RFO # 5604364226 - Cloud Infrastructure Architects

Background
The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) is the largest educator-only pension fund in the world, administering a hybrid retirement system for California's public school educators and their families. The purpose of this Request for Offer (RFO) is to select up to two experienced Cloud Infrastructure Architects who possess expert knowledge in designing cloud strategies that encompass networks, infrastructure, storage, high-availability systems, comprehensive backup solutions, deployment environments, and operational processes. The selected contractors will optimize cloud infrastructure services and define standards for automation within IT Infrastructure & Operations.

Work Details
The services required under this contract include:

1. **Cloud Infrastructure Planning**: Architect end-to-end cloud solutions by creating blueprints for networks, servers, storage, security frameworks, IAM roles and access, network segmentation, encryption, and deployment environments. Design environments that span on-premises and multiple public cloud providers. Establish architectural standards and best practices for infrastructure services. Define standards for automated provisioning and configuration. Design high-availability systems and comprehensive backup strategies. Use monitoring tools to analyze cloud spending and design cost-effective solutions.

2. **On-Premises Infrastructure Support**: Support enterprise physical and virtual server environments. Perform installation, configuration, maintenance, and troubleshooting of Microsoft Windows Server and Linux operating systems. Monitor system performance and participate in infrastructure lifecycle management.

3. **Cloud Infrastructure Support (AWS and Azure)**: Provision and support cloud infrastructure resources in AWS and Microsoft Azure. Monitor performance and troubleshoot incidents.

4. **Backup, Recovery, and Business Continuity**: Support enterprise backup solutions for on-premises and cloud-hosted systems.

5. **Documentation and Knowledge Transfer**: Create technical documentation including architecture blueprints and standard operating procedures.

6. **Operational Support**: Provide incident management activities while collaborating with CalSTRS staff.

Period of Performance
The total services period may be up to 24 months with an option to extend up to an additional 36 months at an estimated average of 160 work hours per month.

Place of Performance
All work must be performed on-site at the CalSTRS headquarters facility in West Sacramento, CA.

Bidder Requirements
Respondents must hold a current Information Technology California Multiple Award Schedule (CMAS) agreement with the California Department of General Services. Proposed project personnel must have specific certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional or Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert along with significant experience in relevant technologies.