NNG15SD26B-164.pdf

FlexPod Converged Virtualization Control Number: TAC-18-51575 Infrastructure

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: This proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price (FFP) delivery order (DO) issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for four brand name FlexPod Converged Virtualization Infrastructures (CVI) equipped with hardware and software components, as well as maintenance support services and training.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology, Clinical Engineering, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 1 Medical center has a requirement to procure a FlexPod CVI, equipped with hardware and software components, including related requirements for installation pertaining to architecture upgrades, accessory kits, power cords, maintenance support services and training for the Clinical Engineering staff. The FlexPod CVI is a complete solution designed by Cisco and NetApp that consists of Cisco, Commvault and NetApp hardware and software. This effort is for a new FlexPod and installation located at Central Western Mass VA Medical Center (VAMC), a reinstatement of services, integration, and upgrade of existing NetApp storage systems, located at Jamaica Plain, Providence, Togus, West Haven West Roxbury and Brockton VAMC and Commvault software which allows each Medical Center in VISN 1 Network Backup, Recovery Upgrade, that will provide increased performance, system availability, and will expand disaster preparedness and recovery time for all medical device server-based data and applications. The hardware and internal operating software are required to replace existing Cisco switches that are End-of-Life (EOL)/ End-of Service (EOS) used for storage connectivity enhancements that will help backup/restore various systems throughout all the sites within VISN 1 and provide a centralized backup solution with off-site redundancy.

This effort will include professional onsite training of the Cisco, Commvault and NetApp system’s software. Training of the software shall be provided to designated VA personnel. Training will be conducted on-site and shall be included in each step of the process including the installation, implementation and configuration of the CVI. The Contractor shall provide hard copies of the training materials to each training attendee.

Upon completion of installation, the Contractor shall provide a hard copy of the User Guide. The Contractor shall provide four on site sessions. Additionally, the Contractor shall provide one year of “Government Support” for the FlexPod hardware and software.

Maintenance consists of on-site support of existing NetApp hardware, assistance, patches, bug fixes, minor and major software upgrades, and replacement parts.

Hardware and software will be delivered within 90 days after award followed by installation. The 1-year warranty/maintenance period will commence upon VA’s acceptance of the CVI. The total estimated value of the proposed action is.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 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.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in section 8 of this document, it has been determined that limited competition among resellers is available for this procurement. The procurement of Flexpod CVI will allow VA to migrate existing Commvault, Cisco and NetApp systems to virtualize storage and compute space required for use by existing and future virtualized applications, servers and desktops in direct support of VISN1 Medical Centers of Care throughout the New England area. The CVI must be fully compatible with existing NetApp infrastructure within the data centers and storage facilities in VISN1 Medical Centers to ensure full interoperability and compatibility within each site and between the sites to allow for the transfer of data. Specifically, the current infrastructure at each data center consists of only Cisco servers, Commvault Licenses, and NetApp data storage systems, associated software and firmware. This configuration aligns with current VA network architecture and support mechanisms which enables proficient scalability for increase in size and performance. Other vendor servers, licenses and storage controllers are not compatible as each vendor has their own proprietary hardware and software in providing virtualization, backup and recovery to medical device servers.

Utilizing incompatible hardware and software would result in network outages, data transfer issues, and project implementation impediments, thereby introducing an unacceptable level of risk to the VA network infrastructure and support processes. VA requires a complete Flexpod solution that can integrate into the existing infrastructure at VISN1 Medical Centers. It is impossible to separate these brand name components because they compromise the Flexpod solution. Furthermore, various software and hardware that is installed within VISN1 Medical Centers would require replacement if another brand name was procured due to the aforementioned proprietary constraints.

This would result in delivery delays, extensive duplication of costs, critical downtime and possible corruption of data that would not be recovered through a competition.

Installation and maintenance of the CVI is required to ensure the Flexpod CVI continue to run efficiently. Failure to acquire the installation of the Flexpod CVI will prevent VA from obtaining a warranty for the CVI and void existing warranties which lapse September 2018 for Cisco equipment already installed at the data centers. Failure to acquire the maintenance for the CVI will prevent VA from obtaining fixes and patches to identify security vulnerabilities and defect resolutions. Due to the proprietary nature of the Flexpod CVI, only Cisco, Commvault or NetApp and its authorized resellers can provide the required maintenance and the license keys necessary for the products to operate. Cisco, Commvault or NetApp, or its authorized resellers are the only source available that can provide software updates, troubleshooting, patches, and version releases as well as replacement parts and remediation services for the hardware components of the CVI. Other manufacturers do not have the proprietary source code or replacement parts necessary to provide the required maintenance. Maintenance performed by parties not authorized by Cisco, Commvault or NetApp invalidate product warranties and remove liability for performance of the CVI from the manufacturers. VA relies heavily on the data stored within for various high profile and critical projects.

Procurement of the required maintenance and support will ensure that the storage systems remain operational, without interruption. Furthermore, if the required FlexPod CVI is not procured, the existing infrastructure cannot be expanded. Based on the above, only brand name FlexPod CVI can meet the Government’s requirements.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section 8 of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. It was determined however that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for brand name FlexPod CVI hardware and software components, as well as maintenance support services and training. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(2), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all interested NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. In accordance with FAR

5.301 and FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), notice of award of the resulting order will be synopsized and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days after award on the Federal Business Opportunity website.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions of this requirement, the Government’s technical experts will continue to perform market research to determine if there are any products available that will enable competition. The Government continues to monitor market trends and changes in requirements that could facilitate a more competitive environment.

8. Market Research: The Government’s technical experts performed market research from January 2017 through June 2018 by researching other similar solutions (online and through market literature) to learn if other brand items could meet and be compatible with VA’s existing FlexPod architecture (considering connectivity, licensing, operability and management). The Government’s information technology security technical experts reviewed similar solutions from the following companies: EMC Corporation, International Business Machines, Hewlett Packard and Dell. The items did not meet VA’s requirements as none of the server and data storage components reviewed met VA’s specific interoperability requirements detailed in paragraph 5. Based on this market research, the Government’s technical experts have concluded that only the FlexPod CVI brand name hardware and software will meet VISN1 Medical Center’s requirements for its central management of Clinical Engineering Service Line requirements.

9. Other Facts: None