36C10B20Q0102-001.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price contract, issued on a sole sourse basis for continued use of existing dark fiber optic connections between buildings located throughout the Pittsburgh Healthcare System. The existing dark fiber network supporting information technology system communications across the Pittsburgh Health Care System is owned, managed and maintained by Duquesne (DQE) Communications located at 411 Seventh Ave 15th floor, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PA) 15219.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology, Service Delivery and Engineering, Field Operations District 1, in support of the Pittsburgh Healthcare System has a requirement for the renewal of existing fiber optic network services between all locations of VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, the Veterans Integrated Service Network 4 Office, and VA Pittsburgh Human Engineering Research Laboratory. The period of performance shall be 12 months from February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021 followed by three 12-month option periods. The total estimated price of this action is $360,000.00, inclusive of options.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 entitled, “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: As detailed in section 8 below, DQE Communications owns the current dark fiber infrastructure installed and connected to VA locations throughout the Pittsburgh Healthcare System. This infrastructure is critical for connectivity to the current information technology systems supporting Pittsburgh Health Care System locations. All locations depend on extensive computing and Internet-based services and connectivity to systems and technologies to maintain current business operations as well as provide support of the medical treatment of Veterans served at VA facilities throughout the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area. DQE Communications already owns the dark fiber that is in place for a private network that is more than 600 times faster than a typical T1 data connection. DQE Communications has previously designed, constructed and tested the dark fiber network between the Pittsburgh Health Care System locations to support at least 10 Gigabyte bandwidth and data throughout. DQE Communications has already obtained the necessary agreements to use poles, to maintain its current fiber cable infrastructure throughout the city of Pittsburgh. VA does not own any of the existing fiber networks. Any other contractor that could supply the required fiber would be required to provide fiber optic connection from their distribution points to the main demarcation locations throughout the Pittsburgh

Dark Fiber Control Number TAC-20-57353

Healthcare System. Market Research revealed that this will require significant effort which includes running miles of fiber cable overhead and underground. Based on potential construction requirements and market research, it is highly unlikely that any other source can provide the required dark fiber network services and connectivity by the required date of February 1, 2020 and would result in an interruption of current connectivity between locations throughout the Pittsburgh Health Care System.

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. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. Additionally, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR

5.201. Any proposals that are received shall be evaluated.

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: In November 2019, the Government’s technical experts conducted market research. The market research included contacting the two primary General Service Administration (GSA) Networx vendors (AT&T and CenturyLink) to see if they provide these services under their current GSA Networx contracts. Both vendors replied they are unable to provide the required fiber network services; they did not own any dark fiber networks in the Pittsburgh area and would not be capable of meeting the requirements for this effort.

DQE Communications was also contacted. DQE Communications’ network covers thousands of miles in the 9-county region serving the greater Pittsburgh area. DQE Communications’ existing self-healing, fiber optic, ring-based architecture offers superior redundancy in support of Pittsburgh Health Care System requirements. In the event of a failure, the network automatically detects and redirects the network to available fiber connections to ensure continuous service. Using DQE Communications’ dark fiber network enables users to transmit extraordinary amounts of critical data, video and telephony traffic between facilities, and provides cost-effective transport to the Internet.

Based on this market research it was determined that only DQE Communications can meet all of the Government’s requirements because they are the only source in the Pittsburgh area having existing dark fiber infrastructure currently in place and would not require any additional installation or construction to provide service without the disruption of existing business and medical treatment operations across Pittsburgh Health Care System locations.

9. Other Facts: None.

Dark Fiber Control Number TAC-20-57353

10. Technical and Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Name: James Jankun Date: ________________________________

Title: Telecommunications Signature: ____________________________

Specialist

11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on the comparison of the quoted price with Independent Government Cost Estimate and historical pricing date.

Debra Clayton Date: ________________________________

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________

12. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. As this contract action does not exceed $700,000, the certification below required by FAR 6.303- 2(b)(12) serves as approval.

Debra Clayton Date: ___________________________

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ________________________