Eng. Ali El-Desouky, Central Department Chief (CDC) of Admin. Stores & Purchases, Arento, 9th Flr., An action for the USAID program.

D -- NEW DIGITAL TELEPHONE SWITCH PROJECT -- EGYPT POC Contact Points: Amir T. Dimitri, P.E., DSS Project Manager, or C. Wayne Ray, Contracts Manager, GTE, 53 Manial St., 8th fl., El-Rodah, Cairo 11451, Egypt. TEL Intl.+20-2-365-4340, FAX Intl.+20-2-365-4346. Eng. Ali El-Desouky, Central Department Chief (CDC) of Administration, Stores and Purchases, ARENTO, 9th Floor, Opera Exchange, Ataba Square, Cairo, Egypt. The Arab Republic of Egypt National Telecommunications Organization (ARENTO), a Public Sector Organization under the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Government of Egypt, (Cairo, Egypt) is contemplating the addition of six (6) new Digitial Switching Systems (DSS) having a total capacity of 145,000 lines and is inviting expressions of interest and submission of pre-qualification information from U.S. only (Geographic Code 000) firms interested in submitting bids for a Host Country design/build Contract to Design, Engineer, Furnish, Install, Maintain, and provide Personnel Training for the new Digital Telephone Central Offices. The new DSS will serve the following three (3) areas of Cairo: El Nozha (30,000 lines), Ramses (20,000 lines), Mansheit Nasser (20,000 lines). The new DSS will serve the following three (3) areas of Alexandria: El Haramein (35,000 lines), Carmouz (25,000 lines), El Ibrahemia (15,000 lines). This listing of exchanges is not all inclusive. ARENTO may include a fixed priced option for other lines or other exchanges to meet their telecommunication requirements, subject to availability of funding. This option will be defined, priced and negotiated at a later date. To be qualified, a contractor or joint venture must be able to demonstrate experience with projects of similar complexity (a totally integrated mixture of facilities, hardware and software) and magnitude. The ARENTO Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is composed of many different switch types, mainly the Siemens EWSD, AT&T 5ESS, Ericsson AXE-10, and Alcatel E10B and OCB283. Surveillance & Control of the existing switches is provided for by Centralized Operations & Maintenance centers (COM centers) by switch type, thus this procurement will require a similiar COM center. The new switches described above shall interface to the contractor provided COM center via a contractor specified interface for alarm surveillance and control of the furnished switches and for the collection of specified traffic reports. Each of the new switches shall be located in ARENTO furnished building facilities for the housing of all contractor furnished equipment, HVAC units and standby power plants. The DSS III project shall be composed of and integrate the following equipments, applications and subsystems: (1) Switching System Hardware (2) R2-MFC Signalling on selected trunk groups. (3) Switching System Software including CCITT#7 Signalling International Standard ISUP (to be upgraded to Egypt Standard at a later date) and ISDN applications software (4) Building Security System (5) Operations and Maintenance Management System (6) Facilities (a) DC Power Plant (b) Standby Engine/Generator (c) Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (d) Fire Detection (e) Selected items of Furniture/Furnishings/Fixtures/Finishing. A design/build Host Country Contract with two portions (a fixed price portion and a cost-plus-fixed fee portion) with ARENTO, with U.S. Dollar funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under project no. 263-0223, and Egyptian Pound funding from ARENTO is contemplated. Firms submitting replies must furnish information adequate to: (a) Demonstrate capability, based upon technical expertise, management capability, workload capacity and financial resources to enter into a design/build contract, including engineering, design, installation, commissioning, maintenance and training of Host Country nationals, (b) Confirm that the firm, and all Telephone Switching System, computer hardware, software and related support equipment (e.g. HVAC Units, DC Power and Standby Power) equipment which they will provide will conform with the USAID requirements for "nationality", "source", "origin", and "componentry", as set forth in Title 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 228 (22 CFR Part 228). In accordance with USAID regulations, the designated USAID Geographic Code for all DSS project requirements funded by USAID shall be 000(USA). (c) Demonstrate previous experience and existing capability to furnish the necessary hardware, software and system integration. (d) Confirm the capability and capacity to establish andmaintain a strong local organization to support the installation through the warranty period and life of the equipment. Firms which believe they qualify in accordance with (a), (b), (c), and (d) should request in writing (FAX acceptable, Telephone requests will not be considered) a prequalification questionnaire from the contact point. The prequalification questionnaire will be issued on or after fifteen days from the date of publication of this notice. The deadline for receipt of information will be approximately 30 after the date of the issuance of the prequalification Questionnaire. Instructions for submittal of information will be provided in the Prequalification Questionnire. If a joint venture seeks prequalification, information must be submitted for all firms in the joint venture. Procurement of the DSS III project shall follow a two stage bidding. It is contemplated that a Request for Technical Proposal (RTP) will be issued in early May 1997 to a Short List of those firms who meet the prequalification requirements. Bidders will be given 45 days to prepare and submit their technical proposals. After the technical proposals have been evaluated, those firms whose technical proposals have been deemed fully acceptable will receive an Invitation For Bid (IFB), request for commercial bids. Due date for submittal of commercial bids will be 30 days from the date of issuance of the IFB. Anticipated Award Date is October 30, 1997. Award will be made to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. A one year warranty and maintenance period will be included in the contract. A Pre-bid Conference for this procurement is not comtemplated. The Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Agency for International Development encourage and welcome in this activity the participation, to, the fullest extent possible, of minorities and women both as individuals and as members of contracting or sub-contracting firms. In this respect, it is anticipated that the prime contractor will make every practicable use of such personnel and firms. (0021)

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