HEP Computer Equipment Procurement

The HEP IT team can provide help with computer equipment procurement for use in the department. It is not compulsory to involve the team but it is advisable to at least provide details of any system you intend to purchase to guarantee future support.

Where possible, particularly at the moment with global supply shortages, please submit any procurement requests as soon as possible.

Equipment and Consumables

We can supply and provide support on the following types of items

• Desktops, Workstations and Laptops
• Servers and bulk data storage
• Network equipment, but not WiFi
• Cabling (network, USB etc)
• IT consumables eg hard disks, headsets, adapters, USB keys

General Windows desktops and laptops should be purchased from the University's approved supplier DTP, their current price list can be found at https://shop.dtpgroup.co.uk/liverpool/. Such systems come with MWS pre-installed, a 4 year on-site warranty and are supported by CSD.

We do not provide support for

• Purchasing software licenses (we can host them if you wish)
• Purchasing commercial software
• Personal systems eg a home laptop
• Lab equipment eg oscilloscopes, bench power supplies etc

Submitting a request

When submitting a request to Helpdesk please provide as much detail about what the equipment is intended to be used for and what the expected requirements are. Do not assume Helpdesk already knows what your software and hardware requirements are, we almost certainly don't. Include as much of the following as you can:

• The minimum/maximum amount you wish to spend and the budget code+approver the order is to be placed against
• The experiment or project the equipment is to be used for
• Any non-standard user access eg access by users outside the group, use as a batch system, sudo access, special security concerns
• Any links to recommended specs or requirements documents, this is for guidance only it is not an alternative to supplying your actual requirements
• For compute systems:
  • Whether it needs to be a fixed rack server in the HEP data centre or a desktop system installed in an office/lab
  • An estimate of the RAM, CPU, local storage and Network connection requirements
  • Whether GPUs need to be accommodated (NB this can add significant extra cost to server systems)
• For storage systems
  • An estimate of the total storage needed and whether the data is permanent or volatile
  • Whether the system just needs to support long term storage or if it also needs to support high throughput data access eg supporting intensive data analysis
• What OS/environment is expected to run on the system and the intended usage eg batch node, DAQ workstation, data archive

Please provide details as soon as possible, preferably at the project planning stage. Researching a suitable system specification and obtaining quotes for larger systems can add weeks to the procurement process. There can be opportunities to combine hardware purchases if projects are procurring at around the same time and we have advance notice.

Do not leave purchases until the very end of a grant period, we have seen multiple projects unable to complete purchases before the grant closes. Expect at least a week to obtain first quotes on larger systems and delivery lead times are approximately 6-8 weeks under normal circumstances. Large server and storage systems also have at least a few weeks lead time on installation due to soak tests and infrastructure overheads.

Procurement Links

If you are purchasing computer equipment yourself here are some useful links:

• The University procurement website has information about approved suppliers. Companies we've found useful include
  • For Apple Equipment (MacBook, iPad etc) Academia should be used for University orders https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/intranet/procurement/suppliers-guide/academia/
  • For general Desktops and Laptops DTP supply recommended models and are supported by CSD https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/intranet/procurement/suppliers-guide/desktop_publishing/
  • For general IT consumables and systems Insight UK can supply a wide variety of items https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/intranet/procurement/suppliers-guide/insight_direct/
• Purchasing Apple equipment for your own use should be done through the Apple Education store https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/education-pricing for which you will need a Unidays account (available for Staff and Students)
• The general procurement procedures are available https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/intranet/procurement/documents_policies/