6833 RFP VMWare ESX Support Services

Location:	Michigan
Posted:	Mar 19, 2026
Due:	Mar 26, 2026
Agency:	Washtenaw Community College
Type of Government:	State & Local
Category:	70 - General Purpose Information Technology Equipment (including software). R - Professional, Administrative and Management Support Services
Publication URL:	To access bid details, please log in.

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WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Purchasing Department – Room SC326

RFP # 6833 VMWare ESX Support Services

RFP Due Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026, 2:00pm EDT.

4800 E. Huron River Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105-4800

pur@wccnet.edu

WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Request for Proposal # 6833

VMWare ESX Support Services

RFP Release Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2026

Proposal Responses Due Date: Thursday, March 26th, 2026, by 2:00pm EDT

Submit proposals electronically via email to:

Steven Hoekstra

Washtenaw Community College

pur@wccnet.edu

WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Purchasing Department – Room SC326

RFP # 6833 VMWare ESX Support Services

RFP Due Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026, 2:00pm EDT.

4800 E. Huron River Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105-4800

pur@wccnet.edu

1.0 Proposal Invitation

Washtenaw Community College (“College” and/or “WCC”) seeks proposals from vendors that can fulfill

the deliverables as outlined in this RFP. The major goal of this project is to acquire third-party support

services for the College Systems Administration’s VMware ESX 8.0 environment. The selected vendor

will provide reliable, secure, and efficient operation of the College’s virtual infrastructure through expert

support and timely issue resolution. The College intends to contract with the awarded vendor for an

initial period from April 1st, 2026, through March 31st, 2027. At its sole discretion, the College reserves

the right to extend its contract with the awarded vendor for four additional one-year terms.

The purpose of this RFP is to assess the current availability of the selections outlined herein. The College,

at its sole discretion, may consider the closest comparable substitution for award. The selected supplier

will be able to provide all deliverables outlined in the RFP.

Response to this RFP confirms an understanding that this is not a contract or offer of business by the

College. This request for proposal in no manner obligates the College to the eventual purchase of any

products or services described, implied, or which may be proposed, until confirmed by written agreement,

and may be terminated by the College without penalty or obligation at any time prior to the signing of an

agreement, contract, or purchase order. In submitting a proposal, Supplier agrees that all materials

associated with, attached to, or referenced by the submitted proposal will become the property of the

College and may be incorporated into a subsequent contractual agreement between the successful

Supplier and the College.

The College is not liable in any manner or to any extent for any cost or expense incurred by the Supplier

in the preparation, submission, presentation, or any other action connected with proposing or otherwise

responding to this RFP. Such exemption from liability applies whether such costs are incurred directly by

the Supplier or indirectly through the Supplier’s agents, employees, assigns, or others, whether related or

not to the Supplier.

The College reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and waive any irregularities. Proposals which

fail to comply fully with any provisions of this document may be considered invalid and may not receive

consideration. The College also reserves the right to negotiate terms and conditions of a contract with the

chosen Supplier. The College reserves the right to award a contract based on any combination of the

specifications described herein.

The awarded Supplier’s proposal response shall be subject to, and governed by the College’s Terms and

Conditions for Product Purchase and Installation, located at

https://www.wccnet.edu/about/purchasing/purchasing-terms-products.php, as a condition of award,

and are hereby incorporated herein as a substantive part of the solicitation documents. In the event

there is any conflict or inconsistency between the Terms & Conditions referenced in the RFP documents

and those included in a Supplier’s Proposal response, Supplier’s quote, or listed on the Supplier’s

website, the Terms & Conditions of the RFB documents shall govern. Proposal submissions must include

all exceptions to the College’s terms and conditions of purchase. A purchase order signed by an

authorized agent of the College is required to constitute acceptance of Proposal offer and offer terms

WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Purchasing Department – Room SC326

RFP # 6833 VMWare ESX Support Services

RFP Due Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026, 2:00pm EDT.

4800 E. Huron River Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105-4800

pur@wccnet.edu

and conditions of service. This RFP and any subsequently offered contracts will be governed by the laws

of the State of Michigan. Any and all applicable valid executive orders, Federal, State or local laws,

ordinances or rules or regulations shall apply to any contract if and when offered and are deemed

incorporated herein.

As a public institution, the College is subject to the terms and conditions of the Freedom of Information

Act. As required by law, any information submitted in response to this request for proposal could become

public information. Suppliers responding to this proposal are cautioned not to include any proprietary

information as part of their proposal unless such proprietary information is carefully identified in writing

as such and accepted by the College as proprietary. Any documents submitted may be reviewed and

evaluated by any person at the discretion of the College, including non-allied and independent Suppliers

retained by the College now or in the future.

Preference will be given to the suppliers who can meet the specifications provided or closest substitutes

as determined by the College. Award of a contract will be based on the proposal whose offering best

meets the needs of the College. Criteria for award of a contract include, but are not limited to features &

options, technical functionality, adherence to minimum requirements and preferred specifications,

compatibility with College’s existing room and building infrastructure, ability for the modular vacuum

system to be installed and commission by WCC-personnel, ability to provide required equipment, pricing,

and deliverable timeline. The College reserves the right to request follow-up information such as

questions, presentations, and demos prior to contract award.

2.0 Planned RFP Schedule

RFP Timeline:

RFP Issued: Thursday, March 19th, 2026.

Submission of Written Questions from Prospective Bidders: Monday, March 23rd, 2026, by 2:00pm EDT.

College will post Responses to Written Questions: Tuesday, March 24th, 2026, by 2:00pm EDT.

RFP Due Date: Thursday, March 26th, 2026, at 2:00pm EDT.

WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Purchasing Department – Room SC326

RFP # 6833 VMWare ESX Support Services

RFP Due Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026, 2:00pm EDT.

4800 E. Huron River Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105-4800

pur@wccnet.edu

3.0 Specifications/Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Technical support (please specify 24x7 or business-hours)

Incident response and troubleshooting for ESXi hosts and vCenter

Patch and update guidance for ESX 8.0 and vCenter

Performance monitoring and optimization recommendations

Assistance with configuration issues and best practices

Escalation support for critical outages

Advisory services for capacity planning and lifecycle management

Preferred Specifications:

Proactive health checks

Security hardening recommendations

Backup/recovery consultation

Online portal for tracking incidents

1. Provide a company overview with relevant experience, a detailed description of support services

offered, SLA (Service Level Agreement) commitments, pricing structures, assumptions and exclusions,

and contact information.

2. Proposals shall clearly define response and resolution SLAs by severity level; support delivery model

(remote, on-site availability if applicable); escalation procedures; and named or pooled support

resources.

3. Please indicate third-party support services compatibility with WCC’s current VMware ESX 8.0

environment, which consists of the following:

a. 6 physical ESX 8.0 hosts,

b. 1 VMware vCenter Server,

c. Hosted workloads include production virtual machines supporting critical business applications.

d. The infrastructure is hosted on-premises and backed by enterprise storage systems.

4. Proposals shall demonstrate firm’s proven experience supporting VMware ESX 8.0 environments,

certifications or partnerships relevant to VMware technologies, experience supporting similar-sized

environments, and references from comparable organizations.

5. Please indicate the soonest service implementation date possible and any initial set-up requirements.

6. At its sole discretion, the College reserves the right to make an award based on any individual

specification or requirement, or combination of specifications and/or requirements outlined herein.

WASHTENAW COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Purchasing Department – Room SC326

RFP # 6833 VMWare ESX Support Services

RFP Due Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026, 2:00pm EDT.

4800 E. Huron River Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105-4800

pur@wccnet.edu

Specifications:

4.0 RFP Requirements - General

The following requirements must be met when responding to this RFP. Dealer quote will be sufficient

provided:

 License fees, maintenance fees, delivery or destination fees, additional professional service and

setup fees, consultation fees, software expenses, and training costs required to meet the

primary objectives as stated in this RFP have been included.

 Attachment A – WCC Minimum Security Standards is completed and returned with the RFP. All

other pertinent cybersecurity policies/documents are included.

 A copy of the signed Signature Page is included

*Washtenaw Community College holds a tax-exempt status and shall not be charged any Federal or

State taxes where allowed. Tax-exempt documentation shall be presented when required.

5.0 Submission Directions

A. Proposals following the guidelines outlined in this document are due on or before Thursday,

March 26, 2026, 2:00pm EST.

Submit proposals electronically via email to:

Steven Hoekstra

Washtenaw Community College

pur@wccnet.edu

RFP # 6833 VMWare ESX Support Services

All proposals must be submitted to pur@wccnet.edu by the due date specified above. Proposals

submitted by methods other than those specified above will NOT be accepted.

B. Submit one (1) official distributor quote, one (1) signed copy of the Signature Page, and one (1)

completed copy of Attachment A – Minimum Security Standards in a single PDF format. Faxed and

mailed replies are not acceptable and will be rejected. It is the responsibility of the vendor to

ensure that proposals are received at the location stated above, on or before the due date and

time. The college’s normal office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDST. The vendor assumes all

responsibility for delivery to the location given above regardless of the method of shipment and

delivery used and the time received to the specified location on campus.

C. Questions must be addressed to Steven Hoekstra, Purchasing Agent, and sent to pur@wccnet.edu.

The deadline to submit questions is Monday, March 23rd, 2026, by 2:00pm EDT. All questions

received by the deadline date will be posted with answers on the WCC Purchasing website

https://www.wccnet.edu/about/purchasing/bids-rfp.php on or before Tuesday, March 24th, 2026,

by 2:00pm EDT.

This is the opportunity summary page. It provides an overview of this opportunity and a preview of the attached documentation.

6833 RFP VMWare ESX Support Services

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