NNG15SD25B_36C10B19F0072.docx

Control Number TAC-19-52937 Enterprise Tele-ICU Migration Control Number TAC-19-52937

FedBizOpps Award Notice

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* = Required Field FedBizOpps Award Notice Rev. March 2010 TAC-19-52937_Tele-ICU Server Move to TIC (FlexPod) 07724 36C10B19Q0124 N 541519 Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown NJ 07724 Tinamarie Giraud, Contract Specialist Tinamarie.Giraud@va.gov, 732-440-9641.

NNG15SD25B 36C10B19F0072

$347,200.87 01-11-2019

THREE WIRE SYSTEMS, LLC

783193175

3130 FAIRVIEW PARK DR STE

FALLS CHURCH

VA

22042

JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-priced delivery order under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Cisco and NetApp FlexPod Converged Virtualization Infrastructure (CVI) components with configuration and maintenance.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology, ITOPS Solution Delivery (SD), Endpoint Engineering has a requirement to procure various brand name Cisco and NetApp FlexPod CVI components with configuration and maintenance to support a technology upgrade at the Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) gateways located in Chicago, IL, and Dallas, TX. The FlexPod CVI is a complete solution designed by Cisco and NetApp that consists of only Cisco and NetApp hardware and software. This effort will add Cisco blade servers and a single NetApp storage shelf, allowing ITOPS SD to provide increased performance and system availability, and will move to the most current version of the virtualization technology into redundant High Available (HA) systems capable of fault tolerance that are compliant with contingency planning regulations. Maintenance consists of remote assistance, patches, bug fixes, minor and major software upgrades, and replacement parts. Delivery and remote configuration of the CVI components are required within 30 days after receipt of order. The Warranty/Maintenance support for the Cisco portion of the FlexPod Solution shall be provided under the existing VA Cisco Enterprise wide maintenance contract while the and NetApp Warranty/Maintenance Support shall be provided by the contractor. The total estimated value of the proposed action is $.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 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 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 justification, it was determined that limited competition among resellers is available for the required Cisco and NetApp CVI components. This procurement is for additional Flexpod CVI components that will allow VA to upgrade its existing storage infrastructure to virtualize storage and compute space.. The current infrastructure at each data center consists of only Cisco servers and NetApp data storage systems, and associated software and firmware. VA is not replacing the existing infrastructure, but rather augmenting it with additional CVI components to provide increased performance and system availability. The additional CVI components must be fully compatible with existing infrastructure within the data centers and storage facilities in both TIC Gateway facilities to ensure full interoperability and compatibility within each site and between the sites to allow for the transfer of data. No other brand virtualization hardware and software is interoperable or compatible with the existing infrastructure at both Chicago and Dallas due to proprietary constraints. Only Cisco and NetApp CVI components can be integrated into the existing environment to ensure compatibility and interoperability with the existing systems. Introducing any other brand hardware and software would greatly increase the risk of network outages, data transfer issues, and project implementation impediments, thereby introducing an unacceptable level of risk to the VA network infrastructure and support processes. Furthermore, use of any other CVI components could potentially cause latency and stability issues to the existing systems within the infrastructure of the TIC gateways, and could also result in critical downtime and possible corruption of data. In addition, VA requires one source to provide the integrated set of CVI components due to the interactivity of both brands working together as part of the FlexPod CVI proprietary design.

Remote configuration and maintenance support of the CVI components is also required to ensure the Flexpod CVI continues to run efficiently. Due to the proprietary nature of the Flexpod CVI, only Cisco or NetApp and its authorized resellers can provide the required configuration services, license keys and maintenance support for the products to operate. Cisco or NetApp, or its authorized resellers are the only sources available that can provide software updates, troubleshooting, patches, and version releases as well as replacement parts and remediation services for the hardware and software 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 or NetApp invalidate product warranties and remove liability for performance of the CVI from the manufacturers.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that could meet the Government’s technical requirements. It has been determined however that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the brand name requirements. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2), the resulting contract award will be synopsized at award on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) webpage and this Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity will be posted on the NASA SEWP V website with the solicitation.

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. Specifically, the government will research similar items to determine if any changes have been identified in the market place.

8. Market Research: VA’s technical experts conducted market research in November 2018 to ascertain if any other brand CVI components could be integrated within the existing environment to meet VA’s needs. Specifically, products from other similar server and data storage manufacturers such as EMC Corporation, International Business Machines, Hewlett Packard and Dell were reviewed. None of these other virtualization components were found to be interoperable or compatible with the existing infrastructure. Only the FlexPod CVI components, which are part of a proprietary solution consisting of only NetApp and Cisco hardware and software, will ensure compatibility and interoperability with the existing storage environment at Dallas and Chicago. Any other brand name storage infrastructure components will jeopardize ITOP SD’s ability to effectively virtualize storage and compute space at these locations. Similarly, while other vendors possess general capabilities needed to provide similar maintenance services, no other source was found to meet VA’s needs due to the proprietary source code specific to the maintenance support for these particular CVI components. VA technical experts concluded that unauthorized providers such as EMC Corporation, International Business Machines, Hewlett Packard or Dell do not have access to the proprietary data, source codes, and protocols, and proprietary hardware for the FlexPod CVI, making use of non-authorized vendors to provide support could potentially result in the VA obtaining “gray market or “black market” goods; therefore, increasing security risks for the VA overall.

Additionally, in December 2018 The TAC conducted market research by using the Provider Look Up Tool on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website. The tool revealed multiple resellers of Cisco and NetApp products, including multiple verified Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) resellers in Group B2. Therefore, based on the results of the market research, there is reasonable expectation that limited competition exists among verified SDVOSB contract holders in Group B (2) of the NASA SEWP GWAC.

9. Other Facts: N/A