NWORTH; Server Application Environment: Installation, Configuration and Documentation

Descriptions

1 Introduction1.1 The North Wales Organisation for Randomised Trials in HealthThe North Wales Organisation for Randomised Trials in Health (NWORTH) sits within the College of Health & Behavioural Sciences (CoHABS) which forms part of Bangor University. NWORTH is a UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) fully registered Clinical Trials Unit (UKCRC CTU Registration Number 23 since 2007) which specialises in the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of Phase II and III clinical trials.NWORTH is core funded by National Institute for Social Care and Health Research (NISCHR) and our mission is to improve the health and well being of the people of Wales and beyond by evaluating complex interventions in health (and social care) and also to advance the theory and practice of randomised control trials and other rigorous designs for evaluation. NWORTH also provides a Research Support Service to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) as part of the NISCHR Clinical Research Centre and Research Infrastructure and Technical Support Group.We comprise of a multi-disciplinary and multi-functional team with experience and expertise in healthcare research and clinical studies from initial idea generation through to final publication and dissemination. The unit collaborates with a broad cross-section of healthcare professionals and clinical academics to conduct and promote randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and other high quality research in health and social care.1.2 Purpose of The ProjectNWORTH require the installation, configuration and documentation of a server environment for building, testing and hosting software applications developed by the the clinical trials unit. The environment is to be deployed upon the existing VMware based server virtualization platform provided by Bangor University IT Services. Full details of the requirements specification and the technical environment in which the environment is to be deployed are provided in the Scope of Work section of this document.In addition to the project each proposal must also include a proposed comprehensive support contract.Due to the highly sensitive nature of the work carried out by the trials unit a high level of technical competence is required, with particular attention being paid to configuration management, repeatability of the deployment and systems documentation. The environment must be well documented to a level that would allow a complete rebuild of the system in a new location.2 Instructions to Bidders2.1 ProcurementBidders are advised to ensure they have also consulted and are willing to be bound by the Bangor University Standard Terms of Purchase, which can be found at:http://www.bangor.ac.uk/finance/pl/pl211.php.enWhilst these include reference to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Tenderers may also wish to refer to Bangor University’s FOIA processes, which can be found at:http://www.bangor.ac.uk/compliance-unit/freedomofinformation/Quotations must be valid for a period of 60 days from the closing date quoted for the return of tender submissions, or any extension thereof. Bids may be accepted at any time during such period.Quotations for ongoing support must be valid for 6 months from the completion of the project.The University will not be responsible for, or pay for, any losses or expenses, which may be incurred by you in the preparation and submission of your bid.The supplier must not canvas or offer any incentive to University Staff as part of the procurement process. Bangor University’s Anti-Bribery Policy can be viewed here:http://www.bangor.ac.uk/compliance-unit/BriberyActInfo.php.en2.2 Project TimetableThe following table details the expected timeline for the project delivery:Release of invitation to bid.19th December 2014Deadline for receipt of bids.16th January 2015Notification of successful bidder.30th January 2015Delivery of solution.February 2015 to March 2015Completion of solution delivery.1st April 20152.4 Format of Bid ResponsesThe tender response must include:Full supplier contact details, address and company website URL.Specifically the details of the individual(s) who will carry out this work including copies of their CVs.A complete pricing schedule with all prices excluding VAT covering the cost of implementation of all works as per the Scope of Work section.A copy of the proposed contract between the tenderer and Bangor University. This should include a Service Level Agreement.Details of at least three similar reference sites to include contact name, organisation name, email address and telephone number. The reference sites should have similar requirements to those of NWORTH, ideally Higher Education or Health Service sites, with a proven track record of implementing and supporting the solution.The dates and times your company representatives are available for on-site supplier clarifications and questions.Page numbers for all pages.Quality Assurance - details on standards, approach and accreditations such as ISO9001, ITIL etc.What contingency provisions are in place if delivery difficulties arise?2.6 PaymentPayment will be made in accordance with delivery of the products and services from the supplier. The final payment schedule will be arranged with the preferred supplier.The payment schedule will include a payment retainer that will be withheld until satisfactory completion of the acceptance testing as noted in the Acceptance Testing Section.3 Scope of WorkThe following subsections describe the existing NWORTH server application environment, the required new environment that is to be implemented as part of this Statement of Work and the implementation requirements that must be met.3.1 Existing EnvironmentNWORTH currently use a small number of virtual machines provided by Bangor University IT Services. Currently all of the web applications detailed in the Required Environment section are deployed on a single machine with each service running in its own domain and as its own user. For security and scalability reasons we wish to split these so that each service is provided by a separate virtual machine.All public facing systems are exposed through a reverse HTTP proxy.There is no central logging and little if any documentation to recover the systems in the event of a disaster.3.2 Required EnvironmentNWORTH require the following list of virtual machines to be configured in the new environment:3.2.1 Configuration Management ServerBase machine running configuration management service of your choicee.g. Saltstack or puppet.Bangor University will provide the base configuration SaltStack (http://www.saltstack.com/) configuration for the base machine.3.2.2 Syslog ServerBase machine running rsyslog.Members of NWORTH-SYSADMINS group should be able to view messages.3.2.3 HTTP Proxy ServerThere is an example machine already running this service.use http://nginx.org/ to run a reverse proxyAccessible from the Internet via port 443 and 80 has SSL CERTs and IPs fornworth.bangor.ac.ukmacro4-dev.bangor.ac.ukmacro4-prod.bangor.ac.ukredirect from http to https for servicesNagios monitoring of nginxAll access logs must be sent to syslog machine.3.2.4 Base Java Application Server Image or ConfigurationBuilt on top of the base machine but includes a full java stack including glassfish or tomcat.The glassfish 4.0 (https://glassfish.java.net/) or tomcat (http://tomcat.apache.org/) instance will have no admin password and will only allow connections to the admin interface from the localhost.The instance will server on port 8080 and will must connections to this port only from the proxy machine.Logging from Java app server should be sent to the syslog machine.Additional monitoring of web port availabilityMaven and java on the command line path.Maven configured to use the artifactory machineNagios monitoring of app server3.2.5 Development ServerThere is an example machine already running this servicejava base system plus Jenkins (http://jenkins-ci.org/) installJenkins must be configured:User that can publish artifactsAccess tied to ADNagios monitoring of Jenkins3.2.6 Maven and Artifactory ServerThere is an example of this machine however the version of artifactory is very old and it is not currently attached to Active DirectoryJava base machine plus Artifactory (http://www.jfrog.com/artifactory/) install.Artifactory configured so that only members of NWORTH Active Directory group can download.A user is available for deploying new artefacts.The deploy user should be set up for use by the reports and dev machines as part of the Jenkins setup.The contents of the existing Artifactory must be made available in the new instance.3.2.7 Report Generation ServerJava base system plus Jenkins install (as per Development Server)3.2.8 Trials Randomisation ServerBase java machine plus NWORTH web randomisation systems deployed from maven artifactory.3.2.9 Macro Web ServerBase java machine plus NWORTH macro web tool systems deployed from maven3.2.10 IDEAL ServerBase java machine plus NWORTH ideal booklet tracking systems deployed from maven.3.2.11 Dementia Web ServerBase java machine plus NWORTH LLAIS systems deployed from maven allowed connections to port 8080 from university web server3.2.12 FOLATED ServerBase java machine plus NWORTH folated unblinding systems deployed from maven also allowed connections to port 8080 from university web server macro documentation tool3.2.13 LLAIS ServerBase java machine plus NWORTH LLAIS systems deployed from maven also allow connections to port 8080 from university web server.3.3 Implementation RequirementsA base virtual machine template will be provided by Bangor University IT Services.All other virtual machines will be based on this machine.This machine will be attached to active directory.Members of the NWORTH-SYSADMINS group must be able to log in via ssh.All logs must go to syslog machine.Nagios (http://www.nagios.org/) to university nagios server with watches for:File systemRAMProcessor usageBackups configured to university backup service.Move to segregated IP subnet provided by IT Services.This machine configuration will be provided by Bangor University.The system must allow for a controlled roll out of operating system and application patches.Available patches for both should notify the sys admins and then allow testing on development systems before being rolled out to production machines.All machines and configuration must be well documented (NWORTH will provide assistance with the documentation requirements).All development must adhere to NWORTH SOP 6.02The entire platform must be rebuildable with minimal human interaction. Where services are not deployed from the configuration management server then a full Installation Specification for the service must be provided.All systems must be monitored via University NAGIOS monitoring systemAll configuration should be controlled.All NWORTH java web apps are built and deployed as war files stored in the current artificatory.Development and implementation must be done in line with NWORTH Standard operating procedures.These are avaiable from http://www.bangor.ac.uk/imscar/nworth/specservices.phpWhere appropriate, changes to the SOP 6.03 IT Infrastructure can be made.The successful bidder will be informed of any changes to relevant SOPs after 12th December 20144 Acceptance CriteriaRebuild on a new VMs of all machines listed above.The CVs of individuals carrying out the work.Build and deploy an existing project on dev server.Build and deploy an existing project on report server.Successful switch off of existing virtual machines:nworth-devnworth-proxy (including macro4-prod and macro4-dev)Demonstration of the items from this tender.All work must be completed before 1st April 2015.5 Evaluation criteriaBids will be evaluated by the following criteria:External references.Cost for tendered workCosts for ongoing maintenance proposal.NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at http://www.sell2wales.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=20160.The buyer has indicated that it will accept electronic responses to this notice via the Postbox facility. A user guide is available at http://www.sell2wales.gov.uk/sitehelp/help_guides.aspx.Suppliers are advised to allow adequate time for uploading documents and to dispatch the electronic response well in advance of the closing time to avoid any last minute problems.