C01 - JA Redacted.pdf

CONTROL NUMBER VA-25-00067603

JA Template_FAR 16.5_(07-AUG-2024)

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: The proposed action is for a brand name firm-fixed-price (FFP) 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 Memory Modules and associated installation services.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Veterans Health Administration, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 7, Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) Program has a requirement for brand name Cisco Memory Modules for Hyperflex Servers owned and operated by VISN 7 for hosting medical system virtual machines running applications for clinical use. The basic nodes RAM is required to increase medical server demand with an additional of 288 32GB RDIMM and 60 64GB RDIMM modules, hereinafter referred to as Cisco HyperFlex Server components. All required Cisco HyperFlex Server components shall be delivered no later than 180 days after award, and all installation services shall be completed within 12-months from award.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(a)(4), the following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by 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 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is viable among resellers for the brand name Cisco HyperFlex Server components, as described in section 3 of this justification. The current infrastructure within VISN 7 is comprised of Cisco Hyperflex Servers. In order to expand this server RAM infrastructure, only Hyperflex Server components can be used due to the compatibility requirement by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), Cisco. This infrastructure is programmed and managed using software, code and service tools that are proprietary to Cisco. As such, due to compatibility and integration requirements, only Cisco Hyperflex Server components are interoperable and compatible with the existing server infrastructure. Only Cisco or an authorized reseller can provide the necessary components for the expansion of Hyperflex Servers currently deployed within VISN 7 because no other source has access to Cisco’s proprietary database and structure which provides the compatibility and interoperability with the existing infrastructure. Use of other brand name server components would not be functional in the currently fielded

Cisco equipment and would necessitate a complete replacement of the Cisco infrastructure in place. The cost to replace the current infrastructure is estimated to cost approximately $3.5M and would take about 12 months to complete. This estimate is based on previous acquisition history as VISN 7 would need to repurchase initial hardware to establish a brand-new infrastructure. This estimated duplicative cost would not be recovered through competition. There are no other products that are compatible and interoperable with the existing VA Cisco hardware. Use of alternate server components would not be supported within the current infrastructure, thereby causing servers to fail. Based on review for RAM expansion of the OEM literature, including the Cisco Hyperflex Data Platform Administration Guide and the Cisco Hyperflex Drive Compatibility Guide, it is determined that only components provided by Cisco can be used. Mixing storage disk types is not supported by the server infrastructure already in place and may cause servers to fail, which would directly impact patient workflows.

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. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for brand name Cisco Hyperflex Server components. 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 Contract 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: In Month 2025, Government technical experts conducted market research for RAM expansion by reviewing the OEM published literature, including the Cisco Hyperflex Data Platform Administration Guide and the Cisco Hyperflex Drive Compatibility Guide. It was determined that only components provided by brand name Cisco can be used as mixing storage disk types is not supported and would cause the server failure. The NASA SEWP V Manufacturer Lookup tool was used to determine that there are several resellers of the required Cisco hardware components. Based on the results of the market research, resellers were found capable for meeting the full requirement. As a result, there is reasonable expectation that limited competition exists among verified SDVOSB contract holders under the NASA SEWP GWAC.

9. Other Facts: N/A