Wide Area Network (WAN) Communication Services

Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) seeks proposals from qualified vendors to provide comprehensive Wide Area Network (WAN) communication services. This RFP specifically addresses the communication distribution infrastructure, traditionally referred to as “WAN Services” by CMSD’s Department of Information Technology.

The scope of services includes:

• Diverse Access: For the purposes of this RFP, this means that data circuits will be provided via completely diverse service pathways whenever and wherever possible. The diverse pathways shall include the entire path from the carrier’s point of presence to the CMSD facility. They will use completely disparate pathways into and out of each CMSD facility, as required.
• Diverse Carriers: For the purposes of this RFP, will mean that multiple carrier-grade infrastructure providers will be utilized in all geographical areas where multiple carrier infrastructures are present and available at initial service activation, to facilitate the physical circuit(s) into each facility. As it relates to WAN services, two independent, carrier-grade providers will be utilized to deliver the and WAN service to all CMSD facilities, reducing the risk of service outages due to a single carrier’s service/infrastructure failure.
• Carrier Grade Network Infrastructure: Provide services utilizing a carrier-grade fiber network(s), with carrier-grade routing hardware and traffic prioritization to ensure dependable traffic handling that meets advertised SLA levels.
• Origin Point: Fiber aggregation router at the Central Communications Termination Area (currently located on the 14th floor of 1111 Superior Avenue, Cleveland, OH)
• Endpoint: Building-level router at each CMSD site
• Transmission Medium: Fiber infrastructure between origin and endpoint
• Equipment: All routing equipment, optics, and necessary hardware for WAN connectivity

Services explicitly OUT of scope:

• Internet Service Provider (ISP) / Direct Internet Access (DIA) services
• Local Area Network (LAN) equipment or services at individual sites
• End-user devices or desktop support services
• Primary ISP services (OARNet and Zayo) which are managed separately