Army & Air Force Exchange Service 3911 S. Walton Walker Blvd. (IT-Z) Dallas, TX 75236-1598 214-312-3946 phone Dear Sir or Madam, The Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) is requesting information from the telecommunications industry regarding their interest in submitting a proposal 3G technology in support of our stores in CONUS, Europe (to include Eastern Europe), and the Pacific (Korea, Japan, Guam). This requirement does not include OEF/OIF. AAFES intends to competitively solicit for this technology for implementation in the fall of 2009. AAFES is a joint military activity providing quality merchandise and services to active duty, guard and reserve members, military retirees and their Families at competitively low prices AAFES returns earnings to the Army and Air Force to improve troops' quality of life and to provide a dividend to support MWR programs with revenues in FY07 totaling $9.7 billion. AAFES operates more than 3,000 facilities worldwide, in more than 30 countries, five U.S. territories and 49 states. The desired requirements are outlined in attachment 1. Your responses may be used to further evaluate and/or refine our requirement. If you are interested in this potential upcoming procurement, please provide: 1. Responses to the desired requirements and how you meet these. 2. Please provide a brief summary of your company including: a. How long you have been providing this technology. b. A white paper describing your technology. c. List of major customers using this technology. 3. Is your company interested in receiving our Request For Proposal (RFP) should we issue one for this effort? If so, please provide contact information for your company. Again, this is a Request for Information only. AAFES is not seeking a firm price quote. However AAFES does want to understand how the industry prices these solutions. Please provide your standard list pricing information with your response. Do not include a price quote. In the event AAFES solicits, price quotes will be requested at that time. Responses to this RFI are required by 1 April 2009, 1500CST, via email to:
[email protected]. The solicitation will be issued only to those companies that responded to this request. Sincerely Enclosure: Attachment 1 ///signed/// Yvonne Finch Contracting Officer Functional Requirements 1. Applications used with 3G: o Microsoft Outlook Exchange o Internet o VOIP (Cisco) o Point of Sales Systems (Credit Card/Bank Transactions) o ASAP Handhelds 2. Lease vs. Buy & Pricing: o Lease vs. Buy (Hardware) o Life cycle replacement as newer technology is released. o Vendor must provide an unlimited service plan at a flat pricing rate which will cover an estimated 300 + locations in CONUS and OCONUS locations. Roaming fee's not authorized. o Vendor must not charge overage fees for exceeding the 5 GB limit (plan must be unlimited). 3. Support: o 24x7 NOC/Help Desk availability by phone o Vendor will provide onsite support, within full one business day, when requested to overcome an outage at a store location. o Support AAFES worldwide assets (see coverage areas above) o Replacement assets (3G router) available in different countries (see coverage areas above). o Vendor will have on-site and telephone installation support available when requested o Vendor must be able to provide alternative systems for AAFES sites if the 3G router cannot provide support. This must be available within 24 hours. o The vendor NOC or other authorized agency must provide updates on status of down systems to AAFES designated authority. This must be provided within two hours of the network outage. However, a one hour update can be requested by AAFES during primary system outages and special circumstances. This may be accomplished by phone or email. AAFES contact points will be provided upon award of the contract 4. Bandwidth Requirements: o Dedicated o Shared o Vendor must provide a minimum bandwidth (CIR) always available. o The vendor must be able to provide detailed, daily statistics to show the contention in use is either through reports or via the web. o AAFES must have the ability to control the amount of bandwidth provided to an individual site. Either through the NOC or by controls provided by the vendor. o Systems that are deployed as backup solutions to AAFES stores must maintain an available bandwidth which can be increased when requested by phone within 2 business days. The vendor must be prepared to support full activation of back up sites with no additional hardware deployment or cost to AAFES other than monthly fees. 5. Solution Delivery: o Be able to directly ship or transship hardware through available AAFES or commercial systems based on AAFES needs. o Be able to have required hardware configured, tested, packed, and available for shipping within 7 business days from the delivery order. o Any delay or change to deliver time should be addressed immediately upon receipt of the AAFES delivery order. A partial shipment of hardware is not authorized without specific approval from the AAFES.. Vendor must be able to provide ‘real time' tracking of purchased hardware 6. Installation: o Configuration and installation of systems should be simple enough for an AAFES certified network technician to perform within one day unless it is a system outside the normal complexity. o Vendor must provide manuals and documentation that walks the deployment engineer through the 3G router setup. o The vendor must be able to send a support engineer to national and international locations to troubleshoot hardware issues. o During installations, vendor must provide plan and cost to remove any presently utilized systems when AAFES has no further need for the hardware. 7. High Availability Requirements: o Vendor must provide details and controls on SLA. These must include penalties imposed if the vendor is unable to meet the minimum requirements agreed to in the contract. 8. Hardware Specs: o Vendor must be able to provide detailed drawings of the system functionality including details regarding protocols and TCP/IP use. o Vendor system must allow for VPN tunneling or encryption from originating point to destination. o Systems must be PCI compliant. o Systems must be able to support AAFES supplied VOIP systems when requested. 9. System Management: o Vendor must be able to provide a tool for designated AAFES personnel to monitor the uptime rate and system status in real time. o Vendor must provide AAFES personnel with a minimum of two weeks notice of scheduled downtimes/outages. AAFES reserves the right to request the change of the downtime to a date or time where business communication is not affected as badly as the planned time. o Vendor must be able to provide overhead utilization in real time or within three hours when requested by AAFES. 10. Training: o Vendor must provide training required for installation, troubleshooting, or support when requested at selected AAFES locations at no cost to AAFES. 11. Environmental Requirements: o The 3G router must be operational even when placed in an environment where there is a lot of building obstructions. o The 3G router must not be affected by unpredictable weather conditions. o The 3G router must be able to operate with both a DC and AC power supply. 12. Upgrades/Options: o Through the use of a backhaul device, the vendor must provide a solution that will allow AAFES to establish a private 3G network. o AAFES must be given the option to control how bandwidth will be divided amongst its remote locations. o Vendor must provide a hardware and software solution for the eventual upgrade to 4G technology. 13. Network / Implementation Designs: The Network Design Depicts the Test Environment in the AAFES TRC (Remote Store).