Joint-Regent Commodity Data Storage Service

The government authority located in Iowa City, Iowa is seeking a vendor to provide a joint-regent commodity data storage service. The agency requires a storage solution that integrates with its existing data center infrastructure to manage its own filesystem RAID, parity, and disk health. This project addresses the agency's need for high-density, redundant, and enterprise-grade data storage within strict physical space limitations. The scope of work covers the delivery of storage hardware conforming to highly specific technical configurations. The agency requires 1U, 2U, or 4U chassis with dual or redundant power supplies and hot-swap storage trays that prevent double disk failures upon removal. Drive controllers must allow the disabling of onboard RAID, and external controllers must support flashing to vanilla Host Bus Adapter configurations. The storage must utilize enterprise-class, non-Shingled Magnetic Recording hard drives compatible with ZFS and distributed filesystems, alongside mirrored enterprise-class operating system SSDs of at least 240 GB. Network connectivity requires two or more dedicated onboard Ethernet interfaces of 25 Gb or faster. All equipment must fit within the agency's existing racks, which measure a maximum of 79 inches high, 27.5 inches wide, and 48 inches deep, while achieving a density target of at least 336 hard disk drives per 32U of space. Eligibility is strictly limited to onshore organizations based in the United States. The selected vendor must perform all work onsite at the Iowa City facility. The agency has not disclosed a specific budget and is looking for proposals to determine the cost. Bidders must submit all questions regarding this opportunity no later than July 1, 2026.