NUIG/CON255/13 - High Performance Computing and Storage Infrastructure for the Irish Centre for High End Computing (ICHEC)

National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway)

The system we are seeking to acquire through this procurement will form the basis for the third generation of ICHEC HPC infrastructure. It will replace the current Stokes cluster while the smaller GPGPU enabled Stoney system will continue through to mid 2014. As with these current systems, it is anticipated that the base infrastructure (comprising network, storage and service nodes) will have a lifespan of 5 years with a mid-cycle upgrade of the compute component after 2 or 3 years. Towards this end, it is critical that the base infrastructure be resilient and performant enough to maintain a useful lifespan of 5 years in a HPC role. Additionally, it should be noted that in equal measure to computational performance, the functionality, reliability and manageability of the system is of the utmost importance and in contrast to many HPC systems, purely achieving a high Top500 score is not a primary aim for this system. It is expected that this system will be operationally available in excess of 99 % of the time throughout the year with zero or few unscheduled downtimes. To achieve this quality of service, a mature, robust and feature-rich software stack will be required to enable ease of operation, monitoring and maintenance.
NUIG/CON255/13 information and documentation is available to download on the etenders website: www.etenders.gov.ie. On the relevant web page, please record your interest and follow site instructions to access tender documentation. If you have not already registered, you will be required to do so before accessing tender documentation. Registration is free of charge.
- NUI Galway will not accept responsibility for information relayed (or not relayed) via third parties. If the documentation is in any way altered or edited, the subsequent submission may be deemed inadmissible.
- Please use reference no. NUIG/CON255/13 on all correspondence relating to this tender.
- Closing date for receipt of Completed qualification questionaires is 22nd of April at 12noon local time.
- Should there be any changes to the proposed funding, the contracting authority reserves the right not to continue with the proposed purchase, or to alter requirements in line with the availability of funding.
- NUI Galway will not reimburse any costs incurred in either completing the application, attending interview or preparation of tender submissions.
- This is the sole call for competition for this contract
- It will be a condition of establishment of the agreement that tenderers and all sub-contractors produce a valid Tax Clearance Certificate from the Irish Revenue Commissioners as part of their application for participation in the competition
- if, for any reason, it is not possible to admit to the framework agreement the successful tenderer invited following the conclusion of this competitive process, the contracting authority reserves the right to invite the next highest scoring tenderer to join the framework agreement as appropriate
- at its absolute discretion, the contracting authority may elect to terminate this procurement process, the framework agreement or any contract awarded under the framework agreement at any time
- without prejudice to the principle of equal treatment, the contracting authority is not obliged to engage in a clarification process in respect of tenders with missing or incomplete information. Therefore, tenderers are advised to ensure that they return fully completed tender documents in order to avoid risk of elimination from the competition
- The lowest or indeed any tender need not necessarily be accepted.
- Due to resourcing constraints, NUI Galway will not be offering individual debriefing meetings to unsuccessful bidders.
Lodging of Appeals: The contracting authority will not conclude this framework agreement, to which a standstill period applies in accordance with Irish Statutory Instrument SI 130 of 2010, until after the delivery of the standstill period which commences on the day following the date of notification of concerned candidates and tenderers. The duration of the standstill period will be 14 calendar days where notifications are sent electronically or by fax, or 16 calendar days where these are sent by any other means. The Statutory Instrument above provides that review procedures are available in the High Court to a person who has or has had an interest in obtaining the framework agreement (including the reviewable public contract) and alleges that he or she has been harmed or is at risk of being harmed by an infringement of the law in relation to that framework agreement and reviewable public contract.

Deadline

The time limit for receipt of tenders was 2013-04-22. The procurement was published on 2013-03-22.

Suppliers

The following suppliers are mentioned in award decisions or other procurement documents:

Who? What? Where?
Procurement history
Date Document
2013-03-22 Contract notice
2013-09-25 Contract award notice
Contract notice (2013-03-22)
Object
Scope of the procurement
Title: Computer equipment and supplies
Notice metadata
Original language: English 🗣️
Document type: Contract notice
Nature of contract: Supplies
Regulation: European Union
Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)
Code: Computer equipment and supplies 📦

Procedure
Procedure type: Competitive dialogue
Type of bid: Submission for all lots
Award criteria
The most economic tender

Contracting authority
Identity
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Awarding authority type: Body governed by public law
Awarding authority name: National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway)
Postal address: University Road
Postal town: Galway
Contact
Internet address: http://www.nuigalway.ie 🌏
E-mail: procurement@ichec.ie 📧

Reference
Dates
Date dispatched: 2013-03-22 📅
Submission deadline: 2013-04-22 📅
Publication date: 2013-03-26 📅
Identifiers
Notice number: 2013/S 060-100106
OJ-S issue: 60
Additional information
To receive more information about this tender, including any amendments and/or clarifications and to request any clarifications and/or to respond to this tender, you must register your interest to this tender on the following site: https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_s.asp?PID=64138&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE NUIG/CON255/13 information and documentation is available to download on the etenders website: www.etenders.gov.ie. On the relevant web page, please record your interest and follow site instructions to access tender documentation. If you have not already registered, you will be required to do so before accessing tender documentation. Registration is free of charge. - NUI Galway will not accept responsibility for information relayed (or not relayed) via third parties. If the documentation is in any way altered or edited, the subsequent submission may be deemed inadmissible. - Please use reference no. NUIG/CON255/13 on all correspondence relating to this tender. - Closing date for receipt of Completed qualification questionaires is 22nd of April at 12noon local time. - Should there be any changes to the proposed funding, the contracting authority reserves the right not to continue with the proposed purchase, or to alter requirements in line with the availability of funding. - NUI Galway will not reimburse any costs incurred in either completing the application, attending interview or preparation of tender submissions. - This is the sole call for competition for this contract - It will be a condition of establishment of the agreement that tenderers and all sub-contractors produce a valid Tax Clearance Certificate from the Irish Revenue Commissioners as part of their application for participation in the competition - if, for any reason, it is not possible to admit to the framework agreement the successful tenderer invited following the conclusion of this competitive process, the contracting authority reserves the right to invite the next highest scoring tenderer to join the framework agreement as appropriate - at its absolute discretion, the contracting authority may elect to terminate this procurement process, the framework agreement or any contract awarded under the framework agreement at any time - without prejudice to the principle of equal treatment, the contracting authority is not obliged to engage in a clarification process in respect of tenders with missing or incomplete information. Therefore, tenderers are advised to ensure that they return fully completed tender documents in order to avoid risk of elimination from the competition - The lowest or indeed any tender need not necessarily be accepted. - Due to resourcing constraints, NUI Galway will not be offering individual debriefing meetings to unsuccessful bidders. Lodging of Appeals: The contracting authority will not conclude this framework agreement, to which a standstill period applies in accordance with Irish Statutory Instrument SI 130 of 2010, until after the delivery of the standstill period which commences on the day following the date of notification of concerned candidates and tenderers. The duration of the standstill period will be 14 calendar days where notifications are sent electronically or by fax, or 16 calendar days where these are sent by any other means. The Statutory Instrument above provides that review procedures are available in the High Court to a person who has or has had an interest in obtaining the framework agreement (including the reviewable public contract) and alleges that he or she has been harmed or is at risk of being harmed by an infringement of the law in relation to that framework agreement and reviewable public contract.
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Object
Scope of the procurement
Short description:
The system we are seeking to acquire through this procurement will form the basis for the third generation of ICHEC HPC infrastructure. It will replace the current Stokes cluster while the smaller GPGPU enabled Stoney system will continue through to mid 2014. As with these current systems, it is anticipated that the base infrastructure (comprising network, storage and service nodes) will have a lifespan of 5 years with a mid-cycle upgrade of the compute component after 2 or 3 years. Towards this end, it is critical that the base infrastructure be resilient and performant enough to maintain a useful lifespan of 5 years in a HPC role. Additionally, it should be noted that in equal measure to computational performance, the functionality, reliability and manageability of the system is of the utmost importance and in contrast to many HPC systems, purely achieving a high Top500 score is not a primary aim for this system. It is expected that this system will be operationally available in excess of 99 % of the time throughout the year with zero or few unscheduled downtimes. To achieve this quality of service, a mature, robust and feature-rich software stack will be required to enable ease of operation, monitoring and maintenance.
Show more
NUIG/CON255/13 information and documentation is available to download on the etenders website: www.etenders.gov.ie. On the relevant web page, please record your interest and follow site instructions to access tender documentation. If you have not already registered, you will be required to do so before accessing tender documentation. Registration is free of charge.
Show more
- NUI Galway will not accept responsibility for information relayed (or not relayed) via third parties. If the documentation is in any way altered or edited, the subsequent submission may be deemed inadmissible.
- Please use reference no. NUIG/CON255/13 on all correspondence relating to this tender.
- Closing date for receipt of Completed qualification questionaires is 22nd of April at 12noon local time.
- Should there be any changes to the proposed funding, the contracting authority reserves the right not to continue with the proposed purchase, or to alter requirements in line with the availability of funding.
- NUI Galway will not reimburse any costs incurred in either completing the application, attending interview or preparation of tender submissions.
- This is the sole call for competition for this contract
- It will be a condition of establishment of the agreement that tenderers and all sub-contractors produce a valid Tax Clearance Certificate from the Irish Revenue Commissioners as part of their application for participation in the competition
- if, for any reason, it is not possible to admit to the framework agreement the successful tenderer invited following the conclusion of this competitive process, the contracting authority reserves the right to invite the next highest scoring tenderer to join the framework agreement as appropriate
Show more
- at its absolute discretion, the contracting authority may elect to terminate this procurement process, the framework agreement or any contract awarded under the framework agreement at any time
- without prejudice to the principle of equal treatment, the contracting authority is not obliged to engage in a clarification process in respect of tenders with missing or incomplete information. Therefore, tenderers are advised to ensure that they return fully completed tender documents in order to avoid risk of elimination from the competition
Show more
- The lowest or indeed any tender need not necessarily be accepted.
- Due to resourcing constraints, NUI Galway will not be offering individual debriefing meetings to unsuccessful bidders.
Lodging of Appeals: The contracting authority will not conclude this framework agreement, to which a standstill period applies in accordance with Irish Statutory Instrument SI 130 of 2010, until after the delivery of the standstill period which commences on the day following the date of notification of concerned candidates and tenderers. The duration of the standstill period will be 14 calendar days where notifications are sent electronically or by fax, or 16 calendar days where these are sent by any other means. The Statutory Instrument above provides that review procedures are available in the High Court to a person who has or has had an interest in obtaining the framework agreement (including the reviewable public contract) and alleges that he or she has been harmed or is at risk of being harmed by an infringement of the law in relation to that framework agreement and reviewable public contract.
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Reference number: NUIG/CON255/13

Legal, economic, financial and technical information
Conditions for participation
Suitability to pursue the professional activity: Please refer to the document.
Economic and financial standing: Please refer to the document.
Minimum level(s) of standards: Please refer to the document.
Technical and professional ability: Please refer to the document.
Contract execution
Deposits and guarantees required: Please refer to the document.
Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them: Please refer to the document.
Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded: Please refer to the document.

Procedure
Objective criteria for selection:
It is envisaged that the top six scoring candidates(subject to the number and quality of applications received) that also meet the minimum requirements will be invited to participate in the Dialogue stage - stage 2.
Languages
Language: English 🗣️

Contracting authority
Contact
Contact point: Niall Wilson
Address of the buyer profile: http://www.nuigalway.ie 🌏

Reference
Identifiers
Reference number attributed by the contracting authority: NUIG/CON255/13
Additional information
To receive more information about this tender, including any amendments and/or clarifications and to request any clarifications and/or to respond to this tender, you must register your interest to this tender on the following site: https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_s.asp?PID=64138&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE
Show more
NUIG/CON255/13 information and documentation is available to download on the etenders website: www.etenders.gov.ie. On the relevant web page, please record your interest and follow site instructions to access tender documentation. If you have not already registered, you will be required to do so before accessing tender documentation. Registration is free of charge.
Show more
- NUI Galway will not accept responsibility for information relayed (or not relayed) via third parties. If the documentation is in any way altered or edited, the subsequent submission may be deemed inadmissible.
- Please use reference no. NUIG/CON255/13 on all correspondence relating to this tender.
- Closing date for receipt of Completed qualification questionaires is 22nd of April at 12noon local time.
- Should there be any changes to the proposed funding, the contracting authority reserves the right not to continue with the proposed purchase, or to alter requirements in line with the availability of funding.
- NUI Galway will not reimburse any costs incurred in either completing the application, attending interview or preparation of tender submissions.
- This is the sole call for competition for this contract
- It will be a condition of establishment of the agreement that tenderers and all sub-contractors produce a valid Tax Clearance Certificate from the Irish Revenue Commissioners as part of their application for participation in the competition
- if, for any reason, it is not possible to admit to the framework agreement the successful tenderer invited following the conclusion of this competitive process, the contracting authority reserves the right to invite the next highest scoring tenderer to join the framework agreement as appropriate
Show more
- at its absolute discretion, the contracting authority may elect to terminate this procurement process, the framework agreement or any contract awarded under the framework agreement at any time
- without prejudice to the principle of equal treatment, the contracting authority is not obliged to engage in a clarification process in respect of tenders with missing or incomplete information. Therefore, tenderers are advised to ensure that they return fully completed tender documents in order to avoid risk of elimination from the competition
Show more
- The lowest or indeed any tender need not necessarily be accepted.
- Due to resourcing constraints, NUI Galway will not be offering individual debriefing meetings to unsuccessful bidders.
Lodging of Appeals: The contracting authority will not conclude this framework agreement, to which a standstill period applies in accordance with Irish Statutory Instrument SI 130 of 2010, until after the delivery of the standstill period which commences on the day following the date of notification of concerned candidates and tenderers. The duration of the standstill period will be 14 calendar days where notifications are sent electronically or by fax, or 16 calendar days where these are sent by any other means. The Statutory Instrument above provides that review procedures are available in the High Court to a person who has or has had an interest in obtaining the framework agreement (including the reviewable public contract) and alleges that he or she has been harmed or is at risk of being harmed by an infringement of the law in relation to that framework agreement and reviewable public contract.
Show more

Complementary information
Review body
Name: The High Court
Postal address: the Quays
Postal town: Dublin
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Name: Legal representative
Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
The High court
Source: OJS 2013/S 060-100106 (2013-03-22)
Contract award notice (2013-09-25)
Object
Scope of the procurement
Total value of the procurement: 4 100 000 💰
Notice metadata
Document type: Contract award notice

Procedure
Type of bid: Not applicable

Contracting authority
Contact
E-mail: tenders@nuigalway.ie 📧
Phone: +353 91493970 📞

Reference
Dates
Date dispatched: 2013-09-25 📅
Publication date: 2013-09-27 📅
Identifiers
Notice number: 2013/S 188-324065
Refers to notice: 2013/S 60-100106
OJ-S issue: 188

Object
Place of performance
Main site or place of performance: Galway.

Procedure
Award criteria
Criterion: 1. Total Cost of Ownership (30)
2. Technical Merit and Fitness for Purpose of Overall Solution (50)
3. Support and Continuity of Service (20)

Award of contract
Date of contract conclusion: 2013-07-17 📅
Name: Silicon Graphics
Postal address: 200 Berkshire Place, Wharfedale Road, Winnersh, Wokingham
Postal town: Berkshire
Postal code: RG41 5RD
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 6

Complementary information
Review body
Postal address: The Quays
Postal code: 2
Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
Name: The High Court
Source: OJS 2013/S 188-324065 (2013-09-25)