Request for Proposal (RFP) for the provision of internet services to the United

Nations System Staff College in Turin, Italy

Date: 3 September 2021

Request for Proposal no 2021/6

Dear Sir/Madam,

The United Nations System Staff College (hereinafter UNSSC) is hereby undertaking the

solicitation of Proposals from companies to provide internet services to the UNSSC in

Turin, Italy. The successful bidder shall be contracted for this purpose for long-term

agreement.

To enable you to submit a Proposal, attached are:

Annex I Instructions to offerors

Annex II Terms of reference

Annex III Proposal submission form

Annex IV Technical Proposal submission form

Annex V Financial Proposal submission form

Annex VI Evaluation Criteria

Your offer comprising of:

• duly signed Proposal submission form;

• technical Proposal; and

• financial Proposal,

should reach the following email address by 30 September 2021 at 12:00 (UTC+02:00)

[email protected]

subject: RFP No. 2021_6 Selection of Internet Service Provider for the UNSSC
 Annex I

Instructions to Offerors

A. INTRODUCTION

1. GENERAL
This Annex outlines detailed procedures to be followed by interested offerors in
submitting their offer to UNSSC.
The Offeror is expected to examine all instructions, forms, terms and specifications
contained in the solicitation documents. Failure to comply with these documents may
affect the evaluation of the Proposal.

B. SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS

2. REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION

A prospective Offeror requiring any clarification of the solicitation documents may notify in
writing the procuring UNSSC entity using the address [email protected]. The
UNSSC procuring entity will respond in writing to any request for clarification received
earlier than 5 days prior to the deadline for the submission of Proposals. The
organization’s response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the
source of inquiry) will be posted on the UNSSC’s website.

3. AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS

At any time prior to the deadline for submission of Proposals, the procuring UNSSC entity
may, for any reason, whether at its own initiative or in response to a clarification
requested by a prospective Offeror, modify the solicitation documents.
All prospective Offerors that have been invited and/or have downloaded the solicitation
documents will be notified in writing of all amendments to the solicitation documents
through the UNSSC’s web-site.
To afford prospective Offerors reasonable time for incorporating additional details in their
offers, the procuring UNSSC entity may extend the deadline for the submission of
Proposals, if deemed necessary.

C. PREPARATION OF PROPOSALS

4. COST OF PROPOSALS
The Offeror shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of the
Proposal. The UNSSC will in no case be responsible or liable for those costs, regardless
of the conduct or outcome of the solicitation.
5. LANGUAGE OF THE PROPOSAL
The Proposals prepared by the Offeror and all correspondence and documents relating to
the Proposal exchanged by the Offeror and the procuring UNSSC entity shall be written in
the English language. Any printed literature furnished by the Offeror may be written in
another language so long as accompanied by an English translation of its pertinent
passages in which case, for purposes of interpretation of the Proposal, the English
translation shall govern.

6. DOCUMENTS COMPRISING THE PROPOSAL

The Proposal shall comprise the following components:
a) Proposal Submission Form (Annex III);
b) Technical Proposal: the financial Proposal shall be presented using the matrix in
Annex IV;
c) Financial Proposal: the financial Proposal shall be presented using the matrix in
Annex V.

7. CURRENCY OF THE PROPOSAL

All prices shall be quoted in EURO (€) and shall not include VAT.

8. VALIDITY OF PROPOSALS
Proposals shall remain valid for one hundred and twenty (120) days after the deadline for
submission for Proposals set by UNSSC. A Proposal valid for a shorter period may be
rejected by the UNSSC on the grounds that it is non-responsive.
In exceptional circumstances, the procuring UNSSC entity may solicit the Offeror’s
consent to an extension of the period of validity. The request and the responses thereto
shall be made in writing. An Offeror granting the request will not be required nor permitted
to modify its Proposal.

9. FORMAT AND SIGNING OF PROPOSALS

The Proposals shall be completed following the format structure indicated in para 6. A
Proposal shall contain no interlineations, erasures, or overwriting, except as necessary to
correct errors made by the Offeror, in which case such corrections shall be initialed by the
person or persons signing the Proposal.

D. SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

10. MARKING OF THE PROPOSALS

The Offeror shall email the Proposal as an attachment to the following email address:
[email protected]
And the following subject:
“RFP_2021_6 for the Provision of Internet Services to UNSSC”

11. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

Proposals must be received by the procuring UNSSC entity at the email address
specified in para. 10 no later than 30 September 2021 at 12:00 (UTC+02:00).
The UNSSC may, at its own discretion, extend this deadline for the submission of
Proposals by amending the solicitation documents, in which case all rights and
obligations of the UNSSC and Offerors previously subject to the deadline will thereafter
be subject to the deadline as extended.

12. LATE PROPOSALS

Any Proposal received by the procuring UNSSC entity after the deadline for submission
of Proposals will be rejected.

13. MODIFICATION AND WITHDRAWAL OF PROPOSALS

The Offeror may withdraw its Proposal after the Proposal’s submission, provided that
written notice of the withdrawal is received by the procuring UNSSC entity prior to the
deadline prescribed for submission of Proposals.
The Offeror’s withdrawal notice shall be prepared in accordance with the provisions of
clause Deadline for Submission of Proposals.
No Proposal may be modified subsequent to the deadline for submission of Proposals.
No Proposal may be withdrawn in the interval between the deadline for submission of
Proposals and the expiration of the period of Proposal validity specified by the Offeror on
the Proposal Submission Form.

E. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS
14. Proposals will be evaluated along the structure and the criteria illustrated in annex VI.

F. AWARD OF CONTRACT

15. AWARD CRITERIA, AWARD OF CONTRACT

The UNSSC reserves the right to accept or reject any Proposal, and to cancel the
solicitation process and reject all Proposals at any time prior to award of contract, without
incurring in any liability to the affected Offeror or any obligation to inform the affected
Offeror or Offerors of the grounds for the UNSSC’s conduct.
Prior to expiration of the period of Proposal validity, the UNSSC will award the contract to
the qualified Offeror whose Proposal after being evaluated, is considered to be the most
responsive to the needs of the organization. UNSSC might need to present the proposals
received to its Local Committee on Contract if required. The award criteria are outlined in
Annex VI.

16. SIGNING OF THE CONTRACT

Within 30 days of receipt of the contract the successful Offeror shall sign and date the
contract and return it to the UNSSC.

17. FORM OF CONTRACT AND STANDARD CONDITIONS

The award contract shall be offered for an initial period of two (2) years renewable for two
additional terms of two (2) years. The contract shall be subject to the United Nations
Standard Conditions of Contract for the provision of Services (UNGCC) available here:
https://www.un.org/Depts/ptd/sites/www.un.org.Depts.ptd/files/files/attachment/page/pdf/g
eneral_condition_services.pdf

Any reservation or comments concerning the content of the UNGCC applicable to the
contract awarded under the terms and conditions of this proposal must be included in the
proposals. The absence of any reservation or comments will be considered by the
UNSSC as acceptance of all the terms stated in the applicable UNGCC. Such terms
include the regulation of the intellectual property rights, including but not limited to
patents, copyrights, and trademarks, which are the result, directly or indirectly of the
services provided to the UNSSC by the Offeror specified in this document, including its
annexes.
 Annex II

Terms of reference

A. BACKGROUND

The United Nations System Staff College was created by the General Assembly to serve
as a distinct, system-wide knowledge-management and learning institution.
The goal of the Staff College is to provide strategic leadership, strengthen interagency
collaboration, increase operational effectiveness, encourage cooperation with
stakeholders, and develop a more cohesive management culture within the UN System.
In particular, the Staff College is mandated to focus on economic and social development,
peace and security, and the internal management of the UN System.

The Staff College aims to tackle global challenges at their root by strengthening the
institutional and management capacities of the UN System. In particular by:
- Providing training and learning services to UN staff members;
- Delivering management solutions to UN organizations;
- Supporting inter-agency collaboration within the UN System;
- Encouraging cooperation with the private sector and civil society;
- Promoting good management practices throughout the UN System.

B. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT

1. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

All the services required as described below need to be implemented at the premises of
the UNSSC.
UNSSC is located at pavilion “Oceania - 19” of the UN Campus in viale Maestri del
Lavoro 10, Torino (picture below).
 2. INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
UNSSC requires a dedicated, symmetric and permanent fiber optic connection at 1 Gb/s.
In order to ensure diversity and resiliency with existing solution, Proposers are requested
to provide details regarding the transport layer (including potential suppliers and paths)
and the IP layer (including upstream providers). Multiple proposals may be sent based on
different transport networks.
The fiber circuit has to be delivered at Oceania 19 Datacenter marked with “19” on the
map (please see above).
The connection must be traffic-independent flat fee, unlimited usage, without any further
restrictions of use (i.e. proxy, firewall, filtering server) and the internet bandwidth must be
a dedicated (1:1) , symmetric line, not shared with other customers.
The Internet Service Providers must not capture or record the receiving and sending
transmission and packets. Provider shall not scan traffic (should a scan be necessary to
find problems in the network, a prior agreement must be obtained).

3. DEVICES INSTALLED AT UNSSC PREMISES

ISP shall offer a solution without a managed router. Proposals with device managed by
the ISP will not be considered.
ISP shall provide connectivity to UNSSC installed device via fiber Gigabit Ethernet
interface.

4. IP PROTOCOL AND ROUTING

Both IPv4 and IPv6 must be supported.
ISP shall provide a /27 IPv4 PA network prefix.
ISP shall provide a /48 IPv6 PA network prefix.
Layer 3 routing shall be based on BGPv4.
ISP shall announce provider independent IPv4 and IPv6 prefixes originated from UNSSC
AS and AS of partner organization(s).
ISP should be able to advertise all the following routing prefixes:
• the IPv4 and IPv6 Internet Full Routing Table
• a subset of the IPv4 Internet Full Routing Table based on UNSSC requirement
• IPv4 and IPv6 default routes
ISP shall support BGP communities for traffic engineering and provide a link to its routing
policy.
Example of Policy should include options for:
• filtering outbound announcements to specific upstream, peer or interconnection
• prepending ISP ASN on announcements to specific upstream, peer or
interconnection
• black-hole traffic to specific host (RFC5635)
• set ISP local preference for UNSSC and partner’s AS prefixes
BFD (bidirectional forward detection) should be supported.

5. PERFORMANCE
ISP shall provide a topology map of their network, showing all major connections and
their associated bandwidths.
ISP shall have at least two upstream providers. It is desirable that these upstream are
Tier 1 or Tier 2 (please provide details).
It is desirable that the ISP is present in most important Internet Exchanges (IX) such as,
but not limited to, AMSIX, DECIX, LINX, PARIX, MIX, NYIIX.
Presence at Swiss Internet Exchanges such as CIXP, TIX, SwissIX will be an advantage.
ISP shall provide a matrix of baseline RTT between its PoP.
ISP shall not apply any measures to limit bandwidth nor any kind of QOS.

6. SECURITY
ISP may propose an optional anti-DDOS solution.

7. SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT

Service Availability Guarantee

ISP shall guarantee 99.5% availability of the solution provided on a yearly basis. Network
unavailability will be defined as being when the UNSSC network monitoring system
cannot reach a set of defined targets within and outside the ISP network. ISP shall
provide reliable target(s) that can be used for network monitoring.

Bandwidth Guarantee
ISP shall provide a guarantee that
• 95% of the bandwidth will be available, at any moment, to reach a destination
within the ISP network
• 80% of the bandwidth will be available, at any moment, to reach a destination of a
major service or content provider (e.g. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google)
Latency Guarantee
ISP shall provide a guarantee that average RTT will not exceed more than 30% the
values provided in the baseline RTT for 99% of the time on a monthly basis.

Packet Loss
ISP shall provide a guarantee that packet loss will not exceed 0.01% for 99% of the time
on a monthly basis.
Packet loss will be measured from UNSSC network monitoring system by sending probes
to a set of defined targets within and outside the ISP network. ISP shall provide reliable
target(s) that can be used for this purpose.

SLA violations
ISP shall provide a document that describes compensations based on requested SLAs.
For this purpose, ISP shall provide a reporting platform which shows statistics and service
performance.

Installation Time
Service shall be activated within 60 calendar days from contract agreement.

Maintenance Windows
Notice of planned maintenance must be given to UNSSC SPOC at least 5 working days
before the activities take place.
All activities must be carried out in a maintenance window between 22 PM and 6 AM
CET/CEST.
The maintenance window does not apply to emergency work, which is expected to
happen no more than 2/3 times per year and to be carried out immediately. UNSSC still
expects to be notified before the start of activities.

ISP Contact
ISP shall provide a single point of contact (SPOC) for incident management and for
service requests and another single point of contact for contractual issues.

Technical Support
UNSSC requires a high level technical support always available (24H/day and 365
days/year) with proactive monitoring of the services. The technical support must be
provided directly by specialized technicians and not by a first level help desk center
(ticketing system only).
The support will be requested in:
• Link Fault Diagnosis and Management,
 • Network Equipment fault Diagnosis and Management,
• Carrier fault Contacting,
• DNS modifications and problems

8. DOMAIN MANAGEMENT
UNSSC requires the Internet Service Provider (ISP) to manage approximately 5 domains
during the duration of the contract. The domains are already in use by UNSSC and its
management shall already be included in the contract service.

9. DNS
The ISP is requested to provide a DNS service.

10. WEB-BASED STATISTICS SERVICE

UNSSC requires a real-time web-based view of its internet connection performance.
This service shall be performed in line with the following requirements:
• Data shall be collected in various graphical forms
• The generation of graphs shall be completely configurable by parameter.
• Access to the statistics and possible visual combinations shall be available
only through user/password combination.
The statistics shall be in real time with a maximum delay of 5 minutes (e.g.: the most
recent statistic shall be based on data that is not older than 5 minutes).
 Annex III

Proposal Submission Form

Dear Sir / Madam,

Having examined the Solicitation Documents, the receipt of which is hereby duly
acknowledged, we, the undersigned, offer to provide the services specified in your
Request for Proposal.
We undertake, if our Proposal is accepted, to commence and complete delivery of all
services specified in the contract within the time frame stipulated.
We agree to abide by this Proposal for a period of 120 days from the deadline
submission.
We acknowledge that it shall remain binding upon us and may be accepted at any time
before the expiration of that period.
We understand that you are not bound to accept any Proposal you may receive.

Date:

Signature:

(In the capacity of)

Duly authorized to sign Proposal for and on behalf of:

 Annex IV

Technical Proposal Forms

The Technical Proposal should not contain any pricing information whatsoever on
the services offered. Pricing information shall be separated and only contained in
the Financial Proposal (see annex V).

1. Please provide a company profile, including a detailed description of

organizational capability and resources;

2. Please provide a detailed description of your proposal, by replying to each of the

11 paragraphs mentioned in the “description of requirements” above (Annex II).
 Annex V

Financial Proposal Submission Form

Please provide a lump sum financial proposal for the service required, including
installation and migration cost, if any. The financial proposal shall be expressed
in EURO (net of VAT) and shall refer to the cost of the contract per year.
 Annex VI
Evaluation Criteria

UNSSC will undertake 2 evaluation processes. A two-stage procedure is utilized in the

evaluation process.

1. Technical Evaluation
The maximum score obtainable in the technical evaluation is 700 points. Technical
Proposals will be evaluated along the following matrix. Proposals must satisfy all the
general conditions of the following 4 groups

Demonstrated understanding and ability to execute the overall project, consistent

with the TOR:
Technical soundness with realistic approach and evidence that the need 120
has been researched
Opportunities, risks and the different components of the project adequately
weighted/taken into account
Technology levels used are justified and substantiated
Evidence of a quality assurance programme, corrective action plan or other
form of warranty programme
Flexibility to deal with change and contingencies
Deployment time
Network setup and performance
The minimum guarantee of the network's nominal bandwidth 340
The bandwidth measurements methodologies and how the bandwidth
performances are certified
The main network interconnection points with other Internet networks
The minimum guarantee of the network's service availability during the life
of the contract
If and how information service regarding the state of the network and
related control is available
If and how the redundancy of international connections is implemented
Time required for the change of management and migration
How the management of domains will be implemented
Service level agreement
Proposed Service Level Agreement (SLA) terms and conditions 200
Average time to solve a problem
Link Fault Diagnosis and Management
Network Equipment fault Diagnosis and Management
Hardware Vendor Assistance Management (routers and switches, if any),
Management of carrier faults,
Management of DNS modifications and problems
Quality of the web interface to monitor the internet usage and statics
Expertise and capability of firm i.e.:
General Organizational Capability 40
General Organizational Resources

2. Financial Proposal

Proposals will be considered for financial evaluation only if the respective technical
proposals:
a) Are respondent on all the categories of the technical evaluation (see technical
evaluation table above);
b) Passed the minimum technical score of 70% out of 700 points (equal to 490
points) in the evaluation of the technical Proposals.

The final score for the financial Proposal will be calculated as follows:
 FS= 300 x LP/F

FS= financial score

LP= lowest price
F= price of the Proposal under consideration

The maximum score obtainable in the financial evaluation is 300 points.