Disaster Recovery & Continuity of Operations

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY (SEE ATTACHMENT FOR FULL INFO) I. SYNOPSIS The ACC/A6 Infrastructure Branch (A6OI) is requesting information from industry to obtain market research data to assist future business approaches for building, and sustaining a disaster recovery (DR) and Continuity of Operations (COOP) environment. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. It is not a Request for Proposal, a Request for Quotation, an Invitation for Bids, a solicitation, or an indication that the US Air Force will contract for the items contained in the Request for Information (RFI). A6OI intends to use this information to support future acquisitions. II. BACKGROUND This request for information (RFI) is intended to provide information relevant to a possible future program, so that feedback from potential participants can be considered. Respondents are invited to provide comments on the content of this announcement to include suggestions for improving the scope of a possible solicitation to ensure that every effort is made to adequately address the project and project implementation challenges described below. Responses to this request may be used to support development of, and subsequently be incorporated within. The following sections of this announcement contain details of the scope of technical efforts of interest, along with instructions for the submission of responses. A6OI is acquiring from vendor responses specific information of their capabilities and potential technology. We also seek optimum performance features that differentiate technology from your competitors. III. PURPOSE A. Air Combat Command (ACC) is seeking pre-solicitation information on a DR and COOP for its bases to insure that data is available during lost of primary storage. In addition A6OI seeks to address the (1) threat of local/regional disasters at a base by moving the data from the primary storage to a remote centralize site and (2) to use the centralized remote site as a COOP platform. We request a Recover Point Objective and Recovery Time Objective of less than 8 hours. Solution must be able to digitally shred specific data without disrupting valid data. B. In order to overcome natural or war-time disasters, critical e-mail and data storage must be located off base and outside of the immediate geographic area (e.g. outside of a Hampton Roads, VA area hurricane situation) of the base storage equipment. Currently, ACC utilizes a cross vendor solution of EMC and NetApp equipment; thus, management across vendors must be seamless to network operations and minimize cost and maintenance requirements. C. The DR & COOP covers all ACC classified (Secret Collateral level) and unclassified networks. The primary objective is for restoral of Base Exchange and designated critical data. ACC seeks to implement a turnkey solution to achieve maximize efficiency of disk storage recovery independent of the production storage unit. This project must maximize efficiency of WAN bandwidth for replication from the local storage units to an off-base DR & COOP sites using a disk-based system. The solution is to provide data protection and integrity, leverage existing backup software while supporting the future capability of local online archiving and high availability. The proposal will include all migration services with automation setups and configuration activities. The proposal will include training and all software and hardware requirements for a successful implementation. It must be able to digitally shred specific data without disrupting valid data. IV. ITEMS OF SIGNIFICANCE A. Accredited to use in the Air Force or DoD; request references B. Support backup/recovery administration using CommVault. C. Enterprise and local level de-duplication regardless of interface or application D. Capable of supporting archiving E. Provide proven and documented de-duplication rates that support AF and DoD customers F. Must be able to digitally shred specific data without disrupting valid data; must adhere to DoD 5220.22-M sanitization matrix and NIST 800-88 G. Must support a virtualized environment using VMware H. Maximize unified centralized management I. Support one-to-one and many-to-one replications over remote sites J. Provide throughput rate between primary and backup targets K. Offer RAID protection L. Minimal floor space, power, cooling and management requirements M. The storage devices shall ideally be a self-contained disk system; however, other solutions which minimize maintenance support requirements will also be reviewed N. Provides maximum capable expansion size to demonstrate future scalability O. Must have at least 5 customers in the DoD using in-line deduplication; references must be provided V. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONDENTS A. Request responses to be broken into two parts. Part 1 is for the local backup to support remote replication to an off-site DR site; and the second part is for the off-site COOP. Both parts can be integrated but must be clearly distinct. B. The document should be formatted in 12 point Times New Roman font, appropriate for single-sided, single-spaced 8.5 by 11 inch paper, with 1-inch margins C. A one page cover sheet that identifies the title, organization(s), respondent's technical and administrative points of contact - including names, addresses, phone and fax numbers, and email addresses of all co-authors, and clearly indicating its association with ACC RFI-XX-XX (This page is not included in the white paper page count); D. A substantive, focused, one-half page executive summary (This page is not included in the white paper page count); E. Optionally, a single overview briefing (no more than 15 slides and in PowerPoint format) graphically depicting the key ideas summary. (This briefing is not included in the white paper page count); F. Seven page white paper that includes the following: G. Brief discussion of specific approach and architecture H. Costs (implementation and forecasted sustainment costs) I. Method(s) of acquisition and predicted acquisition time J. Prior relevant experience from government implementations K. A list of relevant citations (any significant claims or reports of success must be accompanied by citations; citations are not included in the white paper page count) VI. TIMELINE Responses to this RFI are due no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Time, on 2 June 2010. All submissions must be electronically submitted to david.mcclenney@langley.af.mil as a PDF and/or optional PPT document. Proprietary data may be submitted. Proprietary data shall be clearly identified and marked. Requests for meetings, briefings, demonstrations, etc., will be considered. VII. DISCLAIMERS AND IMPORTANT NOTES A. This is an RFI issued solely for information and possible new program planning purposes, and does not constitute a solicitation. Respondents are advised that ACC is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received, or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Respondents are advised that ACC is under no obligation to extend a workshop invitation to a respondent solely on the basis of white paper submission. B. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. It is the respondents' responsibility to ensure that the submitted material has been approved for public release by the organization that funded whatever research is referred to in their response. C. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information solicited, nor is the Government obligated to issue a solicitation based on the responses received. All RFI submissions must be unclassified. Input on technical aspects of the responses may be solicited by ACC from non-Government consultants/experts who are bound by appropriate non-disclosure requirements. VIII. Primary Point of Contact: David A. McClenney Phone: 757-764-1894 david.mcclenney@langley.af.mil acc.a6oi@langley.af.mil