RFP - HCI Virtualization

Background
Lincoln Electric System (LES) is a municipal electric utility serving approximately 275,000 people in Lincoln and surrounding areas in Nebraska. With a mission to provide safe, reliable, and affordable electricity, LES is seeking proposals for a Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) solution to replace its current VMware-based virtualization environment. The goal is to enhance scalability, reduce total cost of ownership, simplify management, and increase system resilience through a unified software-defined platform.

Work Details
The selected vendor will be responsible for providing a turnkey HCI solution that includes hardware, software, and support. Specific requirements include:

1. A deployment plan with milestones for configuring the HCI platform across two geographically separated datacenters for redundancy.
2. Vendor-led planning and implementation of workload migration from VMware to the new platform.
3. Integration with existing network and security infrastructure.
4. Training and documentation for IT staff on management and support.
5. 24x7x4 onsite hardware support and 'Keep your Hard Drive' coverage.
6. Training for four administrators and tuning/support for an additional six months post-implementation.

Period of Performance
The contract will span five years with options for two additional one-year extensions, commencing from the award date expected around October 2025.

Place of Performance
The services will be performed at Lincoln Electric System's facilities located within Lancaster County, Nebraska.

Bidder Requirements
Bidders must furnish proof of insurance with specified coverage from an insurance company licensed in Nebraska rated at least B+ by A.M. Best. Additionally, bidders must complete the Equal Employment Opportunity Compliance Request Form and the Confidentiality and Security Agreement Form 790.