--- title: "Market Research - ICT Infrastructure Support - Tape Library Review" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-02e410" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02e410" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02e410.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02e410.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "EAST AYRSHIRE COUNCIL" published: "2021-09-23" --- # Market Research - ICT Infrastructure Support - Tape Library Review Buyer: EAST AYRSHIRE COUNCIL Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-02e410 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02e410) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02e410.json) ## Summary 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. ## Notice 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. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/023709-2021 | | 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 | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 23 Sep 2021 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 1 Mar 2022 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | Not specified | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | £150,000 | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planned | | Lots status | Planned | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | EAST AYRSHIRE COUNCIL | | Locality | KILMARNOCK | | Post town | Kilmarnock | | Postcode | KA3 7BU | | Country | Scotland | | ITL 1 | TLM Scotland | | ITL 2 | TLM9 Southern Scotland | | ITL 3 | TLM93 North Ayrshire and East Ayrshire | | Local authority | East Ayrshire | | Electoral ward | Kilmarnock East and Hurlford | | Westminster constituency | Kilmarnock and Loudoun | | Delivery location | TLM93 North Ayrshire and East Ayrshire | ## CPV Codes ### 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 ### Codes - 32424000 - Network infrastructure - 32571000 - Communications infrastructure - 44316400 - Hardware - 50312610 - Maintenance of information technology equipment - 72222300 - Information technology services ## Release History - 23 Sep 2021 at 14:34 - Planning - Planning Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/023709-2021 ## Notice URLs - http://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=668187 - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA00223 ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02e410. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02e410.json.