Virtual Machine Infrastructure

Grand County Government in Colorado is seeking proposals for a new Virtual Machine Infrastructure (VMI) to replace its existing on-premise computing and storage environment located in Hot Sulphur Springs and Granby. The procurement involves a comprehensive technology solution that will migrate the current infrastructure consisting of VMware vSAN, Dell PowerEdge, Exagrid, and Veeam solutions to a modern, scalable, and resilient platform. The proposed solution must support approximately 60 virtualized Windows and Linux servers, provide 176GHz vCPU, 1.5TB RAM, and 50TB storage, with requirements for multi-hypervisor support, high-availability architecture, and direct vendor support. Key deliverables include a five-year lifecycle solution covering hardware, software, support, maintenance, and licensing, with comprehensive training and 24/7 technical support featuring a 4-hour response time. Critical deadlines include vendor proposal preparation with submissions due by July 1, 2025, county proposal review by September 1, 2025, contract award beginning January 1, 2026, and phased deployments in Hot Sulphur Springs (by July 1, 2026) and Granby (Q4 2026). Evaluation criteria will emphasize total deployment costs, solution compatibility with existing infrastructure, and the vendor's ability to provide a modern, operationally uncomplicated platform.

While no specific set-aside designations or restrictions on respondents were explicitly mentioned, the RFP requires vendors to have extensive technical capabilities in virtualization infrastructure. The current infrastructure includes four Dell R740xd physical servers with 80 cores, which must be seamlessly integrated with new solutions that are compatible with Microsoft Active Directory, SQL Server, and Veeam backup platforms. Vendors must provide proactive monitoring, next business day hardware replacements, and a support portal with self-service tools. The solution must integrate with existing network systems, backup platforms, monitoring tools, and security infrastructure. Though a specific budget range was not disclosed, the comprehensive nature of the project—covering hardware, software, licensing, deployment, migration, and five-year support—suggests a significant investment. Potential respondents should be prepared to demonstrate expertise in enterprise-level virtualization solutions, with proven track records in government or similar complex computing environments.