USDA, Office of Operations, Procurement Operations Division, Room 1547-South Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9850

D -- EXPAND CURRENT 12 DS-3 FIBER RING TO OC-12 SONET RING POC Eugene Feinberg, 202-720-6864 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), National Finance Center (NFC), in New Orleans, Louisiana leases SmartRing fiber ring services from BellSouth, Inc. NFC intends to expand and upgrade the current five-node 12 DS-3 fiber optic ring to include five additional nodes located in the Greater New Orleans area under an existing service agreement with BellSouth. Interested parties capable of delivering such services within 150 calendar days of contract award should respond in writing to Eugene Feinberg nlt 10/15/97. Responses should include information on switch locations owned and maintained by whom, availability of redundant facilities, protection against switch single-point-of-failure (battery/generator backup), ability to replace a central office switch in a disaster, availability of business repair center, a statement as to the long-term financial stability of the company interested, any other information which clearly supports the requirements outlinedabove, and pricing that is sufficient to make a determination that competition is feasible. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed action is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. No sol. exists. No tel. calls will be accepted. (0254)

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