US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) VISN-20 Disaster Recovery Expansion Request for Information (RFI) This is a Request for Information (RFI) only issued for conducting market research. Accordingly, this RFI constitutes neither a Request for Quote (RFQ), Request for Proposal (RFP), nor a guarantee that one will be issued by the Government in the future; furthermore, it does not commit the Government to contract for any services described herein. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is not, at this time, seeking proposals or quotes, and therefore, will not accept, review, or evaluate unsolicited proposals or quotes received in response hereto. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted because of this request. The Government does not reimburse respondents for any costs associated with submission of the information being requested or reimburse expenses incurred for responses to this RFI. The information provided may be used by VA in developing its acquisition strategy and Performance Work Statement (PWS) or Product Description (PD). Any information submitted by respondents to this RFI is strictly voluntary; however, any information received shall become the property of the Government and will not be returned to the respondent. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary, restricted, or competition sensitive information contained in their response. Product information, brochures, part numbers, and/or other description information may be included with the submission. VA is under no obligation to provide feedback to the RFI respondent, or to contact the RFI respondent for clarification of any information submitted as part of the response. Requirement: VISN 23 is expanding their existing Nutanix cluster and requiring a backup/disaster recovery (DR) solution (for virtual/physical machines, as well as file level and Structured Query Language backup capabilities) containing Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) hardware (on Nutanix hardware compatibility list), Nutanix Files, and Hycu along with training (in-person) for 25 VISN-23 employees for both topics of Nutanix Files and Hycu backup software administration/management. VISN 23 already has Nutanix HyperConverged Infrastructure (HCI) on top of Cisco UCS hardware deployed across its eight (8) sites, and the backup/DR solution must integrate with this setup and be compatible at a hardware/software/interoperability level. The Contractor shall be responsible for inventory of all cables, optics, and parts necessary for successful integration (Contractor should confirm which power cable type is necessary after award, for example, and adjust accordingly). The attached Draft Product Description describe the technical specifications for this effort. RFI Submission Instructions: VA requests a clear, concise, and complete response to this RFI. Please submit your RFI response in accordance with the following: Include the following identification information: Name of Company Address Point of Contact Phone Number Email address CAGE/Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number Company Business Size and NAICS code(s) Any Schedules held on General Services Administration (GSA), Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC) held on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement (SEWP) V, or any other schedule not mentioned above to assist in determining acquisition strategy if you are included in one or more. Please also include Contract Number, expiration date, etc. Socioeconomic data: If a small business, what type of small business are you? Are you able to comply with FAR 52.219-6 and 52.219-14 in execution of this effort? Are you able to comply with VAAR 852.219-10, VA Notice of Total Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Set-Aside and with subcontracting limitations in 13 CFR 125.6 in execution of this effort? The Government will not review any other information or attachments included, that are in excess of the 10-page limit.  The Government will not review generic marketing materials that do not address the information contained herein or the attached documents. All interested parties shall respond no later than 3:00 PM EST on January 30, 2023 via e-mail. If you have any questions on the RFI, please submit via e-mail as well. VISN-20 Disaster Recovery Expansion in the subject line of your response. The TAC point of contact for this RFI is Contract Specialist, David Mone, Email address: David.Mone@va.gov, and Contracting Officer, Edward Hebert, Email address: Edward.Hebert@va.gov.

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