SOURCES SOUGHT
70 -- Upgrade IBM Virtual Tape Server (VTS)
- Notice Date
- 7/10/2003
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- Railroad Retirement Board, Bureau of Supply and Service, Purchasing Division, 844 North Rush Street, 9th Floor NE, Chicago, IL, 60611-2092
- ZIP Code
- 60611-2092
- Solicitation Number
- 2003-C-13
- Response Due
- 7/28/2003
- Archive Date
- 8/12/2003
- Point of Contact
- Karen Haskins-Brewer, Contract Specialist, Phone (312) 751-4615, Fax (312) 751-4923,
- E-Mail Address
-
haskinkj@rrb.gov
- Description
- This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subject 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation is issued as Request for Quotations 2003-C-13. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions are those in effect through FAR Circular number 2001-14. This solicitation is not a small business set-aside. I. BACKGROUND. The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is an independent federal agency headquartered in Chicago, IL that administers a retirement and survivor benefit program for railroad employees and their families and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act which provides unemployment and sickness benefits to railroad employees. II. STATEMENT OF WORK. The RRB requests quotations for the following equipment and services to accomplish upgrading our current IBM Virtual Tape Server (VTS) to add additional disaster recovery functionality. A. Required capabilities/performance goals. The RRB adopted Tivoli Storage Manager as a means of backing up servers to its VTS and there has been an increasing need to upgrade the VTS to create tapes for off-site storage. The devices currently used to copy files (mainframe and LAN) for off-site storage are old technology parallel channel connected 3490 tape drives with a tape capacity of 800 MB. The RRB looks to upgrade the VTS by adding four 3590 tape drives within the VTS, two ESCON channels, plus other necessary support equipment. B. Additional RRB requirements: 1. Equipment shall be delivered and installed at headquarters in the second floor data center at 844 N. Rush St., Chicago IL 60611. 2. All equipment offered shall be either new or in current production by the original equipment manufacturer (if equipment is used). 3. All equipment and installation work shall be certified by IBM as fully eligible for IBM maintenance coverage. 4. All necessary microcode and software (if applicable) shall be supplied and installed to insure full functionality of all existing and new equipment. 5. All necessary software updates shall be applied. 6. The offeror shall submit evidence of the completion of a successful systems assurance review for the entire VTS upon completion of installation. 7. Installation shall not cause any loss of data in the VTS and shall not change in any way the current processing of data into or out of the VTS. 8. The VTS library shall have capacity for at least an additional 300 native 3590E tape cartridges. 9. Pre-installation preparatory consulting shall be included to cover such topics as, floor layout and electrical specifications, tape type and format, cartridge labeling, tape definition for the VTS and for CA-1 (the RRB?s tape management system), etc. 10. Training for four operations personnel and five technical support personnel shall be provided during regular day-shift working hours. The following topics at a minimum shall be addressed: a. The VTS subsystem as a closed store, b. Operation intervention conditions and their resolution, c. Proper procedure for opening and closing frames, and d. VTS-specific Library Manager functions. 11. Additional training for five technical support personnel on the hardware and software operation of the newly-installed equipment shall be provided during normal day-shift working hours in two stages: a. Training prior to beginning the VTS upgrade shall consist of; 1) A refresher course on how the RRB?s currently configured VTS works, 2) What changes will be made to the VTS to accommodate the additional frame, native 3590 drives, and native tapes, and 3) How the current data in the library database will be protected (for example, backed up and restored). b. T raining after the upgrade to the VTS is completed shall consist of; 1) How to differentiate between the existing part of the VTS where the tapes are not removable and the new part of the VTS with the native drives and removable tapes, 2) How to utilize the VTS console to add monitor and make changes to system settings, the tape library, etc., 3) How to utilize the VTS console to add new native tapes (when necessary) to the VTS and how to distinguish these tapes from ones in the part of the VTS housing non-removable tapes, 4) How to utilize the VTS console to remove native tapes, 5) How to utilize the VTS console to put removed native tapes back into the VTS, 6) Software choices and how they affect the VTS subsystem, and 7) Disaster recovery considerations. C. Following is a list of likely components necessary. (These may or may not be the actual components required for the VTS upgrade described earlier) 1. Four native 3590-B1A* drives inside the VTS (two drives per unit, four drives total), 2. Two ESCON cables with a length of 75 feet, 3. Two ESCON channel adapters, (ESCON channels are available on the mainframe but it its noteworthy that IBM will likely require their engineers to connect to the mainframe in order to keep their maintenance coverage in force), 4. One 3494-D14 frame, 5. Capacity for at least 300 native 3590E tapes, 6. One 3590-A50** control unit, and 7. Robot extension XY access cables if required for the 3494-L14 (serial number 13746). * Please provide optional pricing for the same drive configuration with 3590-E1A and with 3590-H1A drives as alternatives. ** Please provide optional pricing for one 3590-A60 control unit as an alternative to the 3590-A50. III. EVALUATION FACTORS AND CONTENTS OF PROPOSAL. A. Current Offers shall be evaluated on a technical-to-price ratio of 2:1. The award shall be based upon the offer that provides the best value to the government, price and other factors considered. Proposals shall be technically evaluated using the following factors in decreasing order of importance: Experience and expertise of staff and past performance. 1. Experience & Expertise of Staff . Specific numbers of years of experience and types of expertise must be explained for the individuals who will be involved with pre-installation consulting, installation, and training activities. Specific numbers of years experience and demonstrated qualifications and expertise will be evaluated in each of the following three areas: a. Performing IBM VTS pre-installation consulting, b. Performing IBM VTS installations, and c. Performing training on operating IBM VTS equipment, 2. Past Performance . All offerors shall submit information on previously performed contracts that are similar to this statement of work. Information shall be provided on either, a. all such contracts within the past three years, or b. the last three contracts performed, whichever is fewer and shall be limited to the names and addresses of the organization for which VTS equipment, pre-installation consulting, installation, and training services were performed and names and phone numbers of at least two contact individuals at each organization. The RRB will contact at least three clients for which similar tasks have been performed. c. The following performance characteristics will be evaluated: 1) Customer satisfaction, which includes satisfaction of end users with the offeror?s service, 2) Quality of service, 3) Reliability and timeliness of performance, which includes the offeror?s reliability as well as the ability to perform in a timely manner. 3. Offerors must supply a federal tax identification number and a Dun and Bradstreet (DUNS) number. B. In addition to above, proposals must include the following documents: 1. Two (2) copies with original signatures in block 30a of the Solicitation/Contract./Offer for Commercial Items, SF-1449, signed by an official authorized to bind your firm to a contract; 2. Signed and completed Offerors Representations and Certifications, Commercial Items (FAR 52.212-3), 3. Certification of Electronics and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility (Section 508 Compliance), 4. Price Proposal. The price shall include price of equipment and man-hours required to fulfill the requirements listed above. a. Equipment $_________ (Include list of individual items and prices.), Optional Equipment $_______( Include optional pricing, see II.C.1.and 6. above), b. Installation of all Equipment $________/man hour (Include estimated number of man hours required), c. Pre-installation preparatory consulting $_________/man hour (Include estimated number of man hours required), d. Training $________/man hour (Include estimated number of man hours required). 5. Technical Proposal. The technical proposal must include: a. a list of all equipment, software and peripherals required, b. a detailed training program for operations personnel and technical support personnel (see II.B.10. and 11. above.), c. a plan for pre-installation preparatory consulting, and d. any other relevant detail or information necessary to address and fulfill the requirements. Please note the evaluation factors listed and address each factor in your proposal. Refer to and reference the Statement of Work above. The objective of the technical evaluation is to measure the extent to which proposals meet the requirements in the Statement of Work. Past Performance Information should be included in the Technical Proposal. IV. VTS CONFIGURATION AND OTHER RELEVANT INTERFACES. Current RRB VTS Configuration and other relevant interfaces to ensure complete compatibility and to provide a current equipment baseline for installation purposes: A. VTS Configuration, 1. 1 IBM 3494-B18 IBM Magstar Virtual Tape Server, Features: 2 ESCON channels, 72 GB of disk storage; 2. 1 IBM 3494-D12 IBM Magstar Tape Library Features: 4 Magstar 3590 Model B1A tape drives, Tape cartridge storage cells; 3. 1 IBM 3494-L14 IBM Magstar Tape Library (serial number 13746) Features: Library Manager Tape cartridge storage cells, 10 cartridge I/O convenience station, 3590 controller. B. Other Relevant Interfaces, 1. Current mainframe is: IBM 2003-2C5 Multiprise 2000 Features: 3 GB of total storage, 1016 MB of central storage, 1992 MB of extended storage, PR/SM with 3 LPARS, 32 parallel channels, 16 ESCON channels (two of which are available for the VTS expansion), OSA/2 FENET cards. 2. Computer Associates CA-1 is used for tape management V. Additional clauses applicable to this solicitation: FAR 52.212-4 and 52.212-5. Responses/Proposals are due by 11:00 a.m. (CST), July 28, 2003 to Karen Haskins-Brewer, Purchasing Division, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, IL 60611-2092. Facsimile responses will not be accepted. Email responses will be accepted but the RRB does not guarantee receipt. The RRB will not send an acknowledgment of receipt of any firm?s submission. Questions, addressed to Ms. Haskins-Brewer shall only be entertained until COB July 18, 2003 in order to allow for publication at this site. Offerors certify that price and terms offered in response to this solicitation are valid for 90 calendar days from the date of offer.
- Place of Performance
- Address: U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, IL 60611
- Country: USA
- Country: USA
- Record
- SN00368939-W 20030712/030710214116 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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