VMware Replacement

The City of Pittsburgh Office of Management & Budget, acting on behalf of the Department of Innovation & Performance, is soliciting proposals for a VMware Replacement project through RFP #2025-RFP-289. The procurement seeks to replace the city's current VMware ESXi virtualization infrastructure by migrating approximately 120 virtual machines from an existing Broadcom VMware implementation (272 cores, 1.48 TB memory, 37 TB storage) to a new on-premises virtualization platform using existing Cisco UCS C240 M6 rack servers. Key deliverables include comprehensive VM migration planning with minimal downtime, network integration involving virtual switches, VLANs, and firewall rules, and three years of support and maintenance covering software updates and security patches. The evaluation criteria will assess firm qualifications and references (15 points), project team qualifications (15 points), project approach and plan (30 points), cost proposal (30 points), and MWDBE/VOSB good faith effort (10 points). Critical dates include a non-mandatory pre-proposal meeting on January 15, 2026, at 11:30 AM via Microsoft Teams, a written questions deadline of January 20, 2026, at 5:00 PM, and proposal submissions due electronically by January 27, 2026, at 3:00 PM. The city anticipates proposal review and supplier scoring in February 2026, with a contract award expected in the same month.

The procurement includes specific diversity and inclusion requirements, mandating bidders demonstrate good faith efforts in obtaining participation from minority-owned business enterprises (MBE), women-owned business enterprises (WBE), veteran-owned, and LGBTQIA+ small businesses, with target participation goals of 18% MBE, 7% WBE, 5% veteran-owned, and 3% LGBTQIA+ businesses. Proposals must include detailed cost breakdowns by phase, hourly rate schedules, and comply with prevailing wage requirements under the Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances and Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act. The city retains significant discretion in the procurement process, including the right to reject all proposals, cancel the RFP, waive informalities, and award based on best qualifications rather than lowest cost. All submitted proposals will remain effective for 120 days from the deadline and will become the property of the city. While no specific budget range is explicitly stated, the complexity of migrating 120 virtual machines and providing three years of support suggests a substantial technology infrastructure investment. The existing infrastructure of Cisco UCS C240 M6 rack servers will serve as the foundation for the new virtualization platform, indicating a strategic approach to leveraging current hardware assets.