Attachment 002. Questions & Answers.pdf

QUESTION & ANSWERS

Q: Will any pictures be provided showing access to the battery plant room?

A: No.

Q: What is the distance to the battery room from loading dock or staging area?

A: Approximately 10-15 ft.

Q: Are there any known doorway-clearance, equipment-path, floor-loading, anchoring, rigging, or inside-delivery conditions that offerors should account for when planning movement and installation of the cabinet and batteries? Any obstructions such as narrow hallways/doorways, carpeted flooring, curbs, or stairs?

A: No

Q: Is the UPS room accessible with a pallet jack? Or will hand carry/dolly be required to get the batteries to the UPS battery cabinets?

A: Yes

Q: Does the site have the required equipment to move pallets within the building?

A: Yes

Q: Is there a loading dock? Is there adequate on-site storage if all equipment is delivered at once?

A: Yes

Q: Is a planned system shutdown expected for connection and commissioning of the additional cabinet? If so, what work window would be available?

A: No

Q: What time of day will we be allowed to perform the replacement? Can labor be completed during normal business hours? Or do you require off-hours scheduling? If off-hours, please advise of your preferred schedule since this will be a multi-day replacement. For example, weeknights after 5pm or over a weekend.

A: Work to be completed, preferably, during normal business hours. If off-hours is necessary, weekend is preferred.

Q: Please provide the exact model/configuration, serial number, firmware version, and current service status of the installed Schneider Symmetra PX 250/500 system.

A: Model: Symmetra PX 500 Serial number: QD1836121233 Firmware version: v6.9.6 Current service status: In-service / normal

Q: What special training or requirements are there to get into the facility ?

A: Contractor employees must pass all current security measures. Security background check policy for all visitors is enforced. Requires DBIDS pre-enrollment at https://dbids-global-enroll.dmdc.mil/preenrollui/#/landing-page, or submission of SECNAV 5512-1 form to local Security Pass & ID Office and the contractor personnel must present the proper approved forms of identification.

Q: Will the Government accept an offer from a small-business prime sourcing through an authorized distributor and qualified service subcontractor when manufacturer-to-distributor-to-prime traceability and applicable service qualifications are provided, or must the prime offeror itself hold direct authorization from each listed manufacturer?

A: The Awardee must have direct authorization to resell each of the items listed in the Brand Name Justification (BNJ).

Q: For the required battery load test, please confirm the required test duration and acceptance criteria and whether the contractor must furnish a separate load-testing device or may use the facility’s operating load.

A: For Valve-Regulated Lead-Acid (VRLA) batteries in federal data centers, acceptance of an upgrade (adding parallel strings or replacing blocks) is governed strictly by IEEE 1188 and UFC 3-520-05. The critical threshold for contract acceptance is a successful on-site capacity discharge test demonstrating that the integrated VRLA string(s) deliver 90% of the manufacturer's rated capacity at the design load, with all individual cell/block voltages remaining above 1.67V to 1.75V per cell (depending on the discharge rate) and showing no signs of localized thermal anomalies.

Required Test Duration

Response: The required test duration is the contract-specified autonomy backup runtime under design load, which is 15 minutes (unless otherwise detailed in the specific project equipment schedules).

Methodology: The contractor must execute a high-rate capacity discharge test in strict compliance with IEEE Standard 1188 (Recommended Practice for Maintenance, Testing, and Replacement of VRLA Batteries for Stationary Applications).

Rate & Configuration: The discharge rate must match the manufacturer’s published constant-current or constant-power tables for the design runtime down to the critical terminal cutoff voltage.

Mandatory Acceptance Criteria For the battery upgrade to be formally accepted, the completed battery system must satisfy all the following technical thresholds during the on-site SAT:

1. Capacity Performance: The newly installed battery strings, when integrated into the UPS system, must deliver 90% of the manufacturer's rated capacity during the initial on-site test.

2. Terminal Voltage Threshold: No individual VRLA block/cell may drop below the critical end-of-discharge cutoff voltage (typically 1.67V to 1.75V per cell, or 10.02V to 10.50V for a standard 12V block) during the course of the designated test period.

3. Ohmic Consistency: The internal ohmic values (conductance, impedance, or internal resistance) of all new blocks must be recorded to establish a lifetime baseline. No individual block's ohmic baseline may deviate by more than 10% from the average of the new string.

4. Operational Recovery: Following the discharge, the UPS charging system must successfully transition back to a float charge state without triggering overcurrent alarms.

The system must verify functioning temperature-compensated charging, maintaining thermal stability during the post-test recharge period (with zero thermal runaway anomalies).

Load-Testing Equipment Sourcing (Separate Device vs. Operating Load)

Response: The contractor MUST furnish a separate, calibrated, external portable resistive/reactive load bank for this test. Using the facility's live operating IT load for acceptance testing is strictly prohibited.

Justification & Policy:

o Risk Mitigation: Utilizing the active data center operating load is a critical safety hazard. Doing so places live government data systems and missions at immediate risk of a forced outage ("dropping the load") if an unpredicted battery cell fails or the UPS experiences a transition fault during testing.

o Electrical Isolation: In compliance with UFC 3-520-05 and electrical safety standards, the battery string under test must be completely isolated from the critical load bus and safely discharged into a dedicated, temporary external load bank.

o Measurement Accuracy: Active IT loads fluctuate dynamically. To mathematically calculate battery capacity percentage according to IEEE 1188, the discharge load must remain perfectly constant (constant current or constant power) throughout the test. This can only be achieved utilizing a controlled, adjustable external load bank.