Acquisition of an Advanced Hierarchical Data Storage Management System

The European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by 35 states. ECMWF is both a research institute and a 24/7 operational service, producing and disseminating numerical weather predictions to its Member States. This data is fully available to the national meteorological services in …

CPV: 72000000 IT-Dienste: Beratung, Software-Entwicklung, Internet und Hilfestellung
Ausführungsort:
Acquisition of an Advanced Hierarchical Data Storage Management System
Vergabestelle:
European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Vergabenummer:
ECMWF/ITT/2025/382

1. Buyer

1.1 Buyer

Official name : European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Legal type of the buyer : International organisation
Activity of the contracting authority : Environmental protection

2. Procedure

2.1 Procedure

Title : Acquisition of an Advanced Hierarchical Data Storage Management System
Description : The European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by 35 states. ECMWF is both a research institute and a 24/7 operational service, producing and disseminating numerical weather predictions to its Member States. This data is fully available to the national meteorological services in the Member States. The Centre also offers a catalogue of forecast data that can be purchased by businesses worldwide and other commercial customers. The supercomputer facility (and associated data archive) at ECMWF is one of the largest of its type in Europe and Member States can use 25% of its capacity for their own purposes. The organisation was established in 1975 and now employs around 500 staff from more than 30 countries. A description of ECMWF’s activities and infrastructure can be found at: https://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/whatwedo. The purpose of this Prior Information Notice (PIN) is for ECMWF to provide advance notice that an Invitation to Tender (ITT) is being prepared for the future acquisition of an Advanced Hierarchical Data Storage Management System. The ITT will seek proposals from Tenderers for licensing and support services for an advanced hierarchical data storage Management system and related consultancy services. The aim is to enter into a long-term contract for the procurement of these services, include commissioning, training of ECMWF staff and supporting the solution over the lifetime of the contract. At this stage neither expression of interest nor questions regarding the future ITT are possible and full and equal information will be published on ECMWF’s eProcurement Portal which will be accessible via https://procurement.ecmwf.int/. Further information for suppliers is available via https://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/suppliers including information about registering for the Portal, where prospective tenderers can register free of charge and receive updates on procurement opportunities.
Internal identifier : ECMWF/ITT/2025/382

2.1.1 Purpose

Main nature of the contract : Services
Additional nature of the contract : Supplies
Main classification ( cpv ): 72000000 IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

2.1.2 Place of performance

Postal address : Tecnopolo di Bologna, Via Stalingrado 84/3
Town : Bologna
Postcode : 40128
Country subdivision (NUTS) : Bologna ( ITH55 )
Country : Italy
Additional information : The main place of performance is at ECMWF's Data Centre.

2.1.4 General information

Additional information : The procurement for the contract will be conducted in accordance with ECMWF's procedures as set out in ECMWF's Invitation to Tender documents (once published), which will be available on ECMWF's eProcurement Portal ( https://procurement.ecmwf.int/) and no other procedures will apply. In submitting this notice ECMWF does not waive the privileges and immunities granted to it by virtue of its status as an Intergovernmental Organisation or submit itself to any jurisdiction.
Legal basis :
Other

3. Part

3.1 Part technical ID : PAR-0001

Title : Acquisition of an Advanced Hierarchical Data Storage Management System
Description : Further details of the scope and overview of the procurement are provided below: ECMWF’s data archive is based on HPSS (High Performance Storage System) software and underpinned by large capacity disk and automated tape library infrastructure. Overall HPSS holds 1.5 Exabytes of data and the expectation is that by the end of 2032 they will have grown to hold well over 4 exabytes. HPSS is primarily used by two applications, both developed at ECMWF; MARS and ECFS: MARS, the Meteorological Archival and Retrieval System, provides access to a powerful abstraction engine that allows the thousands of registered users to access the meteorological data that has been collected or generated at ECMWF for more than 40 years. ECFS, the ECMWF Common File System, provides users with a logical view of a seemingly very large file system and is used for data in formats that are not suitable for storing in MARS. The archives are very busy, most of their activity is responding to read workloads from the HPC systems. However, around 620TB of new data is being added every day, and it is expected that daily growth will be close to 1.5PB following the introduction of the new HPC in 2027. Further details on activity and existing equipment will be provided in the ITT. The intention is to determine whether to remain with HPSS or to migrate to a new storage solution, whichever provides the most compelling case based on long-term growth potential, stability and pricing. ECMWF is seeking to enter a long-term relationship with a vendor to supply a license and provide 24/7 support for the software. The initial installation will be at the Centre's Bologna data centre in Italy. If there are optimisation benefits, it will be possible to supply hardware in this tender, however the main intention is for this to be predominantly a software solution, with commodity hardware being purchased elsewhere. The ITT is expected to be launched in Q4 2025 or Q1 2026, with an estimated value exceeding 3 million EUR.
Internal identifier : ECMWF/ITT/2025/382

3.1.1 Purpose

Main nature of the contract : Services
Additional nature of the contract : Supplies
Main classification ( cpv ): 72000000 IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

3.1.2 Place of performance

Postal address : Tecnopolo di Bologna, Via Stalingrado 84/3
Town : Bologna
Postcode : 40128
Country subdivision (NUTS) : Bologna ( ITH55 )
Country : Italy
Additional information : The main place of performance is at ECMWF's Data Centre.

3.1.5 General information

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) : no

3.1.6 Procurement documents

Access to certain procurement documents is restricted
Justification for restricting access to certain procurement documents : Tools, devices, or file formats not generally available
Languages in which the procurement documents are officially available : English
Information about restricted documents is available at : https://procurement.ecmwf.int/ ,
Ad hoc communication channel
Name : During the ITT stage all communication will be conducted via ECMWF's eProcurement Portal accessible at https://procurement.ecmwf.int/. Tenderers must register their organisation on the Portal to be able to access the ITT documents and to be able to submit a response to the ITT. Registration is free and the process is managed by the Portal provider.

3.1.9 Further information, mediation and review

Review organisation : European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Organisation providing additional information about the procurement procedure : European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Organisation providing offline access to the procurement documents : European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Organisation providing more information on the review procedures : European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Organisation receiving requests to participate : European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Organisation processing tenders : European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)

8. Organisations

8.1 ORG-0001

Official name : European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Registration number : fiscal code no. 91148050684
Postal address : Tecnopolo di Bologna, Via Stalingrado 84/3
Town : Bologna
Postcode : 40128
Country subdivision (NUTS) : Bologna ( ITH55 )
Country : Italy
Contact point : Procurement at ECMWF
Telephone : +390510422100
Internet address : https://www.ecmwf.int/
Information exchange endpoint (URL) : https://procurement.ecmwf.int/
Roles of this organisation :
Buyer
Organisation providing additional information about the procurement procedure
Organisation providing offline access to the procurement documents
Organisation receiving requests to participate
Organisation processing tenders

8.1 ORG-0002

Official name : European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Registration number : n/a
Postal address : Shinfield Park
Town : Reading
Postcode : RG2 9AX
Country : United Kingdom
Contact point : Procurement at ECMWF
Telephone : +441189499000
Internet address : https://www.ecmwf.int/
Information exchange endpoint (URL) : https://procurement.ecmwf.int/
Roles of this organisation :
Review organisation
Organisation providing more information on the review procedures

8.1 ORG-0000

Official name : Publications Office of the European Union
Registration number : PUBL
Town : Luxembourg
Postcode : 2417
Country subdivision (NUTS) : Luxembourg ( LU000 )
Country : Luxembourg
Telephone : +352 29291
Internet address : https://op.europa.eu
Roles of this organisation :
TED eSender

Notice information

Notice identifier/version : f8b0f0e1-fb4e-4bff-bd4e-d4f96deab1c7 - 01
Form type : Planning
Notice type : Prior information notice or a periodic indicative notice used only for information
Notice dispatch date : 08/09/2025 13:45 +00:00
Languages in which this notice is officially available : English
Notice publication number : 00590742-2025
OJ S issue number : 173/2025
Publication date : 10/09/2025
Estimated date of publication of a contract notice within this procedure : 15/01/2026