D. 18 VA OIT Standards and Criteria.pdf

September 06, 2024 1

D. 18 VA OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STANDSARDS AND

CRITERIA

VA Engineering and all contractors will ensure that all construction projects at any VA facility adhere to the standards and criteria set forth in the current version of this document and the documents referenced within that are in effect at the start of construction (not design). OIT may deem any infrastructure that does not meet applicable requirements as unfit to support VA network services and will not be accepted by the customer.

A. CABLE REQUIREMENTS

1. The cabling contractor shall be responsible for all parts and labor required to completely install and test the new network infrastructure.

2. Fiber

a. Contractor is responsible for providing all closet connector housing units and associated components necessary to terminate fiber on both ends.

b. All fiber will be aqua OM4 except where distance limitations prohibit. In such cases, yellow OS2 fiber will be used. The minimum pull shall be 24 strands.

c. Contractor will terminate at both ends with LC-LC connectors.

d. Contractor must install fiber backbone linking each IDF directly back to the

MDF/primary IDF.

3. Voice feed cable

a. A minimum of 25 CAT3 telephone feed cable pairs will be pulled to each IDF.

Quantity to be confirmed by OIT representative prior to installation.

b. Contractor must provide calculated quantity (25 pair x IDF count) CAT3 feed cable from the MPOE to the MDF/primary IDF.

c. At MPOE end, feed cable must use terminations that match and are integrated into the network service provider (telco) provided existing cable environment.

d. In MDF/primary IDF, feed cable must be terminated on eight position jacks in a 1U modular patch panel (Tripp-Lite N052-024) in the rack, one pair per jack on pins four and five. Pairs 24 and 25 will be a single two pair jack. Pair 24 on pins four and five, pair 25 on pins three and six.

e. Subsequent IDFs will follow the same termination guidelines.

4. Workstation requirements

a. Copper cable runs must not exceed a distance of 100 meters (~328 feet).

b. Cable shall be CAT 6A, four pair, unshielded (UTP). Superior Essex or equivalent brand will be used unless otherwise specified by an OIT representative.

c. Slim CAT 6A cable will be used for all new installations.

5. Infrastructure cable will follow VA’s color code. Any variances must be approved by OIT and/or COR.

a. Each workstation triple drop will consist of one each gray, blue, and white cable terminating on jacks of the corresponding color.

b. Single drop locations shall utilize purple cable.

c. Green is reserved for the wireless network.

d. Surveillance camera and access control system cables will be orange.

6. All cable runs shall follow the cable trays that are above the drop ceilings.

7. Cables shall not be attached to removable ceiling grid supports or laid directly on the ceiling grid. Cables shall not be attached to or supported by fire sprinkler heads, delivery systems or any environmental sensor in the ceiling air space.

8. All cable runs inside walls will be pulled by the contractor and shall be enclosed in Electrical Metallic Tubing (EMT) and single gang boxes.

D. 18 VA OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOY (OIT) STANDARDS AND CRITERIA - 36C26224R0121

VA OIT Standards and Criteria

September 06, 2024 2

9. The cabling contractor will be responsible for ensuring that the fire-rated structures (core walls) retain their existing fire-rating by installing proper sleeves and fire stops at all the accesses from the core area once the cabling effort has been completed.

10. All previously abandoned voice and/or data cable in the construction area shall be removed completely from end to end by the contractor once verified by VA OIT representative.

B. JACK CONFIGURATIONS

1. Data drops will be in a three-jack configuration on a four port faceplate mounted on a single gang box or mud ring.

2. All drops shall be wired to a T568a standard.

3. Only white, single gang, flush mount vertical classic series faceplates will be used. Faceplates must be mounted with RJ45 tabs facing down. Model CFPL4WHY or equivalent.

4. Faceplates will be labeled in accordance with VA specifications

a. Numbering convention

i. Building number (where applicable)

ii. IDF

iii. Panel

iv. Jack

b. Jacks are to be labeled as: building – IDF – patch panel – jack port number. For example, in a typical 3 jack faceplate building 1, IDF room number B116, patch panel C, jack location 07 is to be identified as 1-B116-C-07. From this it will be assumed that the blue and white jacks are C-08 and C-09 respectively.

c. Prior to labeling, contractor shall obtain approval from OIT representative to ensure proposed numbering scheme meets OIT standards.

5. Contractor will terminate the workstation end with Panduit gray, blue, and white keystone jacks in the layout depicted above, and terminate the IDF end with the corresponding gray, blue, or white RJ45 port on the patch panel.

6. Patch panel jacks in corresponding cable colors in A.5.b~d. are preferred but not required.

7. Each station will be tested and certified with full documentation provided to the VA representative.

8. Contractor will provide “as built” documentation identifying all jack locations and their associated labels.

9. There will be a minimum of one triple data drop location installed on every wall in all rooms regardless of the room designation or purpose.

C. ELECTRICAL REQUIREMENTS

1. Contractor is responsible for grounding and bonding the entire infrastructure provided in the project.

a. Use #6 grounding conductors and two-hole irreversible compression connectors to bond racks to the room’s telecommunications grounding bus-bar (TGB).

b. The contractor shall provide and install the proper grounding kits for the voice terminations and patch panels as required by manufacturer.

c. The contractor shall ground and bond the telecommunications rack.

2. Contractor is also responsible to ensure grounding bus bar is properly grounded per NEC section 606.

3. Power receptacles shall be mounted directly above each rack.

a. One electrical receptacle must be connected to E-power if available.

b. Additional receptables connected to normal house power.

D. 22 VA OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOY (OIT) STANDARDS AND CRITERIA - 36C26224R0121

September 06, 2024 3

4. Each receptacle must be powered by a separate electrical panel.

5. Electrical circuits, junction boxes, panels, rack and zone power distribution units (PDU), receptacles, plugs, uninterruptable power supplies (UPS), voltage, and amperage are required to meet the specifications set forth in the current OIT Design Guide.

a. New Community-based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) must adhere to all requirements specific to the OEHRM Site Infrastructure and End User Device Requirements defined in Appendix C, sections D and E.

b. Administrative offices, Vet Centers, and sites that provide similar services are not required to follow the specifications outlined in the document referenced above (C.5.a.).

6. The National Electrical Code (NEC) will be adhered to for all installations in addition to any site-specific requirements.

D. DATA CLOSETS

1. Contractor will extend all voice or data circuits to the MDF or IDF as applicable.

2. Physical Requirements

a. Non-IT equipment such as nurse call, panic alarms, access controls, CCTV and similar systems that are approved to reside in the IDF must be accounted for when calculating patch panel, rack and/or wall space.

b. Space must be a minimum of 120 sq. ft.

c. The IT closet is required to be enclosed with a hard lid ceiling.

d. Doors need to be fire rated in accordance with specifications required by VA

Engineering management.

e. Doors must be self-closing and equipped with inside thumb latch dead bolt that allows single motion egress.

3. A scramble pad compatible with the existing VA access control system must be installed on all IT closet doors.

4. A security camera monitored by VA Police must be placed outside of the IT closet to record video footage of all who enter and exit the room.

5. The closet requires a dedicated Environmental Control Unit (air conditioning) not part of the facility system.

6. Wireless temperature sensor will be installed as part of the existing VA Engineering monitoring system.

7. In addition to the quantity of 4-inch conduit stubs contractor requires to terminate all cables in the IDF, two empty 4-inch conduit stubs must be made available for future expansion.

8. Conduits shall lead to the nearest accessible drop ceiling location, preferably in a hallway.

9. Contractor shall install an 8ft, ¾” fire rated plywood backboard on one wall in IDF.

Board must be painted but allow for fire rating labels to be visible.

10. Racks

a. A minimum of two 45U two-post racks or four-post cabinets will be provided and installed by the contractor.

b. Rack space is to be calculated based on the number of cable terminations for all systems plus allowance for 10% growth.

c. Minimum three feet of clearance is required on all sides of racks, also accounting for the depth of the UPS.

d. Contractor will provide and install zone PDU, rack PDU, and UPS.

September 06, 2024 4

e. Cable managers will be provided by the contractor.

i. Vertical front and rear cable management (Leviton #8980L-VFR) will be provided on both ends of each rack (including between racks).

ii. Racks shall be separated only by vertical cable managers.

iii. 2U six-inch metal ring horizontal cable managers (Leviton

#49253-6MR) will be placed between each patch panel with a corresponding number of managers provided, but not installed, for the opposite rack.

f. Cable management will include ladder racks above the racks and on both sides of racks, extending to the wall where cables enter the closet.

g. Racks must be securely mounted to the floor.

h. Rack layout diagram must be approved by local OIT before racks are populated.

11. Patch Panels

a. Fiber panel must be mounted in the highest position on the first rack .

b. A modular patch panel for CAT 3 copper feed cable termination will be installed directly under the fiber panel. Tripp-Lite 1U punchdown patch panel model #N052-024 or equivalent.

c. Patch panels shall be labeled alphabetically in sequential order from the top position down, starting with “A” but skipping “I” and “O.”

d. Jacks on the patch panels do not need to be individually labeled, provided they follow the three-jack sequence numbering scheme stated above (B.4.b) and correspond to the faceplates in which they are connected.

e. Single cable drops (wall phones, wall mounted display screens, etc.) should be terminated at the bottom of the last panel, so as to not disrupt the three-jack consecutive numbering scheme.

f. Patch panels must be mounted with RJ45 tabs facing down.

12. UPS

a. Two uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units will be provided by and installed in each IT closet by the contractor.

b. One UPS will be installed in each rack. When more than two racks exist in an IDF, an OIT representative will determine UPS placement.

c. UPS must be rack mountable and installed in the bottom position of the rack.

d. Battery must be hot swappable.

e. UPS must include the compatible network management card and SmartConnect remote management software.

f. Compatible rack PDU must be provided with each UPS to facilitate a direct connection to the receptacles above each rack.

g. UPS requirements are determined by the site classification per EHRM definitions.

i. New Community-based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) must adhere to all requirements specific to the OEHRM Site Infrastructure and End User Device Requirements defined in Appendix C, sections D and E.

1. Example : Eaton BladeUPS standalone power system.

ii. Administrative offices, Vet Centers, and sites that provide similar services are not required to follow the specifications outlined in the document referenced above (C.5.a.).

1. Example : APC Smart UPS 2200VA SMT2200RM2UC.

September 06, 2024 5

E. ADDITIONAL CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Contractor will install VA OIT provided mounting hardware for all wall mount VoIP telephones.

a. Placement of brackets must be confirmed with OIT representative.

b. Wall anchors shall be provided and installed by the contractor to ensure secure attachment of the brackets.

c. Bracket will be installed at least six inches, but not more than 12 inches, from network jack.

d. Bracket must have six inch (6”) minimum clearance on all sides.

2. Contractor will install faceplates at wall locations identified for emergency power fail phones.

a. Superior Essex Cat6A plenum rated cable

b. Allen-Tel 630A one port stainless steel wall plate

c. Terminate white/blue pair only

d. In the IDF, all four pairs will terminate on existing Cat6A patch panel among other single jacks.