Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2019-03-12
Buyer: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) — Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Country: UK
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 30211100
Estimated value: 42000000 GBP
Submission deadline: 2019-05-29
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Summary: UKRI — EPSRC, as managing agent for the national HPC facility on behalf of the other Research Councils, is tendering contracts for 3 elements of the ARCHER2 facility; the hardware (to be based in Edinburgh); the Service Provision which manages academic access to the facility and the helpdesk; and the computational science and engineering (CSE) support which provides software development and training and support to users of the facility to enable their codes to run as effectively as possible. The hardware element of the ARCHER2 service will provide the compute resource, maintenance and support including storage and network connectivity to provide enhanced provision of HPC hardware for academic scientific research. Estimated value of opportunity — 48 000 000 GBP including VAT and all applicable duties and taxes for years 1-4, plus optional year 5 maintenance and support (est. 2 400 000 GBP inc. VAT). Net values: 40 000 000 GBP years 1-4, 2 000 000 GBP optional year 5.
UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) — Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) manages the ARCHER supercomputer service on behalf of the high performance computing (HPC) scientific user communities.
This multi-million pound investment, which commenced service in 2013, provides national capability for scientific research across the HEI sector requiring access to high performance computing resources. Supporting a community of academic researchers across the UK, ARCHER provides a prestigious national Tier 1 compute resource for scientific endeavour. As provider of the national HPC service supporting researchers in diverse scientific fields, EPSRC currently manages the provision and support of the ARCHER service. A future capital investment will secure the next generation of HPC service and ensure provision of new HPC architecture capable of addressing the demands of increasing complexity in scientific research.
The overall vision for ARCHER2 is to build on the existing Tier 1 and Tier 2 investments in national HPC facilities so that the UK is a recognised leader on the international scene for computational science and engineering. In order to achieve this, UK researchers must be able to carry out internationally competitive research across the remits of EPSRC, NERC and beyond. The benefits of the UK being world leading in computational science and engineering will be realised through:
— the increased ability of UK researchers to make valuable contributions to the solution of complex scientific challenges and to the generation of quality scientific outputs,
— increased attractiveness of UK researchers as partners in high profile international collaborations and improved access to large HPC resources in other countries.
EPSRC, as managing agent for the national HPC facility on behalf of the other Research Councils, is looking to tender contracts for 3 elements of the ARCHER2 facility: the hardware (to be based in Edinburgh); the service provision which manages academic access to the facility and the helpdesk; and the computational science and engineering (CSE) support which provides software development and training and support to users of the facility to enable their codes to run as effectively as possible. The hardware element of the ARCHER2 service will provide the compute resource, maintenance and support including storage and network connectivity to provide enhanced provision of HPC hardware for academic scientific research. The maximum budget for years 1-4 including VAT and all applicable duties and taxes is 48 000 000 GBP. There will be an optional 1-year extension period for maintenance and support, including associated services, which will be priced as part of this procurement (estimated 1 500 000 GBP — 2 000 000 GBP ex VAT).
To participate in this tender participants shall first be registered on the e-Sourcing Suite. If bidders have not yet registered on the e-Sourcing Suite, this can be done online at https://gpsesourcing.cabinetoffice.gov.uk by following the link “Register for CCS eSourcing”. Please note that, to register, bidders must have a valid DUNS number (as provided by Dun and Bradstreet) for the organisation which you are registering, who will be entering into a contract if invited to do so.
Note: registration may take some time please ensure that you allow a sufficient amount of time to register.
Full instructions for registration and use of the system can be found at http://ccs.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/i-amsupplier/respondtender
Once you have registered on the e-Sourcing Suite, a registered user can express an interest for a specific procurement. This is done by emailing ExpressionOfInterest@ccs.gsi.gov.uk. Your email must clearly state the name and reference for the procurement you wish to register for (for this pre market engagement the reference is UKSBS PR17125 Hardware); your organisations full name as a registered supplier; the name and contact details for the registered individual sending the email.
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) will process the email and then enable the bidder to access the procurement online via the e-Sourcing Suite.
The registered user will receive a notification email to alert them once this has been done. As a user of the e-Sourcing Suite you will have access to Emptoris email messaging service which facilitates all messages sent to you and from you in relation to any specific RFX event. Please note it is your responsibility to access these emails on a regular basis to ensure you have sight of all relevant information applicable to this opportunity.
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Training support to respond to a requirement is available to bidders at: http://www.uksbs.co.uk/services/procure/Pages/supplier.aspx

Eligibility requirements: N/a.

Award value: 42000000