DO NOT SUBMIT A QUOTE AT THIS TIME. Please read the ENTIRE synopsis before submitting any response. The 10th Mission Support Group Contracting Squadron, United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) Colorado has a Brand Name Only requirement for the purchase of an Upgrade to the Cadet Supercomputer USAFA already owns from Silicon Graphics International (SGI). This notice document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-42, 16 June 2010. The North American Industry Classification System Code [NAICS] is 423430 and the size standard is 100 employees. The Modeling and Simulation Research Center's (M&SRC) current 4.5 year-old cadet supercomputer can no longer meet the educational requirements of the Dean of Faculty (DF) computational programs. The M&SRC resources are confined to a relatively small data center which has had an average of one power or cooling failure per month for the last 16 months. The result of these failures, even with failure protection measures in place, has been a reduction of 30% of the center's computing resources. Specifically, the USAFA HPC systems had 346 CPUs available in 2007, and as of 15 April 2010 there are only 198 CPUs available. These losses would not have occurred with an integrated system with robust cooling capabilities. This assessment has been proven by the current high performance computing system used by the USAF Academy's Center for Aircraft Structural Lifetime Extension, which is based on the same system-engineering architecture as the proposed system. In addition, the proposed SGI system is designed with and operates on the same system-engineering principles used for the current machine that supports several cadet research programs. These programs provide funding for several cadet projects each semester for several USAFA computational courses. The projects allow cadets to gain experience working in standard high performance computing environments as requested. Without this in-house capability, the efforts to educate the cadets with current HPC capability would be reduced by at least 75% for the Department of Aeronautics and 25% for the Department of Physics because they both use this computer system as part of their curriculum. Besides providing reliability, standardization, and continuity of capability for cadets entering into USAF computational programs, the proposed system-engineering SGI machine architecture also reduces systems and network administration duties. Finally, these functional imperatives are supported by USAF guidance as per AFNetOps Functional Concepts, para 6.5, "Standardization of configurations, processes, and applications across the enterprise, from the gateway to the desktop, will facilitate centralized management, enhance security through configuration control, and save manpower in certification and accreditation, patch implementation, hardware/software upgrades and asset tracking."The quoted "desktop" reference applies in this high performance computing application as the SGI system is the centrally accessed by the cadets through their desktops/laptops. Therefore, this guidance supports procuring, configuring and maintaining one standard platform which may be easily repaired physically or remotely when needed. Also, a single integrated platform is easier to track when products are under warranty. The similarity of system platforms and operating systems will result in significant manpower cost savings. The salient characteristics for this acquisition are as follows: • LCB-BASE-8200LX • LCB-BLADE-IP85 • LCB-LITESYS-SR • LCB-PS-UPG • LCB-MEM-FB-4G-800 • IB-CABLE-02M-Z • LCB-DVD-RW-INT • LST-PWR-SRACK-1PH-Z • LCB-CONSOLE • LCB-HYPERCUBE • LCB-CPU-5440-CB • LCB-LOGIN-NODE • LSX-BASE0250 • LSX-CONFIG-JBOD • LSX-CPU-5440 • LSX-MEM-FB-4G-800 • LSB-DVD-RW-INT • LSX-SATDRV-WCE-250G • SC5-RH5-MEDIA-X86 • SRS-RH-1-2SK-STD-1Y • SV5-EDUICTC-2-1Y • M4-SVCWRNT-1.3 • SR5-RH-HPCC-2SK-1Y • SC5-SFS1-RHEL-MEDIA • NI5-PP6-CN • NI5-PP6-HN • NI5-SFS1-CN • NI5-SFS1-HN • NI5-TEMPO • SC5-PP6-RHEL-MEDIA • SC5-XFS-XVM-1-RHEL5 • SR5-XFS-XVM-1-RHEL5 • SC5-TEMPO-RHEL-MEDIA • FC-WU • MO5-CD • MO5-RTU • MAS-LNX-CLUSTER-LITE • MAS-HWINST-ALTIX • X-F44-OPT-3M-Z • PCIE-FC-2POPT-C-Z • 220-BASE-FC-B-Z • 220-RMKIT-Z • 220-1000-S-Z • SC5-ISSM-WE-3.35 • M4-SVCWRNT-1.3 • MAS-DATA • FC-WU • MO5-CD • MAS-HWINST-STOR • CR-ISSM-WE Delivery is to be made to IT Accountability 5136 Community Center Dr East Loading Dock at the U.S. Air Force Academy. FOB: Destination. Unique Item Identifier (UID) [DFARS 252.211] applies to this requirement. This synopsis is for notification purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation for bids or proposals. DO NOT SUBMIT A QUOTE AT THIS TIME. Any offerors believing they can provide an equal product that meets all of the features and functionality of the Upgrade to the Cadet Supercomputer may provide EVIDENCE for consideration. Evidence must support the offeror's claim they can provide an equal product. It is the offerors responsibility to prove their product is an equal by demonstrating their product, at a minimum, has the same features and functionality of the brand name product. Providing brochures, specifications and/or quotes alone is not enough for the Government to make a decision. The offeror should provide an understandable comparison between the two products. The Government is not responsible for developing the comparison from insufficient information provided. All qualified sources may submit a response, which if timely received, will be considered by this agency. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether a brand name or equal procurement can be conducted. A determination that equal products exist based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Responses must be received by 4:00 pm Mountain Standard Time on 25 June 2010. Responses received after this will be considered late IAW FAR 52.212-1(f) and will not be evaluated. The Government does not intend to pay for any information provided under this synopsis. Contractors must have a current registration with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) at http://www.ccr.gov and with Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) at http://orca.bpn.gov. Questions should be addressed to the Primary POC Karen Jackson, Contract Specialist, (719) 333-4060 or sent via e-mail to
[email protected]. Alternate POC is Nicole Baert, Contracting Officer, (719) 333-8924,
[email protected]. 5352.201-9101 OMBUDSMAN (Apr 2010) (a) An ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition. When requested, the ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The existence of the ombudsman does not affect the authority of the program manager, contracting officer, or source selection official. Further, the ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of proposals, the source selection process, or the adjudication of protests or formal contract disputes. The ombudsman may refer the party to another official who can resolve the concern. (b) Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. Consulting an ombudsman does not alter or postpone the timelines for any other processes (e.g., agency level bid protests, GAO bid protests, requests for debriefings, employee-employer actions, contests of OMB Circular A-76 competition performance decisions). (c) If resolution cannot be made by the contracting officer, concerned parties may contact the USAF Academy Ombudsmen, Kim Diercks 8110 Industrial Drive, Ste 103 USAFA, CO 80840 Telephone number 719-333-2074 FAX 719-333-9018 email:
[email protected] Concerns, issues, disagreements, and recommendations that cannot be resolved at the MAJCOM/DRU level, may be brought by the concerned party for further consideration to the Air Force ombudsman, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary (ADAS) (Contracting), SAF/AQC, 1060 Air Force Pentagon, Washington DC 20330-1060, phone number (703) 588-7004, facsimile number (703) 588-1067. (d) The ombudsman has no authority to render a decision that binds the agency. (e) Do not contact the ombudsman to request copies of the solicitation, verify offer due date, or clarify technical requirements. Such inquiries shall be directed to the Contracting Officer. (End of clause)