SPECIAL NOTICE
D -- DOC NOAA NCEP Operational (OPS) High Performance Computing Systems (HPCS) Notice of Intent to Sole-Source
- Notice Date
- 1/30/2009
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541512
— Computer Systems Design Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Acquisition and Grants Office, SSMC4 - Room 7601/OFA61, 1305 East West Highway, 7th Floor, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910
- ZIP Code
- 20910
- Solicitation Number
- NCEP-OPS2009
- Response Due
- 3/20/2009
- Archive Date
- 4/4/2009
- Point of Contact
- Richard A Parkerson,, Phone: 301-713-0838 x197
- E-Mail Address
-
richard.parkerson@noaa.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) intends to negotiate on a noncompetitive basis with IBM Company of Bethesda, Maryland to provide an additional year, October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012, of service of the existing high performance computing (HPC) system being leased by NOAA/NWS/NCEP under contract DG133W-02-CN-0013. The HPC system is located in IBM's Business Continuity and Recovery Services facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland and in NASA's Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) facility in Fairmont, West Virginia. This synopsis serves to notify the public of the proposed contract action. The Government intends to modify the existing contract to acquire an additional year of processing capability, storage, networking, software, services and facility housing/services in support of operational activities associated with the Weather and Climate Supercomputing program. The existing HPC system was designed by IBM to provide a balanced supercomputing environment that includes not only large-scale computing but disk storage and tape storage associated with both operational clusters and infrastructure to access existing data archives. The current system consists of two operational supercomputer clusters, Mist and Dew, with identical configuration, a 16-node p575 cluster for special projects and a 4-node p575 Test and Evaluation cluster. Each operational system is an IBM p575 cluster employing 2368 Power5+ processors with 2GB memory per processor and 160 TB disk on each system. Under the contract IBM is scheduled to replace these two systems with two Power6-based systems capable of delivering improved performance during FY 2009. The Power6 systems will deliver 2.5 times the capability processing and 3.7 times the capacity processing, with respect to the Power5+ systems, as measured by NCEP benchmark codes. These systems employ two IBM TS3500 tape libraries via TSM archival software and network infrastructure. IBM also provides system administration and other system related support services under the contract. IBM also provides a facility that houses one of these systems (Mist); including charges for all utilities, Uninterruptible Power Supply, backup electrical generators (sufficient to provide "N+1" redundancy), all associated facility infrastructure (such as electrical switch gear, water-cooling plumbing, etc.) and 7X24X365 support sufficient to meet NCEP's on-time requirements. The HPC system currently utilized by NCEP directly supports NOAA's strategic goals in Climate and Weather and Water by enabling its research into the physical processes governing the Earth's weather, climate and ocean. The HPC system must provide a continuation of operational performance at least equivalent to Mist and Dew, including support of the IBM GPFS parallel filesystem and meet NCEP's current dependability standard of 99% operational use time and 99% on-time product generation guarantee. The HPC system must be fully supported by system administrators and maintenance provided on a 7X24 basis. The HPC system must continue to support full integration with the existing tape archival system. In addition, the HPC systems must be integrated into NCEP's local area network and NCEP's wide area network, supported by industry standard communications hardware/software. Both Verizon and Quest have points of presence within the Gaithersburg and Fairmont facilities. The estimated budget for the additional year of system and facility utilization is approximately $11.1 Million. NOAA anticipates leasing the hardware and software and purchasing services under fixed-price terms. One year maintenance (7X24) and support services must be included in the acquisition. Vendors who believe they can satisfy the Government's requirements are invited to submit an affirmative response. To be considered an affirmative response, vendors must submit written data and documentation which demonstrates and ability to furnish a production-ready system capable of meeting the previously cited requirements and a facility to support that system. Seamless integration of the HPC system into the existing infrastructure is required. Of particular concern to the Government is accomplishment of system integration with zero disruption of NCEP's operational Weather and Climate forecasting activities. Vendors must include in their response an explanation, in detail, of its plan to implement and manage integration with the existing HPC and communications systems. All responsible sources must submit a written narrative statement of capability including detailed technical information and other technical literature sufficient to permit agency analysis in order to determine a bona fide capability to meet the requirements. A determination by the Government not to open the requirement for competition based upon responses to this notice is solely within its discretion. Affirmative responses must be received within 45 days after publication of this synopsis.
- Web Link
-
FedBizOpps Complete View
(https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=fa03c5513b5eb1d76ce73918f7bdd3f5&tab=core&_cview=1)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Gaithersburg, Maryland and Fairmont, West Virginia, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20879, United States
- Zip Code: 20879
- Zip Code: 20879
- Record
- SN01741154-W 20090201/090130215835-fa03c5513b5eb1d76ce73918f7bdd3f5 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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