Organization: UN Children"s Fund
Country: United States of America
Closing date: 26 May 2015
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitoring & Virtualized Manager Consultancy Services
Background
UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children"s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential and is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF carries out its work through its headquarters in New York, 8 regional offices and approximately 200 country offices worldwide. UNICEF has made a significant investment in information technology (IT) products and services to help accomplish its mission.
The Information Technology Solutions and Services Division (ITSSD) of UNICEF covers the development, implementation and management of innovative, effective and secure IT integrated business solutions and technology infrastructure in support of the Organization’s strategic objectives.
The implementation of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitoring & Virtualized Manager is a major project to upgrade global servers and application monitoring for both virtual and physical environments, geared towards moving away from legacy systems by adopting modern technologies that have a direct impact on IT and deliver a cost-effective and technologically superior solution to the organization as a whole.
Objective
UNICEF is seeking to obtain consulting services from an individual consultant and/or vendor’s resource with extensive expertise in architecting and deploying SolarWinds Server and Application Monitoring (SAM) and Virtualization Manager (VMan). The consultant/vendor’s resource will assist UNICEF architects in architecting, designing, and best practice guidelines for initial deployment of SAM and VMan.
The services are expected to be provided on-site at UNICEF’s headquarters in New York City, during regular working hours, Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.
The consultant/vendor’s resource will conduct the following activities/tasks and provide the deliverables/outputs indicated below:
- Initial discussion with IT Operations and Technical Architecture:
a. Chalk out the requirements for the project
b. Review existing architecture, including existing monitoring policies, on the current standard Application Monitoring Application – HP Openview Operations Manager
c. Discuss potential implementation server groups
d. Review database requirements
e. Review Active Directory integration in SAM
f. Determine placement of pollers and failover scenarios
Output: A complete work plan produced to assist in the installation, policy modification, and their related subcomponents necessary for monitoring mission critical servers and applications.
- Installation
a. Review existing installation and make modifications in the initial setup if required
b. Review and implement processes for remote software deployment and out of network clients
c. Integration with VMan and Patch Manager
Output: Production environment architecture completed in line with the above mentioned points, and ensuring that the systems are set up as per SolarWinds requirements for large scale deployments in terms of database considerations, database size, installation validation, and integration.
- Production policy modification and implementation for Orion
a. Home page design requirements and implementation
b. Automate discovery and scavenging
c. Review Application groups and views
d. Review and implement summary requirements
e. Network Atlas implementation
f. Policy review and modification
g. Automate trigger actions
h. Alerts and notification review and modification (Using SAM and Alert Central)
i. User groups, associated rights, and permissions
j. Configuration of AppInsight for SQL Cluster Servers
k. Provide industry best practices for Domain Controllers, VMWare, ADFS, SQL, HyperV, etc
Output: SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor ready for production deployment ensuring that all the above points are fully completed, and that the servers, individual settings, distributed load balancers, database considerations, security settings, weekly schedules, failover scenarios, disaster recovery, and configuration details are documented.
- Conduct a brief training for data centre staff and first and second line of support
Output: A hands on training session conducted/delivered on site in UNICEF premises in NY, USA for designated UNICEF personnel, which includes Console orientation, menu drilling, common pitfalls to avoid, and day to day administration. Vendor’s resource/consultant is expected to produce basic training materials. This will be no longer than 90 minutes.
The consultant/vendor’s resource will work with staff from IT Operations and Technical Architecture.
Timeframe of Engagement
The estimated duration of the consulting project is five to seven days, starting as soon as the resulting contract is signed. Project shall be finalized no later than the second week of June, 2015.
Consultant/s responsibilities
- The consultant is expected to work on-site in UNICEF premises at UNICEF’s headquarters in New York City, during regular working hours Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.
- Resources: The consultant has the overall responsibility for the project and completing the tasks and producing outputs/deliverables detailed above.
UNICEF Responsibilities
UNICEF shall have no obligation to provide any assistance to the consultant in performing the services other than as expressly set forth herein:
- Provide information and feedback, especially on system and resource availability, in a timely manner and as long as consultant’s requests for information and feedback are also made to UNICEF within reasonable time.
- Provide the selected consultant/s with reasonable and timely access to UNICEF personnel as may be required to perform the services.
- For on-site work, provide physical access to the necessary work area and any required identification badges and pass codes before work commences.
- A single point of contact responsible for representing UNICEF and assisting with the decision making process regarding the engagement.
Evaluation Criteria
I. Minimum Requirements
- Proven track record of delivering similar solutions to large organizations
- Professional network support as part of SolarWinds partner network
- Experienced in successfully achieving goals within a specific timeframe by utilizing proven project management methodologies and technical expertise
- Documented proof of prior work experience in Solarwinds Server and Application Monitoring and Virtual Manager software tools
Payment Terms
Payment terms will be within 30 days upon UNICEF"s acceptance of all deliverables.
How to apply:
Interested consultant/vendor’s resources are requested to submit their application to isspost@unicef.org no later than 26 May 2015 and are expected to provide the following documents:
- Curriculum Vitae CV.
- A list of three (3) related projects undertaken within the last two (2) years, similar in nature to UNICEF’s, including a brief description of the project, objectives, deliverables, data analysis, findings and recommendations made
- Three recent client references from similar projects
- Statement of Work with a proposed project plan reflective of timeframes and deliverables stated above and the estimated time and effort.
Consultancy Fees
Consultant/vendor’s resource shall submit a firm fixed all inclusive price for the project. All-inclusive firm fixed price shall include, but is not limited to salary, insurance, allowance, overhead, travel to UNICEF New York Headquarters, lodging, miscellaneous costs etc.
Potential consultants will be interviewed by an interview panel to further assess the qualifications. Acknowledgement will only be sent to short-listed consultant/s/vendor’s resources.
Contractual Instrument
The resulting contract will depend on the legal status of the selected individual (i.e. whether the applicant is an individual in personal capacity, an individual contractor or a resource from a corporation i.e. vendor resource).UNICEF will apply different terms and conditions to each category of contract. These terms and conditions are non-negotiable. Applicants interested in this short term consultancy should review the terms and conditions relevant to them and confirm their acceptance without reservations
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