NNG15SD34B-123.pdf

TAC-19-56418

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 1701 Directors Blvd., Ste 600 Austin, Texas 78744

2. Description of Action: This proposed action is for the award of a firm-fixed-price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for Cisco Local Area Network (LAN) Core and Distribution switches, cables and internal parts that make up the VA network Wireless LAN infrastructure.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Electronic Health Records Modernization has a requirement to replace LAN Core and Distribution switches that ensures compatibility and interoperability with the existing Cisco eq·u ipment, Medical Systems and Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) requirements. This equipment consists of Cisco Catalyst switches, cables, and internal parts that make up the VA network infrastructure of LANs. This equipment is used to interconnect and conduct networking traffic for virtually all computers and other information technology (IT) equipment components, Veterans Health Information Systems & Technology Architecture (VistA), VistA Imaging Systems, desktop computers, voice, computer room servers, and lab equipment throughout VA. VA is dependent upon the networking infrastructure to more efficiently deliver healthcare and perform its business and mission of ensuring timely inpatient and outpatient medical care services, mental health benefits, disability benefits, education benefits, housing benefits, and memorial services to over nine million Veterans. Existing LAN network equipment, currently installed at 49 facilities, either has, or is becoming, obsolete and needs replacement to augment identical gear and feature sets currently in use by the VA. Failure to replace network equipment would result in a disruption of communications between networked IT systems. This, in turn, will impact and significantly compromise VA's ability to perform its mission. All warranties for Cisco equipment and licenses will be covered under VA's National Enterprise Service Agreement.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(a)(4), the following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by the FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), entitled "Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized".

Cisc6 LAN Core and Distribution Switches TAC-19-56418

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this document, it is determined that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the brand name Cisco products. VA requires replacement LAN Core and Distribution switches that ensures compatibility and interoperability with the existing Cisco equipment, Medical Systems and EHRM requirements. The current network infrastructure in place throughout the VA utilizes only Cisco brand networking products. Cisco has proprietary communication protocols and software which can only be used with other Cisco products. Because these protocols and software are proprietary, only that manufacturer can create a switch which will operate in the existing network infrastructure. Performance and risk to the network are also a factor in that the Cisco switches allow computers/networked equipment to talk to other computers/networked equipment. Non-proprietary Cisco equipment could cause inoperability among existing VA infrastructure and cause a total loss of data. Based on the assessed value of all equipment warranted under VA's Cisco Enterprise Support Agreement, the duplicated costs associated with having to replace the existing Cisco infrastructure, in the event that non-Cisco equipment was procured, would result in the loss or rework of the current $490 million VA investment. Therefore, only Cisco or an authorized reseller can provide the necessary products for the refresh of the LAN Core hardware and software deployed throughout VA enterprise. No other manufacturer can provide the required hardware that meets VA's unique functional requirements.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in Section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government's requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for brand name Cisco products. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301, 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), and 16.505(a)(4)(iii), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities website and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the market place that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: VA technical experts conducted market research in July 2019, which consisted of a review of similar products, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise/Aruba, Brocade, Juniper, and Avaya. While other networking hardware and software solutions from alternative manufacturers exist, they do not meet VA's requirements as outlined in Section 5 of this Justification because only Cisco, or an authorized reseller, has access to the current hardware and software that communicates through a source code based on Cisco proprietary data currently in place across the VA. In addition, VA technical experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other brand name equipment is available. Market research revealed that Cisco hardware and

Cisco LAN Core and Distribution Switches TAC-19-56418 software is the only brand hardware and software that can be added to the VA l s infrastructure without disrupting the existing infrastructure.

In addition, the contract specialist (CS) conducted market research in August 2019 by using the NASA SEWP V GWAC Provider Lookup Tool to determine what vendors are capable of providing the full requirement. Based on this market research, the CS identified multiple authorized service-disabled Veteran owned small business resellers within NASA SEWP able to provide the required brand name products.

9. Other Facts: None.