B-1 CSS A100 GPU Cluster.pdf

This is a Combined Synopsis / Solicitation for Commercial Items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6 – Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation of Commercial Items – as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. The solicitation is issued using simplified acquisition procedures under the authority of FAR Part 13.

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT (i.e. STANDARD FORM) WILL NOT BE ISSUED.

This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2021-04 dated 01-19-2021.

The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 334111, Electronic Computer Manufacturing. The small business size standard is 1,250 employees. This acquisition is 100% set aside for small businesses.

DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENTS

Background The National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) Software and Systems Divisions (SSD) and Computational Mathematics Divisions (CMD) are examining software abstractions aimed at taking advantage of multi-core CPUs and multiple GPUs, available in the same compute node, and coupling these abstractions to several important scientific applications. The abstractions that have been identified, multithreaded asynchronous dataflow graphs, simplify the task of developing performance-oriented software. These abstractions treat parallelism as a first-class citizen in the software development effort. They allow developers to gain insight into how to orchestrate the various tasks in their applications on CPUs and GPUs to obtain performance where overlapping data motion and compute tasks is essential.

On the applications side, it is important to show that these software abstractions can lead to concrete increases in performance in real-world applications. NIST is currently developing a suite of programs designed to compute the properties of molecules exposed to intense, attosecond (10-18 s) light pulses.

These programs are compute-intensive but are not yet highly parallel.

It is necessary for developers of these abstractions and applications to have a platform that delivers performance. This platform must also provide sufficient data throughput from hardware to maintain utilization by efficiently sending data between the central processing units, graphics processing units, and high-speed network interconnect.

In support of this mission, the acquisition of a cluster of 4 compute nodes and high-speed low latency networking between the machines is required. Two of the compute nodes must feature four SXM4 A100 GPUs, and the other two compute nodes must feature two PCIe 4.0 A100 GPUs. Additionally, both systems must feature high-throughput NVMe SSDs that utilize PCIe gen 4, one or two high-core count CPUs, and high throughput 200 Gbit InfiniBand Networking.

Objectives The scope of this procurement is the provision of 4 (four) compute nodes and high-speed low latency networking with a warranty.

Brand Name Only Justification: IAW FAR Authority 13.106-1(b) Solicit from a Single Source The central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), network interface cards (NICs) and networking switch are brand name specific.

The Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) “Epyc Rome” series CPU is the only product line for commodity server class computing, which can operate several Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) generation 4 connections simultaneously. This interconnect doubles the effective bandwidth of the previous PCIe generation 3 interconnects. This interconnect coupled with PCIe generation 4 high-performance GPUs helps ship data at faster rates into the GPU, which can help keep the GPUs busy with work. AMD is currently the only company that offers these interconnects in this market segment for server-class systems for PCIe generation 4 GPUs.

The NVIDIA-based GPUs have thousands of GPU cores and high memory bandwidth. It is the only available product line that operates with the CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) general purpose programming language to take advantage of these cores. NVIDIA is the only company that produces chips that target matrix multiplication throughput with its special purpose “Tensor Cores” that accelerate compute intensive workflows. The math library CUDA Basic Linear Algebra Subroutines (cuBLAS) and its general matrix multiplication functions have delivered tremendous performance when using these “Tensor Cores”. NVIDIA GPUs are required to be able to use this functionality.

The NVIDIA Mellanox InfiniBand network interface cards (NICs) and networking switch are commonly used at NIST on other systems such as Enki and the NVIDIA Mellanox cards and switches are the only cards and switches on the market that offer 200 Gbit/s InfiniBand for PCIe gen 4 systems.

Procuring these brand name only components is essential for the NIST Software and Systems Division (SSD) and Computational Mathematics Divisions (CMD) as all of the above functionality is required in order to meet mission objectives.

Required Specifications Please see the attached Statement of Requirements for details.

DELIVERY

Delivery is required F.O.B Destination at a mutually agreed time within 90 Days after contractor receipt of order. See Statement of Requirements for additional, specific delivery instructions.

PAYMENT TERMS

The Contractor shall be paid, in accordance with Net 30-day payment terms, upon receipt and acceptance of a proper invoice, in accordance with the following schedule:

1. 100% after receipt and acceptance by the TPOC of the fully delivered systems.

2. The Government anticipates inspection will occur upon:

a. After the testing procedures set forth in this document have been complete

APPLICABLE PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES

Please see the attached document for applicable provisions and clauses.

QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD

CAR 1352.215-73 INQUIRIES (APR 2010):

Offerors must submit all questions concerning this solicitation in writing electronically to Ms. January Magyar, Contract Specialist, at january.magyar@nist.gov. Questions must be received by or before March 2, 2021 at 5:00 PM ET. Any responses to questions will be made in writing, without identification of the questioner, and will be included in an amendment to the solicitation. Even if provided in other form, only the question responses included in the amendment to the solicitation will govern performance of the contract. (End of Provision).

DUE DATE FOR QUOTATIONS

All quotations must be submitted via email to Ms. January Magyar, Contract Specialist, at January.magyar@nist.gov. Submission must be received not later than March 8, 2021 at 11:00 AM ET.

REQUIRED SUBMISSIONS

1. For the purpose of evaluation of Technical Capability:

Documentation and product literature, which clearly demonstrates that the items being quoted conform to the requirements identified herein. Documentation shall discuss specifications and warranty of the quoted products, demonstrating a line by line compliance with the specifications detailed in the Statement of Requirements.

2. For the purpose of evaluation of Price:

A firm-fixed price quotation in accordance with the required line item structure noted below.

Any shipping/delivery fees must be included in the quotation.

3. Contractor DUNS DUNS shall be used to verify the offeror’s active System for Award Management (SAM) registration. Offerors must have an active registration at www.SAM.Gov to be considered for award.

4. Completed Provisions Please complete the highlighted areas in the applicable provisions and clauses documents and return with submissions.

CONTRACT LINE ITEM STRUCTURE:

Responsible Offerors shall provide pricing for the following line items:

mailto:january.magyar@nist.gov mailto:January.magyar@nist.gov http://www.sam.gov/

LINE ITEM 0001: Delivery of two (2) NVIDIA 2U SXM4 GPU Servers in accordance with the Statement of Requirements, inclusive of any Delivery Fees

LINE ITEM 0002: Delivery of two (2) 2U PCIe 4.0 GPU Servers in accordance with the Statement of Requirements, inclusive of any Delivery Fees

LINE ITEM 0003: Delivery of one (1) Networking Switch and a minimum of ten (10) Cables in accordance with the Statement of Requirements, inclusive of any Delivery Fees

EVALUATION CRITERIA AND BASIS FOR AWARD

In accordance with FAR 52.212-2: Evaluation – Commercial Items as included in the attached Applicable Provisions and Clauses document, the Government intends to award a purchase order resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose quotation, conforming to the solicitation, is the Lowest Price, Technically Acceptable quote.

Technically acceptable means that the quotation meets the following requirements:

1. Quotation clearly includes all products, in accordance with the required specifications, quantities, and warranty features, as identified in the Statement of Requirements

2. Quotation meets delivery requirements (Delivery within 90 Days ARO)

Price will be evaluated for reasonableness.