2020 E-Rate RFP Documentation

Welcome to the 2020 E-Rate RFP Documentation page for Huerfano School District Re-1.

District’s BEN: 142372 District’s

FCCRN: 0011609328

For the 2020 Funding Year, we are seeking Request for Proposals for the following Category 2 services: (Links to RFP’s will be posted here and on the USAC portal). Please review RFP’s for details regarding each category two service requested.

  • Content Filter / Firewall Services – 2 Total Units. 1 Unit will be installed at Gardner Charter School (Formerly Gardner School). 1 Unit will be installed at our main campus, which serves Peakview School and John Mall High Schools with one shared Internet Connection.

We are looking for specific product or manufacturers where applicable. Alternative manufacturers can be suggested, however please review specific RFP’s.

Updated: 2/3/2020

We are not seeking RFP’s Category 1 services at this point because we are under contract for our Internet Access through April 2021.

More Information can be found on the USAC EPC Portal.

FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q. How much bandwidth does Huerfano School District RE 1 have (or is upgrading to)?

A. Our RFP explains this on page 4 (Part I, Numbers 3 AND 4) on our “RFP-Cat2-FY20-1”. We have two campus locations. Our Main campus, located at 375 West Pine Street in Walsenburg consists of Peakview School and John Mall High School. They are sharing a single 200mbps dedicated fiber Internet Access. Our remote campus, Gardner Charter School, located at 25421 Hwy 69 in Gardner (25 Miles Northwest of Walsenburg), has a dedicated wireless microwave link from our ISP with up to 55mbps for Internet Access.

Q. What investment is/would be needed to upgrade that bandwidth?

A. At this time, we are not planning an upgrade on bandwidth due to being under current contract, and cost of bandwidth being prohibitive without E-Rate funding.

Q. How many daily users do you see on the network?

A. This was partially answered on our RFP, “RFP-Cat2-FY20-1”, in Part I, Number 3. We have approximately 330 students at Peakview School and approximately 160 students at John Mall High School. Staff add in an additional 60 between the two schools. In total for our MAIN CAMPUS, 550 average daily users. At our Gardner Charter School, we have approximately 75 students with an additional 15 staff. In Total for our GARDNER CAMPUS, we have 90 average daily users.

Q. Is there any 1:1 or BYOD program planned or in place?

A. We do have a 1:1 iPad distribution to all of our students in 1st grade classes and up.

Q. What kind of web content do you use in the classroom?

A. We see mostly webapps, youtube (or teachertube), news sites for kids.

Q. Since we are your current solution, I wanted to ask if you still want me to submit our bid with all the additional information, like references, history of the company, summary of qualifications, ect. (found in Part II, p. 6 of the RFP).
A. For continuity purposes, please include the information requested, such as references.
 
Q. I know you mentioned you are switching to a lot of Ubiquiti products. Can I still quote you for firewall and filtering? Or is Huerfano only interested in filtering from us?
A.  Yes, you may bid the firewall and content filter together.  While Content filtering is not covered by E-Rate, we still need those services.  We do request (but it is not required) that the quote be split for content filtering and firewall separately for the sole purpose if we decide to use one product over the other, it will help us move forward.  Yes, we are aiming more towards using Ubiquiti hardware for our firewall, we are attempting to not be exclusive to other products, including our current solution (CipaFilter).
 
Q. Are you only interested in one year quotes, or can I include quotes for 3 years as well?
A. At this moment we are likely to go year to year with any product/vendor we select due to our remote school becoming a charter school next school year.  It’s a little complicated:  For purposes of technology related services, our district is going to continue to provide tech services to the charter school, including filing for E-Rate.