked Mandatory Requirement (M). Those requirements that are denoted by “(M)” will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis only; no scoring is credited. A Mandatory Requirement (M) sets forth minimum qualification requirements for Vendor capabilities and minimum Vendor performance levels. Failure of a Vendor’s response to pass any of the Mandatory Requirements (M) or provide an Acceptable Alternative may cause their entire proposal to be deemed non-responsive and therefore rejected from further consideration. (Reference 3.6, Acceptable Alternative Responses Defined.)
Failure to meet a Mandatory Requirement (M) is established by any of the following conditions:
a. The Vendor states a Mandatory Requirement (M) cannot be met.
b. The Vendor fails to include information requested by a Mandatory Requirement (M).
c. The Vendor fails to include sufficient information to substantiate that a given Mandatory Requirement (M) can be met.
For each of the Mandatory Requirements, the Vendor response must always indicate explicitly whether or not the Vendor’s proposed solution meets the requirement. The statement - “(Vendor Name) fully complies with this requirement” - is acceptable.
3.4. Mandatory Scored Requirements (MS)
Mandatory Scored Requirements are those RFQQ items marked (MS). Vendors must respond to each MS. Failure of a Vendor’s response to address any of the Mandatory Scored Requirements (MS) or provide an Acceptable Alternative may cause their entire proposal to be deemed non-responsive and therefore rejected from further consideration. (Reference 3.6, Acceptable Alternative Responses Defined.) Members of the evaluation team will evaluate the Vendor’s response to each MS item. The evaluation team will assign a numeric score from 0 to 4 based on the quality of the Vendor’s response. A score of 2 will be assigned if the evaluation team deems a response to minimally fulfill the requirement. A score of 4 will be assigned if the evaluation team deems a response to exceed the minimum requirement. If a score for any MS is 0, the entire proposal may be disqualified. (Reference 6.2.1, Basis for Evaluation.)
Note: Responses will be evaluated only on the material entered in and attached to the template contained in this RFQQ as Appendix A. Vendors are to disregard any previous draft material and any oral representations they may have received.
3.5. Price (MS)
Prices quoted for these products will be fixed for the life of the contract. These quotes will constitute half of the Vendors’ total score and serve as a means of comparing between Vendors.
3.6. Acceptable Alternative Responses Defined
Vendors may propose an alternative to a mandatory requirement. GRCC, at its sole discretion, will determine if the proposed alternative meets the intent of the original mandatory requirement. To be acceptable, the alternative must be one that GRCC considers satisfactory in meeting a mandatory specification.
3.7. (M) Letter of Intent
A Letter of Intent is not required for this procurement.
3.8. Number of Response Copies Required
Vendors are to submit five (5) hard copies of their proposal. Only one (1) hard copy of any technical manual referenced in the proposal is required.
3.9. (M) Delivery of Responses
Vendors must submit their responses to the RFQQ Coordinator at the address specified in RFQQ Section 3.1. Responses must be received by the RFQQ Coordinator not later than 2:00 PM local time Auburn, Washington, on the date specified in the schedule (RFQQ Section 2). Proposals arriving after the deadline will be returned unopened to their senders. Postmarking by that time will not be accepted as a substitute for receipt. Vendors assume all responsibility for the mode of dispatch selected. Responses sent by facsimile will not be accepted. Responses sent only via e-mail will not be accepted. GRCC will fax or e-mail an acknowledgment of receipt to the Vendors.
Demo software code must accompany this response.
3.10. Cost of RFQQ Response Preparation