;M?**r BN0LADESI|TELECOir|II|UI,|0AI0NSC0[|PNYLID'CITCL)( \F lJ t \*e- 'r'El,E.tocA.roc BltAtlAN. sTlE. EsKAl'oN cAnDEN' DrlAl(A-1000'

6',t s dltlql 'filtl

To: DearValued International ' IelecommunicationCarrters

Our ref: I'lS. 0I-34120 l2l Dated: 0$- I l -201 5

Subject: Request for Proposal (RFP) for International Internet Bandwidth through

International Terrstrial Cable (ITC) for the operation of BTCL's Internet

Service.

Please be inforrned that B'ICL wants to procure the servioe mentionecl in the subiccl'

BTCL is hereby inviti'g o1ler/propoial frorn International f elecoumunicatior.t

service providers regarding the above service.

In this regarcl, you are recluested to sefrd offer/proposal in properly sealed envelop^c as

per attached ilFP Dn.,-t,.rt"nt by 12:00 hours BST Novet.nber 22' 20l5 RpP

Document wil l be avai lable at rvrvrv.btcl. gov.bd.

Al l the offers/proposals rvi l l be opened on 13:00 hours BSl 'November 22,2015 i t ' t

front of the bidder's representatives if any

Attachment: RFP clocutlent l5 (Fifteen) pages.

Best Regards

---:.:-l / ,/

u a. sn a r(nza,#,9' tt' | >Director (Intemational). I) I CLTe l : t ' 880-2-9320115Fax: t -880-2-9320116E-mail : dir int@btcl.net.bdWebsite: rvrvrv.btcl.gov.bcl

Copy lbr kind information zrnd necessary action please-

l) GM (OTR), BTCt., I(arai l , I lanani, Dhaka.2) GM Transmission. BTCL, Mohakhali, Dhaka3) Director (Finance and Accounts), BTCL, Dhal<a

4) Divisional Engineer (MW Mtc.-l), BTCL, Rarnna, Dhaka

5) Divisional Engineer (Tlx&TP), Moghbazar, Dhaka

6) Divisional Engincer' (Admin. ancl Co-ord.)' Moghbazar' Dhakayour are reqiested to kinclly arrange to furnish the letter of invitation o1- ofler

along with RFP <iocumcnt on the B1'CL's websites)

€srcrde4w@{

Bangladesh Telecommunications GompanyLimited (BTCL)

Telejogajog Bhaban37lE Easkaton Garden, Dhaka-1000

Request for Proposal (RFP) for International InternetBandwidth through International Terrestrial Cable (lTG) forthe operation of BTGL's Internet service.

November 2015

CIPage 1 of 15 Y&) *-

1. Introduction

Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) is a leadingtelecommunication service provider in Bangladesh. It is providing all kinds ofTelecommunication services e.g. Basic Telephony, Data Communication, Leased LineInternet, Domestic L2 and L3 VPN, ADSL, GPON, Broadband Internet service etc. In

order to facilitate more bandwidth to the Internet users, BTCL intends to expand ib

Internet Bandwidth capacity through International Terrestrial Cable (ITC). With

this in view, BTCL invites offer from the International IP bandwidth providers

through International Terrestrial Cable (ITC).

2. Eligibility requirement of the bidder

2.1. The Bidder must not have been declared bankrupt or filed for bankruptcy in

any country.

2.2. The Bidder's offered IP node shall have sufficient uplink bandwidth capacitywith at least other three (03) ller-l Internet backbones'

3. Service requirement for this proposal

3.1. With a view to expanding the Internet bandwidth capacity, BTCL intends toprocure IP bandwidth directly from the International IP bandwidth provider

through International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) system'

3.2. BTCL is considering procuring a symmetric 2xsTM-16 international IP

bandwidth to be terminated to BTCL POP at Benapole, Jessore, Bangladesh'

Page 2 of 15

eBGP PeeThetu{een I

BTCL'S Gatevlay Router :and :

Bidder's Gatevray Routerl

-""'-- zxsn4-te hterface

Globdl Irternet cloud

Figure: Network diagnm for the proposed 2XSTM-16 IP transit connedivity throughITC

4. Leasing duration of IP bandwidth

The duration of the IP bandwidth lease shall be one year effective from the date ofthe commissioning of the service.

5. Submission of offer

The hard copies of the offer shall be submitted in person or sent by postal mail to thefollowing address within the date stipulated in the invitation notice. It is the bidder'sresponsibility to ensure that the offers are submitted in time to the following address.

Director InternationalBangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL)Telejogajog Bhaban (2nd Floor),3ZE, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka-1000, BangladeshPhone: +880 293201t5FAX: +880 2 9320116Email: dirint@btcl.net.bd

6. Late offers

Any Offer received by BTCL after the deadline for submission of offers prescribed byBTCL shall be rejected and returned unopened to the bidder.

BTCL's MIJX

Page 3 of 15e4- jfr s-

7. Clarification of offerc

7.1. The evaluation committee of BTCL may ask the bidder for the clarification ofits offer.

7.2. the request for the clarification and the response may be in writing and /orvia email.

8. Validity of offer

Price offer must remain valid for 180 (One hundred and eighty) days after thedate of bid opening prescribed by BTCL. A bid valid for a shorter period than thespecified period shall be considered "Non-responsive" by BTCL'

9. Clarifications and amendment of documents

9.1. A prospective Bidder requiring any clarification of the Offer Document maynotiry such queries to BTCL, in writing, by letter or facsimile, at the mailingaddress/FM indicated in the invitation of offer. The bidder shall also sendone copy of query to the email address mentioned in the invitation of Offer.

9.2. At any time prior to the deadline for submission of Offers, BTCL may, for anyreason, whether at its own initiative or in response to a clarificationrequested by a prospective Bidder, amend/ modifu the Offer Document byamendment.

9.3. The amendment will be notified to all prospective Bidders. Such amendment,if made, shall become part of the Offer Document and will be binding onprospective bidders. BTCL reserves the rights to add/ delete/ modiff anycondition of Offer Document.

9.4. In order to provide reasonable time to the prospective Bidders to take theamendment into account in preparing their Offers, BTCL may at itsdiscretion, extend the deadline for the submission of Offers, by any period oftime it deems fit.

10. Format and signing of the submitted offer

10.1. The bidder shall prepare one complete set of original offer and makeanother copy of the same. The original one shall be marked as 'Original

Offer' and the copy as 'Copy'. In the event of any discrepancy between thecopies, the original shall govern.

10.2. The original and the copy of the offer shall be typed or printed, properlyindexed and all the pages numbered consecutively including the annexure (if

trPage 4 of 15 q* As\ &-

any) and each page shall be signed by the bidder or a person or persons

duly authorized to submit the ofFer.

10.3. A Soft Copy of the offer document shall also be provided' The Soft Copyshall contain the exact replica of the offer' All the suppofting documents,printed literature etc. shall be scanned and copied into the Soft Copy. Thesoft copy may be submitted on CD or via email as mentioned above,

10.4. All the forms for lot should be properly filled. If any section of any form isnot applicable for the bidder, it must be clearly mentioned in the relevantforms by marking as "t{ot Applicable" or "N/A".

11. Documents to be submitted with the offer

For participating in the bid, the bidder shall submit the following documents alongwith the offer:

11.1. A 'schedule of Compliance', listing every clause/ sub-clause of this RFP

11.2. A sample list of customers, if not covered by non-disclosure agreement,who have been provided STM-4 and higher capacity Internet bandwidththrough ITC.

11.3. Copy(ies) of the Service Level Agreement (StA) and any otheragreemenfldocument, to be signed by both BTCL and the successful bidder,containing at least the requirements stated in this document. BTCL shall notsign any other document/agreement later on (except technical informationsheet), if those are not submitted by the successful bidder in his offerearlier.

11.4. Filled up forms given in Annexure to provide concise technical/otherrelevant information to BTCL for easv evaluation and selection of theprovider.

11.5. A copy of network diagram showing interconnection points, backup linK,details of peering with Internet Exchanges and other ISPS in the country andin other countries should be provided. Details about Diversity and

p

according to the following format.

Clause/ Sub-ClauseFully CompliedYes/No/Paftial

Describe the deviationin case of paftiaUNon

compliance

Page 5 of 15 cr 4; G_

Redundancy in the Internet Bandwidth should be provided for evaluationpurposes and shall form part of the agreement.

12. Responsibilities of the parties

12.1. Resoonsibilitv of BTCL

12.1.1. BTCL will provide 2XSTM -16 backhaul connectivity from BTCL PoP atBenapole to BTCL PoP at Mogbazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

I2.t.2. gfCL will configure its router at BTCL PoP at Mogbazar, Dhaka uponreceipt of Interface IP addresses (both IPv4 and IPv6) from the successfulbidder.

12.2. Resoonsibilitv of the bidder

12.2.I. The successful bidder shall arrange all requirements to complete theconnection from their offered IP Router location to BTCL PoP at Benapole,Jessore, Bangladesh.

12.2.2. The successful bidder shall test & commission the ordered capacity ontheir Router IP port to provide IP transit service to Tier-l Internetbackbones complying with applicable international standards.

12.2.3. The successful bidder shall ensure the quality of the LEASEDINTERNET BANDWIDTH service during the tenure of the AGREEMENT;they will provide 24 hours customer service.

13. Technical requirements

13.1. The bidder must provide as much information as possible about the existingIP connectivity in their offered IP node with the global network of renownedInternet Service Provider(s), type of connectivity (peer or transit) andbandwidth capacity etc.

13.2. The bidder may provide a detailed list of PoPs at other regional andinternational locations. The following related information may also beprovided:

13.2.1. Details of locations of PoPs for Peering and Transit

13.2.2. Whether PoPs locations are owned or shared

13.2.3. Number of providers interconnected at each location and bandwidthcapacity with those providers.

Page 5 of 15

,sF .A* 0 Itu-

I

13.2.4. Physical Redundancy arrangement of the Service Provider.

13.2.5. Global network map with clear demonstration of connectivity amongvarious PoPs.

13.3. The service provider's nework shall have upstream IP links with at least 2(Two) 11er-1 ISPs, with less than 75% utilization at all times.

13.4. The Bandwidth asK for must be symmetric and must be un-contended'

13.5. The bidder shall specify the proposed interface/hardware detail of theconnectivity at their offered IP node such as Equipment Name, Model, andMake etc.

13.6. In BTCL side, termination of the bandwidth will be done at 02 Owo) STM-16POS interface of BTCL's one of the gateway routers. Both the STM-16 linkswill be bundled together for load balancing' The gateway Router model is

NetEngine NE40E manufactured by Huawei Technologies, China.

13.7. If the ITC PoP and offered IP node is in different locations, the transmissionlinks between the two shall be in self-healing configurations for 100o/onetwork availability.

13.8. The link between two IP Access Nodes (BTCL and Provider) shall work asWAN link.

13.9. Routing between BTCL and the successful bidder shall support both staticand BGP. BGP peering between BTCL and the successful bidder shall be withphysical interface IP address or loop back IP address (both IPv4 and IPv6)ofthe same Router.

13.10. The successful bidder may use lP-prefix filter list or ASN filter list. In caseof lP-prefix fllter list, 'LE 24' for IPv4 and 'LE 48' for IPv6 shall be allowed'The Bidder would support BTCL for updating of prefix-lists/access lists within24-hour of request sent from BTCL.

13.11. The bidder shall provide ASN information and in case of multiple ASN, theconnectivity to BTCL shall be from the better AS path distance.

13.12. The bandwidth to be procured shall be used by the local ISPs, Corporatebodies and educational Institutions already connected or will be connectedwith BTCL network on rental basis. So, the successful IP transit providershall arrange to permit the BTCL Customer's own IP addresses (both IPv4and IPv6), allocated by APNIC in addition to BTCL's own IP addresses (bothIPv4 and IPv6).

Page 7 of 15vArg *-

14. Lead time to establish the service

The bidder, in the offer, shall indicate the lead-time to establish the service afterWork Order is issued to them, which should not be more than 4 (four) weeks.

15. Service level agreement benchmarks

The successful bidder (the service provider) shall sign a Service Level Agreement(stA) with BTCL. The Slj will specify the standards for the service provider toprovide the seruice quality, network reliability and service availability. The maincomponents of the Sl-A will be on the following parameters;

. Service Availability

. Round Trip Delay/Network Latency

. Packet Loss

These parameters shall satisfy the requirements as specified in the relevant clauSesin this document. The bidder shall clearly state the methods used for measuringvarious parameters. The bidder may also indicate the throughput deficiency credit,service outage credit, packet loss credit and latency credit for inclusion in the SLA'The bidder's service level and the service outage credit shall not be below to thatspecified by BTCL in this RFP. The details of customer support contact points andprocedure for registration of complaints shall also be provided by the bidder forinclusion in the SLA. The bidder shall clearly specifli the details of its obligations andsupport provided to BTCL during the agreement period. Both the parties will signS[A, soon after the purchase order is issued.

15.1. Service quality and availability

15.1.1. Availabil ity

Services for IP network shall be provided at a guaranteed level. This shall apply toServices Drovided on network between the bidder's router and BTCL's Gatewayrouter. In the event that service level falls below guaranteed level, the followingcompensation shall be payable:

0

Cumulative Downtime in anyCalendar Month

Compensation equivalent toProrated monthlY rental charge

Up to 10.0 minutes Nil10.1 minutes-4hours 1 day's charge4 hours - 12 hours 3 days'charge

More than 12 hours3 days'charge plus 1 day's charge foreach full hour beyond 12 hours

7 day's clrarge shatt be alarlated dividing ffrc monthly ranrring darge by 30 (thirty).

Page I of 15e% fi

15.1.2. Round Trip delay /IP Layer Connectivity

15.1.2.1. The average monthly round trip delay (two ways, going plus

coming back) measured over a calendar month from the IP gatewayrouter port of BTCL at Dhaka to the IP port of the first hop router ofupstream provider shall not be greater than 20 msec.

L5.L.2.2. The average monthly round trip delay Between BTCL and NYIXof USA shall not be more than 260 msec in all cases.

15.1.2.3. Round trip delay (RTD) shall be measured by computing theaverage RTD for one thousand (1000) pings (with acknowledge foreach previous packet received) ofsixiy four (64) bytes each'

15.L.2.4. The average monthly packet loss to the last hop router in anyPoP of the successful bidder shall be less than 0.3olo, measured fromthe IP gateway router port of BTCL, Dhaka. Packet Loss shall bemeasured by computing the percent packet loss of one thousand(1000) pings (with acknowledge for each previous packet received)of sixty-four (64) bytes each.

15.1.2.5. Following compensations shall be provided by the serviceorovider in case of the violation of the above clauses'

15.1.2.6. In case the above-mentioned parameters exceed for consecutivethree months then BTCL shall have the right to terminate the ServiceAgreement with the Service provider.

L5.L.2.7. C.ompensation due for failure to meet "Availability" or "Round-tripdelay" or "Packet Loss" guarantees will be adjusted from periodicrental charge payment.

15.1.2.8. The total maximum aggregated compensation payable by seruiceprovider to BTCL in any month shall not exceed total monthly

Round-Trip Delay toNYIIX USA

Packet LossCompensation

equavalent to Pro-rated

>261msec<33Omsec 1 day charge>330 msec 7 Days'charge

greater than 0.3olo andless than 1olo

1 day charge

Greater than 1olo 7 Days charges

Page 9 of 15q %>tr &

recurring charge (MRC). The combined cumulative compensation tobe issued during the contract period shall be limited to 20olo of thetotal contract value.

15.1.2.9. Failures, interruptions, defects or delays in transmission due toany of the following reasons shall not count toward the calculation ofservice downtime.

i. Testing the Service after mutual agreement between BTCL andservice provider although no fault has been detected or repofted.

ii. The Service modification or alteration in any way after mutualagreement between BTCL and Seruice provider

iii. Any Force Majeure evenu

iv. Any interruptions resulting from defects or failures in theBangladesh end Backhaul or BTCL end apparatus'

15.2. The bidder shall provide access to web-based tools, which will allowgraphical monitoring of the ports from the bidder's end for packet drops,errors, bandwidth utilization, circuit availability etc. Details of such toolsshould be provided in the bid. The bidder shall also provide looking glass

facility within the quoted price,

15.3. The bidder is required to provide comprehensive service support on 24hours X 7 days basis from the date of commencement of services for theentire agreement period without any additional fees and charges.

15.4. The bidder shall allow remote Black-holing of malicious IP addressesthrough BGP announcements.

15.5. On demand from BTCL, the successful bidder shall block access ofundesirable web sites which are of defamatory, offensive, or abusive or ofobscene, nuisance, hoax, threatening, or menacing character. The serviceprovider shall block access to websites providing IP Telephony Services.

15.6. The successful bidder shall have a reliable and efficient Intrusion detectionand Mitigation system to block DoS and DDoS attack over the offered link'The details of the setup need to be provided.

15.7. The successful bidder shall support IPv6 and 4-Byte ASN implementation,when required by BTCL in addition to IPv4 and 2-Byte ASN support. Thebidder shall peer with BTCL's router using both IPv4 and IPv6 address. Thebidder shall also allow transit BTCL and its Customers'IPV4 as well as IPV6

q- .h)Page 10 of 15

IP Prefixes without additional charges.

15.8. NOC Support, Fault repofting and maintenance

15.8.1. The service provider shall submit Network Operation Center (NOC)fault reporting procedures, format of trouble ticket and its generation

mechanism. The service provider shall also submit a separate sheetsummarizing contact Telephone numbers (to be accessed fromBangladesh), Facsimile, email addresses etc. at different levels/points toreport fault or to seek any suppoft service along with escalation hierarchyin terms of number of hours.

15.8.2. The successful service provider shall carry out any schedulemaintenance in its networK which affects BTCL's traffic between 0200 and0800, Hrs window of Bangladesh Standard Time (BSD and must notiffbefore at least 3 (three) Bangladesh working days (Sunday to Thursday)in advance. Otherwise, schedule maintenance carried out outside theabove-mentioned time frame shall be taken into calculations while anivingat service availability figures.

15.8.3. All Scheduled testing requirements shall be notified at least 7 daysprior to the testing. Test plans shall be provided at least seven businessdays prior to the test.

15.8.4. The seruice provider would provide mechanism, to BTCL' to measureand monitor the SLA as mentioned above.

16. Financial proposal

16.1. All prices must be quoted in US Dollar (US$).

16.2. All prices must be quoted inclusive of VAT, all relevant taxes and charges,interconnection/cross-connection charges (if any) from the offered ITCstation. The quoted price shall remain unchanged during the contractedperiod.

16.3. BTCL will pay the recurring charges quarterly on post-paid basis. The onetime charge (if any) shall be paid with the first quarter recurring bill'

16.4. Amount of discount, if any, must be clearly mentioned.

16.5. The price offer shall be strictly submitted in the Form A-2.

16.6. Disagreemen{deviation of any or many of the above clauses 76'7 to 76'5shall be treated as 'l{on-responsive" of the Bid.

Page 11 of 15q4> 0 +-

16.7. Any conditional price offer shall also be treated as *Non-responsive",

16.8. The bidder may offer specific financial incentives for the service to berenewed after completion of one year contract period.

17, Evaluation ofthe offerc

17.1. BTCL shall evaluate the offers to determine whether they are complete andwhether all required information have been provided. If any bidder does not

submit any document at the time of submission of offer, evaluation of bidswill be based on available documents in the bid and clarification submittedin response to query by BTCL (if any)' Non-submission of any document willbe treated as non-availability of documents.

I7.2. Offers without clause-by-clause compliance statement shall not beconsidered for evaluation.

t7.3. lf certain clause(s)/ sub-clause(s) are missed or left unattended in thecompliance statement, such clause(s)/sub-clause(s) shall be considered asnon-compliant by the bidder.

I7.4. lf a clause has been stated as non-compliant or partially complied, thebidder will provide full details of such deviations'

17.5. BTCL will determine the substantial responsiveness of each offer. Asubstantially responsive offer is one, which conforms to all the terms andconditions of the Offer documents without material deviations. BTCL'sdetermination of offers responsiveness is to be based on the contents of theoffer itself without recourse to extrinsic evidence.

17.6. The bidder shall note that information to be given against Clause 73.7 andClause 73,2is very impoftant for evaluation of the submitted offer.

L7.7. An offer, determined as substantially non-responsive will be rejected byBTCL. BTCL may waive any minor infirmity or non-conformity or irregularityin an offer, which doesn't constitute a material deviation, provided suchwaiver, doesn't prejudice or affect the relative ranking of any bidder.

17.8. Financial offers of only responsive bids will be evaluated for selection of thesuccessful bidder. For financial comparison of the responsive bids will bebased on the total charges (one time charge and Monthly Recurring Charge)BTCL shall have to pay for the whole one year contracted period.

17.9. Prior to finalizing the selection of successful bidder, BTCL may determinewhether the bidder of evaluated lowest bid has the capability to deliver the

Page 12 of 15 V rla {t-

service satisfactorily. As part of this, BTCL may take necessary steps,whichever fits desirable and practical to them, to veriry informationcontained in the bidder's offer. If the lowest bidder has already beenworking with BTCL, then its technical peformance of the service, quality ofcustomer service etc. as a voice carrier/ IP bandwidth provider may betaken in to consideration prior to finalizing the award.

L7.70. An affirmative determination shall be a prerequisite for award of theContract to the bidder. A negative determination shall result in rejection ofthe Bidder's offer, in which event BTCL shall proceed to the next lowestevaluated bidder to make a similar determination of that bidder's capabilitiesto perform satisfactorily. In this process the "Successful Bidder" will beselected.

L7.!I. BTCL reserves the right to accept any bid, to annul the bidding process,or to reject any or all bids, at any time prior to contract award, withoutthereby incurring any liability to the affected bidders, or any obligation toinform bidders ofthe grounds for BTCL's actions.

17.12. After the opening of bids, information relating to the examination,clarification, and evaluation of bids shall not be disclosed to any person(s)not officially concerned with the evaluation and selection process.

L7.L3. BTCL reserves the right to accept or reject any or all offers withoutassigning any reason thereof.

18. Governing laws and jurisdiction

The Request for Proposal, consequent Work Order and agreement etc. shall be boundby Bangladeshi Laws. All disputes relating to this RFP and the resulting contract shallbe subject to the jurisdiction of Courts in Dhaka, Bangladesh only.

v.&tr &

Page 13 of 15

::Annexure::

Form-A.1.1

ITC Station/IP PoP Checklist ofthe bidder

Serial Item Information

1 Name of the offered ITC Station

2 Owner of the ITC Station

3Offered IP Termination Node location (FullAddress)

4Name of the Tler-l ISP Network havingconnectivity with the bidder's network alongwith capacities

5Distance between fTC Station and IPTermination Node

6Name of the Internet Exchange (IX) havingconnectivity with the bidder's network alongwith capacities.

7Whether Backhaul Link capacity OWNED bythe bidder or LEASED from other carrier

8If leased from other carrier, the name of theowner of the carrier

9Is there redundancy in backhaul links? (Yes orNo)

10 If yes, switch-over time in case of failure of themain link

Page 14 of 15

ar (x> 0

Capacity (Duplex)One timeCharge (ffany), USD

MonthlyRecurringCharge*,

USD

TotalPrice** for

I years,USD

Comment(if any)

2 X STM-16/OC-48

x Including VAT and other relevant taxes applicable outside Bangladesh'*x Including One Time Charge (OTC) and Monthly Recurring Charge (MRC) charges.

q-&) +-

FORM A.2

Price Offer for IP Bandwidth through ITC System

'--*-*End of Document

Page 15 of 15