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2. Insist on a common format for all RFI responses, to aid in comparing services. However, be sure to leave 'open' sections of the RFI to allow the responder to present their services in any appropriate manner.

3. The RFI response should contain descriptions of , at minimum:

- The Carrier's network architecture. Get a topology description, with details of the network POPs, equipment used in the network, backbone link sizes and core technologies.

- Network operations center and support policies. Get details on technical support staff and after-hours support options as well.

- Traffic policing policies by service class.

- Service level guidelines for :

- Provisioning new sites

- Provisioning new circuits on existing sites

- Network Availability. This metric may vary by location and the carrier's ownership of local facilities.

- Mean Time To Repair network outages or failed equipment

- Delay. Often, each service class carries different guarantees on delay and variations in delay (jitter).

- Throughput, as measured by Cell Loss, Data Delivery Rate, or other metric. These metrics may also vary by service class.

- Measurement of traffic-based service level performance. Because of the lack of service level data sources in ATM WANs, most carriers use switch-to-switch performance measurements that do not offer a view from the customer's perspective.

- Penalties and Discounts. What are the consequences of the carrier not meeting their 'guaranteed' service level? While most offer simple credits for outages, a minor rebate rarely approaches the true cost of an outage.

- Billing and network utilization report descriptions.

- Available customer network management platforms.

- Equipment lease and purchase plans.

- Equipment installation and support services.

- Equipment sparing. How quickly can the carrier replace supported equipment when it fails? Ideally, new parts will be kept on site or within a few minutes of your location.

The RFI should be distributed to as many carriers as possible. It will be your principal method of building a short list for a final Request for Proposal. At this stage, you're looking to match capabilities and philosophies, so be flexible if a vendor doesn't respond perfectly to your needs in the first round.

Honing It Down: The Request for Proposal
The RFI responses should be used to select vendors that you will want to further negotiate with. After weeding the list down to a manageable number (typically between 3 and 5, but this may vary based on your requirements and schedule), you'll want to meet with each vendor individually to further qualify your needs. This interplay will help you fine-tune a detailed Request For Proposal (RFP) which will determine the final contract winner.

Ask for Anything : Negotiating the Final Contract
Remember that everything is negotiable when choosing carrier services, and most will adapt to your specific needs. If you can offer the promise of enough business to get the carrier interested, they will often agree to 'non-standard' items ­ tighter service level metrics, better support policies, the use of atypical equipment, etc. For example, some customers have purchased SVC and PNNI services from ASPs that don't advertise this capability.