REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
Solicitation Number: 15-03
Service: Data Center Services
Date Issued: April 22, 2015
User Department: IT
Request for Proposal Deadline: May 15, 2015 prior to 3:00 p.m. Central Time
The enclosed REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL and accompanying SCOPE OF WORK are for your convenience in
submitting an offer for the enclosed referenced service for the Texas Municipal League
Intergovernmental Risk Pool.
Please return responses electronically to jherrera@tmlirp.org.
or
Return one original and five copies of the entire packet along with any descriptive literature to the
following address:
Texas Municipal League
Intergovernmental Risk Pool
Purchasing
1821 Rutherford Lane, First Floor
Austin, Texas 78754
Attention: Jonathan Herrera
The Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool appreciates your time and effort in preparing
this proposal. All proposals must be received at the designated location by the deadline shown.
Proposals received after that deadline will be considered void and unacceptable.
If you do not wish to submit a proposal at this time but wish to remain on the source list for this service,
please submit a "NO OFFER" by the same time and at the same location as stated above. If a response is
not received in the form of an "OFFER" or a "NO OFFER" for three consecutive Requests for Proposal,
the offerer shall be removed from our source list for that service. If you are submitting a "NO OFFER",
we ask that you indicate any requirement of this Request for Proposal which may have influenced your
decision to submit a "NO OFFER".
If you have any questions or concerns contact Jonathan Herrera, at (512) 491-2492.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NO. 15-03 – DATA CENTER SERVICES
1.
PURPOSE: The Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool (TMLIRP) is requesting
proposals for qualified firms to provide data center services. This Request for Proposal must be
completed in its entirety.
2.
BACKGROUND: The Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool is a unit of local
government offering workers’ compensation, liability, and property protection to Texas political
subdivisions including:
Municipalities
Water Districts
Councils of Government
Tax Appraisal Districts
Fire Districts
Housing Authorities
Hospital Districts
Other Special Districts and Authorities
As of September 30, 2014, TMLIRP had 2,780 members. TMLIRP currently has a staff of 237 employees
with departments consisting of Executive, Legal, Subrogation, Finance, Human Resources, Accounting,
Information Technology, Underwriting, Loss Prevention, Member Services, Liability/Property Claims, and
Workers’ Compensation Claims. In addition to its headquarters in Austin, TMLIRP has field offices in
Mesquite, Corpus Christi, Harlingen, Houston, Lubbock and San Antonio.
3. MISSION: The mission of TMLIRP is to offer and provide Texas municipalities and other units of local
government with a stable and economic source of risk financing and loss prevention services.
The objectives of TMLIRP are to:







4.
Educate members about avoiding and reducing risks.
Control losses with effective legal defense and claim handling.
Anticipate emerging risks.
Be aware of and anticipate emerging state and national trends.
Provide appropriate coverages that meet the needs of the Pool’s members.
Serve as an expert source of information on risk management for cities, other units of local
government, and the Texas Municipal League.
Develop, train, and retain highly qualified staff.
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS: Proposals shall be submitted in accordance with the following:
4.1
Proposals and changes thereto being electronically submitted shall be submitted to
jherrera@tmlirp.org. The solicitation number, the phrase “Data Center Services,” and
the date and hour of the proposal closing shall be typed in the subject line of the email.
4.1.1
Electronic submissions shall be any combination of the following formats:
Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, or Adobe Acrobat.
Multiple documents should be submitted in one message. Please zip files if
necessary.
4.1.2
Electronic submissions shall be in accordance with the deadline set forth in the
solicitation document. Any submissions received after the deadline will not be
considered. The time of the email will serve as the receipt timestamp.
4.2
Proposals and changes thereto which are being submitted to the physical address shall
be enclosed in sealed envelopes, addressed with the date and hour of the proposal
closing and the services being proposed shall be typed or written on the outside of the
envelope.
4.3
Facsimile proposals will not be accepted.
5.
4.4
Proposals should be returned in sufficient time to be received prior to the proposal
closing date and time.
4.5
Proposals received after the stated proposal closing time and date will not be
considered for award.
4.6
Receipt of an addendum or amendment must be acknowledged by signing and returning
the addendum/amendment with the proposal or under separate cover prior to the time
set for the proposal closing.
INQUIRIES: Any questions regarding this proposal should be submitted a minimum of 5
business days before the proposal deadline. Questions should be submitted to:
Jonathan Herrera
Purchasing Agent
TMLIRP
1821 Rutherford Lane, 1st Floor
Austin, Texas 78754
jherrera@tmlirp.org
PH: 512-491-2492
All questions or requests for information should be submitted in writing and the person submitting the
request will be responsible for its prompt delivery to TMLIRP. Any interpretation of the request for
proposal will be made only by a written addendum issued.
The following is a tentative schedule that will apply to this RFP, but may change in accordance with
TMLIRP’s needs or unforeseen circumstances.
Item
Issuance of RFP
Technical Questions/Inquiries Due
RFP Closes
Complete Initial Evaluation
TMLIRP award notification
Contract Start Date
6.
Date
April 22, 2015
May 7, 2015
May 15, 2015
May 22, 2015
May 26, 2015
June 1, 2015
METHOD OF SOURCE SELECTION:
6.1
The criteria below are to be used in the evaluation of qualifications for development of a
short list of offerers to be considered for interviews and potential negotiations.
Individual criteria will be reviewed at TMLIRP’s discretion to reflect relative importance.
Offerers are required to address each evaluation criteria and be specific in presenting
their qualifications.
6.1.1
Quality and applicability of service requested as well as scalability and additional
service offerings.
6.1.2
Project approach including ease of transition, use, and integration
6.1.3
Expertise and experience of firm
6.1.4
Financial soundness of firm
6.1.5
Proposed cost of services
6.2
7.
Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool expressly reserves the right to:
6.2.1
Waive as an informality minor deviations from the scope of work;
6.2.2
Waive any informalities in any proposal or proposal procedure;
6.2.3
Reject all proposals whenever it is deemed necessary;
6.2.4
Reissue a request for proposal.
AWARD OF CONTRACT:
7.1
TMLIRP shall give written notice to the contractor if any of the following conditions
exist:
7.1.1
The contractor does not provide service in compliance with the specifications
and/or within the time schedule specified in the proposal.
7.1.2
The contractor makes an unauthorized assignment for the benefit of any
creditor.
Upon receiving written notification from TMLIRP that one of the above conditions has occurred, the
contractor must remedy the problem within ten days, to the complete satisfaction of TMLIRP, or the
contract will be immediately cancelled.
8.
PAYMENT AND INVOICING:
8.1
Invoices to TMLIRP will be paid within 30 days of acceptance of services and receipt of
invoices.
8.2
Discount terms, if any, will be computed from the date of receipt and acceptance of
services.
8.3
All invoices must be legible. Items or services billed on the invoice must be specific.
8.4
Invoices should be addressed to:
Texas Municipal League
Intergovernmental Risk Pool
Attn: Accounts Payable
P.O. Box 149194
Austin, Texas 78714
9.
INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERERS: Your proposals must address:
9.1.1
Recommend a solution or solution(s) that will provide a stable environment to
host TMLIRP IT resources.
9.1.2
Provide information and pricing on all services offered.
9.1.3
Complete Data Center Qualifications Checklist, Exhibit A.
9.1.4
Provide standard implementation overview and timeline.
9.1.5
Provide access and security guidelines.
9.1.6
Provide relevant instructional information on any vendor supplied
hardware/software to be used by TMLIRP staff.
9.1.7
Provide detailed Service Level Agreements including details on compensation
for downtime.
9.1.8
Provide contact information and communication plan for the following:
9.1.8.1 Disaster or issue at the data center.
9.1.8.2 Billing issues.
9.1.8.3 Customer Service issues.
9.1.8.4 SLA related issues.
9.1.9
10.
Cost and length of contract.
9.2
Provide an organizational chart of the key management positions in your company.
9.3
Provide a description of experience with similar projects and provide references.
9.4
Describe all resources TMLIRP will be asked to provide in order to complete this project.
SCOPE OF WORK:
The following items constitute the scope of this RFP:

Provide a stable and scalable location to host business critical TMLIRP IT resources.

Enable the testing and validation of TMLIRP infrastructure modifications required to
migrate TMLIRP IT resources to the data center.

Facilitate the physical migration from the customer site to the data center.
Existing Technology Environment
The following is a description of TMLIRP’s current technology environment considered to be
within scope of the RFP.
3 Racks with Lock Rack.
42 U Rack size, 42” Deep, width 23”.
Power Draw for 2 racks is 61.3 Amps.
Power PDF requirement for Rack 1 - PDU FRU 39Y8925 (30A 250V) + regular 120v plugs from
server.
Power requirement for Racks 2,3 - 120v regular plug from servers.
Data Center Qualifications
Vendor must complete Data Center Qualifications Checklist, Exhibit A.
11.
SIGNING PROPOSALS: All proposals must be signed by an officer of the proposer’s firm duly
authorized to bind the company to the proposal submitted. All requirements of this proposal
must be completed and included in the response submitted to TMLIRP. Failure to properly sign
the proposal and include all required information may result in the rejection of the proposal.
TEXAS MUNICIPAL LEAGUE INTERGOVERNMENTAL RISK POOL
DATA CENTER SERVICES REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NO. 15-03
PROPOSED FEE SHEET
Fee Description
Fee
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
Proposal Total $
Proposal fee sheet must be signed by an authorized representative.
Company Name: ______________________________________________
Address: _____________________________________________________
City, State, Zip: _______________________________________________
Telephone Number: ___________________________________________
Name of Authorized Agent: ______________________________________
Email: _______________________________________________________
Signature: ____________________________________________________
Title: _______________________________________________________
Date: _________________________________________________________
The proposal shall conclude with the following assurance:
“The information in this Proposal is true and correct, and the Officer Signing Below is Duly
Authorized to Bind this company to such Proposal.”
Signed this __________ day of ______________________, 2014.
By:
Name of Officer:
Title of Officer:
Exhibit A
Data Center Qualifications Checklist
FIRE DETECTION & SUPPRESSION
High-Sensitivity Smoke Detection (HSSD)
Non-water based fire suppression used (FM-200 and
handheld
Yes
No
Describe/Comments
STRUCTURAL
Data Center is a master planned, purpose built facility
Each generator located in secure, isolated rooms
Each UPS system located in secure, isolated rooms
MV rooms are isolated
Walls built to withstand 160 MPH wind
Walls have at least 10 inches concrete
Roof is at least 6.5 inches of concrete thick
Slab design loading per SF at least 250 psf
Raised floor point load capacity at least 5,000 lbs
Yes
No
Describe/Comments
GEOGRAPHY
Located farther than one mile from highway
Located farther one mile from train tracks
Located outside of moderate and high natural disaster risk
zones
Flood
Hurricane
Earthquake
Tornado
Yes
No
Describe/Comments
fire extinguishers)
Dual-interlock, multi-zoned pre-action dry pipe systems
SERVICE AND SUPPORT
24x7x365 onsite staff.
Remote hands 24x7x365
Technical staff available for support includes engineers.
Data center facility is required to have contact person
available for possible system shut down, insert disks, and
to turn on equipment as needed.
Yes
No
Describe/Comments
STAFF CONSIDERATIONS
Worksite recovery options available
Dedicated seats
Dedicated offices
Dedicated conference rooms
Conference rooms with projectors available for use
Workstations with hardwire and wireless access
Full featured break room
Parking
Close proximity to hotels, restaurants and retail centers
Yes
No
Describe/Comments
CORPORATE OVERVIEW
Years in service as data center
Core focus is owning and operating data centers
Yes
No
Describe/Comments
Do you offer services to coordinate the physical relocation
from the customer site to the data center?
Data center facility must be available to TMLIRP’s IT staff
24x7x365.
Power cycling
Rack and stack. Data center to provide the rental of a total
of two full racks and additional rack space as required.
Available to accommodate daily Iron Mountain pick up of
tapes for backups of the Windows servers and iSeries
server, coordination will be from TMLIRP to data center’s
contact.
Data center must ensure 100% up time.
POWER
Independent substations (indicate number)
Substation feed dedicated to data center facility
Substations fed by independent sources on the electrical
grid
Yes
No
Describe/Comments
Yes
No
Describe/Comments
Substation feeds enter the data center property via
diverse routes
Substation feeds enter the data center facility via diverse
routes
Underground, end-to-end feeds
Each UPS has an A and B utility feed
UPS designed with a maintenance bypass, allowing live full
replacement
Maintenance bypass is UPS protected
On-site, underground diesel fuel storage
COOLING
Water cooled chilled water design
Veriable Frequency Drives (VFD) - descrbe
Chillers (describe: VFD, etc.)
Chilled water pumps (describe: VFD, etc.)
Make up water lines feeding cooling towers are concrete
encased
Two separate water feeds into the data center
Separate feeds delivered from diverse sources and diverse
paths
Condenser water system paralleled
Chillers paralleled
Chilled water pumps paralleled
Chilled water distribution triple looped
NETWORK
Carrier-neutral facility
Internal meet-me-room (MMR) or telecom exchange point
Yes
No
Describe/Comments
-
Core network equipment protected from customer access
Telecom conduit enters facility through:
Underground and concrete encased
Dual paths
Diverse paths
Diverse entry points (300+ feet between entries)
Data transport between facilities available
Data transport is diverse and redundant
The facility should provide easy access for any major
telecom company to provide data communication
infrastructure for TMLIRP.
Network switch is required to connect servers to routers.
SECURITY
24-hour security monitoring shall be in place. CCTV
monitoring and recording on common access area and
entrances should be provided. All access doors of
entrances shall have a security lock with access control
system to record and control access.
Protected by perimeter fencing
Centralized security at loading docks and main entry
points
Digital video recording of all personnel at all time
Digital video recording archived
Custom security solution available for dedicated access
External mechanical yard components within a fenced
area with barriers
Biometric controls used to gain access
SAS 70 Type II / SSAE 16 Type II Audit certified
All equipment delivery and removal from the Data Center
shall be recorded
Data Center shall provide Access Control only allowing
authorized persons to access secured areas.
The Vendor shall be subject to TMLIRP Security Audit as
and when required by TMLIRP or TMLIRP external auditor.
Yes
No
Describe/Comments