AI Hosting Services

Project: Supporting progress in key areas of public administration reform in Lebanon

Since 2019, Lebanon has been facing one of the worst economic crises globally since the mid-nineteenth century according to the World Bank, with 2 major events intensifying its impact, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Beirut port explosion in 2020. As the financial and economic situation unfolds, the downfall can be seen in all of the country’s aspects, from the availability of state services to the functioning of public administrations. Understanding the extent of this downfall requires an overview of several key facts that could represent Lebanon’s new reality.

Lebanon has also been facing political and economic crises for several years. The country has a complex political system that is based on power-sharing arrangements among its religious sects. However, this system has led to political gridlock, corruption, and a lack of accountability, which has resulted in a deteriorating economic situation and social unrest. The political deadlock in Lebanon refers to the ongoing inability of the country's political leaders to form a functioning government. This deadlock has been repetitive and has always persisted for multiple months and sometimes years.

The country’s worsening context has severe consequences on all sectors, with Lebanese public administrations being the most affected due to the reduction of available public funds. This has affected the core of public services and the basic functioning of administrations.

A new EU Program Action started in December 2023 that aims to support progress in key areas of public administration reform in Lebanon through enhancing the integrity, transparency and accountability of its public administration aligned with the principles of a modern public administration. It consists of three outcomes:

• Safeguarding integrity of the public administration, mainly in the area of public human resources management (i.e. civil service reform);
• Enhancing transparency in public administration systems, mainly in the area of public procurement at central and local level (i.e. public financial management reform) and access to public information (i.e. accountability);
• Strengthening accountability of the administration by reinforcing the role of the main oversight bodies (i.e., Central Inspection Board, Court of Audits and National Anti-Corruption Commission) in implementing reform, fighting and preventing corruption.

Needs justification

Albeit the financial crisis, almost all Lebanese governmental entities have suffered from budget cuts that affected negatively on their IT infrastructure and IT systems spending. The complications have multiplied with the financial crisis and political gridlock in the country, leaving most public administrations in dire need of support.

The project aims to support the IT and Capacity building needs of the Civil Service Board (CSB). Digitalization and reliance on IT solutions are key to the success of the CSB.

Objectives and desired results

• General objective

    The general objective of this Terms of Reference (TOR) is to engage a qualified service provider to deliver one-year managed hosting services for Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and services supporting the Civil Service Board of Lebanon (CSB). The hosting services aim to ensure the secure, reliable, and continuous operation of AI-enabled platforms, models, and data services that support CSB’s digital transformation and institutional service delivery.

• Specific objectives

The specific objectives of this assignment are to:

• Provide a robust and secure hosting environment optimized for AI workloads, including data processing and model execution.
• Ensure high availability and performance of AI services.
• Protect sensitive institutional data used by AI systems through appropriate security and access-control mechanisms.
• Enable scalability and flexibility to accommodate evolving AI models, data volumes, and usage patterns.
• Anticipated result

The anticipated results of this assignment include:

• AI services and platforms are hosted in a stable, secure, and continuously available environment.
• Improved performance, reliability, and responsiveness of AI-enabled services.
• Reduced operational and security risks related to the hosting of AI workloads and data.
• Effective support for CSB’s current and planned AI use cases throughout the contract period.
• Clear visibility on service performance through monitoring and periodic reporting.

Description of the specialist’s mission and Deliverables

The selected service provider should provide managed hosting services for CSB AI systems for a period of one (1) year. The assignment covers the operation, monitoring, maintenance, and technical support of the hosting infrastructure required to run AI models, AI-driven applications, and related data services.

The service provider shall ensure that the AI hosting environment meets agreed availability, performance, and security requirements.

Scope of Work

• Cloud Infrastructure and Compute Resources

The service provider shall provision dedicated or logically isolated cloud compute resources equivalent to the following minimum specifications:

GPU resources equivalent to:

• A minimum of two (2) high-end GPUs comparable to NVIDIA RTX 4090 with 24 GB VRAM each, or NVIDIA RTX Ada 6000 class GPUs
• Preference will be given to configurations providing four (4) equivalent GPUs
• System memory of at least 256 GB RAM
• High-performance storage with a minimum of 2 TB NVMe-based storage

CPU resources equivalent to:

• Dual enterprise-grade processors comparable to Intel Xeon 5318N, Xeon 6346, Xeon Platinum 8368, or AMD Threadripper Pro 5995WX
• A configuration providing 32 or more physical cores and a high thread count is required to support AI workloads

Equivalent or higher cloud-based configurations offering comparable or superior performance may be proposed by the service provider.

• Performance and Scalability
• The hosting environment shall be optimized for GPU-accelerated AI workloads.
• The environment shall sustain GPU utilization of at least 90% under continuous AI workloads without degradation.
• Cloud resources shall support sustained high-performance processing without resource contention.
• The solution shall allow for vertical or horizontal scaling, subject to CSB approval, to support increased AI workload demand.
• Availability and Reliability
• The service provider shall ensure continuous availability of AI services hosted on the cloud infrastructure.
• Infrastructure shall be monitored proactively to prevent performance degradation or service interruption.
• The service provider shall guarantee a minimum service availability of 99.5% per month, excluding scheduled maintenance.
• Security and Data Protection
• Access to infrastructure shall be restricted to authorized personnel using multi-factor authentication.

• Cloud environments shall implement industry-standard security controls, including network isolation, access control, and encryption.
• Data at rest and in transit shall be encrypted using industry-standard algorithms (AES-256, TLS 1.2 or higher).
• CSB data used by AI services shall be logically isolated and protected against unauthorized access.
• All administrative actions shall be logged and retained for a minimum of 12 months.
• CSB data and models shall not be used for training or improvement of third-party or provider-owned AI systems.
• Backup, Recovery, and Support
• Regular backups of AI systems, models, and datasets shall be performed.
• Recovery procedures shall be in place to restore services in the event of system failure.
• The service provider shall deliver technical support and incident management in line with agreed service levels.
• Recovery Time Objective (RTO) shall not exceed 24 hours.

Deliverables

The service provider shall deliver the following outputs during the contract period:

• Inception and setup documentation describing the cloud hosting architecture, security configuration, and allocated AI compute resources.
• Fully provisioned and operational cloud-based AI hosting environment meeting the agreed technical specifications, including GPU-enabled compute resources.
• Continuous availability of the AI hosting environment for the duration of the one-year contract in accordance with agreed service levels.
• Monthly operational reports covering system availability, performance metrics, resource utilization, security events, and incidents.
• Regular automated backups of AI systems, models, and data, with documented restoration procedures.
• Periodic review meetings and technical coordination with CSB designated focal points.
• End-of-contract handover documentation, including configuration details and data export support, to ensure smooth transition or termination of hosting services.

Confidentiality and Data residency

The service provider shall treat all data, information, documents, datasets, AI models, outputs, and materials belonging to or generated on behalf of the Civil Service Board of Lebanon (CSB) as confidential and shall protect such data against unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse.

The service provider shall not disclose, share, or otherwise make available any CSB data to third parties without the prior written authorization of CSB, except where disclosure is required by applicable law.

Any transfer, replication, or remote access to CSB data outside Lebanon shall be limited to what is strictly necessary for service delivery, security, or business continuity purposes and shall be implemented using appropriate safeguards, including encryption and access controls.

Assignment duration

• Assignment duration: 1 calendar year.

Duration, and terms of performance.

Start date: On contract signature

Delivery date: 1 year post contract signature

Required expertise and profile

The ideal candidate for this assignment should possess the following qualifications and expertise:

• Proven experience in hosting or supporting AI-driven or data-intensive systems.
• Technical capacity to provision and manage GPU-enabled cloud infrastructure in accordance with the specifications outlined in this TOR.
• Ability to ensure data confidentiality and data residency within Lebanon.
• Availability of qualified technical personnel to provide operational support and incident management.
• Demonstrated capacity to deliver services in accordance with agreed service levels.

Evaluation Criteria

The best value for money is established by weighing technical quality against price on a 50/50 basis.

NB:

• Only providers with scores of at least 40 points on technical evaluation qualify for the financial evaluation.
• No other award criteria will be used. The award criteria will be examined in accordance with the requirements indicated in the Terms of Reference.

Payment

Payment will be settled vs. an invoice issued by the selected provider every Quarter. Expertise France will exercise the right to retain 10% of the invoiced amount as a guarantee towards a proper delivery. The retained amount of 10% will be released upon final sign off.