NNG15SD34B-121.docx

Control Number: TAC-19-56160

Control Number: TAC-19-56160 FedBizOpps Award Notice

CLASSIFICATION CODE

SUBJECT

CONTRACTING OFFICE'S

ZIP-CODE

SOLICITATION NUMBER

BASE NOTICE TYPE

ARCHIVE

DAYS AFTER THE

AWARD DATE

RECOVERY ACT FUNDS

NAICS CODE

SET-ASIDE

CONTRACTING OFFICE

ADDRESS

DESCRIPTION

See Attachment

POINT OF CONTACT

(POC Information Automatically Filled from User Profile Unless Entered)

AWARD NUMBER

AWARD AMOUNT

LINE ITEM NUMBER

AWARD DATE (MM-DD-YYYY)

AWARDEE NAME

CONTRACTOR'S DUNS NUMBER

AWARDEE ADDRESS LINE 1

AWARDEE ADDRESS LINE 2

AWARDEE ADDRESS LINE 3

AWARDEE ADDRESS LINE 4

AWARDEE CITY

AWARDEE STATE

AWARDEE ZIP CODE

AGENCY'S URL

URL DESCRIPTION

AGENCY CONTACT'S EMAIL

ADDRESS

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

AWARD INFORMATION

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

GENERAL INFORMATION

* = Required Field FedBizOpps Award Notice Rev. March 2010 TAC-19-56160 "Unified Communications Infrastructure Support 18 Site On-Ramps with Options 07724 36C10B19Q0635 N 541519 Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown NJ 07724 Contract Specialist: Tinamarie Giraud 732-440-9641, Tinamarie.Giraud@va.gov.

NNG15SD34B 36C10B19F0427

$1,882,062.63 09-16-2019

MINBURN TECHNOLOGY GROUP, LLC

965431815

10113 MINBURN ST

GREAT FALLS

VA

22066

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

2. Description of Action: This proposed action is for a firm-fixed price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Cisco network hardware components and associated installation/activation.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA Office of Information and Technology, IT Operations and Services (ITOPS) Unified Communications Infrastructure Support section has a requirement to procure and activate brand name Cisco Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment and associated embedded software for the on-boarding of 18 sites including optional tasks to include up to 27 additional sites to its Cisco Voice Platform as needed. Each of the sites for the base and optional tasks shall receive 2 (two) Cisco C240 M5 Servers and 2 (two) Cisco 4431 Voice Gateway Routers. The new Cisco Call Managers shall allow the sharing of Voice System (VS) resources (i.e., one voicemail system) as well as centralized VS management. The new Cisco Call Managers shall seamlessly interface via Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) with the new Session Manager Edition that shall be used to route some local and long distance calling over the existing VA infrastructure. The total estimated cost of this effort is including optional tasks.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505 (a)(4) and the statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is 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.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on extensive market research, as described in section 8 of this document, it was determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for the required brand name Cisco VoIP hardware components. ITOPS is modernizing the VA’s VS infrastructure by reducing and consolidating the number of manufacturers that connect within the VS systems with Cisco components for uniformity throughout the VA infrastructure which presently consists of Cisco Session Manger Enterprise clusters. Therefore, only Cisco or an authorized reseller can provide the necessary products for the expansion of the existing Cisco VoIP environment consisting of Voice Mail, Automated Call Distribution licensing, embedded software and hardware components currently deployed throughout the VA voice network. Brand name Cisco hardware are the only products that will allow the use of Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) which is a Cisco Protocol that allows the call manager clusters to interact with the routers and voice gateways throughout the existing VA environment. Without the use of MGCP all changes needing to be done will have to be done manually on the voice gateways themselves which is both time consuming and tedious which could lead to incorrect information being entered. System interoperability and compatibility between routers, switches, voice gateways and call manager is the key for these systems to function at the highest level. Acquisition of different VS products, even if another existed with qualifications that met VA’s functional needs, would require multiple supports costs if the Cisco hardware and embedded software were abandoned in favor a different product would cost the VA approximately $28.5M. The compatibility and interoperability issues with Cisco MGCP and Session Manger Enterprise cluster uniformity throughout the VA enterprise which would prove insurmountable and impractical from a technical and operational standpoint, since it would require VA to purchase an entirely new VS environment and estimated replacement cost of $28.5M rather than expanding the existing infrastructure. Cost savings in expanding existing infrastructure would not be realized through competition. In addition, the installation and configuration services required under this effort must be performed by a Cisco certified technician due to the proprietary nature of the hardware. Therefore, only Cisco hardware and associated installation and configuration services can meet VA’s 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 hardware and associated maintenance support services. 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: The Government’s technical experts conducted ongoing market research starting in January 2018 through May 2019 by reviewing similar hardware and embedded software products to ascertain if other brands could meet VA’s functionality requirements. Specifically, the Government’s technical experts conducted web-based research, requesting an informal vendor quote. Technical experts concluded that while other VoIP hardware and embedded software solutions from alternative manufacturers such as Blackbox and Brocade exists, it does not meet VA’s requirements because only Cisco or an authorized reseller has access to the proprietary database and structure specific to the existing MGCP clusters required for the expansion requirement to interconnect with the VS’s in place. Therefore, there is no other hardware or embedded software available in the market place that can meet this requirement. In addition, VA networking Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other brand name hardware or embedded software is available. Therefore, based on these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only the Cisco brand name hardware and embedded software can meet all of the VA’s requirements.

Additional market research was conducted in July 2019 by utilizing the NASA SEWP V GWAC Provider Look-up Tool to determine whether Cisco products are available from resellers that hold NASA SEWP V GWAC. The tool revealed multiple resellers of Cisco products and maintenance support, 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 V GWAC. Additionally, the NASA SEWP V GWAC has a dynamic catalog where line items can be added based on customer requests, therefore, upon determination that the required item or service is within the scope of the NASA SEWP V GWACs, items and services can be added to a NASA SEWP V GWAC holder’s catalog on a daily basis.

9. Other Facts: None.

Page 1 of