A02 LSJ Red Hat Enterprise Linux Redacted.pdf

Control Number: JA-20-E-108

Software Publisher: Red Hat

Program/Equipment: Force XXI Battle Command-Brigade and Below (FBCB2) program / Linux

FAR 8.405-6 LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

UNDER THE GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

FEDERAL SUPPLY SCHEDULE PROGRAM

1. Contracting Activity: Army Contracting Center – Aberdeen Proving Ground - Division E

6565 Surveillance Loop, Building 6001

Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005

2. Description of Action: The Communications Electronics Command (CECOM) Software

Engineering Center (SEC) requests a Firm-Fixed-Price Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) Call for the procurement of the brand name Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Red Hat Software

Subscriptions in support of the Force XXI Battle Command-Brigade and Below (FBCB2) program. The applicable North American Industrial Classification Systems (NAICS) code for this requirement is 541519, Information Technology Value Added Reseller. This effort will consist of a base year and four (4) option years. The Period of Performance (PoP) for the base is estimated for date of award through 14 February 2021. The anticipated award for this requirement is on or before 02 March 2020. Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, Operations and

Maintenance, Army (OMA) funds will be used for the base year.

The Government will compete this requirement on Computer Hardware Enterprise Software and

Solutions (CHESS) Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) website among the four (4) authorized resellers with Department of Defense (DoD) ESI BPAs: HC1028-18-A-0001 (Carahsoft

Technology Corporation), HC1028-18-A-0002 (DLT Solutions, LLC), HC1028-18-A-0003

(Emergent, LLC), and HC1028-18-A-0004 (EC America, Inc.).

An acquisition plan is not required because this procurement does not meet the threshold at

Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 207.103(d)(i)(B).

3. Description of Supplies/Services: The Army uses Red Hat COTS software products in the

FBCB2 system. The Red Hat COTS operating system software products have already been evaluated, qualified, integrated, tested, certified, and fielded throughout the FBCB2 Family of

Systems (FoS).

The government’s requirement is for a software operating system that can do the following:

An embedded real time operating system to host and secure applications running in a tactical operational environment. The software will need to be capable of running on custom ruggedized computing systems. The software will need to be capable of running

COTS and Government-Off-the Shelf (GOTS) used to support mission capabilities. The software will need to be capable of integrating with external hardware and software required to support Command and Control (C2) and Situational Awareness (SA) mission capabilities. The software will need to be capable of communicating with the Tactical

Internet (TI). The Government is currently using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for this requirement.

Provides security updates for baselined packages/software in the operating system.

Provides the capability to run applications compiled in 32 and 64 bit CPU microarchitectures, namely i686 and x86_64.

Product Description and Quantity Breakout per Year:

Product Description

Base & Option

Unit Prices

Extended Pricing

Quantities; Unit of Measure is each

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Workstation/Extended Life Cycle

Support, Standard

SKU# RH-FFP-LIEL – this is a revised SKU for extended support.

Red Hat dropped this product listings in anticipation of selling support for their latest up to date support.

The Government uses Red Hat

Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system to host tactical GOTS and

COTS applications to support warfighter mission C2 and SA. It is deployed across various configurations and FBCB2 baselines in the tactical environment.

Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Extended

Life Cycle support to develop and deploy critical security updates and fixes beyond the planned End of

Life for the version of RHEL that

FBCB2 baselines are currently on.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Standard (Physical or Virtual Nodes)

SKU# RH00004RN

Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Server to host the Joint Capabilities Release (JCR) and Joint Battle Command- Platform (JBC-P) Network Operating Centers (NOC).

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for

Virtual Datacenters with Smart

Management + Satellite, Standard

SKU# RH00844

Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Virtual

Data Center to host the virtualized development environment to support the development of releases necessary to sustain all FBCB2 baselines.

ESI External Agency Ordering Fee

(1%)

Total Price for the Base Year

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Workstation, Standard

SKU# RH0958488RN

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extended

Life Cycle Support (Physical or

Virtual Node)

SKU# RH00270

SKU# RH00844RN

Total Price for Option Year 1

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extended

Life Cycle Support (Physical or

Virtual Node)

SKU# RH00270

Total Price for Option Year 2

Options 1 & 2 contain pricing for the extended support of an older version of RHEL. During option 1 or 2 the Government will need to transition from the extended support licenses to a more current version of RHEL, which is why options for extended support and standard support are provided. The extended support pricing drops off in Option 3 and beyond as the Government will be on a more current version of RHEL, and will no longer need to pay for the extended support license.

Total Price for Option Year 3

Total Price for Option Year 4

4. Authority Cited: Title III of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949

(41U.S.C. 251, et. Seq) and Title 40 U.S.C 501, Services for Executive Agencies, as implemented by FAR 8.405-6 and substantiated by the following:

FAR 8.405-6(b)(1). Items peculiar to one manufacturer. An item peculiar to one manufacturer can be a particular brand name, product, or a feature of a product, peculiar to one manufacturer.

A brand name item, whether available on one or more schedule contracts, is an item peculiar to one software publisher.

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

(a) The use of a brand name description in this acquisition is essential to the government’s fielded systems’ ability to operate and maintain its certification, thereby precluding consideration of a product developed by another company. Red Hat is the exclusive developer of the Red Hat

COTS Linux Operating system software licenses and product lines. The product lines are wholly owned and propriety to Red Hat, 100 E. Davie Street, Raleigh, NC 27601. Red Hat is the software publisher for all Red Hat software subscription products listed in this acquisition.

Total Estimated Cost to Change Software and Reengineer the Base Line of an Integrated

Software System for the FBCB2 program

Engineering base line

This calculator provides a parametric estimating tool based on multiple factors related to substituting a different COTS software product for an existing COTS software product that has been integrated and fielded in program. The reengineering factors, include but are not limited to, how the software is used within the baseline; how the software is distributed throughout the program; where the software is in the configuration of the integrated systems program; how many times the replacement upgrade needs to uploaded; where the upgrades need to be installed;

the number of times the software has to be loaded in existing fielded equipment and or locations;

and finally how much effort is required to validate the software is a true substitution that meets all minimum program requirements. The configuration management requirements and the security features required to maintain the A-T-O in accordance with US Army Cyber Security standards and policy. The cost is determined by the engineer's knowledge of the program confirmation management, the relationship of the software to the core of the operating system, the A-T-O certification requirements and other factors.

At this time, it is determined that only Red Hat’s software would be able to function within the

Army’s current architecture. The Government will continue to search the marketplace for alternate COTS software solutions with the intent to evaluate and verify they will function within currently used Army program products. If the Government determines that the Red Hat Linux operating system software is no longer required or other operating system software can successfully meet the Government’s minimum needs, then the Army will seek competition to include all operating systems that meet the required program functionality to maximum extent possible. If similar requirements arise, every effort will be made to compete to the maximum extent practicable.

(b) Alternatives:

Oracle Enterprise Linux

Both Oracle and Red Hat have operating system software based on Linux, as such switching to the Oracle Linux operating systems would be the most seamless alternative to migrate towards.

Since this is based on Linux, there will be no material improvements to the operating system performance or sustainability using non Red Hat versions of Linux. Using non Red Hat versions of Linux would require significant financial investments in cost and time. Thus the switch to an alternate Linux COTS product at this time is not economically feasible. Oracle’s products are slightly different and do not have the Common Criteria certification, DoD STIG, or A-T-O documentation for the Force XXI Battle Command-Brigade and Below (FBCB2) program.

Microsoft Windows Server

The applications in FBCB2 system uses interprocess communications (IPCs) as the back bone of the system’s architecture. Moving to Windows Server would mean a complete rewrite of this component and significant rewrite of every custom application built in these baselines. The cost and schedules to undergo this migration will yield no improvements to the performance or functionality of the current fielded systems. Critical components like the map engine, security enhancements, and drivers will need to be redeveloped. Costs to migrate to a Windows operating system versus a Linux based operating system will be significantly more due to the drastic differences between the foundational architecture of the two categories of operating systems.

6. Actions to Increase Competition:

Commercial software publishers are encouraged to increase the number of authorized resellers.

Upon receipt of the requirement an authorized list of authorized distributors for this software is immediately requested from the software publisher. The software publishers are also encouraged to pursue distribution of their products/services through Small Businesses (SB), Minority Owned

Small Businesses (MOB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small business, 8(a) small disadvantaged business, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), and Woman Owned Small businesses (WOSB). Market research will be conducted annually on the current baseline to determine if changes occur in the market place that would enable greater competition.

The Government only possesses a commercial purchase description. Technical data for the previously acquired licenses is wholly owned and considered proprietary by Red Hat, Inc. The commercial purchase description does not provide enough technical information to allow other vendors to create the same functionality of this product to include the Common Criteria certification, DoD STIG, or A-T-O documentation.

The Government will continue to search the marketplace, and alternative software solutions will continually be researched to determine if they will function with currently used products. If the

Government determines that the Red Hat software is no longer required or other software meets the Government’s needs, then the Government will seek full and open competition for the required functionality. If similar requirements arise, every effort will be made to compete to the maximum extent practicable.

7. Market Research: The Force XXI Battle Command-Brigade and Below (FBCB2) program office previously identified three Linux operating software systems and has continued to monitor the market place for the current Red Hat Linux operating software and the two alternate Linux operating software applications. However, the two alternatives do not meet, and cannot be modified to meet, the Government’s requirements, for the reasons identified in paragraph 5(b).

Market research was performed by the SEC CALM Team in October 2019 with the intent to increase the number of authorized distributors, by increasing participation by small businesses, small disadvantaged small business, directed 8 (A), Service Disabled Veteran Owned, and

Woman Owned Businesses and Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone) or to find companies that could provide Red Hat software. Searches were performed on the Army

Computer Hardware Enterprise Software Solutions (CHESS) on 18 October 2019, National

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement

(SEWP) (RFQ#135216) on 22 October 2019, and General Services Administration (GSA)

Advantage (RFQ#1400576) websites on 22 October 2019, all requesting current product pricing and availability information for the required software and alternate products. No alternate product was found in this market research.

The search on the CHESS ESI website revealed 4 authorized resellers with Department of

Defense Enterprise Software Initiative (DoD ESI) BPAs: HC1028-18-A-0001 (Carahsoft

Technology Corporation), HC1028-18-A-0002 (DLT Solutions, LLC), HC1028-18-A-0003

(Emergent, LLC), and HC1028-18-A-0004 (EC America, Inc.).

10 ACC 0L850 V

A

X NNG15SD60B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

11 GovSmart 5WFZ8 V

A

X NNG15SD11B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

12 RedHawk

IT Solutions

4TBM6 V

A

X NNG15SD38B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

13 Bahfed

Corp

6KZA1 O

R

X X NNG15SD09B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

14 Blue Tech 0CL10 C

A

X X NNG15SD00B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

15 Aurora

System

Consulting

4ARC1 C

A

X NNG15SD79B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

16 Better

Direct

4JN18 A

Z

X X NNG15SD10B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

17 FedBiz IT

Solutions

6ETQ1 V

A

X X X NNG15SD01B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

18 Regan 365K3 C

T

X NNG15SD39B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

19 Enterprise

Technology

Solutions

62PR1 M

D

X NNG15SD76B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

20 DH

Technologie s

6XKC9 V

A

X NNG15SC70B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

21 AS Global 1QBT0 PA X X NNG15SC61B

(NASA SEWP)

Interested party

22 Mvation

Worldwide 80Q48 N

Y

X GSA eBuy Mvation Worldwide is teaming agreements with

Carahsoft (GS-35F-

0119Y), Immix Group

(GS-35F-0511T),

Promark (GS-35F-

0143R), Techdata (GS-

35F-0349S), Westcon group (GS-35F-0563U) Interested party

23 Calloway &

Associates

X X GSA eBuy

Interested party

There are four authorized CHESS Linux resellers. Three (3) other than small businesses and one small business, Emergent, that hold CHESS contract vehicles.

There are nineteen (19) non-CHESS small businesses that showed an interest. However, this is a mandatory CHESS requirement and must be awarded to a CHESS contract vehicle holder. ACC

APG cannot accept the proposals from non-CHESS vendors as they are ineligible for this requirement unless they have a CHESS contract vehicle.

8. Other Facts:

Procurement History:

Contract Number Vendor Acton Value Award Date Extend Competed /

Authority

HC1028-14-A-

0003/KX03

DLT Solutions, LLC

01/14/2016 Limited Sources-

FAR 8.405-6

HC1028-14-A-

0003/KX03 Mod 1

DLT Solutions, LLC

01/12/2017 Limited Sources-

FAR 8.405-6

HC1028-14-A- DLT Solutions, 01/12/2018 Limited Sources-

0003/KX03 Mod 2 LLC FAR 8.405-6

HC1028-14-A-

0003/KX03 Mod 3

DLT Solutions, LLC

01/12/2018 Limited Sources-

FAR 8.405-6

HC1028-14-A-

0003/KX03 Mod 4

DLT Solutions, LLC

01/16/2018 Limited Sources-

FAR 8.405-6

HC1028-14-A-

0003/KX03 Mod 6

DLT Solutions, LLC

02/07/2018 Limited Sources-

FAR 8.405-6

HC1028-14-A-

0003/KX03 Mod 7

DLT Solutions, LLC

02/09/2018 Limited Sources-

FAR 8.405-6

HC1028-14-A

0003/KX03 Mod 8

DLT Solutions, LLC

12/26/2018 Limited Sources-

FAR 8.405-6

HC1028-14-A-

0003/KX03 Mod 9

DLT Solutions, LLC

01/16/2019 Limited Sources-

FAR 8.405-6

Call KX03 against Basic Purchase Agreement HC1028-14-A-0003 has a base year and three option years. The period of performance was from 15 January 2016 through 14 January 2020.

9. Technical Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance that are included in this justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

10. 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.

11. Best Value Determination/Fair and Reasonable Price Determination:

I hereby determine that the BPA Call represents the best value to the Government in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(v). Additionally, I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the

Government for this BPA Call will be fair and reasonable.

This determination will be made using the following: Price analysis

In accordance with FAR 15.403-1 (c)(3)(i) - certified cost and pricing data is not required because the item and or services being acquired have been determined to be commercial.

The Red Hat Linux operating software and associated products have been determined to be commercial.

12. Contracting Officer Certification:

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the award of a Firm-Fixed-Price BPA Call for the procurement of brand name Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Red Hat Linux Operating

System Software Subscriptions for the Force XXI Battle Command-Brigade and Below

(FBCB2) program, pursuant to the authority of Title III of the Federal Property and

Administrative Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C. 251, et Seq.) and Title 40 U.S.C 501, Services for Executive Agencies, as implemented by FAR 8.405-6(b)(1) Items peculiar to one manufacturer, subject to availability of funds in the amount of , and provided that the services or supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.