Technical Support For Dell Unity Arrays_ .pdf

QUOTATION REQUEST

October 11, 2023

Potential Respondents

Re: Quote Request, 39138- Technical Support For Dell Unity Arrays.

The St. Johns River Water Management District (District) is requesting quotes for the above referenced project from qualified firms who have experience in providing these services. This letter is forwarded to you as an invitation to provide a quote based on the Statement of Work (SOW) attached as Exhibit 1. The quote shall include all labor, materials, insurance, and other related costs for the services described in the

SOW.

The objective of this request is to secure 3rd party Hardware/Technical support for the District’s Dell EMC Unity 400F storage arrays, now that Dell has announced they are going End of Life. The Dell EMC Unity 400F storage array is a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device that provides storage to most servers in the Palatka Datacenter.

The District’s second array is located in Palm Bay, FL and is scheduled to be moved to Apopka, FL in January of 2024.

There are no scheduled site visits planned for this project, however, it is recommended that you contact the District’s Project Manager to schedule a site visit.

You may contact Matthew Reule, District’s Project Manager, at (407) 215-1460 or via email at MReule@sjrwmd.com to schedule a site visit. Please provide at least a 24-hour notice to schedule.

Responses are due before 3:00 p.m. on October 20, 2023. It is preferred that all quotes be submitted as an attachment to an email addressed to Mark Morris at rmmorris@sjrwmd.com. Please reference quote number 39138 in subject line on any and all emailed correspondence.

Minimum Qualifications:

Respondents must meet the minimum qualifications below and all supporting documentation must be submitted with the response to this quotation request:

1. Proof of firm’s ability to do business in the state of Florida. (Respondent-provided documentation must be included with quote response.)

2. Respondent must have successfully completed at least two projects of a similar nature (refer to the tasks outlined in the SOW) in the past three years by the individual, firm, or project manager assigned mailto:MReule@sjrwmd.com

Quote Request 39138 Technical Support For Dell Unity Arrays to the project. (District-provided form, Qualifications - Similar Projects Form)

3. Respondent must have at least three years of experience on projects similar to those described in the SOW. (District-provided form, Qualifications - Similar Projects Form)

4. Respondent shall provide a minimum of two references. No more than one reference shall be from the similar projects listed. Not more than one reference shall be from the District. If a District project is cited, do not request a letter from District staff. (District-provided form, Qualifications – Client References Form)

Opening of Quotes:

1. The Florida Public Records Act, §119.071(1)(b), Fla. Stat., exempts sealed quotes from inspection and copying until such time as the District provides notice of an intended decision pursuant to §120.57(3)(a), Fla. Stat., or until 30 days after opening of quotes, whichever is earlier.

This exemption is not waived by the public opening of quotes.

2. Unless otherwise exempt, Respondent’s quote is a public record that is subject to disclosure upon expiration of the above exemption. If any information submitted with the Quote is a trade secret as defined in §812.081, Fla. Stat., and exempt from disclosure pursuant to §815.04, Fla. Stat., Respondent must clearly identify any such material as “CONFIDENTIAL TRADE SECRET” in its submittal and explain the basis for such exemption. The District reserves the right, in its sole judgment and discretion, to reject a submittal for excessive or unwarranted assertion of trade secret confidentiality and return the submittal to Respondent.

3. Respondents shall bear all costs associated with preparing and submitting responses to this Quote Request. The District will, in no way, be responsible for these costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome.

Inquiries and Addenda:

1. District staff are not authorized to orally interpret the meaning of the Quote Request package, or correct any apparent ambiguity, inconsistency, or error therein. In order to be binding upon the District, the interpretation or correction must be given by the Procurement Specialist and must be in writing. The Procurement Specialist may orally explain the District’s procedures and assist Respondents in referring to any applicable provision in the Quote Request documents, but the Respondent is ultimately responsible for submitting the quote in the appropriate form and in accordance with written procedures.

2. Every request for a written interpretation or correction must be received at least nine days prior to opening of quotes in order to be considered. Requests must be submitted by email to rmmorris@sjrwmd.com. Interpretations, corrections, and supplemental instructions will be communicated by written addenda to this solicitation posted by Onvia DemandStar to all prospective Respondents (at the respective addresses furnished for such purposes) not later than five days prior to the date fixed for the Quote Request opening.

3. Submission of a quote constitutes acknowledgment of receipt of all addenda. Quotes will be construed as though all addenda had been received. Failure of the Respondent to receive any addenda does not relieve Respondent from any and all obligations under the quote, as submitted.

All addenda become part of the Agreement.

Award Procedures:

1. Section 286.0113, Fla. Stat., exempts from being open to the public, any portion of a meeting at which: (1) a negotiation with a Respondent is conducted pursuant to a competitive solicitation;

(2) a Respondent makes an oral presentation as part of a competitive solicitation; (3) a Respondent answers questions as part of a competitive solicitation; or (4) negotiation strategies are discussed. Also, recordings of, and any records presented at, the exempt meeting are exempt from §119.07(1) and §24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution (Public Records) until such time as the District provides notice of an intended decision or until 30 days after opening the Quotes or final replies, whichever occurs earlier. A complete recording shall be made of any portion of an exempt meeting. No portion of the exempt meeting may be held off the record. Pursuant to §286.0113 Fla. Stat., if the District rejects all quotes and concurrently provides notice of its intent to reissue the competitive solicitation, the recording and any records presented at any exempt meeting shall remain exempt from §119.07(1) and §24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution (Public Records) until such time as the District provides notice of an intended decision concerning the reissued competitive solicitation or until the District withdraws the reissued competitive solicitation. A recording and any records presented at an exempt meeting are not exempt for longer than 12 months after the initial District notice rejecting all quotes.

2. The District will examine the quotes to determine completeness. Obvious mismatches with regard to technical or commercial requirements will be rejected at this time.

3. If two or more quotes are equal in all respects, the Agreement will be awarded as follows: (1) to the Respondent that certifies compliance with §287.087, Fla. Stat., via the Drug-Free Workplace Form; or (2) by lot.

4. In the event the Successful Respondent(s) fail to enter into the Agreement or the Agreement with said Respondent is terminated within 90 days of the effective date, the District reserves the right to negotiate with the other Respondents in ranked order, if available, and award an Agreement.

5. All Respondents will be notified of the District's intent to award or decision to award the Agreement. For the purpose of filing a protest under §120.57(3), Fla. Stat., the time period will commence as provided in “Notices and Services Thereof.”

Disqualification of Respondents:

Any of the following causes will be considered as sufficient grounds for disqualification of a Respondent and rejection of the Quote:

1. Contacting a District employee or officer other than the procurement specialist assigned to this solicitation action, about any aspect of this Quote Request before the notice of intended decision is posted.

2. Submission of more than one quote response for the same subject matter by an individual, firm, partnership, or corporation under the same or different names;

3. Evidence of collusion among Respondents;

4. Submission of materially false information with the Quote;

5. Information gained through checking of references or other sources which indicates that

Respondent may not successfully perform the Work;

6. Respondent is failing to adequately perform on any existing contract with the District;

7. Respondent has defaulted on a previous contract with the District;

8. The evidence submitted by Respondent, or the District’s investigation of Respondent, fails to satisfy the District that Respondent is properly qualified to carry out the obligations of the Agreement in a manner acceptable to the District and within the time period specified;

9. Any other cause that is sufficient to raise doubt regarding the ability of a Respondent to perform the Work in a manner that meets the District’s objectives for the Work.

Rejection of Quote:

1. Quotes must be emailed to the specified location and received during the time specified on page 1 in order to be considered timely. Untimely quotes will not be considered.

Quotes will be considered irregular and may be rejected if they show material omissions, http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=%22open%20government%22&URL=0100-0199/0119/Sections/0119.07.html alterations of form, additions not called for, conditions, limitations, unauthorized alternate quotes, or other material irregularities. The District may consider incomplete any quote not prepared and submitted in accordance with the provisions specified herein, and reserves the right to waive any minor deviations or irregularities in an otherwise valid Quote.

2. The District also reserves the right to reject any and all quotes when it determines, in its sole judgment and discretion that, it is not in its best interest to award the agreement.

Public Entity Crimes/Discriminatory Vendors:

In accordance with §287.133 and §287.134, Fla. Stat., a person or affiliate who has been placed on the convicted or discriminatory vendor lists following a conviction for a public entity crime or placement on the discriminatory vendor list may not submit a bid, proposal, or reply on a contract to provide any goods or services to a public entity; may not submit a bid, proposal, or reply on a contract with a public entity for the construction or repair of a public building or public work; may not submit bids, proposals, or replies on leases of real property to a public entity; may not be awarded or perform work as a contractor, supplier, subcontractor, or Contractor under a contract with any public entity;

and may not transact business with any public entity in excess of the threshold amount provided in §287.017 for CATEGORY TWO ($35,000) for a period of 36 months following the date of being placed on the convicted or discriminatory vendor lists.

Diversity:

The District is committed to the opportunity for diversity in the award and performance of all procurement activities. The District encourages its respondents to make a good faith effort to ensure that women and minority-owned business enterprises (W/MBE) are given the opportunity for maximum participation as second and lower tier participants. The District will assist Respondents by sharing information on W/MBEs to encourage their participation.

Notices and Services Thereof:

1. The District will publish notice of specifications and criteria, including addenda, intended agency decisions, or other matters pertinent to this solicitation on Onvia DemandStar at DemandStar.com. Onvia DemandStar may also be accessed through the District’s website at sjrwmd.com.

2. Notices that are posted on Onvia DemandStar are deemed received at 8:00 a.m. on the next business day following the date posted. Notices will be posted for a minimum of 72 hours following the time at which they are deemed received. The time period for filing a Notice of Protest pursuant to §120.57(3), Fla. Stat., and Rule 28-110.003, Fla. Admin. Code, commences at the time notices are deemed received.

3. As a courtesy to Respondents, the District may send copies of the notices of intended agency decisions via email to the address provided by Respondent. This courtesy communication neither constitutes official notice nor vary the times of receipt set forth above.

Protest Procedures

1. Pursuant to§120.57(3), Fla. Stat., and Rule 28-110.003, Fla. Admin. Code, any person adversely affected by the terms, conditions, or specifications contained in a solicitation, including addenda, must file a Notice of Protest within 72 hours after its posting.

2. Pursuant to §120.57(3), Fla. Stat., and Rule 28-110.003, Fla. Admin. Code, any person adversely affected by a District decision or intended decision to award a contract, or to reject all bids, proposals, or qualifications, must file a written Notice of Protest within 72 hours after posting of the decision or intended decision.

3. Pursuant to §120.57(3), Fla. Stat., and Rule 28-110.004, Fla. Admin. Code, the protester must also file with the District Clerk a Formal Written Protest within ten days after the date the Notice of Protest is filed with the District. The Formal Written Protest must state with particularity the facts and law upon which the protest is based. Pursuant to §287.042(2)(c), Fla. Stat., any person who files an action protesting the decision or intended decision must post with the District Clerk at the time of filing the formal written protest a bond, cashier’s check, or money order made payable to the St. Johns River Water Management District in an amount equal to one percent (1%) of the District’s estimated contract amount.

4. No additional time will be added for mailing. All filings must comply with Rule 28-106.104, Fla.

Admin. Code, and must be addressed to and received by the District Clerk at the District Headquarters in Palatka, Florida within the prescribed time periods. The District will not accept as filed any electronically transmitted facsimile pleadings, petitions, Notice of Protest or other documents.

5. The District’s acceptance of pleadings, petitions, Notice of Protest, Formal Written Protest, or other documents filed by email is subject to certain conditions set forth in the District’s Statement of Agency Organization and Operation (issued pursuant to Rule 28-101.001, Florida Administrative Code), which is available for viewing at sjrwmd.com. These conditions include, but are not limited to, the document being in the form of a PDF or TIFF file and being capable of being stored and printed by the District.

6. Failure to file a protest within the time prescribed in §120.57(3), Fla. Stat., or failure to post the bond or other security required by law within the time allowed for filing a bond will constitute a waiver of proceedings under chapter 120, Fla. Stat. Mediation under §120.573, Fla. Stat., is not available.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Exhibit 1 – Statement of Work/Site Map Exhibit 2 – Cost Schedule Exhibit 3 – Qualifications: Documentation Form Exhibit 4 – Insurance Requirements

EXHIBIT 1 - STATEMENT OF WORK

39138 – TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR DELL UNITY ARRAYS

I. INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND

The Dell EMC Unity 400F storage array is a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device that provides storage to most servers in the Palatka Datacenter. A second array is currently located in Palm Bay, FL primarily used for local storage for our Disaster Recovery exercise. These arrays are a critical part of our infrastructure that will no longer be supported by DELL.

The array in Palm Bay, FL is scheduled to be moved to Apopka, FL in January of 2024. Any bid must not restrict the District’s ability to move the array and we would expect Hardware/Technical support getting it back up if we ran into issues after the move.

II. OBJECTIVE

To secure 3rd party Hardware/Technical support for our Dell EMC Unity 400F storage arrays, now that Dell has announced that they are going End of Life. We are requiring a response time within 4 hours for the replacing of any parts. We are looking for a Flat Rate for both arrays to be billed annually.

III. DESCRIPTION

The technical specifications of the array are:

Model Number: APM00171806231 Unity 400F System Capacity:

218 TB / USED: 144.7 TB

CPU: 8 CORES 2.4 GHZ

MEMORY: 48GB

FIBER CHANNEL PORTS: 2 PER SP

ETHERNET PORTS: 8 PER SP / 5 IN USE

IV. PROJECT MANAGER

Matthew Reule, Information Technology Manager Office of Information Technology Office: 407-215-1460 Email: MReule@sjrwmd.com mailto:MReule@sjrwmd.com

To:

Re:

EXHIBIT 2 – COST SCHEDULE

RESPONSES ARE DUE BEFORE 3:00 P.M. OCTOBER 20, 2023

ST. JOHNS RIVER WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT

39138 – TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR DELL UNITY ARRAY

The award of these services will be based on the responsive and responsible Respondent providing the lowest Annual Flat Rate.

I HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE, as Respondent’s authorized representative, that I have fully read and understand all terms and conditions as set forth in this quote request and upon award of such quote, shall fully comply with such terms and conditions.

Date

Respondent (firm name)

Address

E-mail address

Signature

Typed name and title Telephone number

Task Annual Flat Rate

Hardware/Technical support for Dell EMC Unity 400F storage arrays. Requiring a 4 Hour Response time for replacement of parts.

EXHIBIT 3 - QUALIFICATIONS – GENERAL

(This form to be included in quote submittal)

As part of the quote request, Respondent shall complete the following so that the District can determine Respondent’s ability and experience regarding the proposed request.

Name of Respondent:

Year company was organized/formed:

Number of years Respondent has been engaged in business under the present firm or trade name:

Total number of years Respondent has experience in similar work described in this request:

Has Respondent previously been engaged in the same or similar business under another firm or trade name? If so, please describe each such instance.

Has Respondent ever been adjudicated bankrupt, initiated bankruptcy, or been the subject of bankruptcy proceedings on behalf of the current entity submitting this bid or a prior entity that Respondent substantially operated or controlled? If yes, please describe the nature and result of those proceedings and the entity involved.

Describe the background/experience of the person or persons who will be primarily responsible for directing the Work that will be performed pursuant to this bid. This inquiry is intended to encompass the project manager and/or superintendent who will be engaged on a daily basis in directing performance of the Work.

QUALIFICATIONS – SIMILAR PROJECTS

(This form to be included in quote submittal)

Respondent must have successfully completed at least two projects of a similar nature (refer to the tasks outlined in the attached Statement of Work) in the past three years by the individual, firm, foreman or project manager assigned to the project.

Completed Project 1:

Agency/Company:________________________________________________________________________

Current contact person at agency/company:

Telephone: ____________________ E-mail:

Project location: _______________

Name of project:

Project Description:

Start Date: _______________________________ Completion Date: _______________________________ (month/year) (month/year)

Name(s) of assigned personnel:

Respondent’s Project manager:

Others:

Completed Project 2:

Agency/Company: ______________________________________________________________________

Current contact person at Agency/Company: __________________________________________________

Telephone: Email:

Address of Agency/Company: _____________________________________________________________

Name of Project: ________________________________________________________________________

Project description: ______________________________________________________________________

Project Value: ____________ Start date: Completion date:

(month/year) (month/year)

Name(s) of assigned personnel:

Project Manager:

Others:

QUALIFICATIONS - CLIENT REFERENCES

(This form to be included in quote submittal)

Respondent shall provide a minimum of two references. No more than one reference shall be from the similar projects listed. Not more than one reference shall be from the District. If a District project is cited, do not request a letter from District staff. (For similar projects listed above, simply state “Similar Project No. ___.”)

Client Reference 1:

Agency/company:_________________________________________________________________

Current contact person at agency/company:_____________________________________________

Telephone: _____________ Fax: ________________ E-mail:

Agency/Company Address: _________________________________________________________

Name of project:__________________________________________________________________

Description:

Project value:______________________ Project manager:_________________________________

Client Reference 2:

Agency/company:_________________________________________________________________

Current contact person at agency/company:_____________________________________________

Telephone: _____________ Fax: ________________ E-mail:

Agency/Company Address: _________________________________________________________

Name of project:__________________________________________________________________

Description:

Project value:______________________ Project manager:_________________________________

RMMorris Sticky Note Accepted set by RMMorris

EXHIBIT 4 – INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS

Contractor shall acquire and maintain until completion of the Work the insurance coverage listed below, which constitutes primary coverage. Contractor shall not commence the Work until the District receives and approves Certificates of Insurance documenting required coverage. Contractor’s General Liability policy shall include Endorsement CG 20 10 04 13, or equivalent, naming the St. Johns River Water Management District (“District”) as Additional Insured. All required policies shall include:

(1) endorsement that waives any right of subrogation (Endorsement CG 24 04 05 09, or equivalent) against the District for any policy of insurance provided under this requirement or under any state or federal worker’s compensation or employer’s liability act; (2) endorsement to give the District no less than 30 days’ notice in the event of cancellation or material change. Certificates of Insurance must be accompanied by copies of the requested endorsements.

Any deductibles or self-insured retentions above $100,000 must be declared to and approved by the District. Approval will not be unreasonably withheld. Contractor is responsible for any deductible or self-insured retention. Insurance must be placed with insurers having an A.M. Best rating of A-V or greater.

District receipt of insurance certificates providing less than the required coverage does not waive these insurance requirements.

(a) Workers’ Compensation Insurance. Workers’ compensation and employer’s liability coverage, including maritime workers’ compensation, if applicable, in not less than the minimum limits required by Florida law. If Contractor claims an exemption from workers’ compensation coverage, Contractor must provide a copy of the Certificate of Exemption from the Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation for all officers or members of an LLC claiming exemption who will be participating in the Work. In addition, Contractor must provide a completed District “Affidavit (Non-Construction)” for non-construction contracts.

(b) General Liability. Commercial General Liability Insurance on an “Occurrence Basis,” with limits of liability for each occurrence of not less than $500,000 for personal injury, bodily injury, and property damage, with an aggregate of $1,000,000. Coverage shall include: (1) liability, (2) products and completed operations, (3) independent contractors, and (4) property in the care, control, or custody of Contractor. Extensions shall be added or exclusions deleted to provide the necessary coverage.

(c) Automobile Liability. Minimum limits of Florida Law.

EXHIBIT 2 – COST SCHEDULE