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Regional call for ISP Accreditation Tenders

Tuscany Internet eXchange

 

ISP Accreditation
Regional call for Internet Service Provider (ISP) Accreditation Tenders
Final version (published in BURT no. 12 dated 19/03/2003)

- According to Managerial Decree n. 376 dated Jan 13th, 2022 the deadline is extended until the issuance of a new contract, or in any case for a maximum period of 24 months (till 31/12/2022).

 

Introduction

This call for tenders by the Tuscany Region implements the provisions set forth in Regional Resolution no. 1356 dated 18 December, 2000 and further implements the decisions taken by the Strategic Management Unit of the Tuscan Regional Telematics Network, for the creation on Tuscan territory of a neutral access point for the telecommunications networks of the public sector and private sector Internet providers. The programme involves a special accreditation process for the latter for the purpose of guaranteeing the quality of the services provided.

Hereinafter, RTRT network participants and the government bodies that will make use of the connection services of the accredited Internet service providers are denominated 'extended RTRT network'; the generic term 'users' indicates all the entities belonging to the said extended RTRT network.

Compliance with the industrial and technical organisation requirements necessary for accreditation will be assessed by a third party; at present, theInformatics and Telecommunications Institute of the C.N.R of Pisa, hereinafter the I.I.T. has been designated for this role.


Art. 1- General Purpose

To reap the benefits of having a strongly interconnected, online civil service network and the benefits of achieving full territorial coverage for guaranteed, quality-controlled services, which reach out to the entire population served by accredited Internet Service Providers (ISPs), a Tuscan Neutral Access Point (NAP) known as the Tuscany Internet eXchange (T.I.X.) has been established. Its function is to act as an interconnection point between the Tuscan Regional Telematics Network (RTRT network) and the Internet access networks of accredited private-sector service providers (ISPs) operating on Tuscan territory.

The purpose of this Notice of Call for Tenders is to provide an outline of the T.I.X. accreditation process for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), designed to guarantee minimum service levels for the provision of connection services to Tuscan government bodies and in general, users of the extended RTRT network.


Art. 2 - Accreditation Eligibility

The possibility of T.I.X. accreditation is open to ISPs duly authorised to operate by the Ministry of Communications, in accordance with Legislative Decree no. 103 of 17.03.1995 and Presidential Decree no. 420 of 04.09.1995, and which provide connection services in Tuscany.


Art. 3 - Applications for Accreditation

Applications for accreditation must be submitted on the appropriate "Accreditation Application" form scheduled hereto under letter "A". All other applications will be excluded. The application form must be signed by a legal representative and a photocopy of an identity document enclosed therewith.

The documents listed below must also be enclosed with the application form. Failure to provide the documents will result in the application's exclusion.

1. TIX Connection Programme, compliant with the requirements set forth in the "T.I.X. Regulations for Accredited ISPs";

2. the model agreement which the ISP intends to propose to extended RTRT network users, which must necessarily include the clauses scheduled to the application form.

Applications will be deemed eligible where submitted by parties in possession of:

a) the formal requirements set forth in schedule "2" to the accreditation application form;

b) the industrial and technical organisation requirements set forth in schedule "3" to the accreditation application form, and duly presenting the documents outlined above at points 1 and 2.

The Managerial Decree n. 3531 dated Aug 6th, 2014 establishes the following communication modes for sending applications for accreditation to TIX and further communication:

- transmission through PEC (Certified Mail) to the PEC institutional mailbox regionetoscana@postacert.toscana.it

- transmission via web interface APACI by registering at the following address https://web.e.toscana.it/apaci and selecting "Regione ToscanaGiunta".


Art. 4 - Requirements for TIX Accreditation

ISPs interested in TIX accreditation must, upon entering the agreement stipulated with the Tuscany Region, scheduled hereto under letter "B", fulfil all the requirements listed below:

Industrial Requirements

I. Possession of Ministerial Authorisation for the provision of Internet services, duly issued by the Ministry of Communications in accordance with Legislative Decree no. 103 of 17/3/95 and Presidential Decree no. 420 of 4/9/95;

II. Possession of one or more connection links to the Internet independently of the TIX connection, at a capacity of no less than 2 Mbps via any technology fit to guarantee this band width.

Technical Organisation Requirements

III. Ability to assign public addresses (independently of whether they possess an Autonomous System or act as a Local Internet Registry, and both directly and via an upstream provider);

IV. Commercial offer to users of the possibility of Internet connection at 2Mbs;

V. Readiness to establish a peering exchange with the Tuscany Region's Autonomous System AS6882;

VI. Ability to provide a public IP address to each and every user participating in the extended RTRT network, in a manner responding to their specific needs;

VII. Installation of end-point servers and systems on the premises of final users, which enable the creation of an IPSec VPN with concentrator located at the T.I.X., featuring the characteristics set forth in schedule "1" to the "T.I.X. Regulations for Accredited ISPs" (scheduled to the model agreement under letter "A");

VIII. Ability to provide multicast routing on the network or in at least two routers (T.I.X. and user sides);

IX. Provision upon request of the read-only SNMP password to the Tuscany Region for the purpose of monitoring ISP equipment located at the TIX and with the final user;

X. Provision of information on the network (connection lines and routers, users participating in the extended RTRT network and their routing programme) as concerns the segment they manage of the user-T.I.X. path, upon activation of the service, with reports provided on a six-monthly basis of any changes made to the routing programme;

XI. Statement of the nominal band width available for T.I.X. connection, comprising the commitment to increasing the bandwidth available within 60 days if for three consecutive months, the band width reaches a saturation point of 75% on a monthly basis;

XII. Guarantee that for each connection made on the user-T.I.X. path, the capacity available is greater than the sum of minimum guaranteed band widths assigned to users belonging to the extended RTRT network which are making the connection;

XIII. Guarantee that final links to users under non saturated conditions feature:

· a round trip time of less than 50ms measured by ICMP packets of 64 bytes for 95% of the packets;

· a path throughput which must be greater than the minimum guaranteed band width;

XIV. Guarantee of service availability on a yearly basis for transmission from the user to the T.I.X.:

· unitary (for each individual final user), levels equal to 99.5%;

·overall (average across the network) levels equal to 99.8%;

XV. Capacity to provide security services featuring:

· firewall;

· an intrusion detection sysytem (IDS);

and upon request:

· filtering of undesirable web sites (URL Filtering);

· antivirus protection on http/ftp/smtp traffic.


Art. 5 - The Accreditation Procedure

Upon receipt of the application for accreditation, the administration will proceed with verifying compliance with formal requirements (as per Art. 3. above), and may request further documentation from the ISP under assessment as required. In the event of:

· eligibility, the application will be forwarded to the I.T.I. for industrial and technical organisation assessment, and checks on the documentation submitted;

· ineligibility, the ISP will receive written notice thereof, outlining the reasons for the application's failure;

Within 5 working days from receipt of the forwarded application (n.b.: unless express authorisation to the contrary is given by the Region to the I.T.I.), the I.T.I. will complete its assessment of eligibility on the basis of the requirements outlined in Art. 3.b above. In the event of non fulfilment, the I.T.I. will notify the administration thereof, and the latter will forward written notice to the ISP concerned.

In the event of eligibility, on the other hand, the Administration will prepare the formal paperwork for the stipulation of the agreement between the Tuscany Region and the ISP deemed eligible for accreditation./p>

Once eligibility has been deemed and the agreement made, the ISP will not be required to effect the accreditation to the T.I.X. immediately. Accreditation may be postponed for up to a maximum of 60 days from the making of the first agreement with an extended RTRT network user.

Upon the making of the agreement between the Tuscany Region and the ISP, the latter, within the term indicated above, is to notify the I.T.I. of its T.I.X. connection and provide all the necessary technical information (connection lines and routers, list of extended RTRT network users and the routing plan for the users) concerning the segment under its management of user-T.I.X. paths, as required by Art. 4 above.

Within 12 working days from receipt of notice, the I.T.I. will proceed with a check on compliance with requirements.

If a positive outcome is established, the ISP will be accredited to use the T.I.X.

If compliance is not found, the I.T.I. will notify the Tuscany Region and the ISP concerned of the failure to comply with requirements. In this case, subject to the forwarding of a formal notice of non-compliance, the Tuscany Region may withdraw from the agreement, in which case the extended RTRT network users who signed an agreement with the ISP concerned may withdraw from their relative agreements without penalty.

RTRT network participants interested in using the services provided by accredited ISPs may choose a suitable provider from the lists of accredited and eligible ISPs. Upon the making of the agreement with the ISP, the network user is required to notify the Tuscany Region thereof; if the ISP is an eligible ISP but has yet to be accredited, the Tuscany Region will verify that the ISP effectively completes the accreditation process within the terms established above.


Art. 6 - Withdrawal of Accreditation

In the event of serious and repeated instances of non compliance by the ISP with the provisions set forth in the agreement made with the Tuscany Region, the latter shall reserve the right to withdraw from the agreement.

Art. 7 - Expiry of the Call for Tenders (note)

This Call for Tenders shall run for 24 months from its publication in the Official Journal of the Tuscany Region. ISPs interested in obtaining accreditation may submit their application at any time during this term. Agreements made between the Tuscany Region and accredited ISPs under this Call for Tenders shall expire, without the possibility of extension, at 60 days from the publication of a new Call for ISP accreditation tenders.

Art. 8 - Disputes

Any disputes raised by an ISP in relation to the operations and assessments of the I.T.I. or the T.I.X. manager should be submitted to the Tuscany Region - Dipartimento Organizzazione - Ufficio Ingegneria dei Sistemi Informativi e della Comunicazione - via di Novoli, 26 - 50127 Florence, within 30 days from the event that gave rise to the dispute.

For the intents and purposes of resolving the dispute, the Tuscany Region may request further documentation or supplementary investigations; upon hearing both parties, the Tuscany Region shall give its ruling on the matter.


Art. 9 - Data Protection

In accordance with Law no. 675/96 and subsequent amendments and additions thereto, we hereby declare that all data submitted in relation to this Call for Tenders will be collected by the Information Systems and Communications Engineering Office of the I.T.I., and used solely for purposes connected with the administrative procedures set forth herein.

Art. 10 - Accreditation Procedures Senior Officer

For the intents and purposes of the ISP accreditation process, and in accordance with Law no. 241/90, please be advised that the senior officer responsible for accreditation procedures is Mr Angelo Marcotulli, executive officer for the Regional IT Infrastructures and Technology Office, Tel. 055/4383219 Fax 055/4383195, e-mail: a.marcotulli[at]regione.toscana.it; the officer responsible for the this phase of the accreditation process is Mr Giovanni Armanino, tel. 055/4385122, fax 0039/554383195, e-mail: g.armanino[at]regione.toscana.it.

Art. 11 - Information on the Call for Tenders

This Call for Tenders and documents relative hereto may be accessed via Internet on the T.I.X. web site (www.tix.it); for further information please contact the Service Centre Help Desk (e-mail: accreditamento[at]tix.it).

NOTE - Notification of reopening of terms

According to Managerial Decree n. 376 dated Jan 13th, 2022, the deadline for the submission of applications for accreditation were reopened until a new contract, or in any case for a maximum period of 24 months (till 31/12/2022).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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