Addendum No. 2 to RFP #6-B143-P-00251-00.pdf

U. S. Department of Energy laboratory managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC

October 12, 2026

TO ALL OFFERORS:

Subject: ALCF Equinox AI System

Request for Proposal (RFP) No. 6-B143-P-00251-00 Addendum No. Two (2)

Attached herewith for your information and use in preparing your proposal for the subject project is Addendum No.

Two (2).

Kindly acknowledge receipt of this Addendum by signing and returning one (1) copy of this letter via email to atkinson@anl.gov.

Sincerely, Court Atkinson Procurement Specialist Argonne National Laboratory FMPS

Receipt Acknowledged:

Company:

By:

Court Atkinson Procurement Specialist

Financial Management and Procurement Services (FMPS) Argonne National Laboratory 9700 South Cass Avenue, Bldg. 201 Lemont, IL 60439

630-252-3388 atkinson@anl.gov mailto:atkinson@anl.gov mailto:atkinson@anl.gov

ADDENDUM NO. TWO (2)

TO

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) 6-B143-P-00251-00

FOR

ALCF Equinox AI System

Date of Addendum: October 12, 2026

This addendum is being issued to modify the subject RFP as follows:

I. RFP Clarifications and Responses to Offeror Questions

Please refer to Attachment 1 – RFP Clarifications and Responses to Offeror Questions, attached hereto and incorporated herein, which sets forth clarifications to the RFP and Argonne’s responses to questions submitted by Offerors.

To promote clarity and avoid duplicative or potentially inconsistent responses, Argonne has consolidated questions that were repetitive, materially similar, or sought substantially the same information. The consolidated questions and responses reflect the substance of the questions received and Argonne’s corresponding responses.

Attachment 1 – RFP Clarifications and Responses to Offeror Questions

Note Regarding Consolidated Questions: To promote clarity and avoid duplicative or potentially inconsistent responses, Argonne has consolidated questions that were repetitive, materially similar, or sought substantially the same information. The responses below address the common substantive matters raised by such questions.

Scope / Technical / Site Conditions

Q1: Rack Power Capacity and Whip Configuration

Consolidated Question: For the initial 16-rack installation location, what 480V circuit capacity, connector type, and power-whip quantity will be available per rack? Addendum No. 1 indicates that six power whips and non-redundant rack power are acceptable.

Argonne Response: TCSB facilities confirms a 60 A, 480/277 V, three-phase, four-wire-plus-ground IEC-rated connection assembly, with whips routed under the raised floor and terminated with IEC 60309 receptacles. Up to six (6) whips will be provided to each Compute Rack and up to two (2) whips will be provided to each Non-Compute Rack.

The Offeror shall coordinate final connector type, pin configuration, cord length, and termination requirements with the TCSB facilities team. Argonne acknowledges that six (6) whips do not provide rack-power redundancy and that is acceptable. For Non-Compute Racks, alternate power, such as 208 V, may be negotiated; however, 480 V service consistent with the foregoing is preferred.

Q2: Electrical Distribution Infrastructure and Contractor Scope

Consolidated Question: Will Argonne provide electrical distribution infrastructure, including 480 V service, breakers, receptacles, busway, tap boxes, and power whips, or should the Offeror include electrical-distribution buildout in its proposed scope? What is the electrical demarcation point and division of responsibility?

Argonne Response: TCSB facilities will provide the 60 A, 480/277 V, three-phase, four-wire-plus-ground IEC-rated connection assemblies, including underfloor whips and IEC 60309 receptacles, as described in the response to Q1.

The Offeror is responsible for making final connections to facility-provided systems, including connecting power-cord plugs to facility-provided receptacles. Compliance with TCSB Facility work rules is required. Applicable work rules will be provided to the selected Offeror.

Q3: Facility Water, Cooling Distribution Units, and Mechanical Demarcation

Consolidated Question: What facility-water connections will be available for the Base System, and what are the respective responsibilities of Argonne and the Offeror for CDUs, piping, hose assemblies, manifolds, and final mechanical connections?

Argonne Response: TCSB facilities will provide the Facility Water System (FWS), the Cooling Distribution Units (CDUs), and the Technology Cooling System (TCS) loop. The FWS is a closed-loop system that distributes cooling between the primary cooling source and the CDUs and serves as the interface between the central cooling systems and the TCS. This does not preclude an Offeror from proposing its own in-rack CDU, if applicable to its design.

TCSB facilities confirms that two-inch (2-inch) supply and return lines are available to serve the racks from the TCS loop. A two-inch (2-inch) Danfoss FD83 connection will be provided on each of the supply and return lines for final connection to the Offeror-provided hose assembly.

The TCSB facilities team expects the Offeror-provided hose assembly to connect to the bottom of the rack distribution manifold. Offerors should assume a hose length of up to twelve (12) feet; final hose length will be coordinated with the selected Offeror. The Offeror is responsible for making final mechanical connections to the facility-provided systems.

Q4: Facility-Water Operating Characteristics

Consolidated Question: What facility-water supply and return temperatures, available flow, pressure, heat-rejection capacity, and water-quality or fluid specifications should Offerors use for proposal development?

Argonne Response: TCSB facilities will provide the Facility Water System (FWS), CDUs, and the TCS loop, as described in the response to Q3. The FWS is a closed-loop system that distributes cooling between the primary cooling source and the CDUs.

The FWS is designed for variable-volume operation, with flow modulated based on demand. Two-way control valves at the CDUs regulate flow and maintain temperature control. The applicable FWS design conditions are as follows:

• Design supply temperature: 64 °F;

• Design temperature differential: 18 °F ;

• Design flow rate: 1.34 gallons per minute (GPM) per ton; and

• Distribution configuration: single distribution path.

Final facility-water operating characteristics and connection details will be coordinated between the selected Offeror and the TCSB facilities team.

Q5: Raised Floor, Cable Pathways, and Structural Conditions

Consolidated Question: Is the data center raised floor or slab-on-grade? Please provide floor-loading limits, point-load limits, overhead clearances, and cable-pathway availability for the 16-rack Compute Rack area.

Argonne Response: The TCSB Data Center area designated for the 16 Compute Racks currently has a raised floor with ASM FS500 tiles. Cable tray will be installed below the raised floor by others.

Installation and routing shall be coordinated with the TCSB facilities team.

Q6: Air Cooling Conditions

Consolidated Question: What data-center supply-air temperature, humidity, and air-cooling conditions should Offerors assume for the air-cooled portion of the proposed system load?

Argonne Response: The TCSB Data Center uses underfloor air delivery and maintains temperatures within the current ASHRAE TC 9.9 Class A1 Recommended Range.

Q7: Seismic Requirements

Consolidated Question: Are seismic design requirements applicable to equipment anchoring in the proposed installation area?

Argonne Response: The TCSB Data Center requires Seismic Design Category B. IT racks shall be positively attached to the supporting structure. Specific anchoring requirements will be discussed with the selected Offeror.

Q8: Delivery Route, Receiving, Staging, and Site Documentation

Consolidated Question: Please provide rack-delivery route information, including dock, door, elevator, and route dimensions; weight limits; staging space; receiving constraints; and available photographs, drawings, CAD files, or other facility reference materials.

Argonne Response: Delivery-route details, receiving constraints, staging arrangements, and available supporting documentation will be determined and coordinated by the TCSB facilities team with the selected Offeror. Additional documentation may be made available by the TCSB facilities team following award.

Q9: Data Center Access and Personnel Security Requirements

Consolidated Question: Please identify citizenship, personnel-security, background-investigation, badging, training, escort, and other access requirements applicable to Offeror, OEM, subcontractor, and support personnel requiring physical access to the data center.

Argonne Response: Compliance with TCSB Facility work rules, including security requirements, is required. Applicable work rules will be provided to the selected Offeror.

Non-U.S. citizens are permitted on site and may work on the system; however, such personnel are subject to the U.S. Department of Energy Foreign National Access Program requirements. Access approval may take up to forty-five (45) business days, or longer, and approval is not guaranteed.

Network and Storage Connectivity

Q10: North-South Network Interfaces and Global File System Connectivity

Consolidated Question: What north-south network interfaces should Offerors assume between Equinox and the existing ALCF data-center network, including connectivity to the ALCF global file system?

Please identify port quantities, link speeds, optics, fiber types, redundancy requirements, demarcation points, and respective responsibilities for fiber installation.

Argonne Response: All Equinox internal connectivity, including Compute-to-Compute and Compute-to- Non-Compute connectivity, is the responsibility of the Offeror.

North-south network connectivity between ALCF and Equinox will be provided through one hundred ninety-two (192) nonblocking ports on ALCF-furnished HPE/Juniper QFX5241-64QD-AO leaf switches equipped with HPE/Juniper QDD-2X400G-FR4-P transceivers. All ports will be 400 Gigabit Ethernet delivered as 400GBASE-FR4 on duplex 1.25 mm ferrule LC single-mode fiber.

ALCF will be responsible for procuring and installing fiber from the Equinox system to the ALCF 400 Gigabit Ethernet network.

ALCF prefers that the proposed system include a “meet-me rack” in which all uplink ports are brought to a single patch location, with sufficient room for ALCF to install ALCF-provided fiber-optic aggregation equipment corresponding to the Offeror-provided aggregation. However, it is also acceptable for an Offeror to propose that ALCF run fiber from switches in the Equinox racks to ALCF infrastructure.

The management network uplink will be delivered using 100GBASE-CWDM4 over duplex 1.25 mm ferrule LC single-mode fiber. The Offeror shall provide a minimum of two (2) redundant compatible 100 Gigabit Ethernet links configured as an LACP link aggregation group for site-management connectivity.

Q11: Preferred North-South Network Equipment and Interoperability

Consolidated Question: Does Argonne require use of Juniper switching equipment for the north-south network interface?

Argonne Response: It is preferred that the north-south network use HPE/Juniper QFX equipment to facilitate possible future integration into the facility Apstra Cloud environment. Juniper switches are not required. This is a preference because it enables use of Argonne’s existing Apstra Cloud environment.

If an Offeror proposes non-Juniper equipment, the Offeror must address interoperability with Argonne’s existing Juniper environment.

Q12: Network Cable Management Infrastructure

Consolidated Question: Is the Offeror responsible for providing and installing cable trays, fiber raceways, ladder racks, and other cable-management infrastructure for the Base System? Are there preferred products or segregation requirements?

Argonne Response: The TCSB facilities team expects network cable management to be provided by others, subject to review and approval by the TCSB facilities team.

Argonne’s preferred cable-tray system is Panduit FiberRunner; however, Offerors may propose other cable-management solutions. Argonne does not require segregation of different network cabling types.

Network pathway routing, extensions, quantities, and associated coordination will be addressed with the selected Offeror and the TCSB facilities team.

Software and System Configuration

Q13: NVIDIA and Other Software Licensing

Consolidated Question: Does Argonne maintain existing enterprise software agreements that may be used for Equinox, or should Offerors include all software, licenses, subscriptions, management platforms, and associated support required for operation of the proposed system? What licensing structure is preferred?

Argonne Response: ALCF has a bulk license for NVIDIA AI Enterprise software sufficient to cover the GPUs in the Equinox Base System. All other required or proposed software shall be included in the Offeror’s proposal.

Software shall be separately identified as one or more line items. A single turnkey system price is unacceptable. At a minimum, proposals shall separately identify hardware, software, installation, and support costs.

Argonne has no specific preference between perpetual and term/subscription licensing. Licensing and support must cover the required five-year support period. Proposals shall identify any licenses or functionality that will expire or cease to operate at the end of the licensing term.

Q14: NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 Allocation

Consolidated Question: Is there an existing NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 allocation or vendor relationship reserved for this procurement, or is allocation open to the OEM or integrator ultimately selected?

Argonne Response: From the ALCF perspective, allocation is fully open to the OEM or integrator selected through this procurement. Argonne has no visibility into NVIDIA’s allocation position.

Acceptance Testing

Q15: Acceptance Test Plan, Benchmarks, and Stability Period

Consolidated Question: What benchmarks and minimum Stability Period duration does Argonne anticipate requiring for acceptance testing, beyond the Statement of Work’s general reference to representative AI workloads?

Argonne Response: As stated in the RFP, the final Acceptance Test Plan will be jointly developed by Argonne and the selected Offeror following award. The specific test suite, performance targets, test durations, Stability Period, and acceptance criteria will be established through post-award project planning and coordination.

For planning reference only, a recent installation of a similarly sized AI system included approximately one week of functional testing, followed by performance testing and a ten-day stability test period. That installation used benchmarks and applications including:

• GEMM on GPUs using multiple precisions;

• CPU STREAM;

• Llama 3.1 8B with TensorRT-LLM;

• OSU All-to-All testing in one-rack and multi-rack configurations;

• OSU All-Reduce testing in one-rack and multi-rack configurations;

• HPL from a single node through the full system, not for a TOP500 submission;

• HPL-MxP using FP8 and FP16;

• GPU STREAM;

• vLLM and SGLang, including build and functional validation;

• AIPerf using a variety of input-sequence-length and output-sequence-length configurations for these models:

o Inkling (https://thinkingmachines.ai/news/introducing-inkling/#benchmarking-inkling) o Nemotron 3 Ultra (https://research.nvidia.com/labs/nemotron/Nemotron-3-Ultra/) o GPT-OSS models (https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-oss/)

• RunFor testing at varying durations and scales. (https://github.com/argonne-lcf/HPC- Patterns/tree/main/runfor) https://thinkingmachines.ai/news/introducing-inkling/#benchmarking-inkling https://research.nvidia.com/labs/nemotron/Nemotron-3-Ultra/ https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-oss/ https://github.com/argonne-lcf/HPC-Patterns/tree/main/runfor https://github.com/argonne-lcf/HPC-Patterns/tree/main/runfor

The referenced system was principally targeted toward inference workloads. For Equinox, Argonne anticipates that the Acceptance Test Plan may also include a large-scale training test.

These examples are provided solely for planning context and shall not be interpreted as final acceptance requirements. The final Acceptance Test Plan will be established collaboratively with the selected Offeror and will reflect the delivered system configuration, intended operational use, and mutually agreed test objectives.

Future Expansion and Scale-Out

Q16: Expansion Area and Available Space

Consolidated Question: What floor area and dimensions will be available for future expansion, including additional compute racks, network equipment, cooling equipment, power distribution, management equipment, and required service clearances? Can existing equipment be relocated to create a larger contiguous expansion area?

Argonne Response: There are multiple opportunities within the TCSB Data Center to accommodate the selected Offeror. The TCSB facilities team will work to optimize sufficient space to support the selected Offeror and future expansion requirements.

Specific expansion-area dimensions, existing equipment, potential relocation opportunities, utility corridors, obstructions, and service clearances will be coordinated with the selected Offeror.

Q17: Expansion Infrastructure Pre-Provisioning

Consolidated Question: Should Offerors pre-provision infrastructure for future capacity additions, such as power distribution, CDUs, cooling headers, network equipment, and cable pathways, during Base System installation? May expansion be planned in eight-rack increments or deployed incrementally?

Argonne Response: The selected Offeror will coordinate future-expansion planning with both Argonne and the TCSB facilities team. The TCSB facilities team will work with the selected Offeror to optimize infrastructure and space to support the proposed system and future expansion.

Q18: Network Scale-Out Strategy for Future Expansion

Consolidated Question: Should Offerors address asymmetric network path lengths, latency, network hierarchy changes, and scaling beyond approximately 4,000 GPUs as part of the future expansion architecture?

Argonne Response: The selected Offeror will coordinate with Argonne and the TCSB facilities team regarding future expansion.

If an Offeror proposes more than the 16-rack Base System, ALCF places no constraints on the proposed design. Additional capacity may be proposed as two separate systems or as an integrated system. If proposed as an integrated system, the networking proposed for the Base System may support only the Base System or may include additional switching to facilitate easier or less disruptive integration of additional compute capacity.

Facility Layout