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INVITATION TO BID (ITB – PS/IM/43/21) 19-Aug-21

Subject: The Provision of Devices and Components for Secure Wireless Local Area Network Solution

for UNRWA Fields of Operations.

1. Answers to bidders’ queries

With reference to the subject Invitation to Bid (ITB – PS/IM/43/21), please find attached to this cover letter the queries raised by bidders (in black) and the answers provided by UNRWA (in green).

2. Annex D - Evaluation Methodology

Please find attached amended Annex D - Evaluation Methodology (Table 1-ComplianceTable-Mandatory Technical Evaluation Criteria- page 19 point 25). Changes are highlighted in yellow.

3. Closing Date

Bidders are hereby informed that the closing date of this ITB is extended to be on Thursday 26 August 2021

at 13:00 noon (Amman Time) (the Closing Time).

4. Bid Submission

Bids must be submitted with the attached Bid Form and downloaded through In-Tend via UNGM

(www.ungm.org ). Under the ‘Tender Management’ page, please select the ‘ITB documents’ menu tab,

scroll down until the section ‘Tender documents received’ and download all.

5. We look forward to your Bid and thank you in advance for your interest in UNRWA’s procurement

opportunities.

For /Yann Kervinio

Chief Central Support Services Division

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Question 1

“If this tender is for the supply and install, how we supply and install this equipment for Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and West Bank if we don’t have an authorized dealer in these countries?” Answer 1: The installation is not required from the vendor.

Question 2

“Why this tender is not for supply only to Jordan with virtual support for configuring the system?” Answer 2: UNRWA have five areas of operations in which wireless network used. This tender is for UNRWA in all five regions.

Question 3

“If we can’t make an agreement with an authorized dealer in other countries, can we participate in this tender?” Answer 3: Bidders can participate in this tender for any of the UNRWA Fields of operation, however, bidders are strongly encouraged to submit a bid for all 5 field offices to increase their chances to be awarded.

Question 4

“Does UNRWA is considering to replace the existing Wireless LAN Controller?” Answer 4:

The replacement of the existing Wireless LAN Controller is not requested in the term of reference.

Question 5

“Is it required to provide location analysis for wireless connected users?” Answer 5: Please refer to Criteria 21 under Paragraph 77 - Eligibility Criteria and Mandatory Technical Evaluation Criteria,

Provide location analysis for wireless connected users is not requested. But bidder must confirm that, all intended coverage areas will be covered with a minimum of good signal strength.

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Question 6

“Is it required to provide Management Solution to manage the wireless solution, in addition to reflect the access points distribution on floor maps to show wireless coverage between the access points?” Answer 6: Please refer to Criteria 16 under Paragraph 77 - Eligibility Criteria and Mandatory Technical Evaluation Criteria Bidder should provide management solution to the proposed WiFi setup as (mandatory), the Heat or distribution map is preferable, but it is not mandatory and will not affect the evaluation of the offer.

Question 7

“Is it required to provide historical data for the wireless solution to investigate any issue in the future?” Answer 7: Historical data for the wireless solution to investigate any issue in the future is not requested.

Question 8

“Is it required to eliminate any rogue access points automatically to protect the stability of the wireless?” Answer 8: Please refer to Criteria 16 under Paragraph 77 - Eligibility Criteria and Mandatory Technical Evaluation Criteria. Please note that the setup should support rogue access point detection and detection of denial-of-service attacks (mandatory), but the Automatic elimination of rouge access point is not mandatory.

Question 9

“Is there any visibility on the quantity of the hardware that will be required each year?” Answer 9: Please refer to columns “Estimated Qnty (3-year) contract” under Annex F – Bid Form. Indicated quantities are for the (3 years) estimation for each UNRWA field of operation. Please refer to para 57 under Term of reference in which it was mentioned that the estimated quantities of items that are indicated in this ITB are the best estimation that UNRWA can give now, but do not constitute a commitment on future purchases.

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Question 10

“Is it required any security features such as firewalling, web filtering and intrusion prevention?” Answer 10: Please note that UNRWA already has its own firewalls and web filters features.

For intrusion prevention please refer to Criteria 16 under Paragraph 77 - Eligibility Criteria and Mandatory Technical Evaluation Criteria.

Question 11

1. “Does the delivery for the hardware component will be to each country as specified or all items will be

delivered to UNRWA HQ in Jordan?” 2. “In case the vendor is responsible to deliver the items to each country, does the installation and

configuration is vendor responsibility?” Answer 11: 1. Please note that the delivery for the hardware component must be to each UNRWA’s field as specified

in Term of reference para 64 – Deliveries.

2. For the installation and configuration please consider the below points:

• The installation and maintenance are not required from the vendor.

• Refer to Criteria 16 under Paragraph 77 - Eligibility Criteria and Mandatory Technical Evaluation Criteria, noting that both local and remote configuration and support are acceptable.

• Refer to Paragraphs 63 and 78.2 - Deliveries and Service Level Agreement in which the

replacement of faulty hardware parts is vendor’s responsibility.

• Mounting the hardware (wireless access points to walls and/or the controllers to the rack cabinet) are preferable but it is not a mandatory requirement.

• Cabling works are not required from the vendor and will be the responsibility of UNRWA at each location.

Question 12

“Are all items exempted from Customs and clearance in each country?” Answer 12: This depends on the Incoterm that bidders will quote for each destination mentioned in Annex E – Bid form and Term of Reference paragraph 63.

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Question 13

“Can we deliver all the items for five regions to Jordan only and do the remote implementation for all regions?” Answer 13: Please refer to Answers to Questions 1, 2 and 11

Question 14

“Can we propose with managed service solution to cover all regions with central management in Jordan?” Answer 14: This solution is not acceptable.

Question 15

“For the wireless Access point specification there is only one table, is it for both indoor and outdoor Access points (Aps), as the indoor specs are different from outdoor specs for APs.?” Answer 15: Yes, it is for both the indoor and outdoor access points.

Question 16

“For the POE switches there is no specification, could you send us some specification like power budget, number of ports, ports speed, uplinks, … etc.?” Answer 16:

• PoE switches specifications should meet your solution (power budget to operate your wireless access points)

• Number of ports is variable from (8 ports to 48 ports)

• At least one uplink

Question 17

“Is it possible to provide a cloud-based centralized controller instead of the requested 14 controllers...?” Answer 17: It is not possible; the solution is considering big number of remote sites that have limited access to internet and under the responsibility of different teams.

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Question 18

“For the Indoor Wireless Access Points in the Technical specifications; requirements for Integrated and External Antennas are presented, can you advise the split between the required number of Integrated Antennas Access Points and External Antennas Access Points.?” Answer 18: Please refer to para 57 under Term of reference in which it was mentioned that the estimated quantities of items that are indicated in this ITB are the best estimation that UNRWA can give now, but do not constitute a commitment on future purchases. All numbers are estimated according to expectations. The final number of any item is not defined yet. Integrated antenna is for indoor access points while external antenna is for outdoor ones and the numbers were provided in Annex E – Bid Form.

Question 19

“For the Outdoor Wireless Access Points, can you please advise on the required antenna’s types.?” Answer 19: Vendor should provide offer for the types of antennas that match the provided solution.

Question 20

“For the requested POE Switches; can you please advise the number of ports required per switch, Switch POE Power Budget, and what features are required in those switches such as (Layer 2, or Layer 3, ..etc.)?” Answer 20:

• Number of ports is variable from (8 PoE ports to 48 PoE ports)

• PoE switches specs should meet your solution (power budget to operate your wireless access points)

• Support VLANing

• At least one uplink

Question 21

“For the requested POE Switches, are those switches to be connected to UNRWA’s existing network infrastructure, or would they need to be aggregated to each other and would require Aggregation Switches, Core Switches, Fiber Connectivity, and Transceivers?” Answer 21: The requested PoE switches will be connected to UNRWA’s existing network infrastructure.

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Question 22

“The Solution is required to Integrate with Microsoft Active Directory for User Authentication; this type of integration is possible, however the best practice for User Authentication is to be done Via RADIUS Protocol provided from a AAA Server that can provide more advanced features and the ability to give users different Authorization profiles based on pre-configured groups and policies, would UNRWA require to propose a AAA Server to integrate between the Wireless Solution and the Active Directory, and if this would be required can you please provide us with the number of users per Field of Operation.?” Answer 22: It is not required.

Question 23

“Is the Cabling for each of the requested Access Points within the scope of this Bid.?” Answer 23: The Cabling for access Points is not within the scope of this Bid.

Question 24

“Should the financial proposal include the shipping and delivering goods for each of your destinations (Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan), or we just provide the warehouses- Jordan the goods and then the warehouses- Jordan will provide the goods to other region?” Answer 24: Please refer to Annex E – Bid form.

The submitted offers should include the shipping and delivery costs per destination as explained below:

• DAP Amman

• DDP West Bank

• DDP Gaza

• DAP Damascus

• DAP Beirut

Question 25

“What is the required number of internal and external antennas needed per Access point? And based on your preference do you prefer using internal or external antennas?” Answer 25: Please refer to answer to question 18

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Question 26

“Do you need the access point (AP) to support WiFi 6 technology?” Answer 26: The AP to support WiFi 6 technology is not requested.

Question 27

“Regarding switches, what is the number of ports? Number and type of uplink ports? Do you need redundant power supplies? Shall it support stacking technology? What is the desired switching capacity and throughput? Does it support L3 features? Or limited L3 features?” Answer 27:

• Number of ports is variable from (8 ports to 48 ports)

• At least one uplink

• No stacking nor redundant power supply is required

• PoE switches specs should meet your solution (power budget to operate your wireless access points)

• Support VLANing

Question 28

“In switches do you need to have a feature called always on POE? To explain if the switch restarted for some reasons the ports will remain up (POE is on).?” Answer 28: The above-mentioned feature is not requested.

Question 29

“As the access points throughput will be higher than 1 Gb, do you need the switches to support a smart rate feature which can provide the access point with more than 1Gb/s throughput (up to 5 Gb/s)?” Answer 29: The switches to support a smart rate feature is not requested.

Question 30

“What is the number of users per site?” Answer 30:

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The number per site is various, depending on the site’s size. However, it is between 20 to 1000 devices per site.

Question 31

“What is the expected number of concurrent active user per access point?” Answer 31: Expected number of concurrent users per AP is from 5 to 40 users.

Question 32

“Is there connectivity between sites? And are you looking to control all sites from Central management system with capability to assign roles and privileges for admins to manage their own sites?” Answer 32:

• Yes, there is connectivity between sites.

• Central management system for all sites together is not required.

Question 33

“In page 19, point # 21 you asked to guarantee the signal strength and coverage for the provided areas, in order to guarantee wireless coverage, we need to have the maps per each site so we could create heatmap that simulate the wireless coverage. So please provide us with maps for the needed sites.” Answer 33: Providing maps per each site will be arranged with the awarded bidder in future for any requested Wireless setup at any location.

Question 34

“Regarding Radius server, and Authentication: 1. Is the UNRWA active directory is per site, or you have one centralized active directory that serve all the

sites? 2. Dose UNRWA currently have Radius server? is it per site or centralized to serve all sites? If you currently

don’t have radius server do you need us to offer it as part of our solution (Network access control solution)?”

Answer 34:

1. UNRWA has one centralized active directory at all sites. 2. UNRWA doesn’t have radius server and no need to offer for radius server.

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Question 35

“We need to confirm that the delivery for this project will be CPT to the mentioned Airports only, And the prices for these fields exclude clearance, taxes or any additional charges, kindly advise?” Answer 35: Please refer to Annex E – Bid form. The submitted offers should be as explained below:

• DAP Amman

• DDP West Bank

• DDP Gaza

• DAP Damascus

• DAP Beirut

Question 36

“Please note that Syria is under embargo and we can’t sell American products, so kindly exclude it from this project in order to the companies to propose American products, otherwise, no one can sell and deliver American products to Syria?” Answer 36: Although Bidders are strongly encouraged to submit a bid for all field offices to increase their chances to be awarded bidder have the option not to quote for any field and we cannot

Question 37

“Is power adapter or POE Injectors required for all access points?” Answer 37: Please refer to the attached Annex D – Evaluation methodology – Criteria 34,

Providing PoE ports are mandatory requirement.

Question 38

“As per Tender technical requirements point number 34 “For easy deployment, Access Points can be connected directly to Wireless LAN controller via PoE ports. If we don’t have a POE port on the wireless controller can we provide a power injector instead? if yes, what is the requested quantities?” Answer 38: Please refer to answer to question 37

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Question 39

“We didn’t find any specifications for the requested switches? can you please provide more detail about needed switches.?” Answer 39:

Please refer to answers to question 16 and 20

Question 40

“As per Tender technical requirements point number 26,27, Can you please confirm that the requirement as follows: internal antenna required for Indoor access points and external antenna for outdoor access points?” Answer 40: Confirmed.

Question 41

“As per Tender technical requirements point number 27,” External antenna: certified for use with antenna gains up to 6 dBi (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz), Can you confirm if is it possible for the outdoor access points to have 10 dbi instead of 6?” Answer 41: Please note that the minimum mandatory requirement for the external antenna is to be certified for use with antenna gains up to 6 dBi (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz)

Question 42

“Can you please confirm that 3 Years license including warranty and support is requested on both access points and wireless controllers?” Answer 42: Confirmed that the Warranty of three years is on any provided equipment/part (AP, Controller, switch, antenna…. etc.) and includes labor and support of the offered solution.

Question 43

“Regarding the wireless controller spec number 29 (Solution must include a centralized management system that provides a platform for central management of all devices across the wireless network), does the “all devices” here include switches? Or access points only?” Answer 43:

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Please note that the switches are not included.

Question 44

“Please confirm that the requested integrated antenna specs number 26 are for the indoor access points, and the requested external antenna specs number 27 are for the outdoor access point.” Answer 44: Confirmed

Question 45

“Regarding the spec number 25 (The Access Point must be dual band 2.4 and 5GHz. with following range of transmission power: • 2.4 GHz (20 – 28) dBm • 5 GHz (23 – 27) dBm), please note that the legal transmission power in our region is less than these numbers, so please confirm the ability to propose access points have transmission power in range of 18 dBm.” Answer 45: Please refer to the attached amended Annex D – Evaluation methodology – Criteria 25, For UNRWA in Syria (2.4 GHz (20 – 28) dBm • 5 GHz (23 – 27) dBm) is mandatory. For other regions (Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and West Bank) it is acceptable to provide the legal transmission power for that region.

Question 46

“What is the maximum allowed period to deliver the requested items during the LTA period (3 years)?” Answer 46: Bidders shall indicate the guaranteed maximum lead-time for delivery upon issuance of Purchase Orders for each item stated in Annex E – Bid Form during the LTA period (3 years). UNRWA will measure supplier’s performance against such guaranteed maximum lead time during the course of the contract”. However, UNRWA preferred delivery period is 8 weeks.

Question 47

“Regarding spec number 7 (If the bidder has an authorized dealer in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and West Bank), we will work without dealers, so can we propose our partnership letter from the mother company which mention that we are an official partner in each location from the requested locations?” Answer 47: Accepted

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Question 48

“Regarding spec number 8 (The Bidders should provide a certificate/ letter from the manufacturer which guarantee that the government of the country of origin doesn’t have any objection to operate the subject items in all UNRWA fields of operations for which a bid is made), do you mean TRC approval?” Answer 48: No, it is not the (Telecommunication Regulatory Commission – TRC), you should provide a certificate (from the manufacturer and the authorities of the country of origin) that guarantees the provided device (that is sent to UNRWA in Syria, West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and Lebanon) will operate and get all needed updates and fixes.

Question 49

“The plan of WLCs deployment on site are not clear enough, as in 2 sites, the quantity is 4 controllers, and we are wondering if the plan is to have HA in the sites with 2 controllers? And 2 HA setups in the sites with 4 controllers?” Answer 49:

• Please refer to para 57 under Term of Reference in which it was mentioned that the estimated quantities of items that are indicated in this ITB are the best estimation that UNRWA can give now, but do not constitute a commitment on future purchases. Therefore, the plan for WLCs relay is estimated quantities.

• The High Availability (HA) is considered in the WLCs plan.

Question 50

“We need to know the number of the APs that will be controlled by each HA pair, to calculate the licenses on each HA pair?” Answer 50: • This tender is included requirements for all UNRWA sites at the five fields, which means the number of

access points might defer from site to site depending on the size. For example: the number of APs for some health clinic is less than 8 access points while it is more than 60 in the main branches.

• The number of APs per HA controller will be provided for each location separately upon submission of the

purchase order.

Question 51

“1. Do we have a plan/diagram for the switches deployment, as we are not sure what to offer, a 24 or 48

ports switches?”

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“2. “Is there a planned power budget for each switch?” Answer 51:

• Due to contrast in sizes between the potential locations on which UNRWA might install Wi-Fi network, there is No plan/diagram for the switches’ deployment.

• PoE switches specs should meet your solution (power budget to operate your wireless access points)

• Number of ports is variable (from 8 PoE ports to 48 PoE ports)

Question 52

“You are mentioned in documents about UNRWA have Fiber & Copper, so please advise if you need SFPs fiber transceivers 1G or 10G to connect switches with fiber cable.?” Answer 52: Prices for both are not required.

Question 53

“What are the estimated types and models of cables and network tools to be used for installation?” Answer 53: Installation of network cables is not requested from the bidder. It is under UNRWA responsibility.

Question 54

“Is it a must to supply Access Point to be dual band 2.4 and 5GHz. With?” Answer 54: Please refer to Criteria 25 under Paragraph 77 - Eligibility Criteria and Mandatory Technical Evaluation Criteria, the Access Point must be dual band 2.4 and 5GHz.

Question 55

“Following range of transmission power: • 2.4 GHz (20 – 28) dBm • 5 GHz (23 – 27) dBm Or we can use lower dbm like 15 or lower?” Answer 55: Please refer to the attached amended Annex D – Evaluation methodology – Criteria 25 and answer to question 45

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Question 56

“Please confirm the acceptance of UNRWA on Split awarding as we are available in Jordan and not in other countries, is it acceptable to ship the full quantity of APs, switches and Controllers to Jordan and UNRWA sends it directly to each destination?” Answer 56: Please refer to the Annex C – Term of Reference – paragraph 63 – Deliveries,

It is not acceptable to ship the full quantity of APs, switches, and Controllers to Jordan. The contractor must ship the requested quantities to the requester field office. UNRWA will not hold any responsibility nor expenses on shipping/delivery of any requested item to its destination.

Question 57

“Is Training needed in the scope of work?” Answer 57: Please refer to the Annex C – Term of Reference – Criteria 29,

Bidders must confirm providing details of the configuration schedule. A rollout plan for configuration of all wireless components, detailing timelines and training for at least three (3) members of the IT technology staff.

Question 58

“What is the forecasting project timeline? as shortage of ICs worldwide is affecting delivery of certain model of APs, and some affordable models might be EOL?” Answer 58: UNRWA is looking forward to establish long term agreement for three years duration for the provision of devices and components for high-speed secure Wireless Local Area Network Solution at all UNRWA fields of operations and its headquarters so the purchase will be upon each field request.

Question 59

“Are the partners obliged to submit a quotation for all countries or partial submittal is possible??” Bidders are however strongly encouraged to submit a bid for all field offices to increase their chances to be awarded. Please refer to the Term of reference paragraph 59