REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR HOSTED SERVER AND STORAGE ENVIRONMENT

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR HOSTED SERVER AND STORAGE ENVIRONMENT City of Avondale 11465 West Civic Center Drive Avondale, Arizona 85323 SOLICITATION INFORMATION SCHEDULE Solicitation Number: Solicitation Title: Release Date: December 28, 2010 Final Date for Inquiries: January 13, 2011 Hosted Server And Storage Environment MANDATORY Pre-Submittal Conference: January 10, 2011 1:00 p.m. (local time, Phoenix, Arizona) Avondale Civic Center Sonoran Conference Room 11465 West Civic Center Drive Avondale, Arizona 85323 RFI Response Deadline: January 27, 2011 3:00 p.m. (local time, Phoenix, Arizona) City Representatives: Kevin Hinderleider khinderleider@avondale.org 623-333-5007 Pilar Aguilar paguilar@avondale.org 623-333-2026

Table of Contents Page I. RFI Instructions 1 II. Background & Strategy 3 III. Overview 6 IV. Requested Items 8 i

I. RFI INSTRUCTIONS 1. Purpose. The City of Avondale (the City ) hereby gives notice via this Request for Information (this RFI ), of the City s desire to receive responses, feedback, estimated pricing for budgetary consideration, suggestions and comments regarding the items set forth herein. Goals and uses of this RFI include the following: The primary goal of this RFI is to identify vendors capable of providing offsite hosted server and data storage environments. To identify methods or alternative approaches to information technology (IT) service delivery and operations management. To identify any potential financial advantages or cost reductions that may result by leveraging specialized outsourcer performance, efficiencies and/or economies of scale. To assist in the refinement of specifications and scope of work for possible release of a formal solicitation for the requested services. Responses to an RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted to form a binding contract. To the extent permitted by law, information contained in a response to an RFI may be considered confidential until the procurement process is concluded or two (2) years from the RFI Response Deadline has elapsed, whichever occurs first. Further, any content of the RFI Response considered by the respondent to be proprietary or confidential shall be clearly marked as such. In response to such requests, the City will make reasonable efforts to maintain the confidentiality of such content to the extent permitted by law. However, should the City be required to release these materials, the City will provide the respondent reasonable notice in advance of doing so in order to allow the respondent time to take any action to prevent these materials from being released. Respondents should, at a minimum, address those items listed in the Requested Items section of the RFI and be in the same relative order as the information is listed for consistency and continuity of the information received. Responses should be as detailed as possible. Any additional information provided supplementary to what is stated in the RFI should be identified in RFI Response following those items requested herein. The City may contact Respondents to clarify any portions of their submission. No presentations or in-person meetings are anticipated. 2. Preparation/Submission of Items. Vendors are invited to participate in this Request for Information for the services and/or materials outlined in this RFI. Respondents shall review their RFI Responses to ensure the following requirements are met. 1

2.1 Submittal Quantities. Interested parties must submit one (1) original and five (5) copies (six (6) total submittals) of the RFI. In addition, interested parties must submit one (1) original copy of the RFI Response on a CD-ROM (or electronic media approved by the City) in printable Adobe or Microsoft Word format (or other format approved by the City). Failure to adhere to the submittal quantity criteria shall result in the RFI Response being considered non-responsive. 2.2 Required Submittal. The RFI Response shall be a maximum of thirty (30) pages to address the RFI criteria. Each page side (maximum 8 1/2 x 11 ) with criteria information shall be counted. However, one page may be substituted with an 11 x 17 sheet of paper, folded to 8 1/2 x 11, showing a proposed project schedule or organizational chart and only having information on one side. Cover letter, cover, back, table of contents and tabs may be used and shall not be included in the page count, unless they include additional project-specific information. The RFI Response shall be prepared in a font size no smaller than Times New Roman 11 pt. Telegraphic (facsimile), electronic (e-mail) or mailgram responses will not be reviewed. 2.3 Respondent Responsibilities. All Respondents shall (a) examine the entire RFI, (b) seek clarification of any item or requirement that may not be clear, (c) check all responses for accuracy before submitting an RFI Response and (d) submit the entire RFI and RFI Response by the official RFI Response Deadline. Late submissions will not be reviewed. 2.4 Submittals. All RFI Responses shall be sealed and clearly marked with the RFI number and title, () Offsite Data Hosting and Storage, on the lower left hand corner of the mailing envelope. A return address must also appear on the outside of the RFI Response. The City is not responsible for the pre-opening of, post-opening of, or the failure to open, any RFI Responses not properly addressed or identified. 2.5 Address. All RFI Responses shall be directed to the following address: City Clerk, 11465 West Civic Center Drive, Suite 200, Avondale, Arizona 85323, or handdelivered to the City Clerk s office by the RFI Response Deadline indicated on the cover page of this RFI. 3. Cost of Preparation. The City does not reimburse the cost of developing, presenting or providing any response to this solicitation. Items submitted for consideration should be prepared simply and economically, providing adequate information in a straightforward and concise manner. Respondents are responsible for all costs incurred in responding to this RFI. All materials and documents submitted in response to this RFI become the property of the City and will not be returned. 4. Inquiries. 4.1 Written/Verbal Inquiries. Any question related to the RFI shall be directed to the City Representative whose name appears on the cover page of this RFI. Questions shall be submitted in writing by the Final Date for Inquiries indicated on the cover 2

page of this RFI or submitted verbally (a) at the Pre-Submittal Conference on the date indicated on the cover page of this RFI or (b) after the Pre-Submittal Conference but before the Final Date for Inquiries indicated on the cover page of this RFI. In the event the City is closed on the Final Date for Inquiries indicated on the cover page of this RFI, Respondent shall leave the question on the City Representative s voicemail or e-mail. Any inquiries related to this RFI shall refer to the number and title, page and paragraph. However, the Respondent shall not place the RFI number and title on the outside of any envelope containing questions, because such an envelope may be identified as an RFI Response and may not be opened until after the RFI Response Deadline. 4.2 Inquiries Answered. Written questions will be read and answered at the Pre-Submittal Conference on the date indicated on the cover page of this RFI. Verbal or telephone inquiries directed to City staff prior to the Pre-Submittal Conference will not be answered. Within two (2) business days following the Pre-Submittal Conference, answers to all questions received in writing or verbally at the Pre-Submittal Conference will be mailed, sent via facsimile and/or e-mailed to all parties who obtained an RFI package from the City and who legibly provided their mailing address, facsimile and/or e-mail address to the City. No questions, submitted in any form, will be answered after the Final Date for Inquiries listed on the cover of this RFI. 5. Pre-Submittal Conference. A Pre-Submittal Conference may be held. If scheduled, the date and time of this conference will be indicated on the cover page of this RFI. This conference may be designated as mandatory or non-mandatory on the cover page of this RFI. Respondent are strongly encouraged to attend those pre-submittal conferences designated as non-mandatory. The purpose of this Pre-Submittal Conference will be to clarify the contents of this RFI in order to prevent any misunderstanding of the City s requirements. Any doubt as to the requirements of this RFI or any apparent omission or discrepancy should be presented to the City at this conference. 6. Evaluation. The City will evaluate all timely responses received by the RFI Response Deadline. Respondents demonstrating the ability to provide the specified service and/or materials will be included on a list for notification should the evaluation result in the issuance of a formal City solicitation for the specified services. 7. Formal Solicitation. Subject to financial and budgetary considerations, the City may issue a formal solicitation requesting bids or proposals for the specified services and/or materials. The City reserves the right to utilize non-proprietary information, feedback and comments included in any RFI Response for the development of a finalized scope of work or specifications related to the items outlined in this RFI. The issuance of this RFI does not guarantee or imply that a contract will be awarded for the specified services. II. STRATEGY AND BACKGROUND 1. Strategy. The City is examining methods or alternative approaches to IT Service Delivery and operations management. The City is currently seeking information from vendors 3

that can provide a remote facility for housing physical and virtual servers, data storage space and the necessary connectivity between servers, storage and the City of Avondale. Specific goals sought include: A. Reduce costs by leveraging specialized outsourcer performance, increased efficiencies or economies of scale. B. Enhance organizational effectiveness and align it with best practices. C. Enhance service delivery to customers. D. Obtain expertise, skills or technologies. resources. E. Gain strategic advantage by leveraging outsourcer capabilities, markets or 2. Scope. The (initial) scope of this strategy includes the following elements: A. Physical Server remote hosting. B. VmWare Server remote hosting (Microsoft Windows environment). C. Hosted Internet connectivity. D. Secure network for public and private networks. E. Storage area network. F. Monitoring and management of server infrastructure. 3. Current Environment. The City s server and storage network has grown over the last 10 years to include a total of 85 servers, 97 software applications and 116 Terabytes of disk space. The storage requirements have increased at an average rate of 30% per annum. For security reasons, the following information is summarized. Full disclosure of applications will be provided if and only when it is determined by the City that the information is necessary. 4. Server Infrastructure. The existing server infrastructure consists of Intel/AMD Hewlett Packard blade servers and one IBM P-Series server: Internal Physical 25 Internal Virtual 47 DMZ Physical 8 DMZ Virtual 18 Police Physical 5 Police Virtual 0 4

Current Physical VMWare Server Configuration Processors: 2 Quadcore processors Memory: 32 Gig s Current virtual server configuration: Standard Alpha Standard Bravo Processors: 4 Processors: 8 Memory: 4GB Memory: 16GB CITY OF AVONDALE 5. Application Infrastructure. The existing application infrastructure includes: Cisco VOIP Phone System Police Department Computer Aided Dispatch System Financial Applications Human Resources Information System Including Time Keeping Systems Development Services Information System Microsoft Exchange E-mail System 2010 SharePoint 2010 Office Communicator File Servers Print Server GIS Servers Web Based Applications 2 SQL SERVER 2005, 2 SQL SERVER 2008 6. Anticipated Bandwidth Requirements. Anticipated bandwidth requirements between City of Avondale City Hall (11465 W. Civic Center Dr. Avondale, Arizona 85323) is set at 300MB. The City is requesting information or suggestions for determining at what increments bandwidth can be increased and an estimated cost of each increment. City also requests information and estimated pricing for redundant network connectivity to and from City Hall and remote hosted facility. 7. Current Storage Environment. (4 Systems): SAN A Fiber Disk = 21TB SATA Disk = 27TB SAN B SATA Disk = 24TB SAN C Fiber Disk = 4TB SATA Disk = 6TB SAN D Fiber Disk = 2TB SATA Disk = 5TB Backup vault = 27 TB 5

III. SYSTEM STRUCTURE 1. Proposed summary network diagram. 2. Servers. This project consists of running 8 Physical Machines and 48 VMWare Virtual Machines from a remote data center, whereby physical and virtual servers would be provided by the remote hosting facility to match the City s current operating environment. The hosting environment would consist of a secure server infrastructure and a public (DMZ) environment, allowing cross communications between necessary servers. The remote hosting vendor would provide the necessary physical server hardware, VMWare Virtual Servers for use by the City. The Respondent will provide estimated costs for the initial implementation and an estimated cost for projected growth. The server environment will consist of the following functions (summary): Cisco Voice Over IP Phone System Microsoft Exchange Servers 2010 Financial application Cashiering 6

Human Resources Information Management System SharePoint 2010 Web applications Standard server applications 2 SQL SERVER 2005, 2 SQL SERVER 2008 CITY OF AVONDALE 3. Disk Storage. The remote hosting vendor will provide the necessary fiber and SATA storage space to match our current operating environment along with a set percentage for growth over the next fiscal year. The initial requirement for storage space will be 20 TB of Fiber and 10 TB of SATA disk. Respondent will describe storage infrastructure, SAN configurations, and provide estimated pricing for initial storage requirements and for estimating future growth. 4. Internet Connectivity. The remote hosting vendor will provide internet bandwidth for access to public servers in a minimum configuration of 20MB. Respondent will describe how internet connectivity is provided to the public (DMZ) environment. The Respondent will provide and estimated pricing structure for internet access as well as estimated pricing for tiered bandwidth for estimating future growth. 5. FireWall. A secured firewall control is required from the hosted internet connection through to the public network (DMZ) and a secured firewall control from the DMZ to the hosted Avondale internal network. Respondent will describe what type of firewall equipment is utilized to provide secured network access. Respondent will describe how the City will interact with hosted vendor to develop the proper security protocols, make alterations to security configurations and ensure compliance to the City s security requirements. Respondent will provide estimated pricing for providing security implementation and management (moves/adds/changes). 6. Center to Center Connectivity. Connectivity to the remote hosting facility by means of a direct point-to-point solution is required. Currently the City employs Qwest QMOE and would anticipate utilizing this function to interconnect to the remote facility. The City anticipates the initial bandwidth requirements of 50MB. Respondent will describe how the City will connect to remote facility. Respondent will also provide details on abilities to expand/contract bandwidth as necessary (i.e. can Avondale increase/decrease bandwidth on demand or will it be on an annual basis). Respondent will provide estimated pricing for connectivity and incremental costs of expansion. 7. Management/Maintenance. Management services include monitoring of server and storage health, utilization, failures and errors with on-demand reporting for the City by our server engineers. Remote hosting vendor would be responsible for hardware firmware upgrades, storage software upgrades, and any networking upgrades that connect our utilized servers to necessary storage architecture. The City reserves the right to manage the operating system patches on the physical and virtual machines as necessary. The City will entertain solutions where vendor is responsible for operating system patches; however, a clearly defined Service Level Agreement must presented to the City with respect to how the vendor obtains proper authorization of the installation of patches prior to implementation. The City will be responsible 7

for the applications and the functionality of the server in meeting the City s operating demands. The remote hosting vendor will be responsible for maintaining the hardware, VMWare environment, Storage Area Network and associated network infrastructure. Respondent will provide estimated costs for providing initial system monitoring and maintenance implementation as well as estimated pricing for moves/adds/changes. IV. REQUIRED ITEMS 1. Cover Letter. One page cover letter on the respondent s letterhead citing the RFI and identifying the submission as an RFI Response. The cover letter should clearly identify the respondent and what kind of organization or entity that they are, e.g., Telecommunications Services Provider, Management Services Provider, etc. The cover letter should also designate an individual who will serve as the primary contact for the respondent, including this individual s, title, mailing address, e-mail address, phone and fax number(s) as applicable. If submitting as a team, respondents should identify a lead entity as well as all prospective members of the team, as well as any individuals, their titles and roles within each. The contact person for such teams should be with the lead entity. If any aspects of the submission include proprietary or confidential information, the respondent shall identify this specific material in the cover letter. 2. Overview. The respondent is required to provide an overview of the recommended approach to providing services related to each item described within Section IV of this RFI. The respondent should describe their suggested method for estimating growth needs and how the respondent would be able to accommodate future system expansion. 3. Estimated Costs. The respondent shall provide an estimate of the overall costs of the recommended approach with sufficient detail as necessary to fully illustrate the projected implementation and annual operating costs. 4. Similar Services. The respondent shall provide a listing of organizations, with verifiable references, that have successfully implemented the respondent s recommended or similar approach. 5. Organizational Capacity. The respondent shall provide a summary of its current infrastructure, staffing, partners and any financial abilities to support the City s current and projected server and data storage needs. 8