InterAgency VSAT RFP update Presentation to WGET

1
Inter-Agency VSAT RFP updatePresentation to WGET

• July 2007

2
The Process

• UNDP sponsored co-ordination
• WFP provided the chairmanship and drafting
• Initial agreement was reached by a 2 day meeting
  in Geneva
• There were then weekly teleconferences to create
  the RFP text

proposing
arguing
and compromising
discussing
3
The Process

• Meanwhile the chairman drafted and redrafted the
  RFP endlessly

4
The Process

• An inter-agency group primarily composed of
  technical staff from UNDP, WFP, WHO, UNICEF
  OCHA. UNDPKO UNHCR were involved at some
  points and followed proceedings by e-mail.
• The final RFP was issued on 19th September 2006
  with closing date on 7th November
• A Bidders Conference took place on 10th October
  in the offices of UNDP in Copenhagen, in order to
  clarify questions from potential Bidders
• Responses to 133 questions from the potential
  bidders were published along with revised
  financial submission templates

5
Key Principles agreed by all

• An end to end outsourced service including
  installation, monitoring, repair spares
• Defined demarcation points for the service with
  SLAs, MTTR commitment, penalties and clear
  measures
• Bandwidth efficient technology
• A defined set of voice and data services with QoS
  defined using the MPLS CoS model for easy
  transfer between terrestrial VSAT technologies
• Simplified Financial structure with
• A single One Time Cost (OTC) for supply and
  installation or migration of each type of
  station.
• A single monthly recurring cost (MRC) for each
  type of station.
• Standard costs for all lifecycle activities.
• Maximum reuse of equipment from existing stations

6
Key Principles agreed by all - Cont

• Fully redundant high quality leased line and
  internet services at the Satellite hub
• Provision for shared stations with separate
  guaranteed bandwidth, appropriate data
  separation, SLA billing.
• Provider responsibility for power protection,
  grounding and UPS
• Standardised equipment for up/down scalability
  short bandwidth activation time
• Maximum geographical coverage
• Independent remote access for fault diagnosis
• Automated, auditable availability measurement
• Cost effective early termination arrangements
• Technology review after 3 years
• Bandwidth cost review every year

7
Options and enhancements accommodated

• Pricing to give economies based on large dish
  size and high capacity links (UNDP)
• Short bandwidth leases for emergency response.
  (WFP, UNICEF, OCHA)
• Mesh architecture option (UNICEF)
• Data compression and acceleration options (UNDP,
  WFP, OCHA)
• Low power consumption and extended autonomy UPS
  options (WFP)
• Fly away equipment covered under the contract
  (UNICEF)
• On Demand bandwidth for videoconference (WHO,
  OCHA)
• Low cost, best effort Off-net IP telephony option
  (UNDP, WFP)
• Lease to own payment option (UNDP)

8
Bidders for the RFP
The following nine companies submitted a response
to the RFP within the deadline

• ASG (USA)
• ATT (USA)
• EMC (USA)
• Hughes (USA)
• LBiSat (USA)
• PCCW (China/Hong Kong)
• Satlynx (Luxembourg)
• Skylogic (Italy)
• Telenor (Norway)

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Need For Due Diligence

• The selection of the winner was subject to the
  outcome of the due diligence regarding the
  financial viability of EMC, which UNICEF
  Procurement Section undertook. However there were
  certain concerns on EMCs financial stability
  and prospects of the company.
• Therefore the VSAT Steering Committee consisting
  of the CIOs of the participating agencies was
  formed to guide the working group to finalize the
  process

10
Continued Due Diligence Study

• A further due diligence study was conducted on
  EMC by UNICEF in co-operation with an external
  consultancy company - Concise Management, used by
  UNHCR
• After lengthy due diligence processes it was
  decided to choose EMC, subject to certain risk
  mitigation obligations being accepted by them and
  recorded in the Master LTA
• The final award of a Long-Term Agreement (LTA) to
  EMC would also be subject to the successful
  completion of the LTA negotiations and successful
  installation and operation of 5 pilot VSAT
  out-stations to the satisfaction of the UN
  agencies based on agreed criteria.

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Next steps

• Complete drafting technical and commercial
  content for the LTA, agreed by all agencies
• UNDP to issue LOI to cover pilot test sites and
  set up pilot sites with involvement of
  participating agencies.
• UNDP negotiate master LTA with selected provider
  using technical content provided by IA VSAT
  working group assisted by UNICEF WFP.
• Start migration if pilot is successful
• Other agencies to adopt the LTA with subsidiary
  LTAs and migrate.
• UNDP need to complete migration by Dec 2007 when
  their extension to the Telenor contract expires.

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The major benefits

• Competitive pricing due to combined buying power
• All participating agencies landing at the same
  VSAT hub(s) provides a layer 1 2 platform for
  the peering of networks needed for
  harmonisation between the UN agencies.
• The same (good) service level available to all
  agencies
• Standard platform for shared services to
  eliminate equipment duplication in many places.
• Sharing of one standard VSAT installation by
  multiple agencies, where geography allows, is
  straightforward both commercially technically
  for agencies who adopt the LTA
• The provision of separate Inter agency Internet
  bandwidth for NGOs and small UN agencies in an
  Internet café arrangement is also
  straightforward.