C01 Synopsis of Award J_A Posting _WorldNet Data _Redacted.pdf

VA-24-00082519

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 new sole source Firm- Fixed Price (FFP) Purchase Order with Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC for continued Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) data services in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix.

3. Description of Supplies or Services:

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Information Technology (OIT), Development Security Operations, Solution Delivery, Telecommunications Provisioning Office Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) has the overall business and management responsibilities for all of the telecommunication services (voice and data). The Contractor shall provide continued telecommunication data services at VA facilities located in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix. The services include Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) Line Flat Rate, Primary Rate Integrated (PRI) Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Direct Inward Dialing (DID) for each line, and Metro Ethernet 20 - 1000 Mbps, at the Service Delivery Points (SDP) in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. This includes the requirement for a qualified technician responding within one hour of a service request 99.9% of the time. Data availability (uptime) shall be 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 99.9% of the time.

Data service restoration shall be completed within 24 hours, 100% of the time. The contractor shall also respond to a major system failure within one hour of notification, 100% of the time. The VA must be listed and retained as the customer of record and the contractor must own the services/infrastructure being provided. This action is for services only. No hardware or software will be procured as a result of this action. The period of performance for this contract shall be a twelve (12) month base period with four (4) 12-month option periods. The total estimated value of this proposed action is inclusive of all options.

4. Authority Cited:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 1903 as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501 entitled, “Special Documentation Requirements.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above:

The proposed source for this action is Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC, a small business located at Centro Internacional De Mercadeo 90 Carr 165 Suite 201 Guaynabo, PR 00968-8059. Based on Market Research, as documented in Sections 6 and 8 of this Justification, it has been determined that only Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC is capable of providing the continuous aforementioned LEC telecommunication data services. Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC currently provides uninterrupted and seamless data services where Veterans receive treatment and care. There is only one responsible source for this item. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition.

Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC already has an established data service infrastructure in place that allows for provisioning of data services to the VA.

These data services are based on Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC proprietary data. Any other source would need access to Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC proprietary data in order to develop and deliver the data services and to ensure all services provided are properly configured. No other source other than Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC or its authorized resellers have access to this proprietary data.

Further, the use of authorized Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC resellers for this effort would not meet VA’s requirements. Authorized resellers can only provide these services as an intermediary; meaning that they will contract with the direct provider, then invoice VA for the services and potentially add in a handling fee for their billing services.

Resellers will not actually provide any service other than billing. Using resellers would result in the Government losing the designation of “Customer of Record” with Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC and the required priority status that comes with that designation. Specifically, only by using the direct service provider, will VA be able to contact the provider directly for service, repairs, or billing related issues. If VA used a reseller, VA would have to contact the reseller for assistance and wait for them to contact the actual provider and then wait for the provider to provide them an answer then respond to the VA. Contracting with the actual service provider is imperative to VA operations during outages when service needs to be restored. Outage response times include a qualified technician responding within one hour of a service request 99.9% of the time. Data availability (uptime) shall be 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 99.9% of the time. Data service restoration shall be completed within 24 hours, 100% of the time.

The contractor shall also respond to a major system failure within one hour of notification, 100% of the time. These are critical VA functional requirements that can only be met by contracting with a direct provider, in this case Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC. Resellers cannot meet these performance metrics as they are not the primary service provider, nor can they provide services which allow the

Government to retain its “Customer of Record” designation, a critical requirement.

Failure to award a new contract to Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC would result in a loss of data services to VA facilities in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands of St.

Thomas and St. Croix. The data services are used to connect to the VA network and retrieve patient records that are used to provide services to Veterans in the local area.

Without the ability to connect to the VA network, the facilities would have no capabilities to serve the local Veteran population resulting in mission failure and potential life impacts to the Veterans being served.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

Market research was conducted, details of which are in section eight (8) of this justification. Neither the Sources Sought Notice posted to SAM.gov on April 4, 2024 or the Request for Information (RFI) issued to the six (6) prime contract holders on the National Local Exchange Carrier – Next Generation (NLEC-NG) Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC), resulted in responses from alternative sources expressing the capability to meet the VA’s requirements. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. Procurement data does not include any unnecessary requirements that may inhibit competition. Additionally, the proposed action will be synopsized on SAM.gov Contract Opportunities website in accordance with FAR 5.201. Any proposals that are received shall be evaluated.

7. Actions to Increase Competition:

In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for this requirement, VA will continue to conduct additional market research so that other solutions can be considered.

8. Market Research:

Market research efforts were conducted by the VA subject matter experts in April 2024, by contacting all six (6) NLEC-NG prime contract holders to ascertain their capability of providing LEC services to the VA locations in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix. All six (6) responded stating that they cannot provide either some or all services, therefore this requirement is not within the scope of the NLEC-NG suite of contracts. In addition, the Contract Specialist (CS) conducted market research by issuing a Request for Information (RFI) /Sources Sought on SAM.gov Contract Opportunities in order to seek vendors capable of satisfying the requirement in accordance with the Performance Work Statement and Market Research Workbook.

The RFI, 36C10A24Q0060, was posted on April 4, 2024, and closed on April 16, 2024 with no responses received. The CS also, sent an RFI to the six (6) NLEC-NG prime contract holders on April 25, 2024. Of the six (6) contractors, three (3) responded that they were not able to provide the requested services and the other three (3) did not respond. Given all of the available information, it was determined that only Worldnet Telecommunications, LLC is capable of providing the services contemplated in this requirement.