MS-4601/IT

Market Survey

Qualification QuestionnaireSupply of Servers and Storage for Physics Data Processing,

Acquisition and Control Systems

Abstract In order to be considered as a potential bidder for the forthcoming Invitations to Tender, the respondent shall be a single Firm (hereinafter referred to as “the Firm”). The Firm shall demonstrate that it meets the applicable qualification criteria by completing this Qualification Questionnaire and by providing the requested documents and references.Groups of Firms will not be permitted for the Invitations to Tender procedure.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE PRESENT DOCUMENT SHALL BE RETURNED DATED, SIGNED AND STAMPED IN PDF AND/OR DOCX FORMAT ALLOWING TEXT SELECTION...................................................11. INFORMATION ABOUT THE FIRM..........................................................................................11.1 Name and Address..............................................................................................................................11.2 Contact Persons..................................................................................................................................12. GENERAL QUALIFICATION CRITERIA.................................................................................22.1 Administrative Situation.....................................................................................................................22.2 Subcontracting....................................................................................................................................22.3 Country of Origin...............................................................................................................................33. FINANCIAL QUALIFICATION CRITERIA INCLUDING RESOURCES.............................43.1 Size of the Firm..................................................................................................................................43.2 Proven Production Capacity...............................................................................................................54. TECHNICAL QUALIFICATION CRITERIA.............................................................................94.1 Competence and Experience...............................................................................................................95. QUALITY ASSURANCE..............................................................................................................115.2 Certifications....................................................................................................................................125.3 Warranty...........................................................................................................................................145.4 Schedule............................................................................................................................................165.5 Safety................................................................................................................................................165.6 Halogen-free materials......................................................................................................................165.7 Recuperation of Packaging Waste....................................................................................................176. COMPLIANCE WITH THE QUALIFICATION CRITERIA..................................................177. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.................................................................................................18

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The present document shall be returned dated, signed and stamped in PDF and/or DOCX format allowing text selection.

1. INFORMATION ABOUT THE FIRM

1.1 Name and Address

Position Name of the Firm Address

Single Firm

1.2 Contact Persons

The Firm shall be able to make available person for the entire duration of the contract at least one English and/or French speaking commercial contact person as well as one English and/or French speaking technical contact.Technical matters

Name Tel E-mail

If absent:

Commercial mattersName Tel E-mail

If absent:

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2. GENERAL QUALIFICATION CRITERIA

CERN reserves the right not to consider the Firm for the forthcoming Invitation to Tender procedure in the event that:

It has replied “yes” to at least one question in § 2.1; It has made a false declaration in the present Qualification Questionnaire; Notwithstanding § 3.1.4, CERN reasonably concludes that the Firm will be unable to complete

or fulfil its obligations under the contract due to the Firm’s financial situation.

Only Firms that have replied to the market survey and are qualified on the basis of the following criteria shall be invited to tender:

The technical, financial and other qualification criteria defined in this document; CERN’s previous experience with the Firm, if any; The number of Firms to be selected from each Member State1, as specified in § 2.3 hereunder.

2.1 Administrative Situation

2.1.1 Is the Firm involved in bankruptcy proceedings, prosecution for debt, sequestration or any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in law?

Yes No

2.1.2 Has the Firm made arrangements of any kind with creditors for their benefit?

Yes No

2.2 Subcontracting2

Subcontracting is subject to CERN prior written approval of each proposed subcontractor. CERN reserves the right to refuse the participation of a subcontractor. CERN reserves the right to make verifications about the proposed subcontractor(s).

1 http://home.cern/about/member-states; except where stipulated otherwise, the term “Member State(s)” shall mean full member state(s) of CERN, associate member state(s) of CERN and associate member state(s) in the pre-stage of accession to membership of CERN.

2 The term “subcontracting” shall mean any arrangement whereby the Contractor contracts with another legal entity (the subcontractor), except legal entities under its direct control, for the provision of a major part of the Supply (including sub-assemblies and components or any part of the services forming part of the Supply). The term “subcontract(s)” shall include sub-subcontract(s).

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2.2.1 Does the Firm intend to subcontract any part of the Supply?

Yes No

If yes, please complete the table in § 2.3.

2.3 Country of Origin

The term “country of origin” shall mean the country(ies) of manufacture or last major transformation of the Supply (including sub-assemblies and components) by the contractor or its subcontractor(s).The Firm shall be established within one of the CERN Member States. The Supply must originate in the Member States. However, CERN reserves the right not to invite to tender the Firm if:

It proposes a Supply originating in an associate member state, or an associate member state in the pre-stage of accession to membership; and

The combined annual financial value of orders, contracts and appointments already committed for that country: Exceeds the amount of the country’s financial contribution to CERN for the financial year

concerned; or Would exceed the financial contribution if the Firm were awarded the contract.

In addition, with a view to improving the distribution of purchases among its Member States, and in order to decide on the number of potential bidders to be selected from each Member State, CERN shall take into account the Member State’s contribution, its industrial return coefficient and its estimated share of the contract (refer to the Appendix: “Selection and Adjudication Criteria for Supply Contracts”).

Please indicate the origin of the Supply in the following table:Supply or part of the Supply (including activities and third-party components)

Name of the Firm and, if applicable and known, of the proposed Subcontractor(s)

Country of origin

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3. FINANCIAL QUALIFICATION CRITERIA INCLUDING RESOURCES

3.1 Size of the Firm

3.1.1 The Firm shall have at least four full-time equivalent experienced support engineers as detailed in 4.1.3.

Number of employees 2017 2018 2019

In all activities ..................................... ..................................... .....................................In the field of Servers

..................................... ..................................... .....................................In the field of Storage expansion units ..................................... ..................................... .....................................In the field of Network Attached Storage clusters

..................................... ..................................... .....................................

Number of confirmed support engineers, see section 3.1.2 available to customers?

..................................... ..................................... .....................................

3.1.2 Fraction of the support engineers listed above that are capable of communicating in English (at least B2 level )?

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3.1.3 Does the Firm agree that CERN has the right to ask questions to the support engineers to verify their ability to solve operational problems?

Yes No

3.1.4 Global Annual Turnover

The Firm shall have an average annual turnover of at least six million Swiss francs, during the last three years. Please complete the following table:

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Global Turnover 2017 2018 2019

In all activities ..................................... ..................................... .....................................

In the field of the Servers ..................................... ..................................... .....................................

In the field of Storage expansion units ..................................... ..................................... .....................................

In the field of Integrated computing racks

..................................... ..................................... .....................................

3.2 Proven Production Capacity

3.2.1 The Firm shall have produced at least 1000 system units3 during the last 12 calendar months.

Quantity (units) 2017 2018 2019

Servers

..................................... ..................................... .....................................Storage expansion units ..................................... ..................................... .....................................Network Attached Storage clusters ..................................... ..................................... .....................................Integrated computing racks ..................................... ..................................... .....................................

3.2.2 Is the Firm able to deliver 500 identical system units with a configuration matching the tender specifications, and agreed by CERN within ten weeks from the date of the order?

Yes No

3 A system unit is a computing unit based on a single mainboard.

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Currency in which business figures of the Firm are expressed

.....................................

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3.2.3 Is the Firm able to deliver identical storage expansion units for an aggregated capacity of at least 30 petabytes with a configuration matching the tender specifications within ten weeks from the date of the order?

Yes No

3.2.4 Does the Firm have on-site test facilities as described in section 5.2 of the Technical Description document?

Yes No

If not, please explain the exceptions:................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

3.2.5 Does the Firm agree to grant CERN the right to visit and inspect the Firm’s premises, in particular its production and test facilities?

Yes No

If not, please explain the reasons:................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

3.2.6 Does the Firm commit to arrange that CERN is granted the right to visit and inspect the manufacturer’s premises, in particular its production and test facilities? (Reply only if the Firm is subcontracting or acting as a reseller, see section 2.2).

Yes No

If not, please explain the reasons:................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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3.2.7 Does the Firm agree to provide dedicated remote (SSH and KVM over IPMI) access to the first fully configured enclosure for CERN to verify configurations and settings prior to delivery?

Yes No

If not, please explain the exceptions:................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

3.2.8 Are the Firm’s on-site facilities equipped for providing remote dedicated access to CERN using a broadband Internet connection?

Yes No

3.2.9 Is the Firm able to print customized bar-code and QR-code labels containing CERN inventory data as stated in section 5.4 of the Technical Description document?

Yes No

If not, please explain the exceptions, or propose alternative customized bar-code and QR-codes labels including CERN inventory data:

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

3.2.10 Does the Firm agree to provide sample units for technical evaluation to CERN free of charge when a specific invitation to tender is issued?

Yes No

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If not, please explain the exceptions:................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

3.2.11 The Firm shall provide complete and accurate mailstop address of its production facilities for the different fields of supply. The address shall correspond to the location where the last major modification of equipment will take place.

For each supply to which Firm answered “Yes” in question 4.1.1, please provide full address of production facilities in CERN member state for the different supplies.

Field of supply Address of production facility for last major modification of supply including GPS coordinates

Servers ……………………….……………………….……………………….……………………….

Storage expansion units ……………………….……………………….……………………….……………………….

Integrated computing racks

……………………….……………………….……………………….……………………….

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4. TECHNICAL QUALIFICATION CRITERIA

4.1 Competence and Experience

The Firm shall prove relevant competence and experience by providing the references specified hereunder.

4.1.1 The Firm shall have a proven competence and experience at least three years of in at least one of the fields of the supply as defined in section 3 in the “Technical Description” document, including off site maintenance and support of such solutions. If the Firm is a reseller, this criterion shall be met by the individual manufacturer(s).

Please indicate the fields(s) of supply as specified in section 3 of the “Technical Description” document where the Firm has experience and is able to deliver:

Field Yes No

Servers Storage expansion units

Integrated computing racks4

4.1.2 Does the Firm have the proven experience in the field(s) of the supply as specified in section 3 of the “Technical Description” document, including repairs and support of such solutions?

Yes No

If not, please explain the exceptions:................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

If yes, please demonstrate specifically which aspects of your experience would be most relevant to future contracts:

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................4 Industry standard 19” computing racks or OCP (http://www.opencompute.org) inspired/accepted/certified 21” racks.

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4.1.3 Does the Firm have confirmed engineers capable of solving operational difficulties that may be experienced by CERN on the supply, such as hardware problems or incompatibilities, operating system, driver and Firmware issues? If the Firm is a reseller, either the reseller or the individual manufacturer(s) shall meet this criterion.

Yes No

4.1.4 For invitations to tender so requiring, is the Firm able to propose systems certified as a whole (i.e. not only individual system components) by RedHat Inc. for use under the RedHat Enterprise Linux distribution5?

Yes No

For invitations to tender so requiring, is the Firm able to propose systems certified as a whole (i.e. not only individual system components) by Microsoft for use under the Microsoft Windows Server 2016 and Microsoft Windows Server 2019 versions?

Yes No

The Firm shall provide at least:

4.1.5 Three references of supply contracts in the last two years for a value of at least 500’000 CHF each. The selected references shall be willing to give a confidential written or verbal assessment of their satisfaction to CERN and be able to answer freely any non-price related question asked by CERN. The references shall prove that the Firm has supplied significant quantities of similar equipment, and that the Firm has relevant experience in supplying and supporting the supply as defined in section 3 in the technical description document. Firms acting as a reseller shall have delivered equipment to the reference customers supplied by the same manufacturer(s) as proposed for the supplies to CERN. CERN cannot be held responsible for any potential failure of a named reference customer to reply satisfactorily when contacted by CERN. CERN reserves the right to verify the references provided. In addition, the Firm may be required to arrange a visit by CERN to any of its references. CERN cannot be cited as a reference.

Please complete the three “Reference” forms provided in the Annex of this document.

5 This requirement concerns the server as a whole. Certification of individual server components is not sufficient. At the time of writing this is available at https://access.redhat.com/ecosystem/search/#/category/Server

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5. QUALITY ASSURANCE

5.1.1 Is the Firm ISO 9001:2015 certified in the field of manufacturing and supplying rack mountable servers and storage solutions or related products? (If the Firm is subcontracting or acting as a reseller, see section 2.2, the answer shall cover either the Firm or each of the individual manufacturers).

Yes No

If not, is the Firm ISO 9001:2008 certified and is the Firm undertaking transition measures to become ISO 9001:2015 certified?

Yes No

If not, please indicate details of your internal quality assurance system and how you would set up an equivalent quality assurance procedure (Use a separate sheet).

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

If yes, please attach a copy of the relevant certificate, which must clearly show the certification authority and date of certification.

5.1.2 The certification shall have been granted by an independent external certification body. Proof of certification shall be supplied with the reply to this market survey. If the Firm is a reseller, either the reseller or the individual manufacturer(s) shall meet this criterion.

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5.2 Certifications

Note that the answers provided in this section only have bearing on whether the Firm is compliant with the qualification criteria if the Firm is interested in supplying servers (see section 4.1.1).

5.2.1 Is the Firm qualified as an Intel Technology Provider with Platinum Partner status?

Yes No

If yes, please attach a copy of the relevant certificate, which must clearly show the certification authority and date of certification. If the Firm is subcontracting or acting as a reseller, see section 2.2, the answer shall cover each of the individual manufacturers.

5.2.2 Describe the business relationship of the Firm with Advanced Micro Devices (use separate sheet if required).

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................................................

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If applicable, please attach a copy of the relevant certificate, which must clearly show the certification authority and date of certification. If the Firm is subcontracting or acting as a reseller, see section 2.2, the answer shall cover each of the individual manufacturers.

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5.2.3 Is the Firm certified by Microsoft Inc. as a Microsoft Certified Partner6? Note that the reply to this question does not have any bearing on whether the Firm is compliant with the qualification criteria.

Yes No

If yes, please attach a copy of the relevant certificate, which must clearly show the certification authority and date of certification. If the Firm is subcontracting or acting as a reseller, see section 2.2, the answer shall cover each of the individual manufacturers.

6 https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/Pages/index.aspx

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5.3 Warranty

5.3.1 Will the Firm be able to provide warranty coverage for the delivered equipment for a period of three years, with an option to extend the warranty period to a maximum of five years?

Yes No

If not, please explain:................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

5.3.2 Is the Firm able to provide warranty services off-site, as described in section 6.3 of the “Technical Description” document, by providing a stock of spare units/parts, and by repairing or replacing broken units/parts sent back by CERN?

Yes No

If not, please explain:................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

5.3.3 For invitations to tender so requiring, is the Firm shall able to provide warranty services on-site at CERN, as described in section 6.3 of the “Technical Description” document, for warranty durations and within a maximum lead time of four working hours after notification from CERN?

Yes No

If not, please explain:................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

If yes, will a subcontractor be used for on-site warranty interventions?

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Yes No

If yes, specify name of subcontractor if known................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

5.3.4 How will warranty service requirements be met in case the original equipment is no longer available due to obsolescence? (Use separate sheet if required).

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5.3.5 What is the qualification of support staff providing warranty services for host systems running under the GNU/Linux operating system?

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5.3.6 What is the qualification of support staff providing warranty services for host systems running under the Microsoft Windows operating system?

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5.3.7 Does the Firm grant CERN rights to regularly test or otherwise verify the appropriate technical skills of the support staff before granting them access on-site?

Yes No

5.3.8 Does the Firm agree to participate in regular reviews with CERN of the warranty services provided to CERN?

Yes No

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5.4 Schedule

The Firm shall be able to comply with the provisional delivery schedule stated in the technical description.Is this criterion fulfilled?

Yes No

If not, please explain why not:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5.5 Safety

The Firm shall provide evidence of its/their involvement in Safety (safety, health protection and working conditions) and in environmental matters by providing a description of its/their individual policies and actions taken in these fields.

Please attach a description of the applicable policy and actions undertaken by the Firm(s) in the field of Safety.

5.6 Halogen-free materials

Note that the reply in this section does not have any bearing on whether the Firm is compliant with the qualification criteria.Is the Firm able to provide material covered by this market survey entirely compliant with CERN security instructions IS 23 and IS 41 (see section 6.5 of the Technical Description document)? Note that this demands that all materials are halogens free.

Yes No

5.7 Recuperation of Packaging Waste

Has the Firm an established program for recuperating and recycling packaging material?

Yes No

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If yes, please give details such as but not limited to, the process and any limits (weight):................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Would the Firm be able to re-use any packaging waste?

Yes No

If yes, please give details:................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

6. COMPLIANCE WITH THE QUALIFICATION CRITERIA

Does the Firm compiling this questionnaire comply with all the qualification criteria as stipulated in this market survey?

Yes No

If no, please explain which criteria are not fulfilled.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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7. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Indicate any other information that may be relevant to this market survey.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The present document shall be returned dated, signed and stamped in PDF and/or DOCX format allowing text selection.

Date Signature and stamp of Firm

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REFERENCE 1

Name of the customer

Full address

Name of the person to be contacted in customer organisationTelephoneE-mail

Scope of the contract

Duration (start and end dates) and approximate contract value

Number and qualifications of personnel performing the contract (in case of service contract)

Organisational structure (e.g. single contractor, organisational flow chart).

Quality and safety management

Other relevant details

Continue on separate sheet of paper if necessary.

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REFERENCE 2

Name of the customer

Full address

Name of the person to be contacted in customer organisationTelephoneE-mail

Scope of the contract

Duration (start and end dates) and approximate contract value

Number and qualifications of personnel performing the contract (in case of service contract)

Organisational structure (e.g. single contractor, organisational flow chart)

Quality and safety management

Other relevant details

Continue on separate sheet of paper if necessary.

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REFERENCE 3

Name of the customer

Full address

Name of the person to be contacted in customer organisationTelephoneE-mail

Scope of the contract

Duration (start and end dates) and approximate contract value

Number and qualifications of personnel performing the contract (in case of service contract)

Organisational structure (e.g. single contractor, organisational flow chart)

Quality and safety management

Other relevant details

Continue on separate sheet of paper if necessary.

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