HPC_cluster_CSS.doc.pdf

CLASSIFICATION CODE: 66- Laboratory Equipment and Supplies

TITLE: High Performance Computing Linux Cluster

SOLICITATION NUMBER: SB1341-15-RQ-0780

RESPONSE DATE: August 07, 2015 12:00 PM EST

CONTACT POINTS: Robert Cowins, Contract Specialist, (301) 975-8335 Keith Bubar, Contracting Officer, (301) 975-8239

DESCRIPTION:

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a requirement for a high performance computing linux cluster to be used in the NIST Engineering Laboratory (EL), at NIST, Gaithersburg, MD.

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

FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS-AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY

SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED, AND A SEPARATE

WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED. THE SOLICITATION IS

BEING ISSUED USING SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES PURSUANT TO FAR

PART 13..

This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-83

1352.215-72 INQUIRIES (APR 2010)

Offerors must submit all questions concerning this solicitation in writing to robert.cowins@nist.gov. Questions should be received no later than 5 calendar days after the issuance date of this solicitation. 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)

The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 334111 with a small business size standard of 1000 employees. This acquisition is 100% set-aside for small business.

mailto:robert.cowins@nist.gov

All offerors shall provide a firm fixed price quotation for the following line items:

Line Item 0001:

Quantity: 12 Unit of Issue: Each Description: Compute Nodes (see SOW for specifications) Delivery date: 60 days ARO

Line Item 0002:

Quantity: 4 Unit of Issue: Each Description: Infiniband Switches (see SOW for specifications) Delivery date: 60 days ARO

Statement of Work Linux Cluster Upgrade

A. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) need access to a large Linux cluster in order to develop and implement algorithms for modeling fire and smoke flow.

For the past several years, the Fire Research Division of NIST has invested significant efforts in the deployment of a high-performance computing (HPC) Linux cluster in order to provide scientific computing resources to NIST-fire research programs. After deploying a modest-sized cluster, Burn (24 nodes), NIST has the need to upgrade this cluster in order to significantly expand/enhance its computational capabilities.

B. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROCUREMENT

The Fire Research Division (FRD) of the Engineering Laboratory (EL) at NIST is seeking to procure a commercially-available High Performance Computing (HPC) Linux cluster upgrade.

The upgrade obtained in this acquisition will be installed into an existing NIST-owned HPC Linux cluster. The acquisition will also include a higher speed inter-node network to reduce communications bottlenecks .

The contractor shall supply hardware warranty support for three (3) years on all equipment provided via this purchase order, which shall begin with acceptance of the items provided. The contractor shall supply lifetime technical support for the proposed equipment. The contractor shall supply technical support for incorporating the new nodes into the existing cluster.

C. CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS.

The Contractor shall provide the following commercially-available items:

1. Hardware and Software requirements The contractor shall provide twelve (12) compute nodes, four (4) 36-Port QDR InfiniBand Qlogic 12300-BS01 switches, (54) 1.0 meter QSFTP to QSFP IB cables and twelve (12) 3.0 meter cat 6 ethernet cables. The compute nodes shall be built from commodity Intel Ivy Bridge E5-2630v2 2.6GHz 6-core CPUs rack mounted computers. Each compute node shall be configured with at least two E5- 2630v2 2.6GHz 6 core processor chips and at least 64 GB of memory running at 1600 MHz.

1.1. Compute Node and switch requirements

The contractor shall provide twelve (12) compute nodes in three (3) 2U chassis.

Each compute node must have following required properties:

• Two Intel Ivy Bridge E5-2630v2 2.6GHz 6-core CPUs processor chips, 64 GB of memory running at 1600Mhz.

• Basic input/output system (BIOS) set to “preboot execution environment (PXE) boot” as the first boot option. The following BIOS settings shall be set to off or disabled if supported: Intel TurboBoost, Intel Simultaneous, and Intel Multithreading.

• Double-data-rate type three (DDR3) synchronous dynamic random access (SDRAM) memory with error-correcting code (ECC).

• QDR ConnectX-2 single port InfiniBand HCA with QFSP built into the motherboard or provided as a host channel adapter (HCA).

• At least 1TB of local disk storage. The disk(s) shall be accessible for replacement without removing compute node from the rack. The disk(s) must have a spin rate of at least 7200 revolutions per minute (RPM) with at least 8 megabyte MB cache memory.

• Capable of running 64 bit Centos 6.5 or later.

• Dual gigabit Ethernet with the first interface set to PXE boot

• Integrated or add-on remote management card (also called a Baseboard

Management Controller or BMC) that compatible with Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) 2.0 and supports (at least) the following remote management functions via an Ethernet LAN interface: remote power off;

remote power on; remote system (re)boot; remote motherboard bios setting;

remote motherboard bios upgrade/update/flashing; viewing serial console boot and runtime input/output from a remote management location

• Power, disk storage, and network indicators.

• 80 PLUS (www.80plus.org) certified power supply having a minimum efficiency of 88% or greater when tested at following load conditions: 20%, 50% and 100%.

• Rail kits

Infiniband Switch requirements

The four infiniband switches must be compatible with the 36-Port QDR InfiniBand

Qlogic 12300-BS01 switch and have 54 1.0 meter QSFTP to QSFP IB cables and twelve (12) 3.0 meter cables

1.2. Identical parts

All nodes must contain identical parts, including identical firmware revisions/versions and board-level hardware revision numbers.

1.3. Ethernet Networks

All nodes must be connected via an Ethernet network. The Ethernet network must support all nodes connected at 1 Gigabit/second.

1.4. InfiniBand Interconnect.

a) All nodes must be connected via an InfiniBand Interconnect. The InfiniBand interconnect must support 40 Gigabit/second to each node and support OpenIB’s OpenSM subnet manager. The InfiniBand switches must be compatible with NIST owned 36-port Qlogic QDR IB switch.

1.5. Remote Management

All nodes must be connected to a management system that supports the installation, configuration, and day-to-day operations of any node in the cluster.

The management system must: support IPMI 2.0; support remote terminal over Secure Shell (SSH) or Secure Hyper Text Markup Language (HTTPS) to each node; provide maintenance tools such as system reset and power on/off.

1.6. Operating System

All nodes must be capable of running 64 bit Centos 6.5 or later.

2. Installation Onsite installation is not required.

3. Component Labeling http://www.80plus.org/

Every Ethernet cable, InfiniBand switch, InfiniBand cable, node, shall be clearly labeled with a unique identifier visible from the front of the rack and/or the rear of the rack, as appropriate, when the rack door is open. These labels shall be high quality so that they do not fall off, fade, disintegrate, or otherwise become unusable or unreadable during the lifetime of the cluster. The font shall be non-serif such as Arial or Courier with font size for these labels at least 9pt. Nodes shall be labeled from the front or rear with a unique serial number for inventory tracking.

6. Hardware and Software Maintenance The contractor shall supply hardware and software maintenance support for proposed cluster for at least three (3) years which begins with cluster acceptance and lifetime technical support for the added nodes.

D. GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITIES

NIST will also furnish the following:

• Facility drawings and specifications are available upon request.

• Power and Cooling

E. DELIVERABLES

• Delivery of Cluster hardware, software, and documentation (including documentation describing installation instructions, and node recovery and cloning) due 60 days after contract award.

F. INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

Acceptance will be provided at Government site and as duties and responsibilities are completed, the Contractor shall request review and acceptance by the NIST Technical

POC.

Acceptance testing will be performed as follows:

a. Physical verification of equipment ordered.

i. Verify quantities and specifications match invoice.

b. Bring system online.

i. Verify CPU speed

ii. Verify RAM total and speed

iii. Verify BIOS settings

iv. Verify PXE enabled Ethernet interface

v. Verify IPMI interface exists, is enabled, and receives IP address by DHCP

c. Performance and reliability testing.

i. Boot nodes with memtest86 via PXE and run for 8 hours

ii. Run "HPL" benchmark test for 24 hours

iii. Run “iozone” (http://www.iozone.org/) N-to-N sequential writes and reads benchmark test

PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES:

The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are hereby incorporated by reference. All FAR clauses may be viewed at http://farsite.hill.af.mil/.

Provisions

52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items

Representation by Corporations Regarding an Unpaid Delinquent Tax Liability or a Felony Conviction Under Any Federal Law (Class Deviation) (March 2015)

(1) In accordance with Sections 744 and 745 of Division E, Title VII, of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235), none of the funds made available by the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 funding may be used to enter into a contract with any corporation that-

(a) Was convicted of a felony criminal violation under any Federal law within the preceding 24 months, where an awarding agency is aware of the conviction, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and has made a determination that this further action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government, or

(b) Has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability, where the awarding agency is aware of the unpaid tax liability, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and made a determination that this further action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government.

(2) The Offeror represents that, as of the date of this offer -

(a) It is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that was convicted of a felony criminal violation under a Federal law within the preceding 24 months.

http://www.iozone.org/

(b) It is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability.

(End of provision)

Certification by Offerors Regarding Federal Income Tax Filing and Federal Income Tax Violations. (Class Deviation) (March 2015)

(a) In accordance with Section 523 of Division B, Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, (Pub. L. 113-235) none of the funds made available by the Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 unless the prospective contractor certifies in writing to the U.S. Consolidated and Further Continuing that, to the best of its knowledge and belief, the contractor has filed all Federal tax returns required during the three years preceding the certification, has not been convicted of a criminal offense under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and has not, more than 90 days prior to certification, been notified of any unpaid Federal tax assessment for which the liability remains unsatisfied, unless the assessment is the subject of an installment agreement or offer in compromise that has been approved by the Internal Revenue Service and is not in default, or the assessment is the subject of a non-frivolous administrative or judicial proceeding.

(b) The offeror’s proposal shall include a signed written certification as follows – To the best of my knowledge and belief, ---(name of offeror)--- has filed the Federal tax returns required during the three years preceding this certification, has not been convicted of a criminal offense under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and has not, more than 90 days prior to certification, been notified of any unpaid Federal tax assessment for which the liability remains unsatisfied, unless the assessment is the subject of an installment agreement or offer in compromise that has been approved by the Internal Revenue Service and is not in default, or the assessment is the subject of a non-frivolous administrative or judicial proceeding.

Firm _____________________________________________ Signature _________________________________________ Name ____________________________________________ Title _____________________________________________ Date of execution __________________________________

(End of Provision)

52.203-98, Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements—Representation (DEVIATION 2015-02)

(a) In accordance with section 743 of Division E, Title VII, of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Resolution Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235), Government agencies are not permitted to use funds appropriated (or otherwise made available) under that or any other Act for contracts with an entity that requires employees or subcontractors of such entity seeking to report fraud, waste, or abuse to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements prohibiting or otherwise restricting such employees or subcontractors from lawfully reporting such waste, fraud, or abuse to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative of a Federal department or agency authorized to receive such information.

(b) The prohibition in paragraph (a) of this provision does not contravene requirements applicable to Standard Form 312, Form 4414, or any other form issued by a Federal department or agency governing the nondisclosure of classified information.

(c) Representation. By submission of its offer, the Offeror represents that it does not require employees or subcontractors of such entity seeking to report fraud, waste, or abuse to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements prohibiting or otherwise restricting such employees or subcontractors from lawfully reporting such waste, fraud, or abuse to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative of a Federal department or agency authorized to receive such information.

(End of provision)

Clauses

52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions—Commercial Items 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders— Commercial Items (APR 2010)-- including subparagraphs:

52.204-10 Reporting Executive Compensation and First Tier Subcontract Awards 52.209-6 Protecting the Government’s Interest when subcontracting with Contractor’s Debarred, Suspended or proposed for Debarment 52.219-28, Post Award Small Business Program Representation 52.222-3, Convict Labor;

52.222-19 Child Labor – Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies;

52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities;

52-222-26, Equal Opportunity;

52.222-36, Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities 52.223-18 Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging While Driving 52.225-13 Restriction on Certain Foreign Purchases;

52.232-30, Installment Payments for Commercial Items 52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer- System for Award Management

*52.247-34 F.O.B. Destination

*1352.201-70 Contracting Officer’s Authority *1352.209-73 Compliance With The Laws *1352.209-74 Organizational Conflict of Interest

52.203-99, Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements (DEVIATION 2015-02)

(a) The Contractor shall not require employees or subcontractors seeking to report fraud, waste, or abuse to sign or comply with internal confidentiality agreements or statements prohibiting or otherwise restricting such employees or subcontractors from lawfully reporting such waste, fraud, or abuse to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative of a Federal department or agency authorized to receive such information.

(b) The contractor shall notify employees that the prohibitions and restrictions of any internal confidentiality agreements covered by this clause are no longer in effect.

(c) The prohibition in paragraph (a) of this clause does not contravene requirements applicable to Standard Form 312, Form 4414, or any other form issued by a Federal department or agency governing the nondisclosure of classified information.

(d)(1) In accordance with section 743 of Division E, Title VII, of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Resolution Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235), use of funds appropriated (or otherwise made available) under that or any other Act may be prohibited, if the Government determines that the Contractor is not in compliance with the provisions of this clause.

(2) The Government may seek any available remedies in the event the Contractor fails to comply with the provisions of this clause.

(End of clause)

Assurance by Corporations Regarding an Unpaid Delinquent Tax Liability or a Felony Conviction Under Any Federal Law (Class Deviation) (March 2015)

(1) In accordance with Sections 744 and 745 of Division E, Title VII, of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235), none of the funds made available by Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 and subsequent appropriations acts may be used to enter into a contract with any corporation that -

(a) Was convicted of a felony criminal violation under any Federal law within the preceding 24 months, where an awarding agency is aware of the conviction, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and made a determination that this further action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government, or

(b) Has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability, where the awarding agency is aware of the unpaid tax liability, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and made a determination that this further action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government.

(2) By accepting this award or order, in writing or by performance, the offeror/contractor assures that -

(a) The offeror/contractor is not a corporation convicted of a felony criminal violation under a Federal law within the preceding 24 months.

(b) The offeror/contractor is not a corporation that has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability.

(End of Clause)

INSTRUCTIONS:

System for Award Management (SAM)

In accordance with FAR 52.204-7, the awardee must be registered in SAM (www.sam.gov) prior to award. Refusal to register shall forfeit award.

Due Date for Quotations

Offerors shall submit their quotations so that NIST receives them not later than 12:00 p.m.

Eastern Time on Friday, August 07, 2015. FAX and hard-copy quotations shall not be accepted. E-mail quotations shall be accepted at robert.cowins@nist.gov. Offerors’ quotations shall not be deemed received by the Government until the quotation is entered into the e-mail address inbox set forth above. Late quotes will not be accepted.

Addendum to FAR 52.212-1, Quotation Preparation Instructions

1) Price Quotation: The pricing quotation shall be separate from any other portion of the quotation. The offeror shall propose a firm-fixed-price, preferably FOB Destination, for each CLIN. Price quotations shall remain valid for a period of 90 days from the date quotations are due.

2) Technical Quotation: The technical quotation shall address the following:

Technical Capability: The offeror shall submit a technical description or product literature for the equipment it is proposing, which clearly identifies the manufacturer, make and model. The offeror must demonstrate that its proposed equipment meets or exceeds each minimum requirement described in the statement of work by providing a citation to the relevant section of its technical description or product literature. If applicable, evidence that the Offeror is http://www.sam.gov/ authorized by the original equipment manufacturer to provide the item(s) in the quotation should be included.

Acceptance of Terms and Conditions: This is an open-market solicitation for equipment as defined herein. The Government intends to award a Purchase Order as a result of this solicitation that will include the clauses set forth herein. The quotation shall include one of the following statements:

“The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document without modification, deletion, or addition.”

OR

“The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document with the exception, deletion, or addition of the following:

Offeror shall list exception(s) and rationale for the exception(s)

Note: This procurement is not being conducted under the GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program or another Government-Wide Area Contract (GWAC). If an offeror submits a quotation based upon an FSS or GWAC contract, the Government will accept the quoted price.

However, the terms and conditions stated herein will be included in any resultant Purchase Order, not the terms and conditions of the offeror’s FSS or GWAC contract, and the statement required above shall be included in the quotation.

QUOTATION EVALUATION:

Evaluation Factors

The Government anticipates awarding to the lowest priced, technically acceptable Offeror.

Evaluation Criteria:

1. Technical Capability

A quotation will only be considered technically acceptable if it clearly demonstrates that the minimum required specifications are met by the quoted product; and if the quotation follows all other instructions in this solicitation.

2. Price

NIST will evaluate the pricing prosed to determine whether it is fair and reasonable.

1352.233-70 AGENCY PROTESTS (APR 2010)

(a) An agency protest may be filed with either: (1) the contracting officer, or (2) at a level above the contracting officer, with the appropriate agency Protest Decision Authority. See 64 Fed. Reg. 16,651 (April 6, 1999)

(b) Agency protests filed with the Contracting Officer shall be sent to the following address: NIST/ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT DIVISION ATTN: Todd Hill, CONTRACTING OFFICER

100 Bureau Drive, MS 1640 Gaithersburg, MD 20899

(c) Agency protests filed with the agency Protest Decision Authority shall be sent to the following address: NIST/ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT DIVISION

ATTN: HEAD OF THE CONTRACTING OFFICE (HCO)

100 Bureau Drive, MS 1640

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

(d) A complete copy of all agency protests, including all attachments, shall be served upon the Contract Law Division of the Office of the General Counsel within one day of filing a protest with either the Contracting Officer or the Protest Decision Authority.

(e) Service upon the Contract Law Division shall be made as follows:

U.S. Department of Commerce Office of the General Counsel Chief, Contract Law Division Room 5893 Herbert C. Hoover Building 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20230.

FAX: (202) 482-5858

1352.233-71 GAO AND COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS PROTESTS (APR 2010)

(a) A protest may be filed with either the Government Accountability Office (GAO) or the Court of Federal Claims unless an agency protest has been filed.

(b) A complete copy of all GAO or Court of Federal Claims protests, including all attachments, shall be served upon (i) the Contracting Officer, and (ii) the Contract Law Division of the Office of the General Counsel, within one day of filing a protest with either GAO or the Court of Federal Claims.

(c) Service upon the Contract Law Division shall be made as follows:

U.S. Department of Commerce Office of the General Counsel Chief, Contract Law Division Room 5893 Herbert C. Hoover Building 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20230.

FAX: (202) 482-5858

(End of clause)