Bid document

National Laboratory of the Rockies
Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF)

HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING

PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE

November 9, 2026
PSN-2027032940
Introduction:

The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) is the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) primary national laboratory for energy systems research and development. As the energy systems laboratory, NLR’s unique strength lies in developing and integrating a broad array of energy technologies into robust, reliable systems, bridging foundational research with practical applications to lower energy costs, drive economic growth, bolster national security, and deliver abundant and reliable energy.

The Alliance for Energy Innovation, on behalf of NLR, located in Golden, Colorado intends to release a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the next-generation high-performance computing (HPC) system to be installed at NLR’s ESIF. The primary objective of the ESIF-HPC-4 procurement is to provide the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation’s (CMEI) with a flagship HPC system, hosted and stewarded by NLR, that advances applied energy research, technology validation, and deployment.
This pre-solicitation notice is being issued to provide industry with advance awareness of NLR's anticipated procurement approach and schedule for ESIF-HPC-4. This notice is for informational and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. Interested parties should monitor NLR procurement communications at
https://www.nlr.gov/workingwithus/procurement-opps and https://www.Sam.Gov for the release of the official solicitation package and any associated amendments.

RFP Synopsis:
The ESIF-HPC-4 system will provide the computational capability needed to support CMEI’s research and technology priorities through the 2028-2032 timeframe. The system must be compatible with the ESIF data center, which balances energy efficiency with computational performance. To meet these needs, NLR intends to procure a computational resource that delivers the majority of compute cycles through GPU-based nodes, complemented by integrated performance and capacity storage tiers and a high-speed interconnect to support HPC and advanced accelerated workloads.

NLR targets a system with workload throughput performance of at least two times (2X) the current system, Kestrel, for CMEI mission workloads, with options to expand capacity and capabilities as mission needs evolve. Details about Kestrel can be found at this URL: