70 -- Brand Name Rittal

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) plans to procure brand name Rittal server racks to support existing Rittal hardware infrastructure that is installed in its data center facilities. This announcement is considered a brand name justification. This is not a solicitation. This acquisition will be conducted utilizing Part 13 of the FAR, Simplified Acquisition procedures, and the test program authorized in FAR subpart 13.5, and the Patent and Trademark Acquisition Guidelines (PTAG). The acquisition will be conducted utilizing existing USPTO?s Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quanity (ID/IQ) contracts for Information Technology products, a small business set-aside. No Request for Quotes will be released to any other firms. Rittal server rack hardware is the USPTO's established standard based commercial product in accordance with the USPTO's Technical Reference Model (TRM), which defines a comprehensive set of information technology standards, services, interfaces, supporting data formats, and protocols. It is essential that the USPTO acquire Rittal server racks for consistency and flexibility. Currently, the USPTO has 170 installed Rittal server racks. The Rittal racks are much more versatile because they will handle all manufacturer servers, including Dell, IBM, HP and SUN (x386 (Intel) as well as HP UNIX). By using the Rittal racks, we are able to support all manufacturers and move servers within the data center as necessary to support operations without having to purchase manufacturer specific racks. Rittal is the manufacturer for Dell, HP and some of the IBM racks but because these racks are built for a specific manufacturer, they are a higher cost. Since Rittal is the supplier for the other server manufacturers as well as those mentioned above, we are actually able to purchase a better rack at a lower cost then buying manufacturer specific racks. Rittal was selected for the first phase of the Enterprise Remote Access (ERA) purchase, and we need to continue their use for continuity and for efficient use of replacement parts and spare parts. These racks are for phase 2 of the ERA project. If you have questions regarding this notice, they may be addressed by email to Sylvia Van Dyke at [email protected].