Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), Office of Procurement, Box 6, Washington, DC, 20231

70 -- HIGH SPEED DISK SUBSYSTEM FOR THE PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE SOL 52-PAPT-01004 DUE 120899 POC Gail Strickland, Contract Specialist, Phone (703) 305-8146, Fax (703) 305-5484, Email gail.strickland@uspto.gov -- Joan Hanicak, Contracting Officer, Phone (703) 305-8069, Fax (703) 305-8294, Email WEB: Visit this URL for the latest information about this, http://www.eps.gov/cgi-bin/WebObjects/EPS?ACode=M&;ProjID=52-PAPT-01004 &LocID=251. E-MAIL: Gail Strickland, gail.strickland@uspto.gov. As a result of questions received from offerors, PTO is providing the following answer: 1) Question: Since the number of I/O's per second for any subsystem depends on the size of the I/O block, could you please state the block size? Hewlett-Packard typically uses 2 Kbytes as the block size in our measurements, so if you don't have a block size in mind, we would like to suggest using 2 Kbytes. Answer: The PTO system uses the journaled file system (jfs), which varies the block size. Therefore, there is not a constant block size in PTO's environment. I/O blocks of 8Kbytes and larger occur. The vendor should state their assumptions about the block size(s) used to calculate their performance specifications. 2) Question: Would it be acceptable for vendors to state performance in I/O's per second using a cache hit ratio of 40%? The synopsis states that the cache hit ratio is observed to be less than 40%, so it would appear that performance for a cache hit ratio of 40% would be closer to PTO's likely use than assuming a 50% cache hit ratio. Answer: As stated in the CBD, PTO will evaluate responses assuming a 50% cache hit rate. 3) Question: Read I/O's have different performance than write I/O's. Have you made an assumption about the ratio of reads to writes for the performance requirement of 8000 IO's per second? Answer: For PTO's application, vendors should use a distribution of 90% read I/O and 10% write I/O. 3) Question: Please define your term "service time". Is this the response time as seen by the host? Is the seek time or seek time plus rotational delay on individual disks? Answer: PTO measures service time using the HP MeasureWare tool. The definition is service time = utilization divided by the number of physical I/O per second. The vendor should also describe how service time is measured using the vendor's performance monitoring tools. 4), Question: Could the due date be extended by amount of time it takes to get answers to these questions? Answer: No. PTO intends to award a contract before the end of December 1999. 5). Question: Does it matter if we propose our GSA Schedule Pricing? Answer: PTO does not wish to dictate pricing methodology. However, a GSA Schedule Order is not intended. This requirement has been advertised as a commercial requirement and will be issued as a separate contract. 6). Question: Is Item 0004 maintenance intended to begin upon conclusion of any maintenance or warranty coverage included in basic hardware pricing? Answer: Yes. The PTO intends to include a twelve (12) month maintenance period for equipment procured. If the equipment proposed includes standard warranty or maintenance, the offeror shall specify when renewal maintenance coverage is required. 7). Question: Is the "Representation and Certifications, Commercial Items" considered part of the 20 page limitation specified in the CBD Solicitation? Answer: No. Posted 12/02/99 (D-SN405294). (0336)

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