Why Can’t We Eliminate the “Technology Refresh” RFP?

February 2, 2009 / G C Network /

How Cloud Brokerage Enables a Practical Path to Cloud IT

By G C Network | March 30, 2013

Join us on Wed, Apr 17, 2013 from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT to explore how to use cloud brokerage to move efficiently and securely to the cloud. More…

NJVC Cloudcuity Management Portal to Provide Secure Cloud Brokerage Services to NCOIC for NGA

By G C Network | March 28, 2013

CHANTILLY, Va., March 28, 2013 — NJVC®will lead efforts to provide secure cloud brokerage services to the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortiumusing its first-to-market Cloudcuity™ Management Portal during a series…

CloudCheckr : Amazon Complexity Challenges Many Users

By G C Network | March 25, 2013

     A recently released infographic from CloudCheckr (https://cloudcheckr.com/) sheds quite a bit of light on the importance of expert advice when an enterprise decides to deploy to the cloud.  When…

NJVC Announces Winner of Cloudcuity AppDeployer Contest Pilot at George Mason University

By G C Network | February 25, 2013

CHANTILLY, Va., Feb. 25, 2013—NJVC, an information technology solutions provider headquartered in northern Virginia, is pleased to announce the winner of the George Mason University (GMU) Student PaaS Developer Contest.…

Bahrain International eGovernment Forum 2013

By G C Network | February 23, 2013

I am honored to announce that I will be a speaker at the Bahrain International eGovernment Forum, April 8-10, 2013, being held at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa, in…

Why the cloud will shake markets.

By G C Network | February 2, 2013

“Recently, I predicted that in 2013, cloud computing will provide the biggest disruption information technology has experienced in 25 years. These impacts extend to the $128 billion data center industry,…

Top 10 Transformational Impacts of the Cloud in 2013

By G C Network | December 21, 2012

CHANTILLY, Va., Dec. 20, 2012 — NJVC®, an information technology solutions provider headquartered in northern Virginia and supplier of Cloudcuity™ AppDeployer, and Virtual Global, a provider of cloud-enabled enterprise IT…

GovTech Innovator: Kevin Jackson

By G C Network | December 3, 2012

Today I am honored to be named a GovTech Innovator by Government Technology. My personal thanks goes out to Hilton Collins for letting me Hangout with him on Google+. Govtech.com…

How Will Technology Impact Your Business in 2020?

By G C Network | November 29, 2012

by Dennis Brouwer    (Repost from ThinkGig. Thanks for letting me contribute to your ebook!! – Kevin Jackson ) Human-like technology. The potential downfall of the data center. Hyper-personalization of…

The Government Cloud on KCUR-FM Central Standard with Jabulani Leffall

By G C Network | November 26, 2012

A big THANK YOU goes out today to KCUR-FM Central Standard host Jabulani Leffall, producer  Matthew Long-Middleton,and associate producer Danie Alexander for having me as a guest on this morning’s show!…

In order to maintain life cycle and technology, the Navy is upgrading server farms at fifteen (15) sites and any future sites throughout the Far East, Europe and Middle East regions. According to the RFP:
“The Server Farm Refresh is focused on upgrading hardware that is already out of warranty and also improving the data services, performance and future capabilities while still meeting the needs of the Fleets.” 
In outlining the service’s requirement, the RFP specifies a solution that shall not:
  • Require a significant increase in staffing levels;
  • Introduce the requirement for senior skill sets that may not be available or exceedingly costly to obtain; or
  • Exceed a 10% increase in seat cost of $2244 per year.
In their proposals, offeror’s are directed to include:
  • all KVM and UPS devices & associated peripherals
  • administrators and systems engineers
  • the capability to power up, power-down, reboot and install operating system and applications and perform administrative functions remotely across the enterprise. 
  • a solution that is secure, scalable, manageable and supportable through 2015.
  • a minimum 5 year warranty on provided hardware. 
  • A component failure will not cause outages for the customers
  • use of redundant/load balanced servers for critical devices is required
  • a target service availability of 99.999% or greater 
  • the necessary capacity to support future growth of sites, users, and services without major disruption or overhaul of infrastructure 
  • scalable/upgradeable to the latest technology
  • able to support industry changes to operating systems or software upgrades without requiring expenditure of additional funds 
  • COTS based
Is it me or is this RFP a commercial for cloud computing?
This procurement explicitly procures new technology to refresh old technology. All that does is guarantee another refresh after another few years.  Why not outline a competition for the design and delivery of a private cloud that meets these requirements and all applicable DoD directives. Isn’t that much simpler and more direct? 
What do you think?
Follow me at https://Twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson
Posted in , , , , , ,

G C Network

1 Comments

  1. Anonymous on March 25, 2009 at 8:21 pm

    “Is it me or is this RFP a commercial for cloud computing?”

    It’s you. Sounds like the Navy wants new equipment right down to the laces, and someone to manage availability, complexity, and drudgery – the headaches.

    They will be required by DISA/DoD to keep their computing/storage on a DoD site (such as a DECC). They will be required to keep the data and custom applications on DoD soil, and isn’t offsiting that stuff what cloud is (the vendor provides everything but the end station)?

    I don’t think DoD can buy cloud. They can DO cloud, but they can’t buy it.

    I’d like to know if I was right…

    Derrick Foy

    [email protected]
    http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1215307823



Cloud Computing

Cybersecurity