Brand_Name_Justification_-_EOIR_Digital_Audio_Recording_Equipment.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice Washington, DC 20530

Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition

(Brand Name Justification)

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

This justification is prepared by the United States Department of Justice (Department or DOJ) in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303-1. The requiring organization is the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). The contracting activity is the Justice Management Division, Procurement Services Staff.

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

The DOJ intends to award a single contract for Digital Audio Recording (DAR) equipment for use in EOIR's immigration courts with a portion of the acquisition using brand-name descriptions to specify particular brand-name products peculiar to specific manufacturers.

3. Description of the supplies or services required, including the estimated value.

EOIR is underway with an upgrade of its enterprise wide DAR system. The system is responsible for the recording of all EOIR court proceedings in its 425 court rooms spread throughout EOIR's 57 enterprise sites CONUS/OCONUS. The current configuration of EOIR's DAR system includes products listed in section 5 below. The proposed contract will be used to outfit new court room locations and upgrade existing locations while maintaining compatibility with the installed system configuration. Compatibility of the equipment is essential to allow the Court to conduct its business and ensure each case is afforded equal opportunity to display all evidence, record all dialogue, and be used interchangeably by the Judges. The equipment will be utilized on the Judge's bench, attorney's table, witness stand, interpreter's work area, gallery and audio processing datacenter to effectively record hearing conversations at a performance level that allows the hearings to be transcribed from a central server.

The proposed brand-name portion of the contract has an estimated value of $2.8 million.

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

41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented in FAR Subsection 6.302-l(c), a portion of an acquisition that uses a brand-name description to specify a particular brand-name product peculiar to one manufacturer.

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires the use of the authority cited.

Brand Name Justification - EOIR Digital Audio Recording Equipment Pagel

The use of brand-name descriptions for a portion of the DAR equipment acquisition is essential to the Government's requirements, thereby precluding consideration of products manufactured by another company. The Department requires products and related services peculiar to the manufacturers listed in the table below. However, these products are available from authorized resellers, so DOJ will be able to conduct a competition for the products.

M anufacturer Model Product Description

BIAMP TesiraForte AVB Tl Digital Audio server

BIAMP TesiraForte AVB VI Digital Audio server

QSC CX108V 8-Channel 70V Power

Amplifier

Crestron CP3N Control Processor

Crestron CEN-SW-POE PoE Switch

Crestron TSW-750-B-S Control Panel Crestron TSW-750-TTK-B-S Panel Table Top Kit

Covid Fabricated for Rack Input Panel

DAR Rack

Covid Fabricated for Rack Output Panel

DAR Rack

Listen Technologies LA-326 FM Receiver Rack

Mount Kit

Listen Technologies LR-100-072 Stationary RF Receiver/Power Amplifier (72 MHz)

Listen Technologies LA-122 Universal Antenna Kit

Listen Technologies LA-402 Universal Stereo Headphones

Listen Technologies LA-278 Behind-the-Head Microphone

Listen Technologies LA-381-0112 12-Unit Charging Tray and Power Supply

Listen Technologies LR-5200-072 Advanced Intelligent DSP RF Receiver Package 1

Listen Technologies LT-700-072 Portable Display Transmitter 72MHz

Middle Atlantic CBS ERK-25 Caster Base, 25"0, ERK Series

Middle Atlantic ERK-RR35 Rackrail, 10-32, 35 RU, ERK Series

Middle Atlantic ERK-3525 ERK Series Rack, 35 RU, 25"D

Brand Name Just ification - EOIR Digital Audio Recording Equipment Pagel

Manufacturer Model Product Description

Middle Atlantic LVFD-35 Vented Front Door, 35 RU Racks, 64% Open

Middle Atlantic PDT-1615C-NS Power Strip, 16 Outlet, lSA

Middle Atlantic PD-915R-PL Rackmount Power, 9

Outlet, 15A, Basic Surge

Radio Design Labs TX-J2 Unbalanced stereo inputs to summed balanced mono output

Antex Electronics DMX-4 USB MIXER Shure MX202WP-C Card ioid Hanging

Condenser Microphone with Plate Mount

Shure MX418D/C 18" Desk-Top Mounted Cardioid Gooseneck

Microphone

The EOIR DAR system is a highly calibrated and tuned Audio Recording system for the EOIR 425 court rooms spread over 57 EOIR locations CON US/OCON US that was developed and deployed incrementally over the last nine years. To date, EOIR has invested well over $30 million in the DAR system including tens of thousands of engineering hours. In its current configuration, DAR meets the Department's requirements at a reasonable cost.

Achieving and maintaining a homogeneous enterprise equipment and software suite will enable EOIR to effectively manage with less complexity, thus facilitating IT service management and security. The maintenance and equipment to be acquired is essential to the Department's mission critical requirements. The specified brands are required for compatibility as well as system continuity with the existing equipment base as well as additional equipment being procured. The supplemental equipment acquired under the proposed contract must be fully compatible with all existing communications protocols and management tools.

All new network infrastructure and datacenter equipment procurements must comply with the IT Green Initiative to combine routing, switching, storage, and servers into as few chassis as possible. This initiative looks to benefit from and implement multi-tenancy and virtualization at all levels of the enterprise. In order to reduce operations and maintenance costs, EOIR is implementing a unified management and support approach to networking, storage, and server virtualization where ever possible.

The cost to train EOIR personnel on new equipment and software, and to obtain new contractor personnel qualified to manage disparate equipment from multiple manufacturers is cost prohibitive and greatly exceeds any savings that could be obtained through broader competition. Award to any other suppliers/manufacturers would result in

Brand Name Justification - EOIR Digital Audio Recording Equipment Page3 substantial duplication of cost to the Department that is not expected to be recovered through competition. Switching to another brand name(s) would result in a reduced state of readiness for EOIR and potentially impact mission critical operations. It would require reconfiguring network applications and servers causing service disruption to the EOIR 425 courts and user community.

6. 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.

In accordance with FAR 5.102(a)(6), a synopsis notice for this proposed contract action will be posted on the FBO.gov website along with this justification.

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

The competition among equipment resellers will ensure that the Government receives the most favorable pricing and delivery terms possible.

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

See Item 6 above.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

The EOIR reviewed market research it had performed in previous years and confirmed those findings that moving to a different solution would be cost prohibitive and would not meet the Department' s requirements.

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

Multiple sources expressed interest to EOIR. They will be notified of the FBO.gov solicitation posting.

11. Statement of the 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.

There is no practical action the Department can take to eliminate the compatibility limitations that necessitate the proposed contract. The next time a hardware platform refresh is needed, the EOIR will research the market to determine if other sources will be able to satisfy its needs.

Brand Name Justification - EOIR Digital Audio Recording Equipment Page4

12. Certifications, Concurrences and Approval.

Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification:

I certify tha rmation contained in this document for which I am 1 le is accur e and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Engineering Office of Information Technology Executive Office for Immigration Review

Contracting Officer Certification:

R. Steven Frate, Cont~ing Officer Procurement Services Staff Justice Management Division

Concurrence:

Date

Subsection 2806.304 of the Justice Acquisition Regulation requires concurrence by the Bureau Procurement Chief.

JJ{isDQQ Procurement Services Staff Justice Management Division

Approval:

Date

Subsectio 6.304 of the F deral Acquisition Regulation requires approval by the Advo ate for Co peti ion for the procuring activity.

Date

Brand Name Justification - EOIR Digital Audio Recording Equipment Pages