A -- the research will be conducted to identify ways to transfer and replicate data over longer distances and to protect data from being manipulated or distorted.

The Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Compliance Policy was mandated by the United States Congress to contract with educational institutions and not-for-profit research institutes for a research project improving the resiliency of the financial sector to recover from disaster scenarios through development of new secure, remote, financial transaction backup storage systems. As directed by Congress, the research will be conducted to identify ways to transfer and replicate data over longer distances and to protect data from being manipulated or distorted. Research will be required that uses commercially available locations, networks, and products to determine the parameters associated with data replication and database recovery activities. Test environments need to be created that replicate these conditions to determine real world data transmission capacity, setup times, error rates, security requirements, and costs. Computer operational sites separated by as much as a thousand miles, with databases in the terabyte range and commercial size servers need to be connected via commercial networks, including the Internet, to protect the customer, the transaction data, and data critical to ensure the continued operation of our nation's banking and financial institutions. The effort required by this project will be conducted using the facilities of e-Cavern, a secure underground technology facility located in Louisville, KY. e-Cavern provides a hardened storage facility which provides the enhanced security that is now a requirement to protect critical financial data. It provides a naturally cool operating environment, ideally suited to run computer systems without the need to construct new cooling units. The facility is unique in that it is near an international airport and is fully supported by the telecommunications infrastructure needed to move large packets of data in this project. Additionally, its location away from the major financial centers creates geographic diversity that is a requirement to protect against regional disruptions and ensure business continuity. e-Cavern will house the primary research test bed and will be the site of all testing activities. Interested educational institutions and not-for-profit research institutes may request the RFP from the Treasury Contract Specialist, Alan Cornwall, through email requests at alan.cornwall@do.treas.gov. A pre-proposal conference will be conducted on or about June 29, 2005 at the e-Cavern facility in Louisville, Kentucky. The time and place for the conference will be announced in the RFP. Questions and/or clarification requests related to the RFP must be submitted by to the contract specialist by June 23, 2005 by email at alan.cornwall@do.treas.gov. Responses will be provided at the pre-proposal conference. Treasury will use the questions and clarification requests to determine if changes to the RFP will be necessary. Proposals will be required on or about July 18, 2005.