Planning

Market Research - ICT Infrastructure Support - Tape Library Review

EAST AYRSHIRE COUNCIL

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

23 Sep 2021 at 14:34

Summary of the contracting process

The East Ayrshire Council is initiating a planned procurement process for a market research project titled "Market Research - ICT Infrastructure Support – Tape Library Review." This procurement falls under the goods category, specifically in the communications infrastructure industry. Interested businesses are required to complete a market research questionnaire and submit it to the council's procurement department by 8th October 2021. The project aims to assess the supply and costs associated with a new Tape Library to replace existing hardware before warranties expire in March and April 2022.

This procurement presents a significant opportunity for technology firms specialising in network infrastructure, information technology services, and hardware maintenance. Businesses experienced in providing cutting-edge storage solutions and infrastructure support could greatly benefit from this tender, given the council's need to consolidate their existing tape libraries and ensure compatibility with legacy systems. By engaging in this market research phase, suitable companies can align their offerings with East Ayrshire Council's requirements and potentially secure a lucrative contract for the upcoming project.

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Notice Title

Market Research - ICT Infrastructure Support - Tape Library Review

Notice Description

The purpose of this market research questionnaire is to gather information on the supply and approximate/indicative costs of a new Tape Library for EAC. This will allow the client service to review any potential budget shortfall for the delivery of this future project. East Ayrshire Council currently utilise two Quantum Scalar i500 Tape Libraries - one with 2 drives and one with 4 drives. This integrates easily with our disk backup enabling us to have a tiered storage architecture which backs up data to tape. The warranty expires on these in March and April 2022 respectively. The tape library drives are end of service life, therefore we cannot renew the support on these, so our choice is to renew the drives or else renew the whole tape library. In order to keep the support on the drives and the chassis as the one entity, we are seeking to replace the libraries. We have 6 x LTO6 drives in total and approximately 1000 LTO6 tapes. The aim of this project is to replace the tape libraries by consolidating them into the one library, and replace with one similar; we believe the Scalar i6 to be a direct replacement. This would mean less drives and only one library therefore less renewals in the future. We must maintain compatibility with our existing LTO6 tapes so that these can still be read and restored from whilst we wait for the retention periods to expire. We propose to do this by using a mix of LTO7 drives and LTO8 or LTO9 drives. The reason behind this is that LTO8/9 drives can only read back one generation, therefore we require the LTO7 drive to read our LTO6 tapes.

Lot Information

Lot 1

East Ayrshire Council currently utilise two Quantum Scalar i500 Tape Libraries - one with 2 drives and one with 4 drives. This integrates easily with our disk backup enabling us to have a tiered storage architecture which backs up data to tape. The warranty expires on these in March and April 2022 respectively. The tape library drives are end of service life, therefore we cannot renew the support on these, so our choice is to renew the drives or else renew the whole tape library. In order to keep the support on the drives and the chassis as the one entity, we are seeking to replace the libraries. We have 6 x LTO6 drives in total and approximately 1000 LTO6 tapes. The aim of this project is to replace the tape libraries by consolidating them into the one library, and replace with one similar; we believe the Scalar i6 to be a direct replacement. This would mean less drives and only one library therefore less renewals in the future. We must maintain compatibility with our existing LTO6 tapes so that these can still be read and restored from whilst we wait for the retention periods to expire. We propose to do this by using a mix of LTO7 drives and LTO8 or LTO9 drives. The reason behind this is that LTO8/9 drives can only read back one generation, therefore we require the LTO7 drive to read our LTO6 tapes.

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-02e410
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/023709-2021
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Planning Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Goods
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

32 - Radio, television, communication, telecommunication and related equipment

44 - Construction structures and materials; auxiliary products to construction (except electric apparatus)

50 - Repair and maintenance services

72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support


CPV Codes

32424000 - Network infrastructure

32571000 - Communications infrastructure

44316400 - Hardware

50312610 - Maintenance of information technology equipment

72222300 - Information technology services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£150,000 £100K-£500K
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
23 Sep 20214 years ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
1 Mar 2022Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planned
Lots Status
Planned
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
EAST AYRSHIRE COUNCIL
Contact Name
Lesley McLean
Contact Email
procurement@east-ayrshire.gov.uk
Contact Phone
+44 1563576183

Buyer Location

Locality
KILMARNOCK
Postcode
KA3 7BU
Post Town
Kilmarnock
Country
Scotland

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLM Scotland
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLM9 Southern Scotland
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLM93 North Ayrshire and East Ayrshire
Delivery Location
TLM93 North Ayrshire and East Ayrshire

Local Authority
East Ayrshire
Electoral Ward
Kilmarnock East and Hurlford
Westminster Constituency
Kilmarnock and Loudoun

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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