Provision for Replacement of existing Storage Area Network (SAN) and associated equipment and services

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1. At a glance

2. Scope of Work

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) requires the replacement of its existing Storage Area Network (SAN) and associated equipment and services across its Cork and Swords sites. The contract will provide two fully unified production SANs for both locations. Additionally, bidders must tender for separate immutable on-prem backup devices for both sites. The CSO's DR site at the Revenue Data Centre in John's Road, Dublin 8, will become the CSO's secondary site, with new hardware for this location to be installed and configured there, not at the Swords office.

The primary objectives for this procurement are:

• Replacement of Production Arrays: To replace existing Dell EMC Unity 480f production arrays located at the Cork and Swords sites, and at the John's Road DR site.
• Backup Hardware Replacement: To replace existing Dell EMC Powervault ME4012 backup hardware with an immutable on-prem backup solution compatible with the CSO's Commvault Environment. This is required for the Cork and John's Road sites.
• Storage Provision: To provide unified NAS (CIFS/NFS), Block, and Virtual Environment Storage.
• Availability and Replication: To ensure availability, performance, and cross-site replication capabilities, including switchover and failover for Block, File, and Virtual systems.
• Scalability: To cater for the expansion of the CSO's storage requirements.
• Fibre Channel Switch Replacement/Provision: To replace existing Fibre Channel (FC) switches in Cork and provide new FC switches at the John's Road DR site.

The detailed description of the goods required is available in Appendix 1 of the Request for Tenders (RFT). The contract is for an initial term of five years, with the option for two one-year extensions. The estimated total expenditure over the initial term and any extensions is approximately €1,000,000 (excluding VAT).

3. Background & buyer context

This procurement is driven by the Central Statistics Office's (CSO) need to modernise its data storage infrastructure. The existing Dell EMC Unity 480f production arrays and Dell EMC Powervault ME4012 backup hardware are being replaced to enhance performance, availability, and disaster recovery capabilities. The CSO is establishing a DR site at the Revenue Data Centre in John's Road, Dublin 8, which will serve as its secondary site, necessitating the installation and configuration of new hardware there. This initiative aligns with the CSO's ongoing efforts to maintain a robust and secure data management environment, essential for its function as Ireland's national statistical office. The procurement is conducted under an open procedure, adhering to EU and Irish public procurement regulations.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Tenderers must meet the following minimum requirements to be considered:

• Turnover requirement: Tenderers must have achieved a minimum average annual turnover of €2,000,000 for each of the past three financial years. This can be on a solo or cumulative basis. Evidence from accountants or auditors is required.
• Insurance: The successful tenderer must hold the following insurances for the term of the Goods Contract:
• Employer’s Liability: €13 million limit per claim.
• Public Liability: €6.5 million limit per claim.
• Product Liability: €2.6 million limit per claim.
• Professional Indemnity: €2 million per claim (excluding defence costs).
• Cyber Security/Data Protection: €2 million per claim (excluding defence costs).
• Certifications: Tenderers must provide evidence of ISO 27001 or equivalent certification. OEM certification/accreditation for all components (hardware and software) of the proposed solution is also a requirement.
• Past experience: Tenderers must provide references for 3 projects of similar complexity and type, where they acted as the sole or primary contractor, undertaken within the last 5 years.
• Personnel:
• A qualified project manager with appropriate IT project delivery certification (e.g., PMP, SCRUM, PRINCE2) must be appointed for the project duration. Evidence of certification is required on tender submission.
• A technical lead must be appointed for the project duration. Detailed project experience, illustrating at least 3 similar projects over the last 5 years, should be provided on request.
• Appropriate certification for staff installing and supporting the solution is required.
• Geographic / facility constraints: Not specified for this tender.

Tenderers must also declare by way of eESPD that they satisfy financial and economic standing requirements, including having a current Tax Clearance Certificate, compliance with social security and legal obligations, a letter from their bank indicating good standing, and that they are able to provide supporting documentation upon request.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The evaluation of tenders will be conducted based on the following criteria. Tenderers must achieve a minimum of 60% of the marks available for each of the award criteria (1-3). The contract will be awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT), with a price/quality split not explicitly detailed but implied by the scoring structure.

Criterion Weight (%) Sub-criteria