Request for Information - Research Data Storage (RDS) Housekeeping tool

The University is undertaking a project to purchase an unstructured data management tool to assist us in carrying out "housekeeping" on the files/folders stored within our Research Data Storage (RDS). RDS is on Dell EMC Powerscale/Isilon. We need to scan and analyse the metadata belonging to 10PB of research data (~ 3.5 billion files). The tool will assist in identification of, for example, the owners, whether the data is cold or warm, duplicate and orphan data. It will allow us to tag files/folders with tags such as "cold", "retain-until-2040", "faculty", "school", "classification". The tool will allow us to move data to our new, tape, cold storage platform.

The University of Manchester no longer meets the criteria of a 'body governed by public law' and is therefore not considered a contracting authority for the purposes of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and/or any replacement legislation. As a result, the University of Manchester will no longer be subject to the regime contained in The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and/or any replacement legislation with effect from 1 August 2023. However, as an institution founded for the public good, an exempt charity and an organization in receipt of public funds, the University has a duty to manage expenditure in an appropriate manner and aims to deliver value for money across its non-pay spend by adhering to good procurement practice

Additional information: Information, formalities and necessary requirements to be met will be set out in the procurement documents, all of which are freely available via the University's procurement portal In-Tend - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/manchesteruniversity

Please note - This process is not a formal request for bids. The RFI may ask for prices/costs but this is for information purposes only at this stage. The publication of this RFI does not commit the University to any procurement.