C01 JnA VISN16 REDACTED.pdf

VISN 16 Telephone Lifecycle Replacement Control Number VA-21-00056661

JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 1701 Directors Blvd, Suite 600 Austin, TX 78744

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a one-year Firm-Fixed-Price

Delivery Order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Cisco Voice System (VS) hardware products, ancillary software, and installation services.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology, Information Technology Operations and Services, Unified Communications Infrastructure Support has a requirement for brand name Cisco VS hardware products, ancillary software, and installation services to replace the existing VS for Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 16 that are End-of-Life (EOL) / End-of- Service (EOS) and no longer meet VA’s functional requirements. The VS connects to VA’s established Cisco phone infrastructure to provide phone, router, voice gateway, voicemail, and Automated Call Distribution licensing service. In 2009, VISN 16 procured Cisco brand name VS which no longer meet necessary functional requirements, including a Gigabit Ethernet passthrough which enables VA to supply desktop computers with the required bandwidth to run newly developed applications for Electronic Health Records Management, and providing Voice over Internet Protocol hardware and software that meets VA’s unique functional and technical requirements. In accordance with VA Enterprise Unified Communications Plan, VISN 16 requires VS hardware products, ancillary software, and installation services to allow sharing of VS resources and centralized VS management. In addition, the VS must seamlessly interface with VA’s existing Cisco software at each site in order to route local and long distance calling over VA infrastructure backbone. This proposed action provides for the procurement of brand name Cisco VS, including 35,944 hardware products, 107 installations, pre-cutover activities, and cutover activities to support replacement of VISN 16’s existing VS at 107 VA locations. The period of performance to complete all tasks is 12 months from the date of award.

The total estimated value of the proposed action is $15,844,345.98.

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: The VS currently in place in VISN 16 and across VA nationwide network is based on a Cisco brand name platform. The use of any other brand name product would result in interoperability and compatibility issues. Interoperability issues would stem from the inability of any alternative solution from being interoperable with the underlying firmware (proprietary source code) which, in turn, limits devices from performing to their full capabilities. Specifically, this proprietary source code allows the currently fielded Cisco hardware and software to communicate with additional Cisco brand name items. The use of any other alternative solution would not allow VA to maintain its Unified Voice Enterprise architecture whereby all VISNs are able to connect and work with the national dial plan and national call center. This critical functionality is only available via use of the required brand name Cisco VS hardware products, ancillary software, and installation services. Therefore, the use of any other brand name product would require a complete replacement of the currently fielded brand name Cisco hardware and software used on the VS infrastructure due to lack of interoperability and compatibility. This effort would require not only the replacement of the installed Cisco brand name VS hardware and software at 107 locations in VISN 16, but a complete replacement of the brand name Cisco VS infrastructure across VA nationwide network which supports and provides collaboration of voice, video, and networking. This replacement would produce extensive delivery and implementation delays and lead to duplicative costs. Specifically, such a replacement effort for VISN 16 alone is estimated to cost approximately $31.5 Million. The larger replacement effort that would be necessary across VA nationwide network would cause implementation delays of a minimum of 10 years and produce over $100,000,000 in duplicative costs. These estimates are based on previous acquisition history and would not be recovered through competition. In addition, the installation and configuration services required under this effort can be performed by only Cisco or Cisco authorized reseller due to the proprietary nature of the hardware and ancillary software.

Failure to procure the required Cisco brand name VS hardware products, ancillary software, and installation services will impede, or seriously degrade VISN 16’s ability to carry out its mission. If not replaced, the existing aging, unsupported, and at-risk devices will produce a negative effect on the support that VA can provide to Veterans. Specifically, VA would risk failure of EOL/EOS equipment/systems which would have a catastrophic effect on VA’s ability to provide adequate VS which enable Veterans to schedule and receive critical care and treatment.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in paragraph 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 VS hardware products, ancillary software, and installation services. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to the 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 marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research as recently as February 2021 by reviewing similar VS products, such as those available from Asus and Netgear, to ascertain if other brands could meet VA’s functional and technical requirements. While other VS solutions from alternate manufacturers exist, they do not meet VA’s requirements as they are not interoperable with existing Cisco-based infrastructure. Only Cisco, or an authorized reseller, has access to the proprietary source code and structures specific to the requirement to interconnect with the VS infrastructure currently in use and maintain the Unified Voice Enterprise architecture whereby all VISNs are able to connect and work with the national dial plan and national call center. Therefore, at present, there is no other solution available in the marketplace that can meet this requirement or avoid the duplicative costs as outlined in Section 5 of this justification. In addition, VA networking Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other brand name VS hardware products, ancillary software, and installation services are capable of satisfying this requirement. Based on all of these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only the aforementioned Cisco brand name VS hardware products, ancillary software, and installation services can meet all of VA’s needs.

The Contract Specialist conducted market research in April 2021 by using the NASA SEWP V GWAC market research tools and contacted six Service-Disabled Veteran-owned small businesses in June 2021 to determine what vendors are capable of meeting the requirement. Based on this market research, VA has determined that all required products and services are commercially available and that adequate competition for these can be obtained utilizing the NASA SEWP V GWAC.

9. Other Facts: None.