Distributed Antenna System (DAS)

1. Purpose of this IFB

Stony Brook University Hospital (hereinafter referred to as “SBUH”) currently utilizes a GE Enterprise Access Distributed Antenna System (DAS) to provide cellular and radio coverage in areas of University Hospital, Health Sciences Center, the Bed Pavilion, and the MART.  The three radio services, Public Safety, Telemetry (WMTS), and Carrier DAS are combined onto a shared antenna system for distribution of each floor.  The system was originally deployed by GE to cover University Hospital and Health Sciences Center, but then expanded to include the Bed Pavilion, and the MART when opened in 2019.  The system is now at end-of-life support and GE will no longer be supporting any DAS after December 31, 2024.  To provide enhanced coverage, emergency communications, patient care and visitor/staff connectivity, a replacement is needed.  SBUH is seeking a partner to provide a 10-year Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) neutral-host DAS solution to cover installation, operation, management, and maintenance.

1. Scope of Coverage

SBUH is seeking a partner to provide a 10-year Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) neutral-host DAS solution to cover installation, operation, management, and maintenance to cover the following areas that are today covered by the GE Enterprise DAS:

• University Hospital: Floors 1-5, Floor 6 (Women’s Center)
• Health Sciences Center: Floors 1-5
• Basic Sciences Tower: Floors 1-5
• Bed Pavilion: Floors 3-10
• Medical and Research Translation (MART): Floors 3-10

SBUH intends to utilize existing headend location, fiber from headend to IDF closets and fiber from IDF closets to remotes.

1. Mandatory Requirements for Potential Bidders

The following requirements are MANDATORY. Failure to meet any of these requirements will result in disqualification of a Bidder’s proposal.

• Provide neutral host DAS network designed to support carrier frequencies for:
  • AT&T: 850, PCS, AWS
  • T-Mobile: PCS, AWS, 2500
  • Verizon: 850, PCS, AWS
  • AT&T and Verizon 3700 BAND: Please provide this as separate add-on option to the above.
• Provide 150MHz, 450MHz, 800SMR radio coverage
• Provide 4G/5G services throughout the scope of coverage with carriers’ final approval of frequencies and provision of RF sources.
• Develop implementation plan that provides for a phased in approach to deployment whereas the legacy and new solutions can interoperate during transition.
• Utilize existing headend location, fiber from headend to IDF closets and fiber from IDF closets to remotes.
• To the maximum extent possible, the Neutral Host Cellular upgrade shall leverage the existing shared infrastructure of the existing networks. In areas that are currently Neutral Host Cellular only but have Wireless Medical Telemetry Systems (WMTS) ready infrastructure, the option to add WMTS in the future shall be maintained.  Given the critical importance of the performance of the WMTS system to patient care, it is a requirement that an approved GEHC DAS equipment provider be utilized in this RFP response.  Corning is the only GEHC approved DAS equipment provider.  Should an alternative proposal be submitted using a DAS provider other than Corning, a fully separate and parallel system will be required to maintain hospital operations, and those costs will need to be included in such a proposal.
• Management and Maintenance Services must include:
  • Provide 24x7x365 Network Monitoring performed by firm’s in-house Network Operations Center (no offshore/3rd party) with redundancy and/or disaster recovery capabilities.
  • On-call Break/Fix Resources
  • Annual Scheduled Network Preventative Maintenance/Inspection
  • Maintain and backup all device software/firmware configurations.
  • When requested by SBUH on a schedule and frequency to be agreed-upon, collect signal data to ensure no degradation from design specifications.
  • Provide event severity matrix to include Mean Time to Acknowledge and Mean Time to Resolve.
  • Provide SBUH access to DAS online dashboard for incident reporting/monitoring
• Demonstrate experience deploying DAS solution in hospital of similar size.

All of the successful Bidder’s employees or representatives having patient contact must register with RepTrax and obtain an ID badge before entering the Hospital.  Successful Bidder will be considered a Premium Vendor and will be required to comply with the credential requirements listed under vendor representatives with patient contact. As a Premium Vendor you will also be required to pay fee per representative to RepTrax who will maintain current copies of your credential requirements – see attached web site:  http://www.reptrax.com

Contract period will be for a maximum of Ten (10) years and a minimum of Five (5) years, and will begin on or about November 1, 2024, or upon contract approval from the NYS Office of the State Comptroller.

All bills for payment must be submitted to Accounts Payable within 30 days of service.  Bills submitted after that date will be returned and not processed for payment. Billing will occur annually.

1. References

Each Bidder must submit contact information for three (3) current acute care hospital formal reference sites that can verify quality and accuracy of on-going services.  At least one of these formal reference sites must be a 200+ bed academic medical center or teaching hospital.  

All references submitted with Bidders’ proposal must include the client’s name, address, and the name of contact from within the leadership of the organization who is familiar with the Bidders’ services.  Also to be included are phone numbers, email addresses and the number of years services have been provided to the client along with the start date of services.  SBUH will contact the 3 formal references as part of the IFB process.  SBUH also reserves the right to request additional references if deemed necessary.

1. Pricing Requirements

The successful bidder will bill SBUH annually.

1. METHOD OF AWARD

This will be a Single Award Contract for Distributed Antenna System (DAS).  

Award will be made to the lowest qualified responsible bidder who meets all requirements set forth in this bid document.