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Matawa Broadband Development Project

Request for Expressions of Interest to Partner in the Design,

Construction and Operation of an Intercommunity Fibre Network

Expressions of Interest for a Matawa First Nation Inter-Community Fibre Network

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Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 4

Background ............................................................................................................................................................ 4

Project Area and Community Descriptions .............................................................................................................. 5

Webequie First Nation ........................................................................................................................................ 5

Nibinamik First Nation ........................................................................................................................................ 5

Neskantaga First Nation ...................................................................................................................................... 6

Marten Falls First Nation..................................................................................................................................... 6

Eabametoong First Nation................................................................................................................................... 6

Project Objectives................................................................................................................................................... 7

Partnership Structure ............................................................................................................................................. 7

Guidelines .............................................................................................................................................................. 7

General Overview ............................................................................................................................................... 7

Expected Content of Responses and / or Deliverables ......................................................................................... 7

Minimum Service Requirements ......................................................................................................................... 8

Service Definitions .................................................................................................................................................. 8

Broadband .......................................................................................................................................................... 8

High Speed Internet ............................................................................................................................................ 8

Sustainability ...................................................................................................................................................... 9

Growth ............................................................................................................................................................... 9

Financial ............................................................................................................................................................. 9

Price Chart .......................................................................................................................................................... 9

Bandwidth Guarantee ......................................................................................................................................... 9

Service Response Time ....................................................................................................................................... 9

Value Added Service ........................................................................................................................................... 9

Security ............................................................................................................................................................ 10

Timetable ......................................................................................................................................................... 10

Standards and Access ....................................................................................................................................... 10

Time to Award .................................................................................................................................................. 10

Incurring Costs ..................................................................................................................................................... 10

Vendor Presentations ........................................................................................................................................... 10

Disclosure of the Contents of Responses............................................................................................................... 11


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Additional Information on the Document ............................................................................................................. 11

Format of Response .............................................................................................................................................. 11

Evaluation Process ................................................................................................................................................ 11

Deadline for Submissions ...................................................................................................................................... 12

Conditions of the Contract .................................................................................................................................... 12

General Conditions ........................................................................................................................................... 12

Proposal Requirements ........................................................................................................................................ 13

General ............................................................................................................................................................ 13

Time Limits and Work Schedule ........................................................................................................................ 13

Submission of Proposals ................................................................................................................................... 13


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Introduction The proposed Matawa First Nations Fibre Network Development Plan is a community led project to complete the

Northwestern Ontario Broadband Expansion Initiative in the Matawa communities. The project would ensure

communities and their members have informed consent of all development on their traditional lands and take

advantage of all possible economic opportunities.

Background

Matawa First Nations and their supporting organizations have been working to develop a broadband network for education, health, administration and other applications. To this end, they have completed a feasibility study to connect their First Nations with a private broadband network, encompassing local distribution and transport facilities. However, without the promised fibre transport at improved pricing and service levels the network would not be sustainable and the sub-standard service on satellite would continue. In discussions with officials from the Northwestern Ontario Broadband Expansion Initiative (NWOBEI) it has become apparent that NWOBEI will not be able to fund the network to completion within the allocated budget. As the Matawa First Nations are the last communities to be connected in the planned NWOBEI rollout, it is clear they will be the ones that may remain unfinished. Matawa would be unable to roll out their private broadband network.

For this reason, the Chiefs of Matawa First Nations have supported moving forward to taking over the development and construction of project five section of the NWOBEI through a resolution at the Chiefs meeting in Webequie in August 2012. An update was provided in October 2012 at a meeting with government officials and mining companies. As well, in discussions with NAN officials, Bell Aliant and Northern Ontario Heritage Fund a possible transfer of the development and construction of Project Five were discussed.

This request for Expressions of Interest (EOI) intended to allow telecommunication providers the opportunity to partner with the Matawa First Nations, or their designate, in designing, constructing and operating a fibre based network.


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Project Area and Community Descriptions

Figure 1 - Map of Project Area

Webequie First Nation

Webequie consists of approximately 717 members on reserve located on Eastwood Island, 255 km northeast of Pickle Lake, and 95 members off reserve. The community is served by Bell Canada and the KNet Network has a point of presence (POP) site in the community. The public institutions include the band administration office, airport, elementary school and nursing station. At present, Webequie has high-speed cable modem service available.

Nibinamik First Nation

Nibinamik is a community of 345 on reserve and 115 off reserve people located 185 km by air northwest of Pickle

Lake, and is only accessible by winter road and scheduled air service.

The community is serviced by Bell Canada through Bell’s RF microwave backbone and the KNet Network

has a POP site in the community, the community is serviced by a wireless based internet network. The public

institutions include a band office, community centre, elementary school and health clinic.


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Neskantaga First Nation

Neskantaga First Nation has approximately 323 people on reserve and 89 off reserve and it is located on

Attawapiskat Lake, 80km north of the community of Fort Hope. Access to the community is by scheduled air

service or a winter road. The community has local exchange service from Bell Canada and transport is provided by

satellite. KNet Network has a C-Band satellite dish for broadband access and the residents have internet via cable

modems. The public institutions in the community include an airport, Neskantaga Band Office, Neshgani Education

Centre (elementary school), NAPS police station, Rachael Bessie Sakanee Memorial Health Centre (clinic & social

services) and the Neskantaga Community Development & Training Centre. There is also a community center, radio

station, water treatment plant, a Northern Store, Leo’s Confectionary and Trappers Co-op Store.

Marten Falls First Nation

Marten Falls consists of 340 people on reserve and 308 off reserve and is located at the junction of the Albany and

Ogoki Rivers 170 km air miles north of Nakina. Access to the community is by scheduled air service or a winter

road. The community has a local exchange provided by Bell Canada and the transport is over a satellite link. Knet

Network has a C-Band satellite dish for broadband access and the residents have internet via cable modems. The

public institutions in the community include an airport, Marten Falls Band Office, Muskeg Thunder Clinic (acts as

the nursing station), a Health Centre (provides social services), and NAPS police station and Henry Coaster

Memorial (elementary) School. There is also a water treatment plant, community center and a privately owned

Trappers Store and Rabbit-hill Creek Cable Television system.

Eabametoong First Nation

Eabametoong is a community of approximately 1400 on reserve and 947 off reserve members; the community is

located on the north shore of Eabamet Lake, 160 km northeast of Pickle Lake and is accessible only by winter road.

The community is served by Bell Canada. KNet Network has a C-Band satellite dish for broadband access and the

residents have internet via cable modems from the local cable company. The public institutions include a band

office, nursing station, education centre, health and social services office, radio station and elementary school.


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Project Objectives

The project objectives will be to:

Connect all five communities identified Matawa First Nations with Fibre Optic Cabling

Connect Matawa Network to Northwestern Broadband Expansion Initiative Network

Provide opportunity for members via technical training and employment in the construction and

operation of the network

Maximize Economic Benefits for Matawa First Nations and members

Support all Broadband applications in the First Nations including:

o Education

o Health

o Administration

o Training

o Government Services (Legal, Ontario Works)

Partnership Structure

In their response the proponent shall outline the corporate structure and the roles and responsibilities of each

operating partner and ownership entity if required.

Guidelines

General Overview

The respondent will outline their approach to deliver the objectives of this EOI, it will include total capital, service

area, levels of service, respondent investment, pricing levels and service level agreements.

Expected Content of Responses and / or Deliverables

It is expected that each respondent shall include the following responses and / or deliverables:

A diagrammatic network depiction incorporating full, or in part, connectivity to all communities identified,

that is technologically and physically consistent in standard with networks of similar design in the Province

of Ontario;

A diagrammatic representation of the community network solution; (including how end user foot print

will deliver target speeds e.g. DSL-Pair bonding, wireless solution, FttH...etc);

o Common network standards;

o A technical solution to the linkage of all communities; o Company profile and experience; o Network interoperability; and


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o Details on how the network design will meet future needs (25% growth, e.g. Commitment to install today, or upgrade as need grows without future funding assistance);

o Suggested pricing information about the service offerings (for POPs, end customers and large bandwidth customers).

Minimum Service Requirements

The minimum service requirements will include:

Fibre Backhaul / Transport network to Thunder Bay;

Full Fibre Inter-community backbone;

Point of Presence in each First Nation or aggregation strategy;

High Speed hardwired internet service to all residents with speeds up to 10Mbps available scalable to

25Mbps;

Broadband Ethernet available in all First Nations at minimum 100 Mbps scalable to Gigabit speeds;

Redundancy, latency, scalability, and reliability with be factored into selection decision;

No monthly usage “bit” caps or bandwidth restricting;

Competitive pricing for all services.

Service Definitions

Matawa First Nations have chosen not to specify network architecture and technical parameters in order to allow

the private sector maximum flexibility in submitting solutions which meet the project goals. The communities to

be served are identified in the previous section together with their bandwidth requirements. Where it is not

possible to provide the required level of service because of technical, regulatory or economic constraints, the

respondent will clearly state the issue or reason, and indicate what can be provisioned. If the reason is economic

based, the cost of providing a solution will be indicated in the response.

It is expected that all solutions will have full scalability and this will be outlined by expected growth and the

scalability of all network components.

Broadband

The definition of Broadband as used in this EOI is Ethernet over twisted pair technologies, coaxial cable

or optical fiber for the physical layer of an Ethernet computer network. Currently the most popular are

100BASE-TX (fast Ethernet) and 1000BASE-T (gigabit Ethernet), running at 100 Mbit/s and 1000 Mbit/s (1

Gbit/s), respectively. These capabilities will support the services that regional organizations and businesses need

to implement to benefit their clients.

High Speed Internet Previously referred to as broadband internet access, for the purposes of this RFP it will refer to residential and

Small Office Home Office (SOHO) internet service. There are a number of technologies to deliver this service


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including DSL technologies over twisted copper pair, cable internet over coaxial cables and fibre optic to the

home. These hardwired technologies are all acceptable by the proponent.

Sustainability The network must be self-sustaining after the initial input of partnership capital. This will outline the sustainability

assumptions and how the business model will support network upgrades.

Growth The respondent must outline how anticipated growth within project area will be dealt with in their response.

These include new mining activities driving growth in the communities. Scalability of the project is a key

component of this project.

Financial As noted above, the Matawa Broadband project is expected to be a joint partnership. Accordingly, respondents

are expected to propose making their own significant contribution to meeting the capital costs of the

network. These contributions can be made “in kind” and through direct funding. The respondent is requested to

outline what these contributions to the project would be.

Price Chart It is expected that pricing will be at minimum competitive with larger communities such as Toronto, Thunder Bay

and Sault St. Marie. The price for each type of service will be shown in a comprehensive matrix.

Bandwidth Guarantee

Identify the extent to which the end-to-end bandwidth for the requested connections is guaranteed across the

network. Identify any exceptions to this guarantee. Identify the maximum bandwidth that will be available across

the delivered network, or network segments as delivered, without major infrastructure upgrade or construction.

The response shall be based on a twenty-four (24) hour day, seven (7) day week. Describe the features of your

network and its ability to deliver differentiated levels of service, such as guaranteed delivery vs. best effort.

Describe how scalability will be achieved across your network.

Service Response Time

What is the respondent’s typical response time to service calls? The answer shall cover 24/7 and, if

appropriate, differentiate between central Network Control Centre type responses and service technician dispatch

type responses. Differences of more than twenty (20) percent between urban and rural response times shall be

clearly identified. How will fault and problem reporting be handled and service obtained? The Matawa First

Nations may consider offers of guaranteed service response time as an evaluation consideration.

Value Added Service

Indicate value-added services the respondent can offer.


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Security It is important that in the case of a shared network infrastructure proposal, that the proposed network also be

capable of delivering enhanced security through the addition of encryption. The network shall be able to support

secured connectivity to and from hosts, to and from sub- nets, to and from networks, and to and from sites. The

respondent may offer encryption technology as a value-added feature.

Timetable The respondent will discuss from a business plan perspective how the network will be introduced, how the build

out will be planned, and how the construction projects will proceed. Expected dates of major tasks and resource

requirements will be shown.

Standards and Access Respondents must demonstrate how their technical solution complies with existing industry standards.

All public standards used shall be identified and listed. If proprietary standards are used anywhere in the technical

solution, they must be identified and their use justified. Of particular interest is confirmation that the

network is interoperable or compatible with currently installed network equipment. Access will be provided

to other telecom providers as regulated by the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC).

Time to Award This EOI will identify a preferred network partner after which time Matawa First Nations will enter into a process

to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). If after an agreed upon time a MOU cannot be signed the parties

will declare the process terminated.

Incurring Costs The Matawa First Nations or any of its associated entities shall not be obligated in any way by the

respondent’s response to the document. Respondent’s costs related to the preparation of a response to

the document shall be entirely the responsibility of the respondent. Expenses of any nature incurred by the

respondent prior to the signing of an agreement or contract shall be the sole responsibility of the respondent and

may not be charged to or claimed from the Matawa First Nations or its associated entities in any manner, shape or

form.

Vendor Presentations Respondents may be required to make one or more in camera, oral presentations of their proposal, at their own

expense, at a date and time to be announced. These presentations will provide an opportunity for the respondent

to clarify the submitted proposal to ensure mutual understanding.


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Disclosure of the Contents of Responses All information submitted by the vendor shall be considered to be public information unless the vendor specifically

demonstrates, in writing, that which it considers being proprietary. Proprietary information is information, which,

if made public, would put the vendor at a disadvantage in the marketplace and trade of which the vendor is a part.

Consequently, any assertion of proprietary information must be clearly identified and the basis for the assertion

must be included. It is not adequate for the vendor to state that disclosure of the information will put it at a

disadvantage in the marketplace. The Matawa First Nations’ shall make the determination as to whether the

vendor has adequately demonstrated that the information is proprietary. Engineering or analytical data will not be

considered proprietary.

Additional Information on the Document E-mail shall be the primary medium of communication for all matters concerning this document. The Matawa First

Nations shall not accept or respond to oral questions or requests for clarification on any matter pertaining to the

document from any respondent except at sessions or meetings specially arranged for the oral exchange of

information. All questions and requests for clarification shall be submitted by e-mail to the point-of-contact (POC)

identified in this document. All questions and requests for clarification, together with the Matawa First Nations

response, shall be transmitted by e- mail to all other potential respondents. An exception will be made if the

respondent makes a proprietary claim for the question or request for clarification and provides justification in

accordance with the previous section.

Questions and requests for clarification shall be accepted up to seventy-two (72) hours before the bid closing date

and time. The Matawa First Nations will create an e-mail distribution list to pass on questions and responses.

Potential respondents should advise the POC as soon as possible of their interest in being placed e-mail

distribution list.

Format of Response Five printed and bound copies of the response will be submitted, and the respondent will also submit an electronic

copy in PDF format via email.

Evaluation Process The Matawa First Nations shall be the sole determinant of the evaluation process. The Matawa First Nations shall

establish a review panel consisting of Matawa First Nation’s employees and users, technical experts, and

consultants or subject area experts. All responses shall be judged against the same objective criteria. Panel

members will be permitted to submit written, subjective opinions and assessments for panel review.

While capital cost estimate and respondent contribution will be weighted heavily, it will not be the sole deciding

factor in the selection process. Primary factors will include but are not limited to: understanding of the project,

soundness of approach, available facilities, vendor qualifications, prior experience, value added services,


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management capability, project timeline and finish schedule, guaranteed service response time, network QoS,

manner of presentation and costs.

Establishment of the proposed network is based on the premise of a joint, public and non-public partnership. This

is the basis for the financial support being provided by the Government of Canada through FedNor and the

Government of Ontario through NOHFC. The Matawa First Nations expects the respondent to propose making its

own significant contributions to meeting the costs of the program. As mentioned previously,

these contributions can be made “in kind” or through direct funding or capital expenditure. The amount and

manner of these contributions will be a major evaluation factor.

The Matawa First Nations reserves the right to accept or reject without prejudice any and all proposals, and/or to

waive any irregularities therein to allow late filing of any information required by the specifications which do not

affect the bid price or to accept any proposal deemed to be in the best interest of the Matawa First Nations.

Furthermore, the Matawa First Nations reserves the right to increase or decrease the scope of this proposal or

costs or to eliminate entirely one or more components, as a result of a change of requirements.

Deadline for Submissions

All submissions must be received by Monday November 17the

2014 by 4:30 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Conditions of the Contract

General Conditions The following are general conditions of the contract:

All the materials developed and the reports made in connection with this project shall become the

property of Matawa First Nations.

The Matawa First Nations will provide as much information as possible.

No changes required by the respondent to remedy errors or other problems attributable to shortcomings

of the respondent or their employees shall entitle the respondent to an additional fee.


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Proposal Requirements

General

The estimated cost to complete the project submitted in the respondent proposal shall include all necessary

expenditures to undertake all the required work outlined in this EOI.

Time Limits and Work Schedule The Proposal will indicate the number of weeks that the respondent estimates will be required to complete the

project and the Proposal shall include a time schedule or bar graph with major milestones to be completed.

Submission of Proposals

Any proposals received after the specified due date will not be eligible for consideration. Any questions pertaining

to this Expressions of Interests should be forwarded to the point of contact. Point of Contact (POC) is listed below:

Jason Rasevych

Economic Development Advisor

233 Court Street South, 2nd floor

Thunder Bay, Ontario

P7B 2X9

Phone: (807) 344-4575

Fax: (807) 344-2977

Email: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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