SSN NF-FM7030-22-03026.pdf

NOAA/WAD Sources Sought Notice Page 1 of 3

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICES

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

This is a Sources Sought Notice requesting information for market research purposes in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 Procedures. This is not a solicitation, nor does it guarantee a solicitation will be issued. Requests for a solicitation will not receive a response. This is not a request for proposals and it does not obligate the government in any manner.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) Headquarters at Woods Hole, MA, has multiple Laboratories to include, Woods Hole & Technology Park, Falmouth, MA; Milford Laboratory, Milford, CT; Narragansett Laboratory, Narragansett, RI; Maine Field Station, Orono, ME; and James J. Howard Laboratory, Highlands, NJ.

NEFSC is currently utilizing an aging and failing infrastructure/storage solution that does not address our acute organizational needs. This is anticipated to be a brand name requirement with supporting justification in the event a solicitation is issued.

After implementation, consolidation and removal of aging hardware due to consistent and catastrophic failures it was determined that NEFSC requires a centralized storage solution for all NEFSC data. Additionally, this centralized solution will help ready the NEFSC for a possible future migration to the cloud. We are looking to purchase a purpose-built, commercial, off the shelf system. This system allows us to modernize and more securely store data while providing improvement in both administration costs and lowering overall management overhead to support all NEFSC locations and allows users to work more effectively and efficiently. Additionally, this system incorporates a greatly increased capacity for compression which allows this solution to exponentially increase its available storage.

Period of Performance: Award anticipated in September, 2022 and delivery will be required within 45 days of award. Five years of services/warranty will also be included.

The Government is especially interested in responses from SBA certified small business concerns that are capable of performing the work described within this notice. The anticipated NIACS code is either 334112, Computer Storage Device Manufacturing (size standard 1250 employees), 423430 Computer and Computer Peripheral Equipment and Software Merchant Wholesalers (size standard 250 employees), or 541519 (exception) Information Technology Value Added Resellers (size standard 150 employees).

Response Requirements

Responses to this notice shall be limited to ten pages (excluding marketing literature and/or technical data sheets and/or resumes) and shall include the following:

1. Organization Information

a) The organization name and address, and a point of contact name, telephone number and e-mail address. The organization point of contact shall have the knowledge and authority to clarify responses with Government representatives.

NOAA/WAD Sources Sought Notice Page 2 of 3

b) The organization’s Unique Entity ID, CAGE code, and organization/company structure (corporation, LLC, partnership, joint venture, etc.).

c) Written confirmation of the organization’s registration in SAM (www.sam.gov). Offerors should be registered to be considered as a source.

d) The size classification of the organization under the appropriate NAICS code, and if the organization is classified as a small business, HUBZone small business, Service Disabled Veteran Owned small business, Woman-owned small business and/or 8(a) certified small business. Please specify the applicable NAICS code, 334112, 423430, or 541519.

2. Capability to provide the required equipment within the expected delivery date 45 days after award, approximately late October or early November 2022, as well as support services.

Capability statements and other response requirements information shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer at sarah.waugh@noaa.gov no later than 2:00 PM Pacific Time on Thursday, July 28th. Do not call regarding this sources sought notice. Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via e-mail to the above e-mail address not later than Monday, July 25th. An amendment may be posted if necessary.

Acknowledgment of receipt of responses may not be made, nor will respondents be notified of the outcome of NOAA’s review of the information received. Additionally, NOAA does not intend to hold discussions concerning this Source Sought Notice/Request for Information with any interested parties.

This request is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted as a result of this request. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of the submission of contractor's information. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations.

NOAA reserves the right to contact one or more of the respondents if additional information is required or to request demonstrations. Information obtained as a result of this announcement may be reflected in the subsequent solicitation, if issued. This announcement is Government market research and may result in revisions in both its requirements and its acquisition strategy based on industry responses.

http://www.sam.gov/

NOAA/WAD Sources Sought Notice Page 3 of 3

SERVER w/ System Monitoring and Support

STATEMENT OF NEED

BACKGROUND / SCOPE / MISSION:

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) Headquarters at Woods Hole, MA, has multiple Laboratories to include, Woods Hole & Technology Park, Falmouth, MA; Milford Laboratory, Milford, CT; Narragansett Laboratory, Narragansett, RI; Maine Field Station, Orono, ME; and James J. Howard Laboratory, Highlands, NJ.

NEFSC is currently utilizing an aging and failing infrastructure/storage solution that does not address our acute organizational needs.

After implementation, consolidation and removal of aging hardware due to consistent and catastrophic failures it was determined that NEFSC requires a centralized storage solution for all NEFSC data. Additionally, this centralized solution will help ready the NEFSC for a possible future migration to the cloud. We are looking to purchase a purpose-built, commercial, off the shelf system. This system allows us to modernize and more securely store data while providing improvement in both administration costs and lowering overall management overhead to support all NEFSC locations and allows users to work more effectively and efficiently. Additionally, this system incorporates a greatly increased capacity for compression which allows this solution to exponentially increase its available storage.

This need is critically important due to the age of existing servers, most of which are more than 8 years old. The commercially acceptable standard is 3-5 years. These old servers are actively failing on a daily basis and need constant attention from the engineer & administrator to remain even partially functional. It is extremely likely that our Scientific mission will be impacted if this purchase isn’t executed.

STATEMENT OF NEED:

Contractor shall provide all labor, parts, materials, supervision, quality control and shipping. Salient features must meet or exceed:

System

● Fully-redundant, dual-controller system for up to 5 9’s of availability

● Dual 10-core CPUs, 256 GB RAM, and NVDIMM Write Cache

● 165x 18 TB SAS HDDs in 16x 10-wide RAIDZ2 + 5 hot spares

● 2.97 PB raw capacity, 2.03 PB usable capacity

● 2x 10 GbE SFP+, 2x 10 GbE RJ45 NICs per controller

● 16U rack units total for controller plus expansion shelves

● Expandable to 3.29 PB with full expansion shelves

● Storage must be provisioned by TRUENAS

● Must be able to integrate with existing VMware and TRUENAS systems

Support

● Proposed Support Level: 5-year

● 15x5 phone and email support

● 2 hour response time for S1 issues

● Next Day on-site support & repair

● Proactive System Monitoring