R25-037JD Disaster Recovery Data Center Refresh Project - Revised.pdf

R25-037JD Disaster Recovery Project Phase 2 1

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Disaster Recovery Project Phase 2

Jennifer Davis

City of Colorado Springs Procurement Services 107 N. Nevada Ave Suite 125 Colorado Springs, CO 80903

TEL: (719) 385-5172

E-Mail: Jennifer.davis@coloradosprings.gov.

Issue date: April 1, 2025 mailto:Jennifer.davis@coloradosprings.gov

R25-037JD Disaster Recovery Project Phase 2 2

1.1 PURPOSE

The City of Colorado Springs is requesting information to understand budgetary needs. City IT is in the second phase of its Disaster Recovery (DR) data center refresh project.

It is the City's intent to issue this Request for Information (RFI) to determine whether there are a sufficient number of interested and qualified sources that can provide the requested software system and to understand budgetary needs.

1.2 REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION DEFINITION

Responses to this RFI are considered non-binding and are only used to gather information to be used for budgetary and specification preparation purposes. It will also be used to determine the number of companies that exist in the industry for a possible future competitive procurement.

It is not the intent of the City to award a contract as a result of this RFI. If this RFI determines that there are sufficient interested and qualified vendors/contractors and favorable monetary estimates, the City may issue a formal RFP (Request for Proposal) for these services. If an RFP is issued, then all firms that responded to this RFI will be added to our source list and will be formally invited to propose.

1.3 BACKGROUND

The City of Colorado Springs are seeking vendor input to assist with developing comprehensive DR runbooks to ensure the disaster recovery processes are well documented, actionable and align with industry best practices. This RFI aims to gather information from qualified vendors for the following:

• Understand runbook best practices for managing disaster recovery operations.

• Identify key components required in a fully developed DR runbook.

• Gather insights on cost estimates for the runbook development.

• Determine an estimated timeframe for creating and finalizing the runbooks.

• Explore vendor capabilities, methodologies, and tools for documenting runbooks.

The primary objective of this RFI is to understand the structure, content and best practices associated with runbooks for data center operations, disaster recovery, and business continuity.

Responses to this RFI will help us understand industry standards, available solutions and potential vendors for possible future procurement decisions. See Exhibit A, Scope of Work for more details.

1.4 PROCEDURAL INFORMATION

A. Inquiries

Questions about the RFP must be submitted electronically with BidNet. A written response to any inquiry may be provided in the form of an Amendment to the RFI. Questions are due by 1:00PM MST April 9, 2025

R25-037JD Disaster Recovery Project Phase 2 3

Request for information or support shall be addressed to:

Jennifer Davis

Jennifer.davis@coloradosprings.gov.

Questions are due by 1:00 PM MST April 9, 2025

Amendments to this RFI may be issued at any time prior to the time set for receipt of submittals. The City will post all addenda using the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System (www.bidnetdirect.com) It is the respondent’s responsibility to check the website for posted addenda.

1.5 RESPONSE SUBMISSION

Responses should be prepared simply and economically while still providing pertinent details of the vendor's ability to meet the requirements specified in this document (or portions thereof) and as stated below. At a minimum they should include the following information:

1. Company name, owner, address, phone #, e-mail, website if applicable.

2. Company background and previous successful relevant experience in PAM solutions

3. Experience working with municipalities

4. Quote providing the estimated cost to be used to help develop a budget.

5. Any additional relevant information.

Responses will be accepted electronically through the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing

System (www.bidnetdirect.com) and must be submitted by May 1, 2025, 2:00 PM MST.

1.6 COST OF RESPONSES

The City of Colorado Springs is not liable for any cost incurred by vendors in preparing their response. Respondents may be asked to clarify or expand upon information provided.

1.7 PROPRIETARY INFORMATION

If a response contains information that the respondent does not want disclosed to the public, or used for any purpose other than the evaluation of this response, all such information must be indicated with the following or similar statement: “The information contained on pages

_____, _____, and _____ shall not be duplicated or used in whole or in part for any purpose other than to evaluate the response provided. If a contract is awarded to this firm as a result of the submission of such information, the City of Colorado Springs shall have the right to duplicate, use, or disclose this information to the extent provided in the contract. This restriction does not limit the City of Colorado Springs’ right to use the information herein if obtained from another source.”

All such nondisclosure items specified in the response shall be subject to disclosure as provided in the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) or as otherwise provided by law.

mailto:Jennifer.davis@coloradosprings.gov http://www.bidnetdirect.com/ http://www.bidnetdirect.com/

R25-037JD Disaster Recovery Project Phase 2 4

1.8 RESPONSE MATERIAL OWNERSHIP

All material submitted in response to this RFI becomes the property of the City of Colorado Springs except for software products that are made available for demonstration purposes and proprietary material.

R25-037JD Disaster Recovery Project Phase 2 5

EXHIBIT A – SCOPE OF WORK

1. Project Background & Scope

City IT has completed the implementation of its new hyperconverged server infrastructure, including servers, networking, and storage systems. Now, our focus is on developing runbooks to support our disaster recovery, incident response, and operational continuity efforts. These runbooks will serve as standardized guides for responding to incidents and managing infrastructure failures in a structured and repeatable manner. We have a mix of applications hosted on physical servers, virtual servers, and SaaS solutions.

Runbooks need to cover areas such as:

• Incident response and escalation procedures to physical disasters

• Failover and recovery processes

• Network recovery and reconfiguration

• Server and application recovery

• Backup and restoration workflows

• Security incident response

• Testing and validation procedures

2. Vendor Information Requested

A. Runbook Development Best Practices

• What are the critical elements of an effective DR runbook?

• How should roles and responsibilities be defined within a runbook?

• What level of detail is necessary for technical teams vs. management teams?

• How should a runbook be structured to ensure usability during a crisis?

• What methodologies are recommended for testing and validating runbooks?

• What are best practices for maintaining and updating runbooks over time?

B. Runbook Scope & Components

• What essential sections should be included in a comprehensive DR runbook?

• What templates or standardized formats should be used?

• How should dependencies between systems, applications, and network infrastructure be documented?

• How should security considerations be incorporated into the runbooks?

• What level of automation and integration with monitoring/alerting systems is possible?

• Are there any industry compliance standards to follow?

C. Cost Estimates

• Cost per runbook, LOE per book on average, cost per hour or flat fee?

• Bulk pricing for multiple runbooks of similar categories

• Consulting vs. fully managed service costs

R25-037JD Disaster Recovery Project Phase 2 6

D. Timeframe & Resource Requirements

• What is a realistic timeline for the development of a runbook?

• What factors influence the timeline (e.g., data gathering, interviews, testing)?

• What level of engagement is required from our internal teams?

• Do you provide training or workshops to ensure our team can maintain and update runbooks over time?