36C25618U0090-0001000.docx

5. PROJECT NUMBER (if applicable)

CODE

7. ADMINISTERED BY

2.

AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NUMBER

CODE

6. ISSUED BY

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NUMBER

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NUMBER

9B. DATED

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10A. MODIFICATION OF

CONTRACT/ORDER NUMBER

10B. DATED

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1. CONTRACT ID CODE

FACILITY CODE

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Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

E. IMPORTANT:

is extended,

(a) By completing Items 8 and 15, and returning __________ copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted; or (c) By separate letter or electronic communication which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY is not extended.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA

(REV.

11/2016) is required to sign this document and return ___________ copies to the issuing office.

is not, A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITE M 10A.

15C. DATE SIGNED

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES

SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR

43.103(b).

RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by letter or electronic communication, provided each letter or electronic communication makes r eference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER

BY

Contractor

16C. DATE SIGNED

14.

DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME

AND TITLE OF SIGNER

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

STANDARD FORM 30

PREVIOUS EDITION NOT USABLE

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.243 (Type or print) (Type or print) (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

(Number, street, county, State and ZIP Code) (If other than Item 6) (Specify type of modification and authority) (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.)

(If required)

(SEE ITEM 11)

(SEE ITEM 13)

(X)

CHECK

ONE

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS,

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS

OF SOLICITATIONS

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer) 09-12-2018 None Department of Veterans Affairs Acquisition & Materiel Management Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center 2002 Holcombe BLVD Houston TX 77030 4298 Department of Veterans Affairs Acquisition & Materiel Management Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center Holcombe BLVD Houston TX 77030 4298 To all Offerors/Bidders

36C25618U0090 09-12-2018

X X X X This amendment to the solicitation hereby answers all questions asked regarding the RFQ solicitation.

No more questioons will be accepted and this is the last and final amendmen t.

All other terms and conditions remain unchanged.

Corey Labbe Contracting Officer QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (answers are visible in red)

1. In the SOO, Section 2.1, VA calls out “The contractor shall provide a comprehensive turnkey Virtual Environment, server and backup, solution that enables MEDVAMC to improve clinical care.” The details of the SOO focuses on the Production requirements of creating at least 100 VM’s and supporting up 72TB (SSD + HDD),

0. Question - Is it understood that the total capacity will be used for both Production and Backup? Yes.

0. If so, how much of that capacity is for the VM’s versus Backup? It will be at the discretion of the VA. As an estimate roughly 25% of the system should be allotted for the backup portion of the system.

0. Is there a separate requirement for the Backup environment? No.

1. For the Backup requirements, can the VA provide us with the retention and recovery requirements (RTO/RPO) to ensure proper sizing? Undetermined at this time.

1. Is it the VA’s model to host both the Production and Backup environment in the same hardware cluster? The proposed design should allow enough redundancy to support recovery of a hardware cluster failure. It is highly recommended that each offeror describe their technical approach to the backup portion of the system.

1. Does the VA require contractor to provide the hypervisor software (VMware, KVM, Hyper-V), that supports the solution presented? Yes. At the end of installation, the solution must be fully functional and be able to host VMs.

1. Section 2.2.124 states “Provide all switches (Cisco brand), fiber cables, SFP/SFP+ modules needed for commissioning.”

4. How many switches are required by the VA; single, redundant pair? Dependent on design presented to the VA by offerors. By estimation/example, we believe a minimum of 2 Catalyst 4500-X 16 port 10G IP base with redundant power supplies would be needed.

4. What will these switches be connecting to; OI&T Core? Yes. If so, what type of connections are required; GbE, 10GbE, Copper, Fiber? 10Gb SFP+ copper internal to system), SFP+ Fiber to the OIT core.

1. Section 2.2.125 states “Provide Microsoft Data Center 2016 and licensing for all cores.” This implies the utilization of Microsoft Hyper-V as the hypervisor, if the contractor is proposing a ESXi or KVM solution, is this still a requirement? Yes. It is forecasted that a majority of the VMs will run Windows. The solution must be capable of supporting all mainstream hypervisors. The hypervisor has not been chosen a this time. Microsoft Data Center 2016 is corrected to read Microsoft System Center 2016 Data Center Edition

1. Sections 2.2, para 2.23 and 2.2.4 identifies the total memory and CPU requirements:

6. Can the VA define the per VM requirement? The VA has provided overall requirements since the specific VMs are to be determined.

6. What is the disk capacity requirement for each VM? The VA has provided overall requirements since the specific VMs are to be determined.

6. What is the vCPU to CPU ratio being utilized for the virtual machines; 6:1, 3:1, 2:1, etc.? The VA has provided overall requirements since the specific VMs are to be determined.

1. Section 2.5.2.1 states “The contractor shall provide installation and implementation project management to include site visits for each building to confirm physical installation of the Integration system.” Based on the requirements the solution is going into the VAMC, but the statement referenced implies multiple facilities, can the VA clarify which is correct? There is only 1 building applicable in this case, building 100 (Main Hospital building).

1. Section 2.5.3.2 states “The buildings will be available for cabling installation upon award of the contract”, what cabling requirements exist? The RFQ is about Virtual servers, is there a need for additional cabling to be installed throughout the building? No cabling is anticipated, this statement may be stricken.

1. Is the VA looking for a CISCO centric solution (such as CISCO UCS) or is the VA interested in alternative approaches? VA is looking for a solution that meets the technical requirements listed in the Statement of Objectives. A brand name is not specified.

1. Is the storage requirements listed in 2.2.2 and 2.2.5 usable or total storage? Minimum total storage was the intent behind each of the specifications listed in 2.2.2 and 2.2.5 due to industry variation. The VA is unable to speculate what the remaining amount of useable storage would be after configuration.

1. For hypervisors, is the VA looking for ESXi or is the VA looking to establish initial buildout with a different hypervisor (such as KVM)? As indicated in 2.2.41 all mainstream hypervisors should be supported. ESXi, Hyper-V, and KVM were given as examples of some of the available hypervisors already used in the VA.

1. Requirement 2.2.100 states that the VA wants a single vendor solution, but 2.2.11 states the requirement as being from more than one vendor. Which is correct? The intent behind 2.2.11 is that the solution should be server manufacturer neutral for expansion purposes. If the original server provider is not available in the future, the VA will have the option to use another qualified hardware provider to repair, expand, or upgrade the solution to support growth

The intent behind 2.2.100 is that the solution design is cohesive with thorough testing and not piecemealed together from available COTS hardware specifically for the purpose of this solicitation. The solution should be commercially designed for the functions stated in the SOO with continued support from all hardware providers for the duration of the solution’s lifecycle.