SPECIAL NOTICE
D -- RFI for Data Backup and Recovery Services
- Notice Date
- 1/20/2016
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Office of Acquisitions, Office of Management, 530 Davis Drive, Durham, North Carolina, 27713, United States
- ZIP Code
- 27713
- Solicitation Number
- BS2016001
- Archive Date
- 3/8/2016
- Point of Contact
- Bernard Salter, Jr., Phone: 9195410426
- E-Mail Address
-
bernie.salter@nih.gov
(bernie.salter@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Request for Information NIEHS Data Center Backup and Recovery Strategy Computer Technology Branch This exchange is being issued in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e) as a Request for Information (RFI). The intended objective of this RFI is to allow the Computer Technology Branch (CTB) of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to gain subject-matter knowledge and industry feedback concerning the subject requirement. The information resulting from this RFI may also be used to identify qualified and interested business concerns. However, be advised that this RFI is provided solely for NIEHS informational purposes germane to market research, acquisition planning, strategy, and developing requirements. This exchange in no way represents a solicitation for proposals, quotations, or bids with the intent to form binding agreements based upon responses. NIEHS may, at its sole discretion, issue a solicitation for the described requirement at a later time. In that same vein, any requirements-related information provided within this exchange is subject to change and should in no way be treated as final or binding. I. DESCRIPTION NIEHS seeks to replace its current IT backup and recovery process and technology. NIEHS wishes to modernize the activities utilizing tiers, tapeless technologies, and cloud technologies. The data backup and recovery system is a major component of NIEHS business continuity plan. Specific Information as to the functionality sought is listed below. NIEHS is interested in a logically phased approach over an annualized set of transitions in order to gracefully move to the new architecture with reduced risks to our data. II. TECHNICAL BACKGROUND NIEHS currently utilizes disk-to-tape strategies for performing backups. The two major data storage systems at NIEHS are NetApp (http://www.netapp.com) and DDN (http://www.ddn.com). Each system currently has a raw capacity of almost 2 Petabyte. The DDN uses the General Parallel File System. Commvault (http://www.commvault.com) software is used for enterprise backups and a Qualstar XLS tape library (https://www.qualstar.com) utilizing mixed LTO4 and LTO6 tape drives is the current tape backup target. NIEHS will also install a new 16Gbps fiber channel network based on Cisco technology to replace an older 4Gbps Brocade SAN director. NIEHS seeks to follow industry trends and change from disk-to-tape to a sustainable and economic based strategy. Because of our current investment in tape, differing recovery objectives based on data type and the desire to implement data management policies, NIEHS believes that a phased approach to replacing its backup and recovery systems represents less risk to the important environmental health sciences data produced at NIEHS. NIEHS has several physical and virtual possibilities in terms of the design and architecture. We have a data center located in Research Triangle Park (RTP), NC with two local locations capable of supporting professionally managed hardware. The two locations are in separate buildings but within 1 mile. NIEHS is also linked to the larger NIH CIT Data Center and can make use of their resources over a 10GB link. NIEHS has a test environment for FedRamp Cloud connectivity in the form of a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) operating within our VPN framework. As a first phase, NIEHS is considering moving to a disk-to-disk-to-tape process, but we would require changes in hardware and possibly software to allow this change. We believe that we need to take several steps if we continue to use tape in the near term: • Renovate its XLS tape library to complete LTO6 tape drives, • Improve the time to complete a full data backup through reconfiguring the Commvault software and renovate the associate server hardware, • Provide a middle disk tier to improve recovery time and data segregation based on the recovery objective for the data type Eventually we would like to move to a disk-to-disk-to-cloud process. NIEHS would need to make software based decisions for tiers of service and decisions based on recovery objectives. III. PURPOSE The purpose of this RFI is to seek input on how NIEHS IT resources can most effectively accomplish its backup and data recovery objectives over the short, medium, and long term. In addition to general input on opportunities to advance its objectives, NIEHS seeks specific input on key areas of interest outlined in Section V, "Key Areas," of this RFI. These key areas of interest are intended to guide but not restrict the scope of the RFI responses. Responders to this RFI are encouraged to submit any relevant information even if it appears in our current processes, technologies, and ideas. IV. SUBMISSION INFORMATION Because information received in response to this RFI may be used to structure future programs and/or otherwise be made available to the public, respondents must NOT include any information in their responses that might be considered business sensitive, proprietary, or otherwise confidential. Responses must be submitted with the understanding that their contents may be publicly disclosed and, in the event of a public disclosure, NIEHS will NOT notify respondents or provide any opportunity to revise or redact submitted information. V. KEY AREAS (Topics and questions for input) Data Backup Strategy 1. Provide information on industry best practices with regards to tapeless back-up and recovery strategies. 2. What are the most important gaps and areas of need during a transition from a tape backup environment? 3. What is typically the strongest level of service in terms of mixing tapes and other backup means? 4. How can we most effectively leverage short term acquisitions supporting the transition to be useful in the long term? 5. What are some existing case studies that prove that a tapeless environment is viable for a government organization? 6. How do we transition to tiered storage concepts and software based decision storage if these are feasible? 7. How do the platforms we utilize today assist or complicate a move to a tapeless architecture? 8. Do you recommend we have two solutions or strategies given our two storage platforms? Product Information 1. What products categories are needed to facilitate this migration strategy? 2. What products are leaders in this technology when implementing a backup and recovery system? 3. How can we best leverage the products we use today? 4. What are some linkages across these products to other IT services that we could provide? Costs and Fees 1. Could any information be provided on the equipment, appliances, software and possible value added services that you would propose? 2. Please differentiate between one-time expenses for hardware, software and services and recurring expenditures. 3. Please provide an estimated annual cost of service. Please differentiate between costs for installation and ongoing (recurring) costs of maintaining the system. 4. Are there any cost benefit return value formulas for such a transition? 5. What is the useful life of the infrastructure equipment you would propose to NIEHS? How often would infrastructure equipment need to be replaced to refresh appropriately? Implementation 1. Please provide a sample implementation plan, including the average time it takes to deploy your approach. 2. Please provide details on transition, cutover process and installation. 3. What information would NIEHS need to provide in order for a vendor to create an NIEHS specific implementation plan? 4. Please provide references for implementations with other organizations. Please highlight any relevant federal government implementations. Security and Security Management 1. Please describe the security management features available with your approach. 2. Data which leaves NIEHS or NIH network must be encrypted. How would you accomplish this? 3. Can FedRamp usage be maintained using Cloud approaches? Services/Support 1. Provide an overview of your professional services/consulting services supporting the implementation of your products. a. What type of consulting services do you have available? b. What types of training do you provide for your product? c. What types of support are available for your product? Technical 1. Can NIEHS keep its current tape library or how could NIEHS maintain medium term usage of this investment while moving to new technology? 2. How is redundancy and fault tolerance engineered into your solution to prevent single points of failure and outages? 3. How will the solution accommodate increases in storage of 100% (4 Petabytes) or 200% (8 Petabytes)? 4. How long would it take your solution to perform a full data backup at such high PB volumes? 5. What is a realistic recovery time objective with your solution for small amounts of identified data version all the data? 6. How would you accommodate data with differing recovery objectives with your solution? 7. What network bandwidth is necessary to support your product? What networks are supported? 8. How can we seamlessly transition to tiered storage if this is part of the technologies introduced? 9. What would the end user service levels look like inside the organization from the end user perspective? 10. Is object based storage needed? 11. Since we are a small organization, are there very simple things that we can do to gain these technologies and efficiencies without over strategizing? How do we best apply a keep is simple strategy? Purchasing Options 1. Do you offer any provisions for leasing or alternatives to purchasing equipment and software as a capitol expense? If so please provide examples of alternatives. 2. For equipment refresh and life-cycle of equipment as it ages, what model would you propose to reduce costs over the life of a unified communications system? Other 1. What other information does NIEHS need to provide in order for a vendor to successfully respond to a Request for Proposal? VI. RESPONSE GUIDELINES All responses to this RFI must be provided as an attachment in an e-mail message addressed to bernie.salter@nih.gov with the subject line "Response to RFI Data Center Backup and Recovery Strategy" no later than February 22, 2016. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.doc /.docx) no more than ten (20) pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins, and no more than 8 MB in size. Only electronic responses will be accepted. Responses submitted by any other means may not be considered. Respondents are requested to provide the following information at the start of their response to this RFI: • Company/Institution Name and Address. • Point of Contact (POC) Name. • POC Phone and Fax No. • Website Address. • Business Size and Type of Ownership (i.e., Large, Small, Small Disadvantaged, Woman- owned, Hub-zone, Service Disabled Veteran, etc.). • GSA Schedule Number (if applicable). Please identify your answers by responding to a specific question or topic if possible. Respondents may answer as many or as few questions as they wish. Any additional comments that are not responsive to a particular question should be set out separately at the end of your response to this RFI as "Additional Comments." NIEHS will not respond to individual submissions or publish publicly a compendium of responses. As stated prior, the intent of this RFI is to gather information only and is not be considered an indication of a future business opportunity with NIEHS.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/NIEHS/BS2016001/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 530 Davis Drive, RTP, North Carolina, 27509, United States
- Zip Code: 27509
- Zip Code: 27509
- Record
- SN03996057-W 20160122/160120234353-369ee28671dfacbd3f5e81516d8e2413 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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