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Tuesday, 5 September 2017

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) Request for Provision of services for Revamping of the African Union Commission’s Internal Communications System (VSAT / IPL)

AFRICAN UNION                                                                           UNION
AFRICAINE
UNIÃO AFRICANA



EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI)
Request for Provision of services for Revamping of the African Union Commission’s
Internal Communications System (VSAT / IPL)



Background

The African Union Commission (AUC) is an Intergovernmental Organization made by 54
Member States and has its Head Quarter Office in the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa,
with other Regional and Representative offices in Africa, Europe and USA.

To carry out its mandate efficiently, the Commission is required to have an independent and secured
communication network infrastructure to connect its regional and representative offices as well as
its satellite offices. As a result, the Commission has implemented a hybrid communication
infrastructure based on satellite (VSAT) and an International Private Line (IPL) based on a fiber
link to available sites to link the above mentioned offices in 25 sites making the VSAT HUB
connection for all the remote sites at the HQ (annex 1). This infrastructure has been serving the
Commission for the past 10 years and is still up and running. The Commission is now in a position
to revamp the current communication infrastructure.
Hence, for the feasible implementation of the project, the Commission is sourcing for a
Service   Provider   or   system   integrator   that   can   materialize   the   envisaged  
network
communication system.

1. PURPOSE AND SCOPE
The objective of this project is to revamp the AUC private communication infrastructure
between the offices of the AU and its partners within and/or outside the continent of Africa that
takes into account the following requirements:

A.      Connectivity  between  the  African  Union  Headquarter  and  its  existing  and  future
Regional Offices (RO), specialized institutions, and Regional Economic Communities (RECs);
B.     Identification of alternative technical solutions, other than the current method in use, for
real time Data, Voice Gateway to the Internet access, high- speed Internet access that has an
enhanced capacity and performance while minimizing cost and administrative overheads.
C.     New technology that has efficient satellite access method for optimized operation while
enhancing the current operational performance and reducing recurring cost and administrative
overheads;
D.     Efficient service provision;
E.     Reduced cost of operation;
F.     Smooth integration with internal network infrastructure;
G.     Adequate room for further growth, and
H.     Flexible and secured operation.

2.      Current Status
In terms of the network communication, currently the Commission has:
i)                  Hardware
●                              A HUB at the HQ – 9.3 meters antenna, ODU and IDU
●        21 VSAT remote sites with a 2.4mts antenna, ODU and IDU (all of them are in
Africa. See Annex I for detail site locations. Kindly be advised that this list is
indicative and will change according to future needs)

●     4  sites  with  an  IPL  connection  via  a  Teleport  leased  from  a  service  provider.
(Washington, New York, Brussels and Geneva)
Satellite
●                          Uses ARABSAT 5A.
●                          Consumes a total of about 20Mhz space segment from a single beam

Management:

●  All services - space segment leasing, ground operation management, corrective and preventive
maintenance, spare part philosophy, etc. – are fully outsourced and handled by a third party
service provider under a defined Service Level Agreement (SLA).
●   Has a monitoring interface for the client to observe the performance and utilization of
the resources. (BW utilization, site availability, etc.)

Services:

●  The infrastructure is used to provide Data (Corporate traffic like ERP applications, internal
portals, e-Mail, etc.), Voice and Video Conferencing traffics.

To  this  end,  the  African  Union  Commission  now  invites  Expressions  of  Interest  from
qualified and registered companies for VSAT Connectivity. Interested firms or consortium should
submit the following documents along with signed and sealed letter of Expression of Interest:
i.      Detailed company profile,
ii.      Copies of registration certificates and business licenses,
iii.      Company’s past experience (Provide references of previous assignments)

Assessment criteria

i)     Core business and years in the business. A minimum 3 years in the business is required ii)  
 Specific experience of the firm related to the assignment in similar size projects
iii)   Managerial and technical organisation of the firm
iv)   Local support facilities in sites for installation purposes and a 24/7 Support Network
operations  center  for  incident  report  and  network  issues to  ensure  continuity of the
service. List of firm branches and/or partner companies able to provide a quick support in case of
service interruption in all covered countries. A strong presence in Africa is required.
v)    Companies  working  with  international  organisations  or  national  and  government
institutions or large public and private companies will have an added advantage.

Communication and Inquiries
Additional information can be obtained from:

Procurement Unit, African Union Commission
Email:  tender@africa-union.org
Tel: +251 (0) 11 551 7700 – Ext 4321

Submission of Expression of Interest
ONE original and TWO copies of EOIs (in either English or French Language) must be received in one
sealed envelope not later than Friday 29th September 2017 at 1500hours. The envelope must be
clearly labelled with the title of the bid. Email submissions should be sent to the address below.
Late applications will be rejected and returned unopened.

The address for submission is: The Head Procurement, Travel and Stores Division; African Union
Commission; Roosevelt Street, Building C, 3rd Floor, P. O. Box 3243, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tel:
+251 11-551-7700. Email: tender@africa-union.org
The detailed Request for proposal document, including detailed Terms of Reference (TORs)
will only be sent to shortlisted firms.



ANNEX I
Sites under consideration for this project:
No.    Site Name                      Location                    Remark










1           Addis A. (HQ)                          Addis Ababa, Ethiopia         Head Quarter
office
2           Burkina Faso                            Ouagadougou
3           Cameroon                                 Yaoundé
4           Egypt                                        Cairo
5           Gambia                                     Banjul
6           Kenya-1                                    Nairobi                                 IBAR
Office
7           Kenya-2                                    Nairobi                                
AMISOM Office
8           Malawi                                      Lilongwe
9           Niger                                         Niamey
10         Nigeria-1                                   Abuja                                   
ECOWAS Office
11         Nigeria-2                                   Abuja                                    AUC
Office
12         South Africa                              Midrand                                PAP
Office
13         Tanzania-1                                Arusha                                  EAC
Office
14         Tanzania-2                                Arusha                                 
African Court Office
15         The Sudan                                 Khartoum
16         South Sudan-1                          Juba
17         Chad                                          Ndjamena
18         Somalia                                     Mogadishu
19         Belgium                                    Brussels                               
Europe Site
20         Switzerland                               Geneva                                  Europe
Site
21         USA-1                                       New York                             US site
22         USA-2                                       Washington                          US Site
23         Addis Ababa                             Debrezeit                              PANVAC
office
24         Ivory Cost                                 Abidjan
25         Burundi                                     Bujumbura
26         DRC                                          Kinshasa

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