UPDATE 10-21-21 See below for Q&A 8

Update: 10-16-21 See below for Q&A 6-7, also , please see Amendment 1

Update: 10-14-21 See below for Q&A 4-5

UPDATE: 10-7-21See below for Q&A 1-3 

The Next-Generation High Performance Computing Network (NG-HPCN) Research & Development (R&D) Request for Proposal (RFP) has been published, released, and made accessible at this website on 09-24-21.

Interested offerors are advised to base their proposal responses on RFP documents and any subsequent RFP amendments at this website.

Interested offerors must submit all communication (questions, comments, etc.) about the RFP to the LLNS Contract Analyst Gary Ward (ward31@llnl.gov), whose contact information is identified in the RFP letter. Interested offerors are not permitted to contact the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory technical community except for regular business activities that do not pertain to the RFP.

Interested offerors are advised to monitor this website for potential RFP amendments and other RFP information updates. LLNS may notify Interested offerors (who have previously contacted LLNS and expressed interest in the RFP) of updated RFP information via e-mail; however, LLNS is under no obligation to do so. It is the responsibility of all Interested offerors to monitor this website for current RFP information.

RFP Documents

Questions & Answers

Q1: Can you please clarify if IP created during the course of this project will stay with the offerer? 

A1: The RFP includes multiple documents that address acquisition terms and conditions, such as the Sample Subcontract and the General Provisions. It is the responsibility of each interested offeror to review / consider the RFP’s terms and conditions, and to assess suitability / alignment with interested offeror’ business considerations. If interested offeror decides to submit a proposal, and if interested offeror decides to propose exceptions to acquisition terms and conditions, then interested offeror should utilize and identify its proposed exceptions by way of the RFP’s Offeror Terms & Conditions Position document.

 

Q2: Hardware/software: can this be purely software combined with hardware from other standard cluster networking vendors?

A2: Please refer to the RFP’s Mandatory Requirements (MRs) and Target Requirements (TRs). It is the responsibility of each interested offeror to review / assess the MRs and TRs, consider the RFP’s basis for award as well as other RFP terms and conditions, and determine if it (interested offeror) will submit a proposal.

 

Q3: We would like to obtain letters of support from LLNL application users. The RFP website states we are not permitted to contact the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory technical community except for regular business activities that do not pertain to the RFP. Are there any additional guidelines to be followed here?

A3: Thank you for appropriately recognizing RFP protocol. Refer to the RFP’s Proposal Evaluation & Proposal Preparation Instructions (PEPPI) and its references to ‘past performance’. Interested offerors may identify in their proposals any relevant / substantive past performance and business contacts they may wish to be considered. There is no need at this time for any more formal / signed supporting statements from third parties.

 

Q4: We expect there will be some material / product cost associated with the proposal.

    a. Given the structure of the RFP’s Price Proposal Spreadsheet and keeping the integrity of how it is built

          i. How would you suggest I place any material costs for proper calculation?

          ii. How would you like it labeled separately as it is associated with each milestone?

A4: The RFP’s Proposal Price Spreadsheet (initial) ‘Instructions’ tab includes, in part, the following statements.

“While LLNS does not believe the proposed work will involve travel or materials / other direct costs, Offeror may modify tab format / structure if Offeror proposes travel and or M/ODCs. After completing this spreadsheet, Offeror will submit the resulting file as its Price Proposal.”

Accordingly, offerors may modify the Price Proposal Spreadsheet based on elements of their estimated development expense. Offerors may consider adding a row(s) for estimated materials / other direct costs (M/ODCs) after estimated labor expense such that estimated labor and M/ODCs sum to the total proposed price for each milestone.

Offerors should clearly identify the descriptions and quantities, and explain the necessity / purpose of estimated M/ODCs for the proposed research to be performed. A key point is that the rows / amounts for estimated labor and M/ODCs accurately sum to the total proposed price for each milestone.

 

Q5: We are requesting a clarification of terms used in TR2 “Advanced Network Routing, Quality of Service, and Congestion Control (TR)”. Specifically, we need clarification of the terms “capability”, “capacity”, and “strong scaling simulation” within the context that these terms are being used in TR2.

A5:For context, please refer to the following Mandatory Requirement, which is identified in the RFP’s Draft Statement of Work.

Collaboration and Co-design on Network Enhancements and Optimizations for DOE/NNSA Workloads (MR)

The Offeror shall describe the strategy for collaboration and co-design with DOE/NNSA subject matter experts on the next-generation HPC network. The strategy shall focus on improving DOE/NNSA application performance for capability (single application using full system), capacity (many simultaneous simulations), and strong scaling (fixed simulation size) workloads. These workloads shall be HPC physics-based simulations, but shall also contain elements of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics.

 

Q6: We have a question regarding the “General Provisions for Fixed Price Supplies and Services – Domestic” (Document 06_FP-Supplies-Services-Domestic-GPs-600C-01-10-2020).

Clause 19, F of the “General Provisions for Fixed Price Supplies and Services – Domestic” document replaces the bilateral NDA with a clause that does not protect the Seller’s information or information provided by the Seller. Please clarify how the Seller's information or information provided by the Seller will be protected.

A6:The RFP letter’s ‘Proprietary Information’ section describes how LLNS will treat offeror proposal information.

For the successful offeror / subcontractor, during subcontract performance, the data rights clauses in the General Provisions will govern. These clauses offer protections for applicable subcontractor data or information.  Offerors should consider these clauses when, for example, proposing data deliverables and technical reports with performance of the subcontract.

 

Q7: Are subcontractors to the prime awardees efforts required to also be small businesses as defined in the RFP (1,000 or fewer employees)?

A7: The successful offeror / subcontractor must satisfy the definition of small business as described in the RFP.  Lower-tier subcontractors to the successful offeror / subcontractor, however, are not required to also be small businesses. For additional information, offerors may also read FAR CLAUSE 52.219-8 Utilization of Small Business Concerns, as referenced in the General Provisions of the Sample Subcontract. 

If offerors propose / plan to use lower-tier subcontractors, offerors should consider how that circumstance could be evaluated in relation to the RFP and its basis for award, evaluation criteria, mandatory requirements, and target requirements.

 

Q8:  Is there a secure way for us to submit our proposal documents to you?

A: LLNS’ preferred proposal submittal / delivery approach is a secure means such as Microsoft dropbox, Google drive, or other mechanism that enables offeror to give the LLNS Contract Analyst a secure link / password, and allow the LLNS Contract Analyst to download offeror’s complete proposal.