Brand Name Justification.pdf

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION

SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS

AUTHORITY: FAR 13.501(a)(1)(ii)

PR/SOL/CONTRACT # 140A2321Q0164

Control #21-0097

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Brand Name Justification.”

Contracting Activity: This document is a justification for other than full and open competition for the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Education

Acquisition Office, Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

Requirement: X New Follow-on Requirement Modification to existing order

Pricing: X Firm-Fixed Price Time & Materials Other _____________

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

• BIE oversees BIE and Tribal Operated K-12 schools, residential and peripheral dormitories, colleges, universities, juvenile detention centers, and adult education centers across 23 states. Most, if not all, of the K-12 schools are in extremely rural areas, students may live miles from school and bus rides to and from school can potentially be very long.

In some cases, students are on the bus for 2 to 3 hours a day if not longer. Services are need for K-12 student and teacher access to support the school’s distant and virtual leaning initiatives and supplemental curriculum programs.

• It is estimated that as many as 300 buses may be needed to have SmartBus installed in a variety of configurations and models. The quantities needed to fulfill this requirement are are unknown and may vary.

• The objective is to award multiple Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA) to purchase

Brand Name Only Kajeet portable Wi-FI SmartSpot and SmartBus devices and related data that complies with the Buy Indian Act. This acquisition will provide a standard method for all of Bureau of Indian Education to purchase the required Smartbus and

SmartSpots to better support students.

• The anticipated period of performance: May 1, 2021 – April 30, 2022 with four (4) renewable option years.

• The estimated value of the proposed action base + 4 options years: $5,000,000.00

4. An Identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

FAR 13.501(a)(1)(ii)

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

• Kajeet offers devices that are 100% compliant with the Children's Internet Protection Act

(CIPA), are designed for K-12 Educational Use Only and provides unique compatibility with the requirements of the Government. These requirements are provided as technical specifications and contain key hardware and functional components for standard configurations. Due to COVID pandemic, the BIE is transitioning more to virtual learning for our school curriculums. More than 60% of hotspot devices in the BIE for our students consists of Kajeet products. Necessarily, the organization has considerable investments in IT support processes, technical knowledge, abilities and operational tools associated with Kajeet products. Therefore, proposed offers for endpoint equipment must be Kajeet brand.

• In an attempt to maximize competition and increase actions awarded to Indian Country, the agency has identified at least four (4) Native American Indian Small Business

Economic Enterprise authorized resellers who has the unique capability to provide new

Kajeet products from Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that will be proposed under the issued solicitation. These ISBEE authorized reseller will ensure all products are genuine and eligible for any OEM warranties, maintenance agreements and licensing as offered. Further, they have the capability to simultaneously deliver large volumes of products to multiple locations, nationwide.

• Failure to limit the technical specifications to the Kajeet Brand Name Only as provided herein would have a detrimental effect on the entire BIE school distance learning curriculum. Previous testing and configuration of other than Kajeet brand products and peripherals has been determined to be problematic, with outstanding unresolved challenges in which OIMT has been unable to resolve after applying rigorous troubleshooting, including extensive escalation through past vendors’ hotspot solution. Purchasing any product other than those requested jeopardizes the

BIE’s school ability to provide adequate virtual class which will be detrimental to the students and school’s academic curriculum.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies.

• Limited market research was conducted. According to the Government’s vetted Kajeet

Authorized Reseller list, there are a total of four (4) Native American Indian Small

Business Economic Enterprise (ISBEE) authorized resellers of Apple products.

• Based on the results of the market research herein, there is a reasonable expectation that quotes will be received from at least two (2) responsible ISBEE vendor at a fair and reasonable price.

• Extent of Competition: This procurement will be Set Aside 100% Indian Own Small

Business Economic Enterprise.

• Pursuant to FAR 13.501(a)(iv), this justification shall be posted with the solicitation (see

5.102(a)(6)).

7. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. The contracting officer determines that the anticipated price(s) will be fair and reasonable based on competitive quotations received in response to the issued solicitation.

8. A description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

• Refer back to Section 6 above.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of justification of other than full and open competition, such as: None.

10. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

Apple Approved Authorized Reseller list

JTM Enterprise

Inna ba Inc

NativeVet

Native Innovation https://www.acquisition.gov/sites/default/files/current/far/html/Subpart%205_1.html#wp1098039

11. A statement of any actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

None. This is a competitive requirement.