NNG15SD34B-110.pdf

Control Number: TAC-19-55497

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 delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for Cisco Catalyst Local Area Network (LAN) Access Switches, incidental hardware, and incidental software.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology has a requirement for brand name Cisco Catalyst LAN Access Switches, incidental hardware, and incidental software for the Rochester VA Medical Center (VAMC). This action represents an expansion of the VA LAN technology currently in place for the VA nationally, which currently consists of solely Cisco LAN switches, routers, and associated incidental cable plant, mounting hardware, software, and licenses.

Hardware shall be delivered within 30 days of award.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (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.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in Section eight of this document, the Government has determined that limited competition is available for this action among resellers for the required brand name Cisco. The existing products located at Canandaigaua VAMC, Canandaigaua is the parent site of the Rochester VAMC, can only integrate and interoperate with other Cisco products. Any other product will not extend the VA Network with the existing VA Network; therefore, only Cisco products are able to integrate into the existing infrastructure. In addition, only authorized resellers of Cisco products have access to proprietary code to provide product support. The primary requirement of this acquisition, outside of the technical specifications of the equipment, is the ability to maintain an integrated, seamless fabric with redundancy and high throughput.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section 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 resellers of the Cisco product brand name item.

Although the Government is limiting competition as a result of specifying brand name, limited competition is viable among authorized resellers of the required brand name hardware that are NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), the award notice for this action will be synopsized within 14 days of

Activations for Rochester Medical Center Control Number: TAC-19-55497 award on the Federal Business Opportunities Page (FBO) and this justification will be made publicly available. Additionally, this justification shall be posted with the solicitation on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website to notify prospective offerors.

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: The Government's technical experts performed market research in March 2019 via contacts with potential vendors and network hardware manufacturers, internet searches, and review of industry publications to ascertain the ability of any source other than Cisco or Cisco's authorized resellers that could provide the required equipment that would be compatible with the Governments current Cisco enterprise network hardware. This market research included comparing products available from Cisco, Juniper, and Hewlett Packard based upon specification sheets and videos.

Research results revealed that there are no other compatible Original Equipment Manufacturer that can ensure the form, fit, and function necessary to satisfy the Government’s needs. To procure, install, integrate, and implement all new different manufacturer’s equipment would be significantly cost prohibitive thus confirming that adding to the VA’s existing Cisco equipment for enterprise network hardware is the only cost-effective solution to meet existing network requirements and ensure network operation.

Further a Request for Information was posted on NASA SEWP on March 22, 2019, posting number 114120 in which five responses were received from service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs). At least two of the SDVOSB vendors were considered acceptable, therefore there is expectation of limited competition.

Additional market research was conducted in April 2019 by utilizing the NASA SEWP Provider Lookup tool to determine whether the brand name Cisco products are available from NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. VA determined that there are several resellers of the brand name Cisco products that hold current GWACs such that limited competition is anticipated.

9. Other Facts: None.