SOLICITATION NOTICE
70 -- Supercomputing Workstation for the National Institute of Standards and Technology - List of Requirements + Evaluation Factor # 1 Description
- Notice Date
- 2/22/2010
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 334111
— Electronic Computer Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B129, Mail Stop 1640, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899-1640
- ZIP Code
- 20899-1640
- Solicitation Number
- SB1341-10-RQ-0162
- Archive Date
- 3/16/2010
- Point of Contact
- Keith Bubar, Phone: 3019758329
- E-Mail Address
-
keith.bubar@nist.gov
(keith.bubar@nist.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- This is detailed breakdown of how offerors will be evaluated on Evaluation Factor # 1: The Degree to which the Minimum Specifications were Exceeded. This is a detailed description of the exact products that are required for this supercomputing workstation, along with optional upgraded specificatiosn to the supercomputing workstation. THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6, AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. FAR PART 13, SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES, ARE UTILIZED IN THIS PROCUEREMENT. THIS ANNOUCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEIGN REQUESTED, AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS WILL NOT BE ISSUED. This solicitation is a request for quotation. The solicitation document incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-38. 1352.215-73 INQUIRIES (MAR 2000) Offerors must submit all questions concerning this solicitation in writing to the Contracting Officer. They must be received no later than seven (7) calendar days after the date of this solicitation. All responses to the questions will be made in writing and included in an amendment to the solicitation. The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 334111 - Electronic Computer Manufacturing- with a size standard of 1,000 employees. This requirement will be competed as a 100% small business set aside. This requirement is going to be competed only among authorized resellers of NVIDIA Tesla, Intel, and Microsoft that are considered small businesses under the NAICS code 334111. The Following FAR provisions and clauses apply to this solicitation: 52.212-1 52.212-3 52.212-4 52.212-5, including 52.222-50, 52.233-3 and 52.233-4 in paragraph (a) (1), and the following fill-ins in paragraph (b): 52.219-6, 52.219-28, 52.222-3, 52.222.19, 522.222-21, 52.222-26, 52.222-36, 52.225-13 and 52.232-33. The following standards of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 apply to this acquisition: 1194.21- Software Applications and Operating Systems 1194.26- Desktop and Portable Computers 1194.31- Functional Performance Criteria 1194.41- Information, Documentation, and Support This procurement is a brand name procurement that involves more than one brand name product. First, the procurement is for Tesla supercomputer processors. This procurement also involves Intel processors. Finally, the procurement includes Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2. Below are the justifications for each brand name product. This section is a narrative describing the justification of the identification by name brand, of components manufactured by NVIDIA Corporation. To the best of our knowledge, the NVIDIA Tesla is the only supercomputing processor that is high-performance, and supports both OpenCL and CUDA. This will facilitate the development of software and libraries that are both optimizable and cross-platform (e.g., both a PC and Mac). Additionally, a number of NIST IT assets (such as MATLAB or LABVIEW) offer CUDA-based acceleration. Using a different GPU architecture would detract from NIST's ability to leverage the existing infrastructure. Likewise, it is specified that the video controller be based on NVIDIA technology. Using a video card that is manufactured by a different manufacturer would increase the number of device drivers to be loaded onto the system, increase the amount of maintenance, and add complexity if the video processor did not have the same basic architecture as the remaining GPU units. This section is a narrative describing the justification of the identification by name brand, of components manufactured by Intel. All desktop and server systems used in the NIST Biometric Clients Lab use Intel processors. The lab already has a significant investment, and experience in i7/Nehalem based processors. Using a different processor would have a significant negative impact on compatibility, maintenance, and support costs. (For example, existing spare processors already on hand can be used across machines with relatively homogeneous architectures.) Likewise, an Intel network chipset is required for similar reasons. The NIST Biometric Clients Lab already has an existing investment in network interfaces with an Intel chipset. Specifying an Intel networking chipset provides maximum compatibility and reuse of existing spare parts. This section is a narrative describing the justification of the identification by name brand, of components manufactured by Microsoft Corporation. The majority of systems used in the NIST Biometric Clients Lab are based on Microsoft Windows operating systems. Using an operating system other than Microsoft Windows would have a significant impact with respect to (a) compatibility with the remainder of the NIST Biometric Clients Lab IT infrastructure and (b) unnecessarily increase training, maintenance, and support costs. Description of Requirement: This is a procurement for a supercomputer workstation to support activities at the intersection of biometric algorithm development and complex systems research. This will assist in the research for the NIST Information Access Division. The exact specifications for the supercomputing workstation are detailed in the attached document titled "List of Items Required and Optional Specifications." The estimated value of this procurement is within the range of $20,000 to $25,000. As described below, this procurement will be awarded on a "best value" basis. Therefore, there are certain evaluation factors that will be considered before award is made. One of these factors is the "Degree to which the Minimum Requirements were Exceeded." The attached document titled "List of Items Required and Optional Specifications" details the exact minimum requirements on the left column. These requirements MUST be met in order for an offeror to be considered for award. The right hand column describes the optional specifications that can be provided in order to increase the value offered. Any of the specifications located in the right hand column can be quoted, but none of them are required to be considered for award. Offerors are encouraged to submit multiple offers, and each offer should demonstrate the degree to which it exceeds the minimum requirements, if exceeded at all. ADDENDUM TO PROVISION 52.212-1 - QUOTATION SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS (b) Submission of offers. Submit signed and dated offers to the office specified in this solicitation at or before the exact time specified in this solicitation. Offers may be submitted on the SF 1449, letterhead stationery, or as otherwise specified in the solicitation. As a minimum, quotations must include- (1) The solicitation number; (2) The name, address, and telephone number of the offeror; (3) The time specified in the solicitation for receipt of offers, which is Monday, March 1, 2010, at 12:00 pm. All offers must be received at keith.bubar@nist.gov by this time; (4) Technical description of the items being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with requirements in the solicitation. This may include product literature, or other documents, if necessary; (5) Terms of any expressed warranty; (6) Price and discount terms; (7) "Remit to" address, if different than mailing address; (8) Acknowledgement of solicitation amendment; (9) Statement identifying the business as a small business under the small business size standard of 1,000 employees, associated with the NAICS code 334111. (10) FOB Destination based firm-fixed-price for each contract line item number, and any discount terms for those prices; (11) Evidence that the offeror is authorized by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) to provide the required hardware and software. These manufacturers are NVIDIA, Intel, and Microsoft. (12) Include a statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. Quotations that fail to furnish required representations or information, or reject the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be excluded from consideration. (13) Documentation that demonstrates the products' compliance with the specified standards of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This documentation should be in the form of a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), which can be found at www.section508.gov. This documentation must be supplied for each of the products contained in the workstation that involve user interactivity. (c) Period for acceptance of offers. The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 30 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation. (e) Multiple offers. Offerors are encouraged to submit multiple offers presenting alternative terms and conditions or commercial items for satisfying the requirements of this solicitation. Each offer submitted will be evaluated separately. Each offer submitted should clearly show its respective degree to which the minimum requirements were exceeded, is exceeded at all. (f) Late submissions, modifications, revisions, and withdrawals of offers. (1) Offerors are responsible for submitting offers, and any modifications, revisions, or withdrawals, so as to reach the Government office designated in the solicitation by the time specified in the solicitation. If no time is specified in the solicitation, the time for receipt is 4:30 p.m., local time, for the designated Government office on the date that offers or revisions are due. (2)(i) Any offer, modification, revision, or withdrawal of an offer received at the Government office designated in the solicitation after the exact time specified for receipt of offers is "late" and will not be considered unless it is received before award is made, the Contracting Officer determines that accepting the late offer would not unduly delay the acquisition; and- (A) If it was transmitted through an electronic commerce method authorized by the solicitation, it was received at the initial point of entry to the Government infrastructure not later than 5:00 p.m. one working day prior to the date specified for receipt of offers; or (B) There is acceptable evidence to establish that it was received at the Government installation designated for receipt of offers and was under the Government's control prior to the time set for receipt of offers; or (3) Acceptable evidence to establish the time of receipt at the Government installation includes the time/date stamp of that installation on the offer wrapper, other documentary evidence of receipt maintained by the installation, or oral testimony or statements of Government personnel. (4) If an emergency or unanticipated event interrupts normal Government processes so that offers cannot be received at the Government office designated for receipt of offers by the exact time specified in the solicitation, and urgent Government requirements preclude amendment of the solicitation or other notice of an extension of the closing date, the time specified for receipt of offers will be deemed to be extended to the same time of day specified in the solicitation on the first work day on which normal Government processes resume. Delivery shall be FOB Destination and be completed in accordance with the offeror's commercial schedule. EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD: The Government intends to use a tradeoff process to award a purchase order to the responsible Offeror whose proposal represents the best value to the Government, evaluated cost/price and other factors considered. The Government reserves the right to make an award to other than the lowest-cost/priced offeror or to the offeror with the highest technical rating if the Contract Specialist determines that to do so would result in the best value to the Government. Upon receipt of proposals, the Contract Specialist will review them to determine if each offeror followed all of the proposal preparation instructions in this solicitation. A proposal that did not follow the proposal submission instructions may be deemed unacceptable and may not be further evaluated. Each proposal will be evaluated against the factors described below. An offeror's failure to address any factor may be considered indicative of the offeror's lack of understanding of the Government's requirements and may result in the quotation being determined unacceptable. Evaluation Factors: 1. Degree to which the Minimum Specifications were Exceeded: The Government will evaluate the offer against a point scale that has been devised to assign a point value to each specification that has exceeded the minimum specifications. The document that details this point scale is attached to this solicitation. 2. Section 508 Compliance: The Government will evaluate the level of compliance that the products offered demonstrate with Section 508 law. The Government will only use documentation provided by the offeror as a basis for this evaluation. This documentation should be in the form of a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT). 3. Evaluated Cost/Price: The Government will evaluate whether the quoted cost/price is fair and reasonable in relation to the solicitation requirements and the requirement's estimated value, and is consistent with the offer's specifications. Non-Cost/Price factors 1 through 3 are listed in descending order of importance. Non-cost Factor 1 is considered to be the most heavily weighed factor. Non-cost Factor 2 is weighted less heavily than factor 1; and Factor 3 is considered to be approximately equal to Factors 1 and 2, when combined. The Government may reject any or all quotations if such action is in the Government's interest. The Government may waive informalities and minor irregularities in quotations received. The Government intends to evaluate quotations and award a purchase order without discussions with Offerors (except clarifications as described in FAR 15.306(a)). Therefore, the offeror's initial quotation should contain the offeror's best terms from a cost/price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if the Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary. Exchanges with Offerors after receipt of a quotation do not constitute a rejection or counteroffer by the Government.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NIST/AcAsD/SB1341-10-RQ-0162/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, Maine, 20899, United States
- Zip Code: 20899
- Zip Code: 20899
- Record
- SN02071171-W 20100224/100222235833-e91532272a255af63b4e3ea77192eeb2 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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