Department of Commerce, NOAA, 200 World Trade Center, Room 209, Norfolk, VA 23510-1624

70 -- AMENDMENT # 1 SUBMISSION NO. 429535 SOL RFQ-EASC-00-77 POC W. L. Taylor, Contract Specialist (757)441-6888 Amendment # 1 Questions and Answers 1. Will NOAA pay for the time they use the IBM test node that we provide? Answer: The node is provided by NOAA. If the bidder can provide a reference customer that is using the same equipment on an existing IBM SP2 node, that NOAA may contact to verify, that can satisfy the testing requirement. 2. Performance: The system is required to read at 25M bytes per second but write at only 25 M bits per second. We suspect that is a typographical error. Answer: Read speeds is to be 25 megabytes per second -- write speed 20 megabytes per second. 3. Connection to RS6000. It is unclear how the RAID subsystem will connect to the RS6000. The highest performance RAID controllers are external to the host and would reside on the storage subsystem. However, the word PCI is in the specifications with no explanation. Answer: The RAID subsystem will connect to the IBM SP2 node using a Host Bus Adapter card using a PCI (peripheral component interconnect) standard slot available in the SP2 node. The Host Bus Adapter card is to be supplied by the vendor, along with applicable driver software for the card. 4. Warranty. Does the government have a preference for the response time to a request for service in the warranty period of service (5 X 9 or 7 X 24)? For example, response in 4 hours or response next business day. Answer: Response time of 4 hours, or next business day is adequate. 5. Evaluation. A period of 6 weeks is an excessive period of time for evaluation of the system. This vendor suggests that an acceptance test with the stated criteria that would be conducted over a five (5) day period would be more equitable than a 6 week period. This extended period impacts the profitability of this opportunity especially when the procurement is reserved for participation by small business. Answer: The test will be conducted as soon as possible within government priority schedule up to six weeks allowed, but not intended to take more than three (3) weeks. 6. What is the minimum cache memory NOAA requires for this RFQ? Answer: There is no minimum cache requirement, as long as performance requirements are met. 7. Please explain what .5 TB's -- 1.5 TB's capacity means. Does NOAA request "out year" pricing for incremental upgrades in the future? Answer: Components should be priced in the smallest aggregate unit to allow for scaling up or down for the actual procurement. 8. How will the winning proposal be determined? Will price, features, or a combination of both be evaluated? Answer: Price and features that satisfy the specifications will be used for evaluation. 9. Will there be any special considerations made for products that allow for remote diagnostics through a phone line, or non-disruptive microcode enhancements, etc ? Answer: No 10. I need to know the types of storage controllers that are currently in use and if you intend to use or re-use the same controllers for the add-on storage. Any other configuration data would be helpful also. Answer: The government will require a new controller that is independent of the present disk arrays in use. The SP2 system has a PCI slot available for the Host Bus Adapter card (supplied by bidder). 11. Total storage is expected to be between .5TB and 1.5TB. In responding, does the government expect vendors to submit pricing for the incremental storage (i.e.pricing for .5TB, 1.0TB and 1.5TB?). Answer: Components should be priced in the smallest aggregate unit to allow for scaling up or down for the actual procurement. The RFQ to be price as follows: item 0001 Disk Storage 1 Lot_______ item 0002 Warranty 1 Lot_______ item 0003 Testing 1 Lot_______ The RFQ is hereby extended from Mar 14, 2000 to Mar 21, 2000. No further questions will be considered after March 10, 2000. All other terms and conditions remain unchanged. Posted 03/07/00 (W-SN432115). (0067)

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