GEANT Ltd on behalf of the Ubuntunet Alliance and European National Research and Education Networks, is coordinating procurement efforts under the AfricaConnect project. The project, funded by the European Commission Development and Cooperation — EuropeAid directorate (http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm), aims to establish a high-capacity network for research and education in Southern and Eastern Africa (ESA) region, and to connect this network to the world wide community of Research and Education Networks through GÉANT, the pan-European Research and Education Network operated by GÉANT Ltd.
The beneficiaries of AfricaConnect are the NRENs under the UbuntuNet Alliance, the regional Research and Education Network for the ESA region. The Alliance currently has membership drawn from 15 countries namely: The Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda and Zambia. The project has European partners comprising the National Research and Education Networks (NREN) of Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal who respectively represent the GÉANT community.
Africa Connect has already established a network within ESA with the following links in production;
1. SEACOM CLS, Mtunzini to KDN Data Center, Sameer Park, Nairobi with drops at SEACOM CLS Maputo and SEACOM CLS Dar es Salaam, @ STM 4.
2. KDN Data Centre, Sameer Park, Nairobi to Liquid Rwanda PoP, Kigali with a drop at NITA-U Data Centre, Statistics House, Kampala, @ STM 4.
3. EASSY CLS, Mtunzini to Amsterdam with a drop at KDN Data Centre, Sameer Park, Nairobi, @ STM 4.
4. Seacom CLS, Dar Es Salaam to Lusaka, @ STM 4.
The above Africa Connect links are complemented by a number of UA and NREN provided links in the region to form a resilient network.
The nature of the funding from DG DEVCO is such that an 8 % proportion of the 14 750 000 EUR budget (1 180 000 EUR) is retained by the EC until after the project is closed and has been subject to an EC review. GÉANT and the UA are seeking proposals for increases in bandwidth on these routes that will need to be implemented and invoiced before the project closes in May 2015.
However it must be noted that funds to support such bandwidth increases will not be available until after the project is closed and has been subject to a satisfactory review by the European Commission. Only then will funds be released by DG Devco. GÉANT and the UA are not able to commit any upfront funding of this magnitude and so a Competitive Dialogue procedure is being embarked upon to establish the potential that may exist in respect of commercial providers who are able to work within the GÉANT — DEVCO grant fund contractual and commercial environment.
This Competitive Dialogue procurement will seek to establish what the contractual and commercial construct will be that can support the increase of bandwidth on extant routes or the establishment of new routes with deferred payment options.
The term of the contract is anticipated to be 10 years, this will be discussed in the dialogue stage as well as the potential route options.
PQQ documentation, draft requirements and guidance documents are available at www.dante-procurement.net