Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2020-12-22
Buyer: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) — Oberpfaffenhofen
Country: DE
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Competitive procedure with negotiation
CPV classification: 48217000
Submission deadline: 2021-01-20
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: The German Remote Sensing Data Center of DLR (DLR-DFD) operates the Sentinel 5 precursor (S5P) ground segment on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA), among others. In the course of this, a cloud infrastructure for processing satellite data will be required from April 2021 on. A framework contract for the provision of cloud services starting on 1 April 2021 — for a period of 1 year with the option of two extensions for a further year — is to be concluded. Furthermore, it must be possible to physically bring the data to be computed into the system. The cloud platform must be geographically within the EU member states or states participating in the Copernicus program. Furthermore, the provider must not be subject to any legal regulations of a non-EU country that could oblige him to hand over data stored on the cloud platform. A qualified Systems Engineer (SE) as well as a representative with in-depth knowledge of the environment in each case shall be appointed by the contractor as the technical contact person on a long-term basis.
The German Remote Sensing Data Center of DLR (DLR-DFD) operates the Sentinel 5 precursor (S5P) ground segment on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA), among others. In the course of this, a cloud infrastructure for processing satellite data will be required from April 2021 on.
A framework contract for the provision of cloud services starting on 1 April 2021 — for a period of 1 year with the option of two extensions for a further year — is to be concluded. Furthermore, it must be possible to physically bring the data to be computed into the system.
The cloud platform must be geographically within the EU member states or states participating in the Copernicus program. Furthermore, the provider must not be subject to any legal regulations of a non-EU country that could oblige him to hand over data stored on the cloud platform.
A qualified Systems Engineer (SE) as well as a representative with in-depth knowledge of the environment in each case shall be appointed by the contractor as the technical contact person on a long-term basis.
The envisioned contract will have usage-based components, but will provide for a shutdown when usage limits are exceeded, each of which will be explicitly stated when the contract is awarded.
Furthermore, there should be the possibility of ~5x the volume of computed data being available for download.
— the services rendered and the resources spent on them must be documented in detail by the contractor in accordance with DLR specifications and must be continuously accessible to DLR. The documented resources are the basis for invoicing the services rendered;
— all changes to the systems must be coordinated with DLR in terms of content and time before work begins.
For the processing of the mission data in the cloud platform, the following quantity structure is expected:
— amount of input data: approx. 250 TB/year, total as of key date 1 April 2021 approx. 900 TB — amount of auxiliary data: approx. 100 TB/year, total as of 1 April 2021 approx. 350 TB;
— generated data: approx. 450 TB/year, total for input data by key date 1 April 2021 approx. 1600 TB — Network load (Internet access): ongoing provision of generated data, total volume of 1600 TB must be transferable within one week (i.e. an average data rate ≥ 25 GBit/s must be achievable);
— processor load: single processors typically run with 10 parallel threads, i.e., provisioned VMs must have at least 12 processor cores each, backed by appropriate hardware;
— minimum virtual machine design: 12 processor cores, 32 GB RAM, 400 GB SSD; VM sizes up to 256 GB RAM must be configurable — object storage (AWS S3 API compliant) to hold all input and output data (approx. 3000 TB);
— number of virtual machines: depending on the actual degree of parallelisation, approx. 500-3 000 virtual machines may be required simultaneously.

Eligibility requirements: — The ability to exercise the profession, including the requirements for registration in a professional or commercial register; — The contracting authority will then carry out a check with respect to the non-existence of grounds for exclusion, as well as any self-cleansing in accordance with Section 125 of the ARC (Act against Restraints of Competition) and, if necessary, take a decision on the exclusion of the candidates in accordance with the legal requirements; — The candidate must attach a company profile with the following information to the participation. Documents: • company foundation date; • locations of the company; • legal form of the company; • range of customers; • description of the core business.