Solicitation
Request for Proposal: ALCF Equinox AI System
Department of Energy
Due in 3 days
- Response due
- Oct 16, 2026, 4:30 PM CDT · 5:30 PM Eastern
- Solicitation number
- 6-B143-P-00251-00
- Set-aside
- No Set aside used
- NAICS
- 334111 · Electronic Computer Manufacturing
- Place of performance
- Argonne National Laboratory, Building 240 data center, Lemont, Illinois (from the AI summary)
AI summary Beta
Summary of the version posted Sep 28, 2026. The notice was amended Oct 12, 2026: check what changed on SAM.gov. An earlier version of our AI wrote it, so check its dates and times against the notice. This summary may miss requirements: 6 of 18 attachments weren't read (Enclosure No. 7 - SaaS Questionnaire.xlsx, Enclosure No. 2H - Appendix TBD ANL-830-LTOV.pdf and 4 more). Check the attachments on SAM.gov.
UChicago Argonne, LLC (the operator of Argonne National Laboratory for the Department of Energy) wants to buy a rack-scale AI computing system called Equinox: 16 NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 compute racks with networking, software, installation, testing and five years of maintenance and support. It will be installed in the Building 240 data center in Lemont, Illinois. The buy is a firm-fixed-price purchase order with lease-to-own financing, awarded by best-value tradeoff, and proposals are due by email on October 16, 2026 at 4:30 PM Central.
Things to watch
- Serious: Very large, specialized hardware buy. The Base System is 16 NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 racks, which realistically only manufacturers or authorized partners with large financing capacity can deliver. From Enclosure No. 2C - Statement of Work.pdf:
…shall consist of sixteen (16) GB300 NVL72 compute racks and all associated equipment,…
- Serious: Financing commitment required for award. You must line up a binding lease-to-own financing commitment, which needs a lender or captive finance arm and a valid master lease agreement with Argonne. From Enclosure No. 1 - RFP Cover Letter, Instructions, & Notices.pdf:
…the Offeror shall provide, or cause to be provided, a binding LTO financing commitment available to the Laboratory on terms acceptable to the Laboratory.
- Worth checking: Payment only after acceptance. You carry the cost of building and delivering the system until Argonne signs the acceptance certificate, then payment is due net 30. From Enclosure No. 2A - Draft Purchase Order.pdf:
Delivery alone shall not entitle Seller to invoice or receive payment.
- Worth checking: Government gets unlimited rights to proposal technical data. If you win, your proposal's technical data, even for commercial products, can be used by the Government without limits, so protect trade secrets by marking and by asking for exceptions. From Addendum No. 1 to RFP #6-B143-P-00251-00.pdf:
…applies broadly to all technical data contained in a successful Offeror's proposal.
- Worth checking: Facility limits and no walkthrough. No site visit is allowed, power is 480V five-wire only with no UPS or redundant upstream power, and the system must fit 10 MW and under 6,000 square feet, so facilities risks fall on your design. From Enclosure No. 2C - Statement of Work.pdf:
ALCF will not provide uninterruptible power supply capacity or redundant upstream facility power for the compute racks.
- Worth checking: Broad indemnity and on-site safety rules. The contractor must hold Argonne harmless for losses tied to its work and follow DOE worker safety rules (10 CFR 851), which adds legal and insurance exposure for installers. From Enclosure No. 2E - Appendix E ANL-366M.pdf:
The contractor shall indemnify and hold UChicago Argonne, LLC…
- Minor: Conflicting due dates in the package. The RFP letter says offers are due October 5, 2026, but Addendum No. 1 extends the deadline to October 16, 2026; follow the addendum and confirm with the buyer. From Addendum No. 1 to RFP #6-B143-P-00251-00.pdf:
The proposal response submission deadline is hereby extended to 4:30 PM CT on Friday, October 16, 2026.
Read from the notice and 12 attachments. 6 not read in full.
- Addendum No. 1 to RFP #6-B143-P-00251-00.pdf
- Enclosure No. 1 - RFP Cover Letter, Instructions, & Notices.pdf
- Enclosure No. 4 - Evaluation Criteria.pdf
- Enclosure No. 2C - Statement of Work.pdf
- Enclosure No. 2A - Draft Purchase Order.pdf
- Enclosure No. 5 - ANL-70B.pdf
- Enclosure No. 6 - Tax Exemption Certificate.pdf
- Enclosure No. 2B - Appendix A ANL-71COM.pdf
- Enclosure No. 2D - Appendix D8C.pdf
- Enclosure No. 2E - Appendix E ANL-366M.pdf
- Enclosure No. 2F - Appendix E.1 ANL-366TCSB.pdf
- Enclosure No. 2G - Appendix TBD ANL-829-MLAV.pdf
- Enclosure No. 7 - SaaS Questionnaire.xlsx: spreadsheet: not read yet
- Enclosure No. 2H - Appendix TBD ANL-830-LTOV.pdf: over the file limit for one brief
- Enclosure No. 2I - Appendix TBD ANL-826-MLANV.pdf: over the file limit for one brief
- Enclosure No. 2J - Appendix TBD ANL-827-LTONV.pdf: over the file limit for one brief
- Enclosure No. 2K - Appendix TBD Sample Lease Payment Schedule.xlsx: spreadsheet: not read yet
- Enclosure No. 3A - Pricing Proposal Form.pdf: over the file limit for one brief
Full brief
What they want
- Supply a Base System of 16 GB300 NVL72 compute racks plus all associated equipment, software and licensing
- High-speed east-west network (NVIDIA rail-optimized topology unless justified otherwise) and a north-south Ethernet link (Juniper/Apstra) to the lab's global file system
- Software, resource management and system management that support training, inference, interactive and batch AI workloads
- Delivery, installation, integration, project plan, weekly status reports, acceptance test plan and acceptance testing
- Five years of maintenance and support (9x5 next business day) starting at system acceptance
- Complete documentation: bill of materials, rack elevations, floor plans, cable schedules, as-built and operating documents
- Lease-to-own financing for hardware and software, with a 48-month term for purchase proposals
- Optional: alternative commercial structures or added capability within 10 MW power, 10 MW heat rejection and under 6,000 square feet
- Contract type
- Firm-fixed-price purchase order (draft PO), with lease-to-own financing for the hardware and software lines; a DO-rated DPAS order is anticipated
- Period of performance
- Delivery date is blank in the draft purchase order; support, maintenance and warranty run 5 years from system acceptance
- Place of performance
- Argonne National Laboratory, Building 240 data center, Lemont, Illinois
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- How they'll choose
- Best-value tradeoff. The Business/Management proposal is a pass/fail responsibility check; only passing proposals get a full Technical and Price evaluation. Proposal risk is also assessed.
- Offers due
- 4:30 PM CT on Friday, October 16, 2026 (extended by Addendum No. 1 from the earlier date in the RFP letter) (from the version posted Sep 28, 2026; amended since)
- How to submit
- Email to Court Atkinson, atkinson@anl.gov, with the RFP number 6-B143-P-00251-00 in the subject line; cloud download links are allowed when files are too big for email
What they'll judge offers on
- Business/Management proposal: pass/fail contractor responsibility determination (first step)
- Technical Proposal (more important than price), in descending order of importance: 1. Overall Technical Solution and System Architecture
- 2. (title not in the text provided)
- 3. (title not in the text provided; covers AI capability relative to floor space, electrical load and heat rejection, and the facilities layout)
- 4. High-Speed East-West Network Architecture
- 5. North-South Ethernet, Storage, and Laboratory Integration
- 6. Software, Resource Management, and Operational Model
- 7. Installation, Implementation, and Demarcation Approach
- 8. Operations, Support, and Lifecycle Management
- 9. Security, Management, Telemetry, and Cloud Independence
- 10. Future Expansion, Technology Evolution, and Operational Flexibility
- Price Proposal: total evaluated price, including financing costs
- Overall proposal risk (low, moderate or high)
What to include when you submit
- Send three separate files: Part I Technical Proposal, Part II Business Management Proposal, Part III Price Proposal; do not combine them
- Do not mention prices in the Technical or Business Management proposals
- If several emails are needed, label each email and file with RFP number, offeror name, proposal part and sequence number
- First page must show the solicitation number, the offeror's name, address, email and phone, and the name, title and signature of the person authorized to sign
- Complete, sign and return Enclosure 3A (Base System Purchase Price Proposal Form, mandatory) and Enclosure 5 (Reps and Certs, ANL-70B)
- Complete the Enclosure 7 SaaS Questionnaire if any part of the solution is cloud-hosted or externally hosted
- Include financing details, including your best interest rate, for the 48-month lease-to-own term in the pricing enclosure
- Submit any requested exception or deviation to the contract terms in writing with the proposal, naming the term and the reason
- Mark only the pages or sections you consider proprietary, not the whole proposal
- Sign and email back the acknowledgment of Addendum No. 1 to atkinson@anl.gov
- Written data center questions were due Oct 2, 2026 at 12:00 PM CT, and a data center call is planned on or before Oct 9, 2026; email Court Atkinson to get the call details
You must have
- No small business set-aside; open to all offerors that pass the responsibility check.
- A DO-rated order under the Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) is anticipated, pending approval. From Addendum No. 1 to RFP #6-B143-P-00251-00.pdf:
Argonne anticipates that this procurement will be issued with a DO rating under DPAS, pending approval.
- Binding lease-to-own financing commitment from the offeror or its financing entity, on a 48-month term for purchase proposals; an existing valid master lease agreement with Argonne can be used. From Enclosure No. 1 - RFP Cover Letter, Instructions, & Notices.pdf:
…the proposed LTO arrangement shall provide for a term of forty-eight (48) months.
- Signed Representations and Certifications (ANL-70B) must be returned; registration in SAM.gov is encouraged before award. From Enclosure No. 1 - RFP Cover Letter, Instructions, & Notices.pdf:
…no award will be issued without receipt of a properly executed Representations and Certifications.
- Insurance for the contractor and subcontractors, including commercial general liability, auto, and workers compensation/employer's liability, with the lab, the University of Chicago and the U.S. Government as additional insureds. From Enclosure No. 2E - Appendix E ANL-366M.pdf:
…shall have and maintain for the duration of work this contract the following insurance coverage…
- Moderate Risk on-site work: no on-site work until Argonne gives approval to proceed, and all personnel must follow Argonne safety, security, badging and site-access rules. From Enclosure No. 2E - Appendix E ANL-366M.pdf:
The contractor shall not commence on-site work under this contract unless and until the contractor receives approval to proceed…
- Delivery truck drivers must be U.S. citizens, with names given to Argonne at least 5 days before delivery. From Enclosure No. 2A - Draft Purchase Order.pdf:
All truck drivers must be U.S. citizens…
Not in the notice text
- Estimated value or budget for the system is not stated
- Delivery or schedule date for the Base System is blank in the draft purchase order
- Enclosure 3A Pricing Proposal Form was not read (over the file limit), so the required price format and line items are not confirmed
- Proposal page limits and the full contents required for the Technical and Business Management parts (the middle of Enclosure 1 was left out)
- SOW Sections 3.2 to 3.6 details (rack, network, storage and software requirements, acceptance criteria) were only partly visible
- Titles of Technical evaluation areas 2 and 3 were not in the text provided
- Lease-to-own order forms, non-vendor lease forms and the sample payment schedule (Enclosures 2H to 2K) and the SaaS Questionnaire were not read
- Exact time and dial-in for the data center Q&A call are available only by emailing the buyer
- The middle of the lab's terms and conditions, IP provisions and site-safety supplement were left out, so some obligations may be missing
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 12, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Office
- Argonne Natl Lab - DOE Contractor, Lemont, IL
- Product/service code
- 7B20 · IT and Telecom – High Performance Compute (Hardware and Perpetual License Software)
- Business type
- IT, software & telecom (FedReady's search grouping, from NAICS 334111, not a SAM.gov field.)
- Versions
3 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 12, 2026 · Solicitation (this version)Due Oct 16, 2026
- Sep 28, 2026 · SolicitationDue Oct 16, 2026 (changed)
- Sep 18, 2026 · SolicitationDue Oct 5, 2026
- Contracting contact
- Court AtkinsonSandy Smith
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
- How to respond to a solicitation (8 steps)
- How to read a government solicitation
- How to price a government contract
Terms on this notice: Solicitation
Full notice text from SAM.gov
UChicago Argonne, LLC, operator of Argonne National Laboratory under a prime contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), has responsibility for acquiring the supplies and services that are the subject of this Request for Proposal (RFP), consisting of an artificial intelligence computing system and associated software/licensing, installation, and maintenance and support services. Offerors are invited to submit proposals in accordance with the solicitation requirements. UPDATE (09/28/2026): Please kindly note that additional documentation has been included to amend this solicitation: 1. Addendum No. 1 to RFP #6-B143-P-00251-00 UPDATE (10/12/2026): Please kindly note that additional documentation has been included to amend this solicitation: 1. Addendum No. 2 to RFP #6-B143-P-00251-00
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