REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR SERVER INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADE
Background
SLFNHA is a not-for -profit organization dedicated to providing services, advocacy and leadership in the health of Anishinabe people across the Sioux Lookout region. Services include primary care, mental health, public health, special needs services and client services.
Purpose
Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority (SLFNHA) is looking to upgrade its aging server infrastructure to current server hardware and operating systems. SLFNHA current hardware server infrastructure is aging and out-of-warranty, and the IT department implemented an evergreen policy with the recommendation for servers to be refreshed consistently.
SLFNHA wants the next server infrastructure at our datacenter to implement a highly-redundant, highly-available, and non-disruptive, and easily expandable server solution. The solution should include a minimum of four servers connected to centralized storage, or a hyper-converged solution with minimum of four servers at our datacenter. In addition the solution should include a hyper-converged solution for our Hostel and Lac Seul offices.
This Request for Proposal (RFP) states the instructions for submitting bids, the procedure and criteria by which a vendor may be selected and the contractual terms by which the College intends to govern the relationship between it and the selected vendor
Definition of Parties: Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority will hereinafter be referred to as “SLFNHA”. Respondents to the RFP shall be referred to as “Bidders”. The Bidder to whom the contract is awarded shall be referred to as the “Contractor”.
Scope
The selected Bidder will supply the server infrastructure solution and all necessary components to SLFNHA as outlined in this Request for Proposal. The minimum specification list starts on page six. This procurement will require a formal technical and cost proposal submission as outlined by the Request for Proposals (RFP). This procurement will be conducted as a full and open competition process under which any type of organization is eligible to compete. The awarded contract will be a firm fixed price contract type and the estimated period of performance will be August 2021 through October 2021.
Draft Timeline
RFP proposals must be submitted no later than 4:00 PM CST on June 25, 2021. These submissions must be made by email address to rod.horsman@slfnha.com. In the subject line, please reference RFP – Server Infrastructure Upgrade.
Evaluation
Award will be made to the low Bidder(s) provided that all other requirements are satisfactorily met. However, consideration will be given to the Bidder’s qualifications, references and capabilities to provide the specified service. During the evaluation process, SLFNHA reserves the right where it may serve the SLFNHA’s best interest to request additional information or clarification from proposers, or to allow corrections of errors or omissions.
Communication
It is the responsibility of the Bidder to inquire about any requirement of the RFP that is not understood. Responses to inquiries, if they change or clarify the RFP in a substantial manner, will be forwarded by addenda to all parties that have received a copy of the RFP. SLFNHA will not be bound by oral responses to inquiries or written responses other than addenda.
Award
SLFNHA reserves the right to conduct any tests it may deem advisable and to make all evaluations. SLFNHA reserves the right to reject any or all bids, in whole or in part and is not necessarily bound to accept the lowest bid if that bid is contrary to the best interest of SLFNHA. SLFNHA reserves the right to waive minor irregularities. A bid may be rejected if it is in any way incomplete or irregular.
Submission Requirements
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- Costs of Preparation: Issuance of this solicitation and the submittal of a proposal do not constitute a commitment on the part of SLFNHA to make an award; neither does it constitute an obligation for any costs incurred in the preparation and submission of a proposal.
- Bid Understanding: By submitting a bid, the Bidder agrees and assures that the specifications are adequate and the Bidder accept the terms and conditions herein. Any exceptions should be noted in your response. SLFNHA reserves the right to disregard any response submitted after the timetable deadline.
- Errors: Bids may be withdrawn or amended by Bidders at any time prior to the bid opening. After the bid opening, bids may not be amended. If a significant mistake has been made by an apparent low Bidder, the Bidder will be given the option of selling at the price given or withdrawing the bid. If an extension error has been made, the unit price will prevail.
- Submission: Bidders must submit both Technical Proposals and Financial Proposals electronically. The proposals must be submitted in separate emails. Proposals must be submitted in English and must remain valid 120 days after the submission date. You are expected to supply all required information, or clearly state the reason for being unable to do so. SLFNHA’s technical representative is Mr. Larry Schultz and SLFNHA’s contractual representative is Mr. Rod Horsman.
CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS
- Contract Documents: If a separate contract is not written, the contract entered into by the parties shall consist of the Request for Bids, the signed bid submitted by the Contractor, the specifications including all modifications thereof, and a purchase order or letter of agreement requiring signatures of the College and the Contractor, all of which shall be referred to collectively as the Contract Documents.
- Contract Validity: In the event one or more clauses of the contract are declared invalid, void, unenforceable or illegal, that shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of the contract.
- Contract Administration: Rod Horsman, IT Manager, shall be the SFLNHA’s authorized representative in all matters pertaining to the administration of any contract(s) regarding the Server Infrastructure.
- Litigation: This Contract and the rights and obligations of the parties hereunder shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario. The Contractor agrees that any litigation, action or proceeding arising out of the Contract shall be instituted in a provincial court located in the Province of Ontario.
- Assignment: Neither party of the contract shall assign the contract without the prior written consent of the other, nor shall the contractor assign any money due or to become due without the prior written consent of SLFNHA.
Introduction
Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority – Transforming the health of Anishinabe people across Keewaytinook by providing community-led services and a strong voice for their community needs.
Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority (SLFNHA) was established in March 1990 and is for health service delivery and client advocacy. SLFNHA works under the direction of First Nations’ leadership, in accordance with its goals of self-government and self-determination, to represent and address the health needs of the 31 First Nation communities in the Sioux Lookout area.
Purpose and Scope
The purpose of this RFP is to seek proposals for a Server Cluster and SAN Storage System and the professional services necessary for the installation, configuration, and the migration from the current system to the new system. The selected vendor will also provide training on the new System for SLFNHA’s IT Department.
The current infrastructure at SLFNHA consists of a variety of Microsoft Hyper-V servers running on 7 HP Proliant G9 servers. Currently, there are approximately 25 virtual machines running a mixture of Windows and Linux operating systems in the environment. The minimum size of the VMs for sizing purposes should be 4 CPUs, 16GB RAM and 250GB of virtual hard disk. Barracuda Backup is used for backing up data to existing secondary disk and tape storage systems.
SLFNHA plans to install and use virtualization software, configured with failover across all physical hosts. SLFNHA has existing Microsoft licensing for Windows Server. There is no need to provide additional Microsoft Windows licensing in your bid.
The timely delivery, installation and configuration of the solution is a very important factor in the bid selection process. Bidders must provide an estimate of when the hardware installation and professional services could reasonably be started and completed.
As previously noted, SLFNHA will procure all server infrastructure hardware, software, and rack installation via this Request for Proposal. Additionally, the professional services procured under this RFP will include the following:
- Creation of a statement of work and project management to ensure successful completion of project objectives within specified timeframes and budget
- Configuration of sites and migration of all virtual servers/data from current infrastructure to the new infrastructure. SLFNHA will complete the remaining migrations of virtual machines
- Testing and validation to ensure all systems are functioning and that SLFNHA client workstations have appropriate access to all server resources
- Written documentation of the implemented design, including technical support contacts
- Access to support download repositories to obtain updated maintenance releases for equipment firmware, drivers, software, etc. from the original equipment manufacturer for the length of the support contract, at minimum.
- Training of select SLFNHA IT staff in the features and day-to-day operations of the system and its management interfaces
SLFNHA will make every effort to staff the project appropriately and understands that staffing a project is key to its success.
SLFNHA expects a project start of Summer 2021, and to be completed before Winter 2021.
Summary
The proposed system will include all power cords, cables, hot swappable redundant power supplies and other parts not listed in the specifications but necessary for a complete system, including any top of rack switching and associated cabling needed for the proposed solution. These items should be included in the Bidder’s proposal. Selection of the system shall be based on the specific features and capabilities of the proposed solution - including, but not limited to, the amount of useable disk capacity before and after any deduplication and compression, the timely availability of equipment and qualified personnel for installation, the flexibility of the system to meet the needs of SLFNHA, and the overall total cost of ownership of the proposed solution over its expected operational life.
SLFNHA reserves the right to purchase only the solution required for the main site and delay the selection and purchase of the secondary sites.
SLFNHA reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion to accept or reject, in whole or in part, any or all proposals with or without cause. SLFNHA further reserves the right to waive any irregularity or informality in this RFP process or any proposal, and the right to award the Contract to other than the lowest bidder. SLFNHA reserves the right to request additional information from any or all Bidders. SLFNHA reserves the right to negotiate with one or more bidders concerning their proposals.
Bidders are required to do an examination of the environment by June 15, 2021. Please contact Rod Horsman at rod.horsman@slfnha.com to set up a time for the walkthrough.
Listed below are some of the desired options/features that should be included in the proposed system. Specifications for the proposed system including details such as, but not limited to, the brands, model numbers, type and capabilities of the system must be listed in detail in the proposal.
Minimum specifications – Main site - Datacenter site:
- Hyper-converged solution
- Minimum 4 hosts, support 20 virtual machines
- Rack-mountable (rack is 4 post rack)
Minimum specifications – Secondary site - Hostel site:
- Compatible with the virtual solution in datacenter
- Minimum 1 hosts, Support 2 virtual machines
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- Rack-mountable (rack is 2 post rack)
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- Solution must be compatible with datacenter site
- Replication from datacenter to hostel site and vice versa must be supported
- Critical servers at datacenter must be able to run on hostel solution
- Standalone Windows 2019 Server Standard (possible conversion to hyper-converged)
- 1 stand alone server
- 64 GB RAM (please ensure a balanced memory configuration)
- To support KABA application software (not compatible with Hyper-V)
- Rack-mountable (rack is 2 post rack)
- Replication from Lac Seul to datacenter must be supported
Minimum specifications – Secondary site - Payroll site:
- Compatible with the virtual solution in datacenter
- Minimum 1 host, Support 4 virtual machines
- No rack solution
Entire solution:
- A minimum of a five year warranty support and maintenance agreement that includes 24/7 support for all parts & labor with (at most) next business day parts delivery from the original equipment manufacturer is required for all hardware. Third party warranties are not acceptable.
VENDOR BACKGROUND
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- List your company’s legal name, address and telephone number.
- How long has your company been in business?
- Indicate whether your company is the manufacturer or the distributor of the proposed equipment. If you are a distributor, describe the terms of your agreement with the manufacturer and the manufacturer’s level of support.
- Provide contact information for three references where your company has provided similarly sized and scoped systems and services to. Provide detail regarding the size and scope of the system or services provided. It is preferred that bidders notify their references that SLFNHA may be verifying references immediately following closing of this bid.
RFP BACKGROUND
RFP ScheduleDate
RFP IssuedJune 7th, 2021
Deadline for QuestionsJune 15th, 2021 by 4:00pm CST
Response to QuestionsJune 18th, 2021 by 4:00pm CST
RFP DueJune 25th, 2021 by 4:00pm CST
Winner selected and notifiedJuly 16th 2021 by 4:00pm CST
Questions will not be accepted by telephone. Questions should be submitted by email to rod.horsman@slfnha.com with the subject containing: RFP – Server Infrastructure Upgrade.. SLFNHA will make every effort to answer questions submitted by bidders to the best of our ability by the due date. We strongly encourage bidders to submit questions as early in the RFP process as possible.
Depending on the responses to the RFP, SLFNHA will make every effort to select and notify the winning bidder by the end of business July 16th, 2021. SLFNHA reserves the right to change the RFP schedule allowing the time necessary to make the most appropriate selection.
Conflict of Interest
Each proponent (on its own behalf and on behalf of all members of its team. If any) shall declare in its proposal any real or perceived conflict of interest which either presently exists or can reasonably be
foreseen as arising in the future. A conflict of interest will be evaluated on its merit and will not necessarily result in the exclusion of a response.
