Addendum No. 1 6-B162-P-00066-00.doc

Jeremy Sladetz Procurement Specialist III Office of the Chief Financial Officer

Procurement Department

Argonne National Laboratory

9700 South Cass Avenue, Bldg. 201

Lemont, IL 60439

Phone: (630) 252-7946 E-mail: jsladetz@anl.gov

January 29, 2026

TO ALL OFFERORS:

Subject:

Statement of Work for ALCF 400G Fabric Request for Proposal No. 6-B162-P-00066-00 Addendum No. One (1) Attached herewith for your information and use in preparing your proposal for subject project is Addendum No. one (1).

Kindly acknowledge receipt of this Addendum by signing and returning a copy of this letter via email.

Please email receipt to Procurement at jsladetz@anl.gov Sincerely, Jeremy Sladetz Procurement Specialist III

Procurement Department

Receipt Acknowledged:

Company:

By:

Addendum No. One (1)

TO

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL 6-B162-P-00066-00

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FOR

ALCF 400G FABRIC

January 29, 2026 This addendum is being issued to modify the subject Proposal (RFP) as follows:

I. Amendment to Enclosure No. 2B – Statement of Work

An amended copy of “Enclosure No. 2B – Argonne National Laboratory Statement of Work – ALCF 400G Fabric” is enclosed. This amendment is issued to clarify discrepancies to section references within the Statement of Work (i.e. Section 4.1.1 was referenced rather than Section 3.1.1).

II. Amendment to Enclosure No. 3 – Pricing Proposal

An amended copy of “Enclosure No. 3 – Pricing Proposal” is enclosed. This amendment is issued to include separate lines for the requested support offering options.

III. Clarifications and Offeror Questions

Please refer to “Appendix U – Clarifications and Offeror Questions”, attached hereto and made a part hereof, for a list of clarifications and answers to Offeror questions.

IV. Extension to Solicitation Due Date The proposal due date is hereby amended to 5:00 P.M. CST on February 20, 2026.

Appendix U – Clarifications and Offeror Questions

Procurement/Contract Questions

Q: Is there a target award date?

A: No hard target date. We will be issuing an award as soon as possible; should fall within no later than 180 days from RFP due date.

Q: Would ANL be willing to sign an NDA specific to the requested financial statements?

A: We do not sign NDAs for this requested information.

Q: Is ANL able to DPAS rate an order/PO?

A: This project/facility is not covered under DPAS.

Technical

Q: Can you provide the SKU for the Chatsworth N-Series Teraframe Gen 2 described in Appendix 1?

A: FC2U-112A-C40

Q: In the primary 400G location, please confirm if the HPE 48U 1200mm G2 Enterprise Shock Rack is 600mm or 800mm wide.

A: 750mm wide

Q: Will there be fiber protection existing in the bay or should Offerors include this in their proposal?

A: In-Cabinet fiber management should be included by the Offeror. Inter-Cabinet management will be provided by the facility.

Q: Is there existing fiber infrastructure (e.g., pre-installed backbone fiber cables, MPO trunks, or dark fiber) in the cable trays between the primary 400G location, the core location (near the upstream WAN demarcation), and potential future expansion areas that the new fabric hardware can patch into? Or will the installation require new long-haul fiber runs/pulls through the cable trays?

A: The installation will require new long-haul fiber pulls through existing trays. Offeror should indicate expected quantities to be provided by the facility. Offeror is free to include a separate quotation for fiber to be considered as part of the integration & installation.

Q: For the fiber connections needed to integrate the new fabric (e.g., to existing 100G/400G ALCF core equipment and any end devices or upstream WAN demarcation points), please confirm whether the ALCF will provide and install the backbone fiber runs (or if the Offeror/vendor is responsible for pulling/installing them), and, if patching is required at the hardware ends (e.g., into the new switching chassis), who is responsible for performing the patching (ALCF personnel, Offeror/vendor technicians, or a combination)?

A: Fiber for integration into existing equipment will be provided by the ALCF. Patching the new equipment into the existing network will be primarily the responsibility of ALCF personnel but may be a combination.

Q: If the vendor/Offeror is required to supply and install patch cords (e.g., for connecting to end devices, spines/edges, or core interconnects), approximately how many patch cords will be needed (by type, e.g., 400G, 100G, multimode/single-mode, MPO/LC), and what are the estimated lengths required for the patches (e.g., short intra-rack jumps vs. longer inter-rack runs up to ~120 ft or more)?

A: Patch cables for end devices and existing equipment will be the responsibility of the ALCF. Patch cable quantities between Offeror leaf and spine devices should be included in the offer, along with any restrictions on maximum lengths. Cables that are intra-cabinet will be the responsibility of the Offeror. Cables linking separate cabinets will be provided by the facility based on the Offeror’s specification. Offeror is free to include a separate quotation for fiber to be considered as part of the integration & installation.

Q: Regarding section 3.1.1 (Fabric non-Blocking), how is the Fabric intended to be defined? Is this to be only spine-level elements or also leaf? If also leaf, is it proper to interpret the expectation as 1:1 subscription ratio there to comply with non-blocking, or is there an oversubscription on the leaf that is acceptable?

A: The entire fabric must be End-to-End Non-Blocking: no oversubscription is acceptable on any device.

Q: Regarding Section 3.1.3.5.3 (Edge to Edge Latency), at what frame/packet size is this considered? Expectation is 64B (or minimum) frame/packet size.

A: 64B is acceptable. Offeror should indicate edge to edge latency for multiple packet sizes if known.

Q: Regarding Section 3.1.3.5.3 (Packet Buffer), is the 32GB per port or for the entire WAN fabric element (modular or fixed) and can be dynamically allocated to any WAN-enabled port?

A: 32GB per WAN fabric element with dynamic allocation.

Q: Regarding section 3.3 (Product Lifecycle Timeline), is this HW, SW, or both? Assumption is both.

A: Both.

Q: Test and Acceptable Section includes a comment about vendor providing necessary transceivers for connectivity: a) are they intended to be loaners for testing only or a requirement to transfer ownership to the Lab and b) can you provide a full list of required transceivers?

A: Appendix 2: Functional & Performance Acceptance Testing Details is intended as an example and states that the finalized Acceptance Test Plan will be negotiated later with the winning Offeror. Example tests for validation of optical transceiver detection and activation are included for Offeror’s reference and state that transceivers will be supplied by the customer. It is noted that the example sentence references the wrong SOW paragraph for transceiver specifications: please see paragraph 3.1.3.4 for an explanation of the transceivers that will be tested.

Q: Please provide clarification regarding “redundant pair of chassis”. Is the requirement to have 512 edge ports across two chassis, or having two chassis with 512 edge ports each?

A: If two chassis are installed, the initial installation must provide at least 256 ports per chassis, for 512 total ports.

Q: Please provide clarification on whether future expansion should include 8192 edge ports across both chassis, or if each chassis should have the expansion capabilities of 8192 edge ports (for a fully redundant total port count of 16384 ports).

A: If two chassis are installed, future expansion must provide at least 4096 edge ports per chassis, for 8192 total ports.

Q: Is all spine-leaf cabling for 8192 edge ports going to be installed at time of initial acceptance?

A: No. Cabling will be installed as the fabric grows. The offeror should explain the expected cable requirements as part of the response to section 3.1.3.6

Q: Is edge-port to end-host cabling going to be pre-installed for all 8192 ports or will it be installed as the fabric grows?

A: No. Cabling will be installed as the fabric grows

Q: When you specify, "non-blocking edge ports," do you mean the upstream spine-to-leaf bandwidth should equal the downstream edge port bandwidth with all ports simultaneously able to do line-rate A: Correct: no oversubscription is permitted anywhere in the fabric

Q: Are you standardizing on single-mode LC fiber and optics throughout the entire fabric?

A: All Edge Ports (connections to hosts and other non-fabric equipment) will use single-mode LC fiber and optics. Per the requirements of 3.1.3.6, Offeror may specify any optical technology for internal fabric ports

Q: What level of five-year maintenance is required (24x7x4, 8x5xNBD, etc.)

A: 8x5xNBD with Advance Hardware Replacement Q: How many VLANs/VNIs will be required both initially and at full capacity?

A: 4096 VLANs will be required at all times Q: Will the Government provide an out-of-band (OOB) management network for the system, or should we include that infrastructure in our proposal?

A: OOB 1G Ethernet management will be provided by the facility

Q: For the initial 512-port deployment, is there already structured cabling in-place between the host racks and the access switch racks, and between the access and spine switch racks?

A: No structured cabling is in place. Cables for hosts connected to edge ports will be installed after acceptance. Internal cables between fabric components are the responsibility of the offeror under section 3.1.3.6 Q: Whose responsibility is the end-host cabling? Is the end-host cabling in-rack only (e.g., structured cabling already exists between racks), or host to switch?

A: End host cabling is the responsibility of the facility. Cables will be a mixture of direct host-to-switch and structured to more distant hosts.

Q: Do you have minimum targets for MAC/Host/LPM tables in each network device?

A: No specific minimum requirement is set, however, support for a MAC table of at least 128,000 entries forwarded in hardware is desirable.

Q: Can you provide an estimate of the amount of shallow buffer versus deep butter ports for the initial 512 host ports?

A: Not at this time. Offeror should indicate benefits and caveats of different edge port technologies and how to differentiate. Offeror should include a cost differential and provide a quote that divides the choice into logical units.

Q: In 3.1.4, the SoW states” “The Offeror should include advanced monitoring software, including all licenses and subscriptions required...” Could you please clarify what you mean by “advanced monitoring software”? (e.g., sFlow/Netflow/IPFIX collector, analytics packages not part of the base software license, etc.)

A: This section refers to software offered as a package or service, not individual collectors or utilities, but rather a single point of truth that combines ALL sources of data collection and provides instant drill-down into fabric problems and resolutions. Examples of commercial off-the-shelf software providing some of these functions would be products such as NVIDIA Unified Fabric Manager, ExtremeCloud IQ Site Engine, or SolarWinds Observability.

Q: Per SoW Section 3.3, in reference to spares, would a redundant LAG across 2 chassis mitigate this requirement for a field replaceable line card?

A: The requirement is intended to apply to components that will cause a loss of an entire device (chassis, switch, etc.) when failed. For example, if the offer includes a multi-slot chassis that only supports a single management module, on-site spare management modules must be included for rapid return-to-service. A pair of redundant edge or fabric line cards across 2 chassis are considered redundant to each-other and no spare is required: should one of the cards fail, we expect it to be replaced via next-business-day advance hardware replacement.

Location/Installation

Q: Is the facility capable of delivering more power to the racks to accommodate deep buffer 800G max slot chassis?

A: No. The power limits shown in Appendix 1: Installation & Physical Location Details are fixed Q: Does the facility support high-voltage AC or DC infrastructure, or is it limited to 220V single-phase and 208V 3-phase power?

A: No. Only three-phase 208Y120V is available

Q: Does the Laboratory have on-site lifting devices or equipment (such as pallet jacks, forklifts, gantry lifts, or overhead cranes) available to safely handle and lift very heavy switching chassis or other large hardware components into the pre-existing four-post racks (e.g., the 48U HPE rack at the primary location or the CPI N-Series rack at the core location)?

A: Yes, lift equipment is available. Pallet jacks (5000 lb. load capacity), a pallet stacker (2200 lb. load capacity), server lifts (300-500 lb. load capacity) and material lifts (500-1000 lb. load capacity) are available in the datacenter. Appropriate use would depend on the weight of the equipment and an agreement negotiated as part of the installation and safety analysis process.

Q: If such lifting equipment is not provided by ALCF, will the Offeror/vendor be required to bring their own certified lifting devices, and are there any specific Argonne safety regulations or restrictions on the types of lifting equipment allowed on the raised floor (considering the 1250 lb rolling load limit and 1500 lb concentrated load limit per floor tile)?

A: This would be negotiated as part of the installation and safety analysis process. By default, we expect the vendor to bring their own equipment in, but we could also negotiate this with the vendor. We have also negotiated supplemental agreements for lifting equipment and would consider this as well. Depending on the weight of the equipment, we may require the vendor use aluminum sheeting to protect the floor and distribute the load.

Q: During the joint Job Safety Analysis (JSA) preparation, will lifting and rigging procedures for heavy chassis installation be explicitly addressed, and who (ALCF or the Offeror) typically provides rigging/lifting personnel?

A: Yes, we address heavy material handling in the JSA and may require a lift plan depending on the weight of the equipment. If rigging assistance is required, ALCF uses the Argonne Rigging and Transportation Group.

Q: Are there electronics restrictions, such as laptops, in the datacenter?

A: None. The facility is unrestricted and guest wireless Internet access is available throughout the datacenter Q: Will remote network access be granted during setup and installation?

A: This can be negotiated as part of the Installation and Acceptance Test Plan Personnel Q: Will this installation require any personnel with security clearances (e.g., DOE Q or L clearance, or equivalent), or can un-cleared vendor/Offeror technicians perform the on-site work under escort/supervision?

A: No clearance is required: the facility is unrestricted

Q: Are there any badging, background check, or access control requirements for installation team members beyond standard visitor protocols, and will ALCF provide escorts if needed for non-cleared personnel?

A: No clearance is required. Visitor protocols for Argonne National Laboratory are available at https://www.anl.gov/visiting-argonne

Q: During the joint JSA and on-site work, will ALCF safety staff or escorts be required to accompany vendor personnel at all times, particularly in the Building 240 data center?

A: No: if the vendor completes CSO training, building orientation, and datacenter-specific training, and they sign out a temporary access badge to the datacenter, they do not need to be escorted. The vendor will need to report in and out daily, including retrieving and returning all temporary access badges, to the procurement technical representative or a delegate.

Q: Can the Lab provide more clarification about type and format of expected Training? Is in person preferred, or remote acceptable? What functionality should be covered? Fabric and application? Ongoing KT? Class size? Any additional clarification would be helpful.

A: In-person training is preferred, though remote training is acceptable. Primary training should cover all skills necessary to implement Move/Add/Change/Delete operations of Layer-2 VLAN delivery over LACP LAG-based redundant Edge Port connectivity for deployment of individual servers on an ad-hoc basis. Advanced training could include topics such as integration with third-party systems such as Kubernetes, VMware, OpenShift, as well as integration with advanced RDMA application tools. Note that in-depth on-site training is only required under section 3.1.1 in the case where an offering requires configuration to be performed using a proprietary external management infrastructure. However, offerors are encouraged to include a training package in all offers regardless of technology.

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